Support for WBUR comes from MathWorks, creator of MATLAB and Simulink software for technical computing and model-based design.

MathWorks, accelerating the pace of discovery in engineering and science.

Learn more at MathWorks.com.

Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Mayrotra Institute at B.U. Questrum School of

Business that asks the thorny questions necessary for this moment. Follow Is Business Broken and stay

tuned for new episodes this fall. WBUR Podcasts, Boston.

Sin City, the neon desert, the entertainment capital of the world.

Las Vegas goes by many nicknames. Whatever you want to call it, Vegas is a city that lives and dies by tourism. Visitors and the money they bring with them create

hundreds of thousands of jobs in southern Nevada and more than 30% of the area's gross domestic

product. For decades, Vegas has marketed itself as glamorous, opulent, and one-of-a-kind.

This commercial from 1986 aired throughout the country.

The stars by night, the sun by day, you's the American way to play Legalized gambling,

low taxes, and room to grow.

You know that phrase.

What happens here, stays here.

But recently,

Vegas has had a problem.

There's just less happening there.

We used to stay busy until about three, four in the morning.

And now, around 1.30, it's dead.

It's dead downtown.

Larry Turner is a utility porter at the Four Queens Casino.

...