If the current economic crisis wasn’t bad enough on Las Vegas, Sin City is starting to feel the effects of local casinos, tribal venues, and, most especially, online gambling websites.  Even with the UIGEA in place and most online gambling websites no longer allowing American players, Las Vegas is seeing a decline in players and even just visitors to the city who enjoy all of the other amenities the city offers.  If Las Vegas wants to compete with their online competitors, they are going to have to boost their luxury offerings as enticements and not as a separate source for revenue.

The city – and the gambling industry as a whole – used to be recession proof.  But the troubled economy is causing the former recession proof industry to feel the heat.  Las Vegas casino managers and owners have been facing a pickle of a problem trying to figure out how they are going to deal with the flagging economy, the income, and the major decline in visitors coming to the casinos to play and enjoy themselves.  They have yet to find a method that works to everyone’s advantage and if they don’t do something soon, Las Vegas may turn into a ghost town.

Sherman Bradley, who is the head gambling analyst for the Online Casino Advisory, developed a theory that has been sweeping the industry as to why the economic crisis has hit Las Vegas with such force.  Everyone from GoldmanSachs to Morgan Stanley to BusinessWeek has been using what has been dubbed the ‘Bradley Theory’ to explain other industrial downturns that have happened in conjunction with the flagging economy.

The cornerstone of the theory has been developed by Richard Abowitz of the Los Angeles Times and his conclusions tell Las Vegas managers and casino owners exactly what they are going to need to do to bring their gamblers and other guests back to their establishments.  The idea of simply building a new casino and relying on the people to just come is no longer working.  It is not enough to bring in gamblers and pack the casino floor or poker rooms.  Says Abowitz, “Vegas these days is remembering that this used to be known as a bargain vacation. And returning to offering bargains may be one of the ways Vegas might deal with the uncertain times ahead.”

Casino owners are going to have to go back to offering their guests compensations and other perks including dropping room prices, meal prices, and enticing their guests back to their casino floors with their bargain vacation packages that seem to have disappeared over the last few years if they want to remain in business against their competition.