Welcome to the NEW Las vegas No longer just the smoky domain of one-armed bandits, the city of lost wages has something for all sorts of pleasure seekers.
By Andrew E. Serwer

(FORTUNE Magazine) – Wholesome enough for a church outing. As antiseptic as a modern theme park. Able to attract free-spending families in a single swoop. Look, it's a Disneyland. It's a futuristic fun world. No, betcha 5 to 2 it's Las Vegas! Almost half a century after gangster Bugsy Siegel flipped on the lights at the Flamingo, this city of small sins is remaking itself, in a family way, the better to compete with the growing number of casinos nationwide. Going down are kitschy landmarks like the Dunes and even Bugsy's joint -- a part of the Flamingo Hilton. Going up are entertainment complexes pristine enough for Mr. and Mrs. Apple Pie. Want to talk job creation? Since 1988 the number of employees toiling in casinos has climbed 35%, to about 135,000. The lure of jobs in casinos, construction, retail, and other trades has swollen the population 28% since 1988, to almost 900,000. The new Las Vegas was shaped by legitimate gaming godfathers like Stephen Wynn, CEO of Mirage Resorts, who realized that to expand the market they had to offer more than the same old craps. So they created vacation fantasy lands, complete with laser shows, roller coasters, and a replica of King Tut's tomb. ''To grow we needed to attract people who didn't want to gamble 24 hours a day,'' says Circus Circus President Clyde Turner. Want to bring the kids? Sure. The new MGM Grand will babysit children (the ultimate collateral) while their parents gamble. A hotel-supplied pager lets them stay in touch. The new look emerged in late 1989 when Wynn completed the Mirage, a $630 million, 3,050-room hotel/casino, on the city's tacky turnpike, the Strip. It features a 20,000-gallon aquarium and an immensely popular man-made volcano out front. Circus Circus countered with Excalibur, a 4,032-room Arthurian extravaganza. Last year was the high renaissance, with the opening of three mammoth hotel/casinos, including Luxor, Wynn's Treasure Island, and the MGM Grand, the ''world's biggest casino hotel'' at 5,005 rooms. Despite the 20,000-plus new hotel rooms and 500,000 square feet of new casino space in four years, occupancy rates actually climbed from 85% in 1989 to near 87% today. The national average is about 67%. The payoff: Gross gaming revenues -- money left with the casinos after winners are paid but before expenses -- climbed from $2.8 billion in 1988 to $4.4 billion in 1993, and that doesn't include the three new additions. One thing hasn't changed about Las Vegas: This town still knows how to separate a man -- better make that a family -- from its money.