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Typically when we think of Spring Break, the first locations that come to mind are Cancun, Florida, St. Padre Island, Bahamas and Jamaica. Few consider Las Vegas. But that’s all about to change.
Vegas is now making a run for the Spring Break college crowd. This comes at a time when Mexico is looking less appealing due to a surge in drug warfare while Miami Beach has boosted its code enforcement efforts as a means of discouraging the kids from coming back in future years.
As the Las Vegas Review Journal notes, Sin City has never figured out how to fully tap into college spring break.
That all ends with the introduction of MTV’s Spring Break. Vegas is hosting the event for the very first time.
The Palms is hosting MTV Spring Break, which started Sunday and runs through Thursday."It'll be pretty spectacular," said owner George Maloof. "You can expect to see 3,000 people that want to have a good time."
Spring break business has been building at the Palms , Maloof said, but this was its first formal promotion.
It’s still a tough sell.
"That's really not our market," Boyd Casino told the Las Vegas Review Journal. "Many of them are under 21, and we generally don't market to them."
Vegas casinos cannot afford to lose their licenses by serving under age patrons.
The key would be marketing to Seniors, and Maloof is quick to point out that is what his establishment is trying to do.
From the Las Vegas Review Journal:
In the past, age restrictions on drinking and gambling, plus the lack of a large body of water and beaches essential to most spring break magnets, have dampened the city's allure to students.
Whether the city can overcome those hurdles over the next few years is a question mark, said Jeff Jacobsen, president of Student Travel Services of Glen Burnie, Md.
"There is interest," he said. "What I've found is that the hotels are a lot more open to it because of the economy, but they still don't promote it much."
These next three weeks are typically the busiest for Spring Breakers with the peak period occurring over the next 10 days.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
