Exactly what occurs in Vegas ... well, you understand the rest. However here are 24 facts about Sin City you likely haven't heard.
1. Most of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. An excellent part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are in fact located in an unincorporated town called Paradise, Nevada.
2. One destination that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the oversized neon cowboy that commands downtown's famous Fremont Street. It's the biggest mechanical neon sign in the world.
3. More than 41 million visitors cycle through Sin City each year ...
4. ... So it's a good thing the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 most significant hotels.
5. There's a lot property for travelers to benefit from, it would take a person 288 years to invest a night in every hotel space in the city.
6. There's a secret city below the city. Miles of tunnels-- originally built to safeguard the desert town from flash floods-- home numerous homeless homeowners.
7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from founder-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. Starlet Virginia Hill passed the label "The Flamingo" because of her red hair and long, thin legs.
In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of prejudiced Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and gambling establishments. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. took a dip in the whites-only swimming pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Casino.
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 show. At the Nevada Test Site, simply 65 miles northwest of the city, the United States Department of Energy would check nuclear gadgets. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking chance, and decided to distribute calendars advertising detonation times and choice viewing locations.
11. Legendary recluse Howard Hughes explored the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, renting the entire top two floors. When he overstayed his 10-day booking, he was asked to leave. Rather, he began settlements to purchase the 715-room area. His purchase was total 3 months later.
FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he created the company-- the Yale grad took the venture's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack.
13. Do not disrupt: Vegas has more unlisted phone numbers than any other city in the United States.
14. Need to hope? Nevada law specifies that video slots should pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the cash deposited typically. (Though it deserves keeping in mind that in New Jersey, the home of betting capital Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).
15. It takes roughly 10 minutes to snatch a marriage license at the bureau in downtown Las Vegas, which is open every day from 8 a.m. up here until midnight. Not surprising that some 10,000 couples wed in the city monthly.
16. Let them eat ... shrimp cocktails? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city each day. That's greater than the remainder of the nation-- combined.
17. The half-scale model of the Eiffel Tower, located outside Paris Las Vegas, was originally planned to be full-size, but due to the close proximity of the airport-- just three miles-- it needed to be shrunk down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is in fact bigger than the initial Excellent Sphinx of Giza.
18. At 50 heaps, the bronze lion outside the MGM Grand Hotel is thought to be the biggest bronze sculpture in the western hemisphere.
19. The distinct gold color of the windows at the Mirage Hotel originates from real gold dust.
20. There are 3933 guest rooms at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the number of locals in the city of Bellagio, Italy.
21. Not into casinos? The city also features a heavy equipment play ground where building and construction lovers can drive around bulldozers for enjoyable.
22. Prior to his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was checking out doing a Vegas residency. He planned to promote it with a 50-foot robot-likeness of himself that would roam the Nevada desert.
At Vegas restaurant Heart Attack Grill, waitresses dress in nurses attire and patrons can order an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass burger with a side of flatliner french fries. In 2013, one of the spot's routine clients passed away ... from an evident heart attack.
24. From external space, the Las Vegas Strip appears as the brightest spot on Earth. Who cares if it's not actually in Las Vegas?
Many of Vegas' renowned hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. A great portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the well known "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are actually situated in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.
One destination that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that presides over downtown's famed Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's sweetheart. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and casinos.