One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
A Dozen Casinos In Vegas Will Now Charge For Nightly Parking
All this for just $10 a night! (Wikimedia Commons)
A weekend in Vegas means a weekend of escape: escape from commitments and obligations, escape from responsible behavior, and escape from—perhaps most critically for Angelenos who trek across the Mojave—paid parking.
Until now, Las Vegas' Strip resorts have (as far as we can tell) always offered acres of free parking for Angelenos freshly arriving off the interstate. But starting this spring, MGM Resorts, the owner 12 of the hotel-casinos on Vegas' strip, will begin charging a "modest" $10 a night fee for gamblers and revelers to park their cars in structures owned by the company.
MGM Resorts justifies their introduction of parking rates by citing how the company will use the money collected to "enhance" the "guest parking experience with [a] new parking facility," and "new technology amenities and upgrades to existing facilities," according to the Los Angeles Times
The $90 million strategy to overhaul MGM Resorts' parking infrastructure in Vegas will introduce features like a smartphone app for finding parking spots, according to L.A. Magazine. Thousands of guests paying $10 a night will also contribute to the payment of a giant $54 million, 3,000 spot structure MGM will construct adjacent the Excalibur, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal
MGM Resorts owns a dozen of the casinos dotting the Vegas Strip, including the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Luxor, and Mandalay Bay. Aside from MGM Resorts, the only other major player in the Vegas Strip game is Caesars Entertainment, which owns Paris Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, and a few other properties. A decade of mergers and buyouts have left Caesars and MGM the chief proprietors of Strip entertainment.
Caesars Entertainment did not commit either way to charging for parking or not, perhaps waiting to see what happens with MGM's new policy.
Time will tell, but for now you should expect to lose just a little bit more money the next time you go to Vegas.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
