Vegas Ghost Town: Gen-Z Swipes Left on Casino Culture, Driving Tourism Plunge

Las Vegas’ neon heart is flickering. June visitor numbers plunged to 3.1 million—an 11 % drop year-on-year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Walk the Strip and you’ll hear slot-machine jingles echo off half-empty aisles; scroll TikTok and you’ll find Gen-Z roasting $18 casino burgers and $45 valet fees.

Digital poker chips are winning the real chips. Conservative commentator Robby Starbuck speaks for many his age: "I don’t know a single under-40 who goes to Vegas regularly. They’d rather bet from the couch." Statistically, he’s right. U.S. online gambling topped $12.68 billion in 2024, and every iPhone now ships with 40 different sportsbook apps. Caesar’s CEO Tom Reeg conceded a “soft summer” on earnings calls.

Yet price-gouging is only half the story. Millennials and Gen-Z also sip less booze than their parents did—22 % of twenty-somethers were dry in 2019 versus 9 % in 2001—and the classic Vegas cocktail of cheap beer + slots is flat. As Starbuck jokes: "Your average 26-year-old will pick mushroom-chai wellness shots over neon martini buckets… and they definitely aren’t here for showgirls who last trended when Friends was new."

The arithmetic is brutal. Hotel occupancy slipped 6.5 %, average daily room rates slid 6.6 % to $163, and a planned 43-story casino tower on prime Strip real estate is paused indefinitely—its future? a parking lot with a very expensive view.

Can Vegas reinvent itself? Starbuck suggests the city stops gambling on gambling and leans into experience 3.0: immersive, family-friendly, hyper-tech playgrounds that make you feel like you’ve "walked into 2055." Until then, the loudest sound in Sin City might be the collective swipe-left of an entire generation.