History

• Gambling was legalized in Nevada in 1931. By 1946, Bugsy Siegel--one of the decade's most notorious gangsters--had opened The Flamingo on what would later become the Vegas Strip.
  
  

The Flamingo

• The Flamingo was run by Bugsy Siegel at the behest of Russian-American gangster Meyer Lansky. By 1947, over $4 million had been invested in the hotel/casino--and after it failed to turn a profit, Siegel was murdered by an unknown hitman while reading the paper in his Beverly Hills home.
  
  

Hauntings

• There are a number of hotels and casinos that are rumored to be haunted, including The Luxor, MGM Grand, Stratosphere, Bellagio and the Hard Rock. Even Elvis has been said to haunt Las Vegas--at the Las Vegas Hilton.
  
  

Costs

• The Bellagio had an original construction cost of $1.6 billion. It includes an eight-acre artificial lake, botanical gardens and is home to the permanent stage show "O," which requires a massive above-ground and underwater stage.
  
  

Weddings

• Notorious for its many wedding chapels, there are approximately 315 weddings per day in Las Vegas. That's more than 114,000 a year.
  
  

Profit

• State gaming revenue tops $9 billion a year. Thanks to Las Vegas, Nevada is one of seven states that doesn't have a state income tax.
  
  

Visitors

• Only five percent of visitors say they come to Vegas to gamble, but before they leave, 87 percent of them do.