What's killing Las Vegas?

Read time: 5 mins

In brief…

• Las Vegas, which has struggled to recover from losses made in the Covid-19 pandemic, now faces new challenges from AI replacing jobs in hotels and casinos, and the Trump presidency throttling America’s tourism industry.
• Experts warn that while automated systems could bring short-term benefits to Vegas visitors, automation could result in gamblers being exploited by technology.
• Losing jobs to AI could have a damaging impact on the wider Vegas economy, and other major US states which rely greatly on tourism to generate income.

What’s the story?

The bright lights of Las Vegas are dimming, with some concerned they could go dark as the US tourism industry slumps, and the rise of AI threatens countless jobs across party city.

In June 2025, Vegas saw a decline of nearly 400,000 tourists than in 2024, marking an 11.3% drop in visitors.

Several factors have been blamed for this decline – from ICE raids and growing hostility towards people from outside the US to fears of a US recession, and from corporate greed to the rise of automation in the jobs market.

At ground level, from the Las Vegas Strip, Steven Campbell, host of the Not Leaving Las Vegas YouTube channel, tells The News Agents the decline can be seen growing month-on-month.

Vegas was once seen as a hedonistic retreat for America’s middle classes, but he says visitors now feel “abused” by the big companies running the show.

“These companies, these buildings, these casinos, they took advantage of post-Covid recovery money,” he tells Lewis Goodall, on the strip.

“They kept increasing their prices to get their money back from the Covid shutdowns.

“While people could afford it and the economy looked great, they were tolerating it, but now it's at a place where American consumers are more afraid of the future, and they're watching their money more.”

Canadian tourists, he says, have stayed away due to recession fears north of the border, while visitors from Mexico are hesitant to visit due to brutal crackdowns from the Trump administration on migrants in America. Both previously made up a healthy percentage of Vegas visitors.

But while visitor numbers are down, the big casinos continue to rake in big money from the gamblers who are still flying to the desert, and making changes to how they operate in order to maximise those profits.

The impact of AI on the Las Vegas strip

Campbell says Vegas casinos have been engaged in major layoffs, replacing many services such as concierges with AI alternatives at landmark locations such as the MGM Grand hotel. More and more casinos are now offering digital alternatives to traditional table-based gambling games.

“The benefit for the casinos is that one dealer can host around 50 different players, while traditional analogue versions could only serve a handful of people around a table,” he says.

“Automation and AI is now a major priority for the biggest casinos in Vegas.”

But the Vegas shift towards automated systems makes business sense, with Campbell describing them as data collection services first and foremost, hospitality and entertainment companies second.

“They collect data. They know all about the players, and there are a lot of people right now being paid to crunch numbers,” he says.

“But they are going to be some of the very first people in this town to notice that their job is just non-existent anymore, because AI can do what they used to do in a week, in just a few seconds.”

Taxi drivers could be next, he warns, as self-driving vehicles become more popular in places like Austin, Texas, and will soon be able to navigate the Vegas strip.

“It's coming, and people don't see it because they think it's going to stay the same forever, but it's going to hit this town hard.”

AI systems would likely bring convenient benefits to gamblers in the short term, but longterm, Campbell has concerns about how it could be used to exploit people sitting in a casino.

“The algorithm will understand when a player is on a hot streak and start suggesting things to get more money out of them,” he warns.

“It’ll be able to know exactly how to curate an experience for them, like a concierge person might not.”

How ICE raids and recession scared away foreign tourists

Ted Pappageorge, secretary treasurer of the Culinary Workers’ Union, describes the AI revolution and automation of Vegas entertainment industry as the number one concern of its members.

“Tech, automation and AI components are moving faster than we know – the companies really can't even tell you,” he tells Lewis.

“What we've really seen is a lot of order-taking and cash-collecting is being replaced by automation. “

He adds the Workers Union is insisting its members be trained to operate or repair the AI tech, in order to not be pushed out of employment.

Working at ground level with people employed inside casinos and along the Vegas strip, Pappageorge says Donald Trump’s reshaping of US culture to one that is hostile to outsiders, is also felt.

“It’s no surprise if you tell the world they're not welcome to the United States,”  he says.

“That's Canadian tourists, Mexican nationals, but also Southern California is really the life of Southern Nevada and Las Vegas – and that's a major Latino tourism base.

“They're worried about raids, they're worried about the economy with wild tariffs and cost of living issues.

“They're calling it a Trump Slump, and so they're nervous about that.”

Can Las Vegas survive the AI revolution – and a Trump presidency?

Campbell warns that job losses inside the casinos could also have a wider effect on the economic foundations of the whole city, and threaten its future.

“For every well-paying job the casino has, it allows a person that lives here full time to participate in the economy off the strip,” he explains.

“If we lose those jobs, it's all of the businesses off the strip at immediate risk of not having people that can come in and patronise.

“It's not just about five miles of Las Vegas Boulevard, it's about everything that happens away from here and those 3 million people that live in this town.”

Hotel occupancy in Vegas is down from 85% to 70% on weekdays, and from 95% to 90% on weekends, with Pappageorge saying this decline is visible from the reduced numbers of visitors on the strip, to the number of planes flying in and out of Harry Reid International Airport.

“For Nevada and Las Vegas, everyone knows travel and tourism is number one,” Pappageorge says.

But he adds people don’t realise quite how much tourism brings into other major US cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York or Miami.

“It's great to protect American jobs, everybody believes in free trade, but you also have to be able to welcome tourism and the tourism dollar.”

“If there isn't a course correction here, it could be a problem.”

Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.