Las Vegas History: Vegas By the Numbers

• $39,500, cost per hotel room to build the International (now the Las Vegas Hilton) in 1969.
• $249,000, cost per room for Steve Wynn's Mirage in 1989.
• $533,333, cost per room to build the Bellagio in 1998.
• $747,943, cost per room for Wynn Las Vegas, 2005.
• $1, the per-night room rate at the newly opened Golden Gate Hotel (then called Hotel Nevada) in 1906.
• $6, the per-night room rate at the newly opened Stardust in 1958.
• $90, the average per-night room rate in Las Vegas in 2004.
• 30, the number of rooms at the first Las Vegas hotel in 1905, the canvas-topped Hotel Las Vegas.
• 5,034, the current number of rooms at the MGM Grand . The MGM Grand is the second-largest hotel in the world; only the Ambassador City Jomtien in Thailand at 5,100 rooms is larger.

• $50,000, the amount per week that Liberace received performing at the newly opened Riviera in 1955
• $832,500, the estimated amount per week that Celine Dion received performing at Caesars Palace in 2004.
• 1957, the year of the first topless show in Las Vegas, Minsky's Follies at the Dunes.
• 11, the number of Las Vegas shows that currently feature topless performers -- eight shows feature women and three shows feature men.

• 99 cents, the cost of a shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate Casino in 1959.
• 99 cents, the cost of a shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate Casino in 2005.
• 25 million, the number of shrimp cocktails served between 1959 and 1991 at the Golden Gate Casino.
• $7.77, the price for the Gambler's Special (steak, three barbecued shrimp, a choice of potato or broccoli and a salad) at Mr. Lucky's 24/7 in the Hard Rock . The special never has been listed on a menu, but locals know to ask for it.
• 1.2 million, the number of alcoholic beverages served each month to guests at the Excalibur hotel-casino.
• 35, number of years Luv-It Custard has operated in the shadow of the Las Vegas Strip. Owned and operated by one family, our favorite custard shop has been dishing up Western specials to locals and visitors alike and winning "Best Of" awards for years.

• 12.5 million, LED bulbs in the Fremont Street Experience canopy.
• 216,510, bulbs on the Caesars Palace faux Christmas tree.
• 12,000, total weight in pounds of the 75-foot-tall Vegas Vic, a landmark neon sign erected in 1951.
• 88, number of locations with neon signs documented in the 2002 Neon Survey commissioned by the Neon Museum .
• 6, number of locations demolished or closed since the original neon survey.
• 50, age of the landmark "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign designed by Betty Willis and built for the Clark County Commission.

• $369,286,977, Clark County gaming revenue in 1970.
• $8,710,976,000, Clark County gaming revenue in 2004.
• $545, average gambling budget reported by visitors in 2004.
• $39,713,982.25, highest slot jackpot ever hit. The jackpot was won by a 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles on a Megabucks machine at the Excalibur hotel-casino on March 21, 2003.

• 11, number of charter members in Nevada's Black Book (Nevada's List of Excluded Persons). All 11 were entered into the book on June 16, 1960.
• 1, number of charter members still living. Louis Tom Dragna, "The Reluctant Prince," is the last surviving charter member of the Nevada Black Book. He is 84.
• 56, total number of individuals entered in the Black Book.
• 39, current number of living members of the Black Book.
• 1, number of women listed in the Nevada Black Book. Sandra Kay Vaccaro is the only woman listed in the Black Book. Vaccaro was a co-defendant with her husband, John, in one of Nevada's largest slot cheating cases. John Vaccaro also is listed in the Black Book.

• 6.8 million, number of visitors to Las Vegas in 1970.
• 37.4 million, number of visitors to Las Vegas in 2004.
• 450, percent increase in the number of visitors to Las Vegas in 30 years.

• 3,321, population of Clark County, where Las Vegas is located, in 1910.
• 1,715,337, population of Clark County in 2004.
• 516, percent of growth in Clark County's population between 1910 and 2004.
• 4.1, percent of Nevada population living in Clark County in 1910.
• 71, percent of Nevadans living in Clark County in 2004.

• 84, number of languages spoken by residents of Clark County; English, Spanish and Tagalog (the language spoken in the Philippines) are the top three languages spoken in Clark County.
• 25th, Clark County's ranking among the most linguistically diverse counties in the nation, according to Census 2000 statistics.

• 1,225, peak height in feet of Lake Mead in July 1983.
• 1,145, height in feet of the lake in March 2005.
• 80, amount in feet the lake has dropped in the past five years.
• 88, percent of its water that Las Vegas gets from Lake Mead.
• 6.7, percent of Vegas' yearly water use consumed by resorts for everything from pools, landscaping and fountains to guests' showers.
• 59, percent of Vegas' yearly water use consumed by single and multifamily residences in Las Vegas.
• 70, percent of an individual residence's drinkable water used on landscaping.
• 51 million, number of square feet of grass replaced with Xeriscape since the Southern Nevada Water Authority's Water Smart Landscapes rebate program began in 1999.
• 2.8 billion, number of gallons of water saved each year by converting grass to Xeriscape.