It took them quite a while to do so. But they finally have the message. Nearly three full weeks since my daughter and I first announced that tourism to Las Vegas was seriously down (listen to the April 20 podcast of our radio show at www.wor710.com, and then read my blog post of April 30), the mainstream media has finally confirmed what we reported. In a long article in the business section of its May 6 edition, the New York Times belatedly announced that Americans have cut back heavily on their single most destructive habit, gambling at games of choice in the famous Sin City.

One enormous casino company -- Tropicana Entertainment -- has filed bankruptcy. Everywhere, would-be, new, casino-hotels are being halted in mid-construction. Other projects are being cancelled for failure to obtain the necessary bank financing. Hotel occupancy is down by several percentage points, and hotels are furiously discounting, offering free coupons and vouchers to lure innocents to the tables.

One hopes the trend will continue. The billions spent developing Las Vegas and other casino centers are the most misspent outlays of our economy. Those monies are diverted from urgently needed investments in our infrastructure, in higher education, in health care and low-cost housing. Massive casino gambling teaches our children that something can be had for nothing, that by sitting mindlessly at a green felt table, you can become fabulously rich. And until now, those useless fantasy clubs have risen to breathtaking levels of prosperity because of the fear of our politicians that the casino moguls will crush them with their political contributions if fair taxes are assessed on casino income. One such magnate, Sheldon Adelson, is among the highest contributors to a political party in America today.

Other opinion-molders in the media are also hopelessly obsessed with gambling and enamored of it. One such commentator, the oh-so-righteous William Bennett, was revealed to have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars at the Vegas gaming tables until forcefully kept from further visits there by his wife. He had earned his fortune, ironically enough, by writing best-sellers about the need to live an ethical life.

But most of the money hopelessly squandered in Vegas is from people who can't really afford the loss. This national sickness has impoverished multitudes of people.

What has this to do with travel? Well, many of our readers are enamored of The Strip and enjoy spending countless hours feeding coins into a slot machine. For their benefit, I need to point out that this is your chance. In phoning the Vegas hotels for reservations, bargain. Threaten to hang up unless they cut the rate by 60%. Hang up if they don't. By making enough toll-free calls, you'll eventually snare a bargain, and you can then double your savings by resolving never to gamble once you get there.

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