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Watch Sin City The Real Las Vegas () free Season 1 Episode 2 online in HD on Dailymotion (2026).
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00:00There's some man, he's late night, he's late night, I'm late night, bro!
00:05There's some man, he's late night, he's late night!
00:08The traffic light's green! You can go!
00:12Where?
00:14OK, they're having...
00:15Las Vegas, baby!
00:20I'm Tirdondi, journalist and presenter.
00:24I'm in Las Vegas, where I've seen how the city has transformed its image.
00:30From the home of shotgun weddings and dingy poker rooms.
00:34To a destination for world-class entertainment and sports events.
00:40Bringing in billions of dollars of revenue.
00:45But now, it's time to dig a bit deeper.
00:48I want to find out how this transformation has impacted the city's famous sex industry.
00:54If anyone was leaving in cuffs, it was going to be me.
00:57It's not safe for us right now.
00:59And see just how much this glossy new image is disguising a darker reality.
01:04Reporters won't write on it.
01:06They don't want the violence to be known of what goes on here.
01:10And, with poverty rates higher than the national average,
01:13I want to know if any of the billions spent by visitors on the Vegas Strip
01:18are used to help the city's most vulnerable people.
01:21Things that happen in other states, we cannot allow that happen here.
01:24How long have you been here for?
01:27About four years.
01:47A lot of excitement here, where dreams are made, you know.
01:52Maybe some dreams lost.
01:54Yeah.
01:55But it's unlike any other city in the world.
02:00A reputation for adult entertainment and sex has been part of the popularity of Las Vegas over the years.
02:09But where does sex fit in the family-friendly image the city is selling today?
02:16I'm meeting Willem on the Strip.
02:19As a former club promoter who's lived in the city for 25 years, he's seen first-hand how things are
02:25changing.
02:27So, here you've got Flamingo.
02:30So, there's like a burlesque show in the hotel?
02:32Yes.
02:33They're limited nowadays, but there's a few of them at different properties.
02:37Over the years, Vegas has got more family-friendly.
02:40I mean, I'm not going to lie.
02:42I've seen a lot of advertisements for strip clubs.
02:46Yeah.
02:47Naked women.
02:48Yeah.
02:48Oh, yeah.
02:49All of that kind of stuff.
02:50Yeah, of course.
02:50That's one of the things that people come here to Las Vegas to indulge in.
02:54Yeah.
02:55Is, you know, anything that they're not getting at home.
02:58Yeah.
02:59Sex, drugs and rock and roll.
03:07Strip clubs here are perfectly legal.
03:12And in many parts of the state of Nevada, so is selling sex.
03:16But in Las Vegas and the surrounding county, it's illegal.
03:22The exact number of sex workers operating illegally in Las Vegas is difficult to determine.
03:28But estimates suggest it could be up to 10,000.
03:36As an adult content creator and a companion, Nina Nova knows the industry well.
03:42Hi.
03:43Hi.
03:44Nice to meet you.
03:45Lovely to meet you.
03:46I'm Tiff.
03:46How are you doing?
03:47I'm great.
03:49I love the pink light.
03:51Can I sit here?
03:52Of course.
03:52Yeah, you can sit here.
03:53While I get a little bit of makeup on my face.
03:56The sex industry in Vegas must be massive, right?
03:59It's massive.
04:00It's huge.
04:02Sex sells.
04:03You literally go to a bar.
04:05There's go-go dancers, scantily dressed, dancing on tables.
04:10They're passing out little cards with girls on them and numbers to call to get them straight to your hotel
04:16room on the strip.
04:18So how old were you when you first started?
04:20I was 18.
04:23I originally got started as a cam model at a cam studio.
04:26I started making mainstream porn and then it took me even longer before I felt comfortable to start doing companionship.
04:34And what's companionship?
04:35A lot of people might know it is escorting.
04:39It's not my primary source of income.
