INTERVIEW: Livestreamer Steven Campbell on Why Vegas is Down
Posted on: July 2, 2025, 07:21h.
Last updated on: July 2, 2025, 11:35h.
- Steven Campbell runs the popular “Not Leaving Las Vegas” YouTube channel
- A longtime vlogger, Campbell says the downturn in Las Vegas tourism is even worse than official sources would have you believe
- Campbell believes increased costs, the proliferation of casinos around the rest of the US, and foreign travelers’ reluctance to come to the states (especially Canadians) is also driving the downturn in Las Vegas tourism
More than a dozen livestreamers walk the Las Vegas Strip on any given Friday and Saturday night, narrating what they observe to their viewers as they slip into casino entranceways and hope for something interesting to go down. The ones who have done it regularly, for years, are in a unique position: they’re able to discern trends in Las Vegas tourism and speak freely about them.
For the first five months of 2025, visitor volume was 16.45 million, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). That’s down 6.5% (1.1 million fewer visitors) compared to the same period in 2024.
But Steven Campbell believes the downturn is even worse than those numbers suggest. The host of “Not Leaving Las Vegas,” a YouTube channel with 85,700 subscribers, he has livestreamed the Strip three or four times a week since 2019.
For several months now, Campbell’s livestreams have taken a decidedly foreboding turn, with titles including “Vegas is Scary Slow,” ”Vegas Tourism Just Collapsed” and “The Never Ending Decline of Vegas” — and the content to back those claims up.
Casino.org Zoomed with the 44-year-old former timeshare salesperson for his take …
Q: Some critics claim that you and other vloggers are going out at 4 a.m. and proclaiming Vegas dead just for the doom-scrolling clicks. How do you respond?
A: Everybody wants clicks, but tourism is significantly down. In the last three weeks, I’ve done some experiments. I’ve gone out and streamed at 5 pm, 7 pm, 10 pm, and 11:30 pm. Other than giant lineups in front of nightclubs, I can’t find the same crowds anywhere. It’s like, where did everybody go?
It’s not completely dead. I mean, the casinos are still making money. There are fewer guests, but they’re making more revenue per guest off of people coming here.
Q: What factors do you think are most responsible for the downturn?
A: Casinos are pricing their customers out of the market with $26 bottles of water at the Aria and $60 early room check-in charges at the Flamingo. People are not going to spend their money on Vegas when they think it’s a bad value proposition for them.
Q: But you see a lot of 30%-40% discounts casinos are offering, especially this summer, which is the traditional slow time. You don’t see that coaxing anyone back who gave up on Vegas?
A: Yeah, but I don’t think it’s possible for casinos to lower the average cost of a Vegas vacation anymore. They closed most of the buffets and turned the space into food halls, where 10 different restaurants pay $100K a month apiece, so they have to charge high prices in order to pay that rent.
Q: Prices aren’t the only things keeping tourists away, though, right?
A: We’ve also got a lot of people who are afraid to travel right now. Canadians are sensitive. I’m Canadian by birth — they’ve always been sensitive. When Donald Trump started talking about the 51st state, a lot of them took it personally and they’re not traveling here. And people are not traveling as much internationally for other reasons as well.
Also, Vegas doesn’t have the luster it used to have. Now we have big casinos being built in a lot of other places. Casino companies like Caesars Entertainment look at Vegas as part of an overall whole. MGM is making all their money out of Asia right now, the same with Wynn. And it says a lot when Miriam Adelson sells her stake in Las Vegas Sands to buy a basketball team
The UAE is opening casinos and the big thing that I think is going to mess with us is going to be New York City. People don’t understand how much money is involved there right now. So that gets Vegas transitioning.
Q: What do you think Vegas is transitioning into?
A: I think it’s basically becoming Orlando. The average tourist might go to Orlando every five or 10 years. That’s because the average family vacation there costs $10K now. So you might get $30K out of that family of four who goes to Orlando two or three times over the course of 15 years. That’s starting to happen in Vegas now.
The days of small little trips — let’s get in the car and drive to Vegas and get a cheap room for the weekend from SoCal — those are ending.
Q: What gave you the idea to livestream the Strip?
A: I worked on the Strip doing timeshare stuff from 2007 until 2019. The YouTube channel ‘Jacob’s Life in Vegas’ was inspirational to me. My wife started watching him and said, ‘You know, you research things like crazy, you know so much history about the city. You should make YouTube videos.’
There were only one or two other people doing it then, and I thought it would just be a creative outlet for me. And it kind of just took off.
Q: Is it always interesting?
A: Sometimes, you see some pretty off-the-rails stuff, sometimes you don’t. It just depends on what the crowd looks like and whoever wants to jump on your stream. Sometimes, it’s too crazy. I have to delete some streams because of things like almost-full frontal nudity from the mascots (the costumed characters who pose for photos for tips). Otherwise, YouTube will take AI and tell me I broke their content guidelines.
Q: I don’t imagine the casinos roll out their red carpets when they see you.
A: No casino has a policy that allows you to film inside it at all, period, no matter what. Some streamers get cleared to stream from a slot machine or some tables, but there’s no wide-open social media policy. So these guards will come up to you. Sometimes they’re nice. Sometimes they demand to see your ID and you have to get out before you get added to a list.
When it’s not busy in the casinos, the guards will hone in on you. But if you’re streaming at 10 pm on a Friday, the guards are never even gonna look at you because they don’t have the ability to focus on you.
Last Comments ( 31 )
Room rates aren't too bad. It's the resort fees that make the rooms so expensive.
