land, built by Wynn as a destination for the middle-
income tourist. Fronting the sidewalk was an elabo-
rate enactment of a pirate battle staged nightly. The
new MGM Grand opened on December 18 as the
largest hotel in the world. Its chief entrepreneur was
Wynn’s rival Kirk Kerkorian. Following its predeces-
sor casino’s lead, it incorporated movie themes, with
the golden MGM lion guarding the main entrance.
The Luxor, built as an astonishing black glass pyra-
mid with adjacent sphinx, was another 1993 addi-
tion. Its ancient Egyptian theme and high-intensity
beacon made it immediately famous, even as its
guiding financier, Bennett, remained out of the
spotlight.Later Megaresorts The next wave of megaresorts
included the European-themed Monte Carlo (June,
1996), the Stratosphere (April, 1996), and New
York-New York (January, 1997). The Stratosphere
was an outlier, built at the relatively neglected north
end of the Las Vegas Strip by flamboyant promoter
Bob Stupak. Its landmark observation tower became
the second-tallest freestanding structure west of the
Mississippi.
Finally, in the late 1990’s came projects that
stirred the travel world’s imagination once again.
Paris Las Vegas opened in September, 1999, a proj-
ect of Park Place Entertainment’s mogul Arthur
Goldberg, who backed it to invigorate his new diver-
sified combine of properties. Nearby was the Vene-
tian, a reincarnation of Renaissance Venice com-plete with canals and a doge’s tower.
Built by staunchly conservative bil-
lionaire Sheldon Adelson, it opened
in May, 1999, before its completion,
with many legal problems remain-
ing from construction disputes. De-
spite the difficult beginning, its con-
trol of the former Sands convention
space helped it to recover and
thrive.
The decade’s most spectacular
new hotel-casino, the Bellagio, was
Wynn’s pet project of the 1990’s. De-
signed as high-end property, it con-
tained a world-class art collection
and an artificial lake with a dancing
water fountain synchronized to mu-
sic and light. At the far south end of
the Strip, another high-end mega-
resort, Mandalay Bay, opened in March, 1999. Adja-
cent to the Luxor, it also was visually striking, with
a gleaming gold facade and, on the inside, a shark
reef and Red Square attraction.
Altogether, the new megaresorts reinvigorated
Las Vegas tourism, spurred the older casinos to add
new spectacular attractions and space, and set a high
standard for the resort city’s building boom that
continued into the next century. The men who envi-
sioned and led their construction have become play-
ers in the national arenas of business and politics.Impact Megaresorts redefined “the Las Vegas ex-
perience.” Once a scene of elegantly dressed table
games and intimate lounge entertainment, mega-
resorts became a setting characterized by people in
ordinary clothes gambling at whirring banks of slot
machines. Lavish spectacle shows replaced many of
the more intimate lounge acts, although Vegas en-
tertainment still featured well-known singers and ce-
lebrities. This latter-day mode—minus most of the
show-business glitz—has become the standard model
for many casinos that have since opened in other
states. The financial success of contemporary Las Ve-
gas casinos has led some of its entrepreneurs to
bring their money and expertise to Macau, off the
coast of China, which is aiming to become the “Las
Vegas of Asia.”
The public’s fascination with Las Vegas life is as
strong as ever. Vegas-set movies and television shows
continue to be produced. One other possible long-502 Las Vegas megaresorts The Nineties in AmericaMandalay Bay, the Luxor, and the marquee of MGM Grand in Las Vegas.(AP/
Wide World Photos)