This Week in Gambling: Las Vegas landmark coming down as prices go up

In the game of follow the leader, Las Vegas is getting more expensive.

Both Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Resort are taking a page out of the recent book by The Venetian Las Vegas as they will begin charging their guests to park at their respective resorts on Wednesday, 27 September.

And for those of you who think that this doesn’t affect you if you don’t drive in Sin City, well you’re wrong. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says parking fees hurt tourism, and that in turn affects the prices of everything else in town. So now, free parking, which used to be like a comp for guests, is more like a hidden fee, like resort fees.

As mentioned in a recent
This Week in Gambling video, the parking fee phenomenon could be as a result of Sphere opening up behind The Venetian Las Vegas, thus prompting that resort to start charging for its parking. And with the Wynn Las Vegas right next door, it’s no surprise that it too did away with free parking as Sphere is about to open, which will only bring more people flocking to the area.

The Bellagio Fountains, Fremont Street, The STRAT Hotel, Casino and SkyPod, and now Sphere are all famous Las Vegas landmarks. However, there are other structures that are famous for all the wrong reasons such as The Skyvue Las Vegas Super Wheel observation towers that sit in an empty lot on the south end of the Strip across from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Back in 2011, these two infamous monolithic concrete structures were created to support the 500-foot tall, 40-gondola pod Ferris wheel at what was supposed to be London Las Vegas, a 38-acre resort with 1,300 rooms, a casino and over a half of million square feet of restaurants and shops. However, as time went on, the project stalled due to money and other complicating issues.

In what’s been a long time coming, it appears there are finally plans to tear down these structures in the near future to make way for a new venue.