25 Surprising Facts About Las Vegas

There are many surprising facts about Las Vegas that most people don’t know about, despite this being one of the most popular tourist destinations in the USA! But what are these surprising facts? Read on to find out…

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Facts About Las Vegas

Las Vegas, also known as the “Sin City”, is famous for its vibrant nightlife, extravagant hotels, and grand casinos. It is the most populous city in Nevada and receives visitors from all over the world due to its popularity!

Yet, there’s more to the city than what meets the eye. So, in this article, let’s delve into 25 surprising facts about Las Vegas!

1. Las Vegas Is the Brightest City on the Earth

I’m sure that this isn’t one of the surprising facts about Las Vegas. We all know that the city is full of brightly-lit hotels and streets.

Yet, the actual surprising bit is that according to National Geographic, Las Vegas is the brightest city on the Earth as seen from space!

In an image captured by NASA, you can see the entire how bright the Vegas Strip looks compared to other areas on the Earth. Apart from being bright, this area is also known for its varying light colours!

So, Las Vegas is truly a place to be when you need a bit of colour in your life!

2. Las Vegas Is Also Known as the “Marriage Capital of the World”

If you watch American shows and movies, you might already be aware of how popular Las Vegas is for impromptu weddings!

In fact, in the well-known series, Friends, Ross and Rachel are shown getting drunk and getting married in Las Vegas.

Every day, there are more than 300 weddings that take place in Las Vegas. The reason behind it is that there’s no waiting period.

Hence, you can obtain a marriage license in Nevada within a few minutes of submitting the fees and a government-issued ID.

Apart from its ease, Las Vegas is also known for having creative weddings.

For instance, the Graceland Wedding Chapel, located on the Vegas Strip, is famous for its Elvis-themed weddings. Celebrities like Jon Bon Jovi and Billy Ray Cyrus have organized their weddings in this chapel!

3. Las Vegas Has One of the Largest Hotels in the World

Las Vegas has over 6000 hotels. It also has the world’s largest individual hotel building in the world, The MGM Grand. This is the hotel that you’ll find in almost every Las Vegas picture!

Located in the Vegas Strip, the MGM Grand has over 30 floors and 6852 rooms! The craziest thing about this hotel is its casino as it’s the largest one in Las Vegas.

The MGM Grand’s casino is spread across 170,000 square feet and has more than 2,300 gaming machines. Some lucky people have won up to $2.4 million in slot machines.

The hotel also continues to receive around 70,000 visitors and 12,000 guests every day. It’s equivalent to the population of almost an entire city!

4. There Are More Than 150,000 Hotel Rooms in Las Vegas

These facts about Las Vegas are enough to make you consider its popularity.

According to Statista, Las Vegas had 150,857 hotel rooms in 2022 and 150,487 rooms in 2021.

The city needs to have several rooms to accommodate a massive number of tourists visiting annually. In 2022 itself, the city had more than 38.8 million tourists and this number has since grown significantly.

5. The Name “Las Vegas” Means Meadows

These naming facts about Las Vegas are going to leave you surprised if you think the city’s name means something glamorous.

Rafael Rivera, a Mexican Scout, discovered Las Vegas, along with the Spanish Trader Antonio Armijo in 1829.

During that time, Las Vegas wasn’t a desert. The entire area was full of lush green grass and natural springs. Therefore, Rafael Rivera named the region “Las Vegas” which translates to “The Meadows”.

6. The Second Tallest Observation Wheel is in Las Vegas

If you love the idea of Ferris wheels, these facts about Las Vegas are for you.

Las Vegas is home to the tallest observation wheel, The High Roller.

Opened on March 31 in 2014, The High Roller is 500 feet tall with a diameter of 520 feet. It was the tallest observation wheel till 2021.

However, in 2021, Ain Dubai took the title of the tallest observation wheel in the world as it’s 820 feet tall.

The High Roller has 28 cabins that can accommodate 40 passengers. Therefore, it has a capacity of 1,120 passengers. Every day the wheel continues to attract more than 5000 visitors!

7. The Bellagio Hotels Holds Two Guinness World Records

Here are some interesting facts about Las Vegas and its world-famous hotel and casino, the Bellagio Hotel & Casino.

