Integrated resorts is a term used by the casino industry to describe the mega buildings that cram hotels, casinos, restaurants, clubs, bars, swimming pools, golf courses, cinemas, theme parks, shopping malls, and more into a single complex.
They create a one-stop-shop for visitors to cities like Las Vegas, Macao, and Singapore, because patrons have everything they need for an exciting and enjoyable trip under one roof.
Casinos were not always like this, however. We have Las Vegas to thank for their creation. Over the history of the famous city in Nevada, Vegas as gradually created an industry and then repeatedly reinvented it as it has adapted to the ever-changing needs of players.
Sawdust Floors And Early Days
Las Vegas began life as a small settlement of farmers but it became a destination for works on the nearby Hoover Dam who were looking for a place to blow off some steam in their downtime.
During this time, saloons with sawdust-covered floors offered a place for eating, drinking, and various forms of entertainment. Quickly small gaming rooms opened where workers would have a flutter with their wages from the dam construction, helping to create a burgeoning casino industry.
These evolved into some of the earliest iterations of Vegas casinos, offering little more than a gaming floor and some refreshments. During this time, they experimented with the games that they offered to patrons, leading to the creation of many of the popular titles we know and love today.
For example, modern online casinos offer a choice of different variants of games like blackjack, including classic, premium, and high roller that use the same basic mechanics but with varying wagering limits and side bets. However, Las Vegas casinos offered rules like “black jack” which offered additional payouts for hands that contained the jack of club or spades.
Increased Competition
As the business of casino operations began to mature, owners began building larger and larger establishments. The first proper casino was the Pair-o-Dice Club but it was expanded multiple times over the years, becoming Hotel Last Frontier in 1942 with 105 rooms, expanding to 650 in 1967, and then 984 in 2007.
Owners began competing to have the biggest and best establishments in the city, with industry legends like Kirk Kerkorian helping to drive the industry forward.
They began offering more than just rooms, dining, and casino games. One early foray into other forms of entertainment was the move to attract professional boxing to the city as casinos competed to host the biggest bouts between the best fighters.
Legendary artists were also coaxed to Vegas to become resident performers. Some of the most famous examples include Elvis Presley, Celine Dion, and Penn and Teller, though many of the biggest names in showbiz have appeared on stage in the city through the years.
Mega-Resorts
The mega-resorts of today began to take shape in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with The Mirage being the first of its kind in 1989. It took theming to a new level, with tropical landscapes, an erupting volcano, and even waterfalls.
This was quickly followed by around a dozen more such venues, each vowing to be bigger and better than the last. This included the Luxor, Mandalay Bay, and Excalibur. The biggest and most famous of these was The Bellagio, which cost a whopping $1.7 billion to construct back in the 1990s.
This began to drive many of the smaller casinos out of business, with venues like the Dunes beginning to close their doors and be demolished to make way for a more modern venue.
Export
The success of mega-resorts caught the attention of other cities as they provided a way to generate large incomes for the local authorities whilst also offering a much broader mix of entertainment than simply just casino games.
This led to Macao becoming the Las Vegas of the East, with both Chinese and overseas games heading to the territory to have a flutter. Singapore soon followed with the opening of the Marina Bay Sands in 2010 and Japan planning to do the same in the coming years.
