When You're Hot, You're Hot

By John Greenwald

As Donald Trump fights to save his Atlantic City casino empire, he might cast an envious eye at booming Las Vegas. The desert Mecca of hype and high rollers is on a winning streak. Las Vegas casino revenues surged nearly 12% last year, to $3.2 billion, at a time when the take at Atlantic City grew just 2.6%, to $2.8 billion. The hot hand encouraged Las Vegas hoteliers to add 10,000 new rooms in the past year alone, a 16% increase. Last week more than 50,000 gamblers and gawkers flocked to the opening of the world's largest hostelry: the 4,000-room Excalibur, a $290 million medieval-flavored extravaganza concocted by Circus Circus Enterprises.

Las Vegas has prospered by becoming a year-round vacation spot for middle- class families, who typically stay as long as a week. By contrast, Atlantic City appeals largely to bettors who arrive by bus and leave the same day. "Atlantic City has to try to become a destination resort, which means that it has to be a place where folks want to go," says Steve Wynn, chairman of Golden Nugget, which opened the $617 million, 3,200-room Mirage hotel complex in Las Vegas last November. Adds Wynn: "Las Vegas hasn't exactly been tasteful or elegant, but it is exciting. For 50 years, it's always kept that promise."

Las Vegas now works overtime to provide fanciful family fun. The Mirage, which features a tropical theme, boasts white tigers, a 20,000-gal. aquarium and a 54-ft. mock volcano that erupts every 15 min. in pina colada-scented fumes. Diversions at the nearby Excalibur include jugglers, jesters and jousting knights. Youngsters can win prizes at a boardwalk-like Fantasy Faire, while marriage-minded grownups can don medieval costumes and say their vows in the Canterbury Wedding Chapel.

More glitz is on the way. MGM Grand, whose largest stockholder is flamboyant financier Kirk Kerkorian, plans to open a $700 million, 5,000-room hotel and movie-studio theme park in 1992. Attractions at the park will include demonstrations of how films are made. Says Fred Benninger, chairman of MGM Grand: "I think the trend of bare-breasted chorus girls and all that has become passe. People are no longer interested in it."

Even without such lures, Las Vegas has become the fifth most popular spot in the U.S. for conventions (after New York City, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta). More than 1.5 million convention goers visited the city last year, up from 650,000 in 1980. In June the tweedy American Booksellers Association gathered to discuss fall book lists and other literary matters beneath the blazing desert sun.

Ironically, legalized betting in Atlantic City, where casinos first opened in 1978, has helped fuel the Las Vegas boom. "Atlantic City has created more opportunity for people to gamble," notes Rob Powers, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "Now when people on the East Coast want to see something more than a few casinos and a boardwalk, they come to Las Vegas."

Gamblers are also flocking to the tiny town of Laughlin, Nev. (pop. 4,400), on the Colorado River some 90 miles to the south of metropolitan Las Vegas (pop. 650,000). Founded by Don Laughlin, an enterprising developer who arrived in 1966, the hamlet has used its riverfront location to attract nine casinos since 1986. The town boasts more than 4,000 rooms in such hotels as Harrah's Del Rio and Circus Circus's Colorado Belle. Another 5,500 rooms are being built. However, the frantic pace of construction has strained Laughlin's meager civic resources. The town suffers from shortages of housing, labor and water and must send high school students across the river to Bullhead City, Ariz., until its own school can be built.

In Las Vegas the recent burst of construction has aroused fears that overbuilding could turn the city's boom to bust. Gaming experts point out that such mega-resorts as the Mirage and Excalibur have attracted gamblers away from the older casinos, where wagering has slowed. But many Wall Street analysts believe Las Vegas will easily absorb the new hotels. Says Paine Webber's Lee Isgur: "Basically, Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world. As they put in more resorts, more people will use Las Vegas as a vacation spot." That could prove particularly true now that gamblers from Japan and other Pacific Rim countries have begun flocking to the city's tables. Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!

With reporting by Erik Pappa and Stacey A. Welling/Las Vegas