The Bellagio Hotel has received two Guinness World Records for its fountains. In 1999, the hotel gained a world record for having the most number of fountains in a lake.

The 8.5-acre man-made lake has 1,2000 fountains. The hotel is popular for its water show, the Fountains of Bellagio.

The Bellagio Hotel also holds another record for the largest chocolate fountain in the world! This sounds like a childhood dream come true, doesn’t it?

The chocolate fountain stands at a height of 27 feet and has six powerful pumps that circulate two tons of chocolate!

8. You’ll Find an Abandoned City Right Below Lake Mead

Are you ready for some creepy facts about Las Vegas? Well, you need to read this one!

The United States Federal Government drowned an entire town, named St. Thomas, to build Lake Mead, the largest man-made reservoir.

The government bought the entire space and informed the residents that they had to leave.

Even though the government compensated the town folks, some didn’t want to leave. However, eventually, they had to due to the rising water levels.

The whole of St. Thomas rested deep within 60 feet of water due to Lake Mead.

If you’re curious about the town, you can see the remains as the water keeps on receding.

9. Certain Hotels in Las Vegas Have Missing Floors!

Specific numbers in certain cultures are often considered unlucky.

For instance, many people from all over the world consider the number 13 unlucky. There are also Asians, who consider the number 4 as unlucky.

Therefore, many Las Vegas hotels have missing floors to understand and welcome people from varying cultures.

The Wynn Hotel and the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas don’t have a 13th floor.

Many renowned hotels have 13th floors, including MGM Resorts International. Yet, they’re also accommodating to your requests if you’re not comfortable living on that floor.

10. Most Tourists Gamble in Las Vegas

Las Vegas has many things to offer but still, gambling takes the number one spot.

According to Statista, 76% of visitors gambled in Las Vegas in 2021. The total percentage of gambling in tourists visiting Las Vegas has always remained above 50%.

The only time it saw a slight dip was in 2016 with just 69% of tourists getting involved in gambling activities.

Hence, there’s a reason why the entire gaming revenue of Las Vegas was around 10.062 billion in 2019! It experienced a sudden drop to 3.99 billion due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

11. Las Vegas Doesn’t Receive a Lot of Rainfall

Las Vegas is known for being a desert city. Therefore, it only receives around 10 cm or 4 inches of rain every year.

Yet, this is one of the truly surprising facts about Las Vegas.

Despite receiving less rainfall, the city has frequent floods. The reason behind this is its location and terrain.

As Las Vegas is located in a valley, excessive rains from the mountains nearby can drain and flood the city. Additionally, the dry terrain also cannot absorb high levels of water.

12. You Won’t Find the Vegas Strip in Las Vegas

Here’s one of the most ironic facts about Las Vegas.

We all keep hearing about the famous “Las Vegas Strip” but the truth is that it’s actually not located in Las Vegas.

Instead, the Las Vegas Strip is a part of Clark County in Nevada and a township named “Paradise Township”.

Apart from hotels and casinos, the Las Vegas Strip is also heaven for foodies due to the many remarkable restaurants here.

13. People of Las Vegas Love Shellfish!

This is one of the most random facts about Las Vegas that will leave you fishing for more.

Las Vegas is known for its seafood delicacies, especially the classic shrimp cocktail.

Most people and visitors of Las Vegas are also massive fans of shellfish as the city consumes about 60,000 pounds in just one day! Many believe that this is more than the shellfish consumption of the entire United States annually.

14. Las Vegas Lost Its Gambling Title in 2019

As I mentioned earlier, more than 50% of tourists visiting Las Vegas gamble. Yet, the city lost the title of being the world’s largest gambling city to Macau once.

In 2019, Macau had a gambling and gaming revenue of $29 billion whereas the same for Las Vegas was around $6.6 billion.

Hence, Macau had almost five times more gambling revenue compared to Las Vegas in 2019!

15. There Are Gambling Spots Almost Everywhere

If you believe gambling spots are only in casinos, these facts about Las Vegas might prove you wrong!

Apart from the casinos, you can find gambling and gaming areas in even movie theatres and parking lots of the city too. This shows how popularized gambling is in Las Vegas.

16. Las Vegas Has the Largest Bronze Sculpture

Las Vegas is known for its grandness. You’ll also come across the largest bronze sculpture in the country in this city.