Vegas isn't what it used to be...$$$$...it's a convenient excuse for casinos to charge exhorbent amts for a bottle of water,drinks at the pool,food ,etc..."rising costs"..those costs are passed on to the tourists...obvious by the $25 minimum table games-which,by the way are becoming scarce,not to mention the tight machines...so why go to Vegas when cheaper options for a "gambling junket"exist now in most states,that btw...don't date charge $20 per 8 oz drink
I have been twice already this year. Once to see the Eagles and the other for a long weekend getaway. I am planning a third trip soon as well. My wife and I shop the outlet malls and the casino malls to get our steps in. I agree that prices are significantly higher. We know the city well enough to go off strip to buy food, water and even gas. If you live close by in a neighboring state it isn’t so bad, but if you have to fly and rent a car or Uber things can get costly fast. We used to visit more often but now ever since casinos started charging for parking abot ten years ago we cut our trips in half. The casinos may think including parking with resort fees makes parking the same as before but it keeps a lot of people from moving around. Once they check in they are not going to several other places and keep psaying parking fees all day. Free Parking for all! It may even increase occupancy.
I’m from SoCal and was going to Vegas 6-8 times a year since I was a kid back in the 70’s. We noticed maybe 15 yrs ago “things were changing” when we checked in to our hotel and got charged for parking. Then the buffets disappeared, then they start squeezing you in the drunks while gambling, the resort fees, the price of everything. So we headed downtown and enjoyed that for another 10 yrs. Forgot about the strip completely. The downtown started changing with all the BS fees, charging for parking, squeezing you in the free drinks. For last 7 yrs we just been going to Laughlin. Plus they got the lake right there, it’s affordable. Vegas just got way too crazy expensive and lost their way with what built the town to begin with. It’s very sad. Reminds me of how bad Disneyland bends you over at their theme parks.
Greed is killing Vegas. Used to be a great place for a bargain vacation; I used to go 2-3 times per year. No mas.
There is no value for a person or family to vacation in Vegas anymore, and that's a shame.With all the fees and high prices it's cheaper to go elsewhere especially when it seems as if every state is getting in on the gambling and opening their own casinos.If I have a casino local to me then why get on a plane,drive a car to vegas when I can save alot more money and stay closer to home? Vegas is all about the money with closing the buffets, cutting back on the free drinks (as alot of places time your play to become eligible for free drinks)..Tipping here in vegas has gone crazy as everywhere you go they want a tip. Hotels and casinos, bars,clubs, etc ok I get that but when you got to fast food resturant and are prompted for a tip come on now !!!.. Vegas has lost it's way and it needs to get back to the old ways and regain its luster, allure before it's too far gone.One could've used a better source then scammer steve...
Hotel costs have increased everywhere, not just Vegas. Recent union wage increases had to be made up somewhere, so rooms rates went up. Not blaming unions, since cost of living has gone up significantly in valley. Outsiders have bought up large swaths of the available homes as investment properties, increasing housing costs. All of these factors are interconnected. Vegas is still a value proposition versus comparable entertainment destinations. If you want to save money, knock yourself out in Laughlin or Mesquite; bet you will be back to Vegas after just one visit!
Anyone that thinks Vegas is bad now, wait til 4th quarter. After 2 years of F1, enough people have had to deal with the debacle, they will not come back to Vegas Oct-Dec. I drive for Uber and here it all the time. In fact, it's probably helping things now as I've had many rides were people said they always use to come end if year but came earlier to avoid the mess.
It’s easy to figure out the main reason why tourism is down in Las Vegas- they simply charge too much for everything. Even parking is now expensive when it used to be free. Why should I go pay exorbitant prices for a room, food, entertainment, and parking in the middle of a desert plus lose money at a casino? No thanks. I can think of a lot better ways to spend my disposable income.
As someone who grew up in L.A. and now lives in the Vegas valley, I think the main thing that has turned local tourism away is the cost…for everything. The ridiculous charges mentioned in this article plus no free parking, no cheap drinks, withering buffets and very few cheap steak dinners. Vegas has lost its kitschy charm and replaced it with corporate greed. This and the fact that California and Nevada can’t seem to come together to make the 15 four lanes wide, and you have a stressful drive and no cheap, fun options when you get there. Then there’s that terrible drive back. To the article’s point, there are now other options for the same money. There used to be no better value than Vegas…those days are gone.
I can't stand watching Jacob's Life in Las Vegas or Not Leaving Las Vegas. These two are complete polar opposites. Jacob is annoying in his positivity, and Steven is equally annoying with his negativity. There are plenty of vloggers out there to pick from that do a better job.
They keep adding fees and taxes, the resort fee is crazy and even that is taxed. You can’t find a drink service person for hours. They charge exorbitant fees for parking your car. Greed is killing this city, it used to be possible to gamble a little eat cheap stay cheap and leave happy. Now they want you to leave poor hungry sleepy and hungry. Try getting a decent free drink while playing at Resort World, it is near impossible, and they penny pinch on quality.
I frequently head to Vegas to enjoy time easy and make a point of watching Steve's work for restaurant tips and to get a feel for how Las Vegas is doing. His knowledge of the city is spectacular and great for the "every man" traveler. You chose wisely!
This guy has always badmouthed casinos since the beginning. You should have interviewed someone else. By the way I've been to Vegas over a hundred times and now it's to expensive. Cheaper to rent a car and go enjoy the smaller cities. Plus Nevada is beautiful
One item missing is that Vegas is Vegas, nothing is changing except high prices keep getting worse. In addition the amount of new casinos in the past 20 years in America is also having an effect its no longer just to to Vegas or Atlantic City to gamble. There is not enough "New" to draw excitement. When you look at other destinations such as Dubai they have a vision and that is to add attractions overtime to keep people traveling. Vegas has 5 years to implement a true vision or it will become the next Atlantic City.