What happens in Vegas ... well, you know the rest. However here are 24 realities about Sin City you likely haven't heard.
1. Most of Vegas' iconic hotels aren't technically located in the city of Las Vegas. A great part of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the renowned "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign-- are really situated in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.
2. One attraction that is within Las Vegas city limits: Vegas Vic, the large neon cowboy that commands downtown's famed Fremont Street. It's the largest mechanical neon check in the world.
3. More than 41 million visitors cycle through Sin City each year ...
4. ... So it's an advantage the town boasts 14 of the world's 20 greatest hotels.
5. There's so much real estate for travelers to make the most of, it would take a person 288 years to spend a night in every hotel room in the city.
6. There's a secret city underneath the city. Miles of tunnels-- originally developed to secure the desert town from flash floods-- home hundreds of homeless locals.
7. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Gambling establishment got its name from creator-- and famous mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. Actress Virginia Hill went by the label "The Flamingo" due to the fact that of her red hair and long, thin legs.
8. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas possessed its own set of discriminatory Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service jobs-- kept African Americans from the growing city's gambling establishments and hotels. Even legendary performers like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole were forced to go into and leave the venues in which they were performing through back entrances and side entranceways. In 1952, acting legend Sammy Davis Jr. swam in the whites-only pool at the New Frontier Hotel & Gambling Establishment. Later on, the supervisor had it drained.
9. In May 1955, the Moulin Rouge made history when it became the city's first interracial casino. Legendary fighter Joe Louis, a part owner, stated, "This isn't really the opening of a Las Vegas hotel. It's history."
10. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Las Vegas was known for putting on a different kind of program. At the Nevada Test Website, just 65 miles northwest of the city, the U.S. Department of Energy would test nuclear devices. Las Vegas' Chamber of Commerce saw a moneymaking opportunity, and chose to disperse calendars marketing detonation times and option watching areas.
11. Famous recluse Howard Hughes examined into the strip's Desert Inn on Thanksgiving Day 1966, leasing the entire top two floors. He was asked to leave when he overstayed his 10-day appointment. Rather, he began settlements to purchase the 715-room spot. His purchase was complete 3 months later on.
12. FedEx founder Frederick W. Smith saved the delivery company with a trip to Vegas. In 1974-- three years after he produced the company-- the Yale grad took the venture's last $5,000 and turned it into $32,000 with a weekend of blackjack. His, er, gamble click site gave the company enough money to survive.
13. Do not disrupt: Vegas has more unlisted contact number than other city in the United States.
Nevada law mentions that video slot makers need to pay back a minimum of 75 percent of the loan transferred on average. (Though it's worth keeping in mind that in New Jersey, house to gambling mecca Atlantic City, it's 83 percent.).
15. It takes roughly 10 minutes to nab a marriage license at the bureau in downtown Las Vegas, which is open every day from 8 a.m. until midnight. No surprise some 10,000 couples wed in the city each month.
16. Let them eat ... shrimp cocktails? More than 60,000 pounds of the shellfish are consumed in the city each day. That's higher than the rest of the country-- combined.
17. The half-scale design of the Eiffel Tower, situated outside Paris Las Vegas, was initially prepared to be full-size, however due to the close distance of the airport-- simply 3 miles-- it had actually to be diminished down. On the other hand, the Luxor Las Vegas' Sphinx is in fact bigger than the initial Excellent Sphinx of Giza.
18. At 50 heaps, the bronze lion outside the MGM Grand Hotel is thought to be the biggest bronze sculpture in the western hemisphere.
19. The distinct gold color of the windows at the Mirage Hotel originates from real gold dust.
20. There are 3933 guest spaces at Bellagio Las Vegas-- more than the variety of citizens in the city of Bellagio, Italy.
21. Not into gambling establishments? The city also features a heavy equipment playground where building enthusiasts can drive around bulldozers for fun.
22. Before his death in 2009, Michael Jackson was looking into doing a Vegas residency. He prepared to market it with a 50-foot robot-likeness of himself that would stroll the Nevada desert.
At Vegas restaurant Heart Attack Grill, waitresses dress in nurses garb and patrons can order an 8000-calorie quadruple bypass burger with a side of flatliner french fries. In 2013, one of the area's routine customers passed away ... from an obvious heart attack.
24. From deep space, the Las Vegas Strip appears as the brightest spot on Earth. Who cares if it's not in fact in Las Vegas?
Many of Vegas' renowned hotels aren't technically situated in the city of Las Vegas. A great portion of the Las Vegas Strip-- and the famed "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" indication-- are in fact located in an unincorporated municipality called Paradise, Nevada.
One destination that is within Las Vegas city limitations: Vegas Vic, the extra-large neon cowboy that administers over downtown's famous Fremont Street. The strip's Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino got its name from founder-- and legendary mobster-- Bugsy Siegel's girlfriend. In the mid-20th century, Las Vegas had its own set of inequitable Jim Crow laws, which-- with the exception of low-wage service tasks-- kept African Americans out of the growing city's hotels and gambling establishments.