Exactly what happens in Vegas ... well, you understand the rest. Here are 24 facts about Sin City you likely haven't heard.
1. Many of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. A good portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are actually located in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.
2. One tourist attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that commands downtown's renowned Fremont Street. It's the largest mechanical neon sign in the world.
3. More than 41 million visitors cycle through Sin City each year ...
4. ... So it's an advantage the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 greatest hotels.
5. There's a lot property for tourists to take benefit of, it would take an individual 288 years to spend a night in every hotel room in the city.
6. There's a secret city beneath the city. Miles of tunnels-- initially built to safeguard the desert town from flash floods-- house numerous homeless citizens.
7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from founder-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. Starlet Virginia Hill passed the nickname "The Flamingo" because of her red hair and long, thin legs.
8. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had its own set of inequitable Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and casinos. Even legendary entertainers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were required to get in and exit the locations where they were carrying out through back doors and side entryways. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. took a dip in the whites-only pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Gambling Establishment. Later on, the supervisor had it drained pipes.
9. In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it became the city's very first interracial gambling establishment. Famous fighter Joe Louis, a part owner, declared, "This isn't the opening of a Las Vegas hotel. It's history."
10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was understood for putting on a different type of program. At the Nevada Test Website, just 65 miles northwest of the city, the U.S. Department of Energy would check nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking opportunity, and chose to disperse calendars marketing detonation times and choice viewing places.
Legendary recluse Howard Hughes inspected into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, leasing the whole leading two floors. When he overstayed his 10-day reservation, he was asked to leave.
12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he produced the business-- the Yale graduate took the endeavor's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack. His, er, gamble offered the business enough loan to survive.
13. Do not interrupt: Vegas has more unlisted phone numbers than any other city in the United States.
Nevada law specifies that video slot devices should pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the cash deposited on average. (Though it's worth noting that in New Jersey, house to gambling mecca Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).
15. It takes roughly 10 minutes to catch a marital relationship license at the bureau in downtown Las Vegas, which is open every day from 8 a.m. till midnight. No surprise some 10,000 couples wed in the city each month.
16. Let them consume ... shrimp mixed drinks? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city every day. That's greater than the remainder of the nation-- integrated.
17. The half-scale design of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was originally prepared to be full-size, however due to the close distance of the airport-- simply 3 miles-- it needed to be diminished down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is really larger than the original Fantastic Sphinx of Giza.
18. At 50 loads, the bronze lion outside the MGM Grand Hotel is believed to be the largest bronze sculpture in the western hemisphere.
19. The distinctive gold color of the windows at the Mirage Hotel originates from actual gold dust.
20. There are 3933 guest rooms at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the number of residents in the city of Bellagio, Italy.
21. Not into casinos? The city also includes a heavy devices play ground where building and construction lovers can drive around bulldozers for fun.
22. Before his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was looking into doing a Vegas residency. He planned to market it with a 50-foot robot-likeness of himself that would wander the Nevada desert.
23. At Vegas find more info restaurant Cardiac arrest Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and patrons can buy an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass hamburger with a side of flatliner french fries. (Fried in pure lard!) Sadly, in 2013, one of the spot's regular clients died ... from an obvious cardiac arrest.
24. From external space, the Las Vegas Strip appears as the brightest area on Earth. Who cares if it's not really in Las Vegas?
Most of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. A great portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famed "Invite to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are really located in an unincorporated township called Paradise, Nevada.
One destination that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that presides over downtown's renowned Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of inequitable Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's casinos and hotels.