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As
the perfect fuel to turn a dithering gawker into a diehard gambler,
alcohol is very easy indeed to come by in Las
Vegas.
If you want a drink in a casino, there's no need to look for a bar;
instead, a tray-toting waitress will come and find you. Beers and
cocktails are delivered free of charge to anyone hovering near, let
alone seated at, the tables and slot machines, and assuming you keep on
tipping the waitress, the supply will keep on going around the clock.
All the casinos have at least one actual bar as well, located in the
heart of the gaming area and invariably packed with cacophonous slot
machines; even the ones at Bellagio have video poker screens inlaid into
their solid marble counters. Customers who are actively gambling can
usually get their drinks free. If you're staying at a major casino on
the Strip or downtown, you'll have no difficulty finding a place to
drink in your hotel. Neither area, however, holds any significant bars
other than those attached to casinos. Elsewhere, neighborhood bars do
exist where you can drink and eat away from the frenzy of the casinos -
the most popular local pub chain, PT's , has around twenty locations -
but very few tourists bother to seek them out. Brewpubs too have
appeared both in, and away from, the casinos; if you're a beer drinker,
you might prefer to seek them out, but don't expect anything special in
terms of food, let alone that you're going to get away from blaring slot
machines.
To buy or consume alcohol in Nevada, you must be aged 21 or over, and
have photo ID to prove it.
In terms of enjoying a proper night out, however, ordinary
run-of-the-mill bars are just a small part of the picture. In the last
few years, Las Vegas has witnessed an explosion of nightlife
opportunities. The old-fashioned Las Vegas lounge has returned in force,
both knowingly retro-styled for twenty-something rockers and lovingly
re-created for older visitors looking to recapture the quieter but still
somehow deliciously decadent flavor of the Rat Pack era. The casinos are
once more competing to hold exotic and character lounges; the Venetian ,
for example, currently holds three highly individual alternatives.
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What's even more striking is that Las Vegas has finally come of age as
an international clubbing capital. The opening of the stand-alone Club
Utopia on the Strip in 1994 paved the way for a steady trickle of
copycat ventures, but only since the start of the millennium has the
scene really taken off. No longer are clubbers considered a breed apart
from tourists; instead, the success of nightclubs at hipper casinos like
the Hard Rock and Mandalay Bay has prompted all their major rivals to
follow suit, often with spectacular results. As the word gets about, Las
Vegas
is becoming known as a specific clubbing destination, although it's
still somewhat skewed towards older punters - Hugh Hefner is even said
to be talking about bringing in the first new Playboy club for twenty
years.
So many entrepreneurs have so much money to throw around in Las Vegas,
aiming to please all of the people all of the time, that it's getting
almost impossible to pinpoint the differences between bars, lounges,
restaurants, and nightclubs. Our listings are divided on the basis that
you go to a bar to drink, whereas you go to a club to dance. And a
lounge? Well, you go to a lounge because you're in Las Vegas
Bars and
lounges
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Vegas
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