What’s killing Las Vegas? The shrinking middle class is a prime suspect

Sunday, April 5, 2026 1:53 PM
Image aggregated from The Nevada Independent.
  • Mini Racker, The Nevada Independent

In Vegas, you can buy just about anything.

For $795, you can get dead skin scrubbed off your face with diamonds before a Machu Picchu-inspired massage. For $2,250, a Humvee will drive you across town to get in the driver’s seat of a tank, then roll it across the pavement to flatten a car. For $4,736, you and a friend can celebrate Halloween rocking out to Metallica inside the Sphere’s snake pit.

For six figures, you can stay in a two-story suite designed by the United Kingdom’s richest artist, complete with 24/7 butler service and two bull sharks encased in formaldehyde. Drop another hundred grand on the Wynn’s F1 experience to walk on the racetrack like Beyoncé and slurp oysters while watching cars whiz through the race’s best turn.