Several casinos outside the Las Vegas Strip are expanding their properties despite a tourism slump in the city. These casinos report increased visits from outside the area, prompting them to label themselves "hybrid" resorts.

The puck is about to drop for a Tuesday evening Vegas Golden Knights game, and the Durango Casino and Resort parking lot is filling up quickly underneath the glow of a 130-foot-tall marquee promising $3 shots and beers. Inside, beyond the bustling baccarat tables, a longtime local named Patricia Moore adjusts her Vegas Golden Knights cap as her husband, John, places his bets.

According to research from WalletHub, which compared the 100 biggest cities across 26 key metrics it is possible to celebrate New Year’s Eve with a whole host of nightlife options and still have an incredible time. The data set ranges from the legality of fireworks and the nightlife options per capita to food affordability and forecasted precipitation for the 31 December.

Times Square might be the most famous destination in the U.S. for ringing in the new year, but it's also extremely expensive. Local businesses in NYC – and many other famous locales across the U.S. – are notorious for hiking up their prices when big crowds are in town for a major event. That’s especially true for hotels, which can experience price increases of several hundred percent over the rest of the year. The last thing you want to do in the final hours of 2025 is wreck your finances over one night of festivities.

No one would have expected back in 1985 that the National Finals Rodeo would be the massive success that it has become. But now, 40 years later, it’s one of the toughest tickets to get, and what is considered the Super Bowl of rodeos is primed to extend its record of 379 consecutive sell-out performances with 10 nights of competition Thursday through Dec. 13 at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.

While visitors and pundits continue to grapple with affordability concerns in Las Vegas, a few casino operators are separating themselves by resisting the industry’s post-COVID march toward higher prices and fewer player-friendly perks.

Las Vegas has had a rough go of it this year, with tourism down about 8 percent compared to 2024, according to the most recent report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). Restaurants have been hit hard, and dozens of neighborhood diners and upscale celebrity restaurants alike have closed their doors, most of them permanently.

Fewer available workers, supply chain disruptions and overall economic pressures have combined to produce fewer job openings in the foodservice and hospitality sectors this year, according to the National Retail Federation. Meanwhile, experts told The Food Institute the labor outlook for 2026 doesn’t seem any brighter.