We Went to Vegas to Wring Joy From Heartbreak
The writer and his oldest friends reunited to mourn the ones they lost—and honor the time they have left.
The writer and his oldest friends reunited to mourn the ones they lost—and honor the time they have left.
Mitchell S. Jackson The New York Times Magazine Sep 2021 30min Permalink
A story of gambling addiction, in seven parts.
Jay Caspian Kang The Morning News Oct 2010 Permalink
Las Vegas is both stranger and more normal than you might imagine, and for some reason, people don’t think anyone lives there.
Amanda Fortini The Believer Jan 2020 20min Permalink
After a mass shooting, who cares for the coroners?
Ann Givens GQ, The Trace Sep 2019 25min Permalink
A profile of a “49-year-old man whose father has just yelled at him,” Frank Sinatra Jr., a son living under the longest shadow.
Inside a sleazy FBI sting involving diet clinics, fitness models, money laundering, and a supposed plot to hire a hitman.
Trevor Aaronson theintercept.com Aug 2018 30min Permalink
The days, weeks, and months after the worst mass shooting in modern American history.
Amanda Fortini California Sunday May 2018 15min Permalink
A Las Vegas hustler hits his lowest point.
Fred Steese served more than 20 years in prison for the murder of a Vegas circus performer even though evidence proved he didn’t do it. When the truth came to light, he was offered a confounding deal: he could go free, but only if he agreed to remain a convicted killer.
Megan Rose ProPublica May 2017 35min Permalink
How the Raiders got to Las Vegas.
Seth Wickersham, Don Van Natta Jr. ESPN Apr 2017 30min Permalink
How a card-counting former meteorologist from Las Vegas made the first perfect Showcase bid in the 38-year history of The Price Is Right.
Chris Jones Esquire Jul 2010 20min Permalink
How modern slot machines develop a nearly unbreakable hold on the brain, leading around one in five pathological gamblers to attempt suicide.
John Rosengren The Atlantic Nov 2016 40min Permalink
He stole over $1 million in chips – then checked himself into casino’s hotel to live like a king.
Keith Romer Rolling Stone Nov 2016 20min Permalink
A look inside Donald Trump’s portfolio of exclusive real estate properties.
Caity Weaver GQ Jul 2016 25min Permalink
On the rapid disintegration of the ecosystem in Las Vegas.
Michael Tennesen Scientific American Apr 2015 10min Permalink
How Billy Walters, the world’s most successful gambler, keeps winning.
Mike Fish ESPN the Magazine Feb 2015 10min Permalink
A pair of gamblers and a glitch too good to last.
Kevin Poulsen Wired Oct 2014 25min Permalink
Retracing Hunter S. Thompson’s steps 40 years later.
Zach Baron The Daily Oct 2011 55min Permalink
Britney Spears works Vegas, bitch.
Taffy Brodesser-Akner Matter Jun 2014 30min Permalink
“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”
Hunter S. Thompson Rolling Stone Nov 1971 1h35min Permalink
A trio of addicts--a man, a woman, and a prostitute--venture into Las Vegas to find a dealer.
"At the corner of Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard, we are swallowed by a cheery, comforting crowd of good mothers from Wisconsin and fathers from Minnesota, out as late as they ever have been. It is a sea of gaping purses. Flip-phones are holstered to belts, tucked under big bellies. Half-drunk gallon-sized tubes of ruby-red beverage crowd the trashcans and I have no qualms about picking one for myself and gulping it down. The liquid is warm and syrupy, but under it all there is the low burn of rum, a small relief. Deborah has powdered her nose and is eyeballing the frat boys on the periphery. Only Shelly is looking lost, still sweating around her underarms, her eyes bugging and the space under her chin, dipping up and down, swallowing nothing."
Leah Bailly The Collagist Jan 2012 15min Permalink
A field report from Electric Daisy Carnival, a three-night bacchanal in the Las Vegas desert attended by “100,000 wasted hedonists scantily dressed in furry underwear.”
Gideon Lewis-Kraus GQ Nov 2012 20min Permalink
How the biggest club in Vegas does business.
Devin Friedman GQ Aug 2012 30min Permalink
A group of misfit boys from the fringes of Las Vegas form a clique. Then, with murky motives, they decide to murder one of their own and bury him in a desert pit.
Vanessa Grigoriadis Salon Mar 2007 25min Permalink
Before the market crashed and home prices tumbled, before federal investigators showed up and hauled away the community records, before her property managers pled guilty for conspiring to rig neighborhood elections, and before her real estate lawyer allegedly tried to commit suicide by overdosing on drugs and setting fire to her home, Wanda Murray thought that buying a condominium in Las Vegas was a pretty good idea.
Felix Gillette Businessweek Dec 2011 20min Permalink