Just outside the MGM Hotel, there’s a Bronze lion which weighs around 50 tons! It also has a height of 45 feet.

Here’s another one of the interesting facts about Las Vegas.

Before this bronze lion, there was another lion statue. However, it was replaced because many Asian gamblers thought it was bad luck to walk through a lion’s mouth. This affected MGM Casino’s business and they decided to renovate the original statue!

17. Don’t Try Swimming in the Fountains!

The Bellagio Fountains seem like a fun place to swim. Yet, you shouldn’t try swimming there for multiple reasons.

First, swimming is prohibited in the fountains. Therefore, the Nevada government can easily charge you $1000 as a fine or even lock you up for up to six months in jail!

18. The CEO of FedEx Saved His Company After a Vegas Visit

Trust me, this is one of the most iconic facts about Las Vegas.

In the early years, FedEx was about to go bankrupt. However, the company’s founder, Fred Smith, decided to go to Las Vegas and gamble away the $5,000 that he had on a blackjack.

Fred went on to win $27,000 and was able to keep his company secure for a week!

After a week, he received additional funds that helped him make FedEx a global success in the next few years. Luck was definitely on his side in Las Vegas!

19. Many People Are Banned from Visiting Vegas

Las Vegas has blacklisted many people, including celebrities from visiting the casinos.

One of the most popular celebrities who’s banned from all Las Vegas casinos is Paris Hilton. In 2010, she was detained at the Wynn Hotel for possessing cocaine which was disguised as chewing gum.

Other people who are banned from Las Vegas casinos include Ronald Dale Harris and Sandra Kay Vaccaro. They won millions after rigging the casino machines!

20. The Dice in Las Vegas Don’t Have Rounded Corners

If you’ve seen a dice, you’ll notice that it has rounded corners. Yet, these facts about Las Vegas beg to differ.

Many casinos in Las Vegas don’t use dice with rounded corners. It’s because dice with round edges aren’t “truly random”.

Instead, they use a special “casino dice”. This type of dice has razor-cut edges that ensure precision and randomness. So, if you win something at a Las Vegas casino, it’s actually by sheer luck!

21. Las Vegas Has Many Antique Stores

If you’re an antique lover, you need to know these facts about Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is not just known for its lavish hotels and casinos, but also for its antique collection shops.

There are whole malls and shops dedicated towards antique shopping.

For instance, the Antique Alley Mall is spread across 12,000 square feet and has more than 60 shops selling everything vintage!

Other such stores and malls include Charleston Antique Mall and Retro Vegas.

22. There Are Hangover Curing Services in Las Vegas

Drinking is only fun until you wake up the next morning feeling horribly hungover! Yet, if you’re in Las Vegas, you can get special treatment for it too.

The Hangover Heaven IV Hydration is a special clinic simply dedicated to curing hangovers of people in Las Vegas.

The whole point of the clinic was to allow the visitors to spend less time feeling hungover or tired and more time exploring the glittery streets of Las Vegas!

23. There Is No Sense of Time in Casinos

If you’ve ever been to a casino, you might already know these facts about Las Vegas.

Most casinos in Las Vegas don’t have wall clocks or even windows. The reason behind it is that the casino owners don’t want the visitors to have any sense of time.

They don’t want the game to get interrupted. Instead, they want the visitors to continue their winning or losing streak.

It’s all a part of their business strategy!

24. Many Residents Live in the Underground Tunnel

This is one of the sad facts about Las Vegas.

Despite how glowing and impressive the city looks, its underground tunnels are a whole other story.

The underground tunnels are made for flood control and as there is less rain in Las Vegas, they remain dry most of the time.

Hence, more than 1,500 inhabitants seek refuge under these tunnels as they don’t have their own homes.

25. Las Vegas Has the Tallest Freestanding Observation Tower in the US

These facts about Las Vegas show that the city has many achievements to show for itself. It has the tallest freestanding observation tower named the Stratosphere Tower.

The Stratosphere Tower has a height of 1,149 feet. From the top, you can marvel at the entire city and also the mountains surrounding it!

Apart from the beautiful sights, the tower also has four exciting rides, a revolving restaurant, and various well-known shops.