All That Glitters: The History & Economics Of The Casino Show

Liberace changed everything. In 1944, he played his first extended run in Las Vegas at the New Frontier. By the 1950s, he was working the Riviera and setting the standard for the future of the residency. Mr. Showmanship changed the perception of casino entertainment. No longer was music consigned to the background, but the entertainment was a draw in itself.

Casino operators saw the potential. Frank Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack caught on in the 1950s. Elvis Presley brought rock ’n’ roll to Vegas for the first time in 1956 at the New Frontier (and famously bombed). 

Later, the King would be as associated with Vegas as Liberace and the Rat Pack — and showed that rock could draw in those venues.

Elvis played Vegas until his death. Sinatra et al., and Liberace, too. Eventually it was the crooners who dominated casinos — Wayne Newton has been singing “Danke Schoen” on The Strip since the 1970s — and stuck in the collective imagination as what it meant to be a casino artist.

During the Golden Age of Las Vegas — scholars define it as 1944 to 1972 — casino entertainment served two purposes. First, all casinos offer the same games. Blackjack is blackjack no matter where you play it and every roulette wheel has 38 slots (at least in America). Who was playing your theater was one way casinos differentiated from one another. Secondly, casinos were looking for acts who drew the right people: the ones with money to burn, the “whales” in industry parlance.

Eventually, the perception changed; as Cher said, casinos were seen as “elephant’s graveyards.”

“I think that there was a stigma in casinos for a lot of artists, that if you played a casino, it was toward the end of your life cycle. And it became something that wasn’t looked at as glamorous,” Yaamava’ Resort & Casino Vice President of Entertainment Drew Dixon says. “It became more along the lines of, I’ve seen my ticket sales decline, and I’m going to step into the casino space to continue to keep the income coming.”

Celine Dion’s 2003 “A New Day…” run at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace changed that perception almost overnight. Elton John followed, as did Rod Stewart and Cher. Boomers and Gen Xers could see the acts they loved. Millennials came along when Britney Spears’ 2013 “Piece of Me” residency landed at the Axis at Planet Hollywood.

Nowadays, Vegas residencies by contemporary hitmakers are not uncommon and one-offs at casinos are considered unremarkable. No longer are shows draws for high-rollers or incentives for loyal customers. They’re marketing.

Casinos make major capital expenditures to compete with the general market and offer something that isn’t available at a standard arena show: intimacy.

“When you look at our space … we’re creating an environment that rivals that of most of the major live music venues that are not in a casino space. And we want them to experience top-of-the-line production. We want them to experience a staff that is incredibly hospitality-focused,” Dixon says. “We try to be innovative, and we try to have that eclectic calendar that allows people to find something that will appeal to them … And I look at a lot of our bookings … and those conversations are centered around creating something that is unlike anyone else has ever seen.”

The change to acts targeting younger fans — and even a wholly non-gambling audience — is one that’s been rapid and likely to continue. According to David Forman, vice president of research at the American Gaming Association, the average age of a casino guest in 2019 was nearly 50 years old. In just four years, that age dropped to 42. In 2024, just 48% of casino visitors said gambling was the primary purpose of their trip.

Still: does the money make sense? Covering a high guarantee in a smaller room necessarily means charging more. Lady Gaga’s residency at Park MGM reportedly came with a $1 million per night guarantee when it began in 2018. Dollars are fungible — it doesn’t matter if that million came from ticket revenue or from slot machines — but there were questions raised if MGM would be able to get the crowds to justify the expense. In the end, Gaga’s first run was immensely successful, selling out the 5,400-cap room at an average ticket price of nearly $275 and grossing roughly $1.5 million per night, according to Pollstar Boxoffice reports.

The new wave of casino shows portended a wider industry trend: concertgoers will pay what were once seen as exorbitant prices if the show is strong and the broader market has moved to recognize that fact. The average price for Lady Gaga’s most recent show at Park MGM is up 19% from her first show six years ago, a time period that’s seen the overall average ticket price jump 37%, according to Pollstar reports. 

Casinos are no longer places for artists to play out the string of their careers and in-house theaters are no longer a place for the casinos to provide a little distraction or an inducement. Changing expectations from casino guests — and a much-changed concert market — have changed casino entertainment from a loss leader into a thought leader.