Information About Las Vegas

Population

Las Vegas is the most visited city in the United States, with over 130,000 hotel rooms that were booked more than 40 million times in 2006 alone.

Las Vegas population – 552,000
Metro area population – 1,777,000

Gambling

In 2006, Nevada casinos (most of them in Las Vegas) won $12.6 billion from their guests out of $170 billion total wagered, but Las Vegas was passed by Macau in China as the world’s top gambling destination.

Visas

Citizens of most foreign countries need to obtain a visa to enter the United States. If you live in one of the following countries, however, you can visit for up to 90 days for tourism or business purposes without a visa as part of the Visa Waiver Program: Andorra, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. If you do not carry a U.S. passport, you may be fingerprinted and photographed upon entering the country.

Land Area

The city covers just over 131 square miles.

Currency

U.S. Dollar ($)

Time Zone

Las Vegas is in the Pacific time zone, which is the same as California and is UTC-8. Daylight savings is observed from early March through early November.

Languages

English accounts for nearly 100% of what you’ll hear, but the city has a significant population of Spanish speakers as well. There are several U.S. cities where other languages can be useful, but Las Vegas isn’t one of them.

Nicknames

“The entertainment capital of the world”
“Sin city”

Sales tax

Las Vegas has a sales tax of 7.75%, which is applied to most things other than non-prepared food. Prices don’t reflect the sales tax, so if a taxable item is marked at $10, you’ll be asked to pay $10.78 at the register. There is a 9% hotel tax instead of normal sales tax.

Electricity and Plugs

The U.S. is on the 110V 60Hz system, and the plugs are of two varieties – one with two parallel flat pieces with a circular grounding pin beneath them, and another with just the two flat pieces and no grounding pin.

Using the Telephone

Las Vegas still has only one area code – 702. From landlines you’ll need to dial 1 plus the area code, plus the 7-digit number for all calls. On mobile phones you can skip the 1 before the area code if you like, but you’ll need to dial the area code and 7-digit number regardless if you are in the same area code or not.

Useful Telephone Numbers

Emergency – 911