04:40I get most of my fan base from my porn work.
04:44Because more and more people just want to get the chance to meet me.
04:47It's where the money is.
04:49Like, we're in Sin City.
04:55Your clients, are they more locals or tourists?
04:58Definitely more tourists.
05:01Are there a lot of Brits?
05:03There's been a few, actually.
05:06Really?
05:06I recently just had a Brit.
05:08We've been getting more foreigners in general, actually, for sure.
05:12Really?
05:15After you.
05:16Thank you so much.
05:19Despite Vegas cleaning up its image, if tourists do still come here to pay for sex,
05:24where does that leave the sex workers serving that market illegally?
05:30Thank you so much.
05:32Cheers.
05:33Cheers.
05:34To Vegas.
05:36The legalities of sex work in Vegas seem, like, quite crazy to me.
05:41Because, you know, I've walked up and down the strip.
05:43It's in plain sight.
05:45That's illegal.
05:46It's the fantasy that makes Vegas what it is, right?
05:48Like, people are not coming to Vegas just to drink, let's be real.
05:51But the girls who are actually doing the work are getting arrested and sent to holding.
05:56So, I do know people who have spent months in jail.
06:00You know, like, literal months in jail.
06:03How has New Vegas, or the entertainment industry in Vegas, changed sex work?
06:07There's definitely a push for Vegas to be more family-friendly, more palatable.
06:12Vice is really cracking down on the strip.
06:15When there are big events happening in Vegas, like we have the Super Bowl,
06:18there were stings all over the place.
06:20Like, Vice will be out hot and heavy.
06:22There's no mercy.
06:24So, do people involved in the sex industry,
06:27even Nina doing her legal work as a companion,
06:30feel protected by law enforcement?
06:33What would happen if, you know, something really awful happened?
06:36Is it quite hard to seek help?
06:38Yeah, absolutely.
06:39And that became true for me, too.
06:41It's you and one other person.
06:43And there was a circumstance where it went south and I was raped.
06:49I didn't really feel like I could call anyone
06:51because I knew that if anyone was leaving in cuffs, it was going to be me.
06:55I'm so sorry that that happened to you.
06:57It's something I tell people when they get into this industry.
07:00It's not an if, it's a when.
07:02It happens to you.
07:03Like, unfortunately, like, it's not safe for us right now.
07:11Data suggests the police are cracking down on illegal sex work.
07:15In 2024, they said there had been a 50% increase in arrests for prostitution offences
07:22due to increased enforcement.
07:31But if people working in the sex industry are too scared to call the police when they need them,
07:36they could end up in grave danger.
07:40There's no official data available.
07:43But searching online, there are some reports of sex workers being violently attacked
07:47or even murdered in Las Vegas.
07:51I'd like to know if these reports are a true reflection of the risks to sex workers.
07:57Hi, I'm Tia. Nice to meet you.
08:00Ivy, nice to meet you.
08:01I've come to a local courthouse to meet Ivy, a volunteer for the charity Red Umbrella,
08:07who supports sex workers in Las Vegas.
08:09They often attend criminal trials at courts like these, where the victims are sex workers,
08:15to show unity and draw more attention to the dangers they face.
08:20Ivy claims that what we see in the press is just the tip of the iceberg.
08:26There's kind of a saying we have, people come to Vegas to kill sex workers.
08:31That happens a lot here.
08:32We are losing friends, we're losing community members at an absurd rate.
08:37If not murdered, overdosing from a client or someone drugging them.
08:41I think the only people that know the real numbers are us here on the ground
08:45that are doing the work.
08:48A study conducted in 2018 found that Nevada had more individuals being sold for sex
08:54per 100,000 residents than any other state in America.
08:58And Las Vegas had the highest amount in Nevada.
09:02It's hard to imagine how that many sex workers can operate here illegally when police are clamping down.
09:09Las Vegas in recent years has become a lot more tourist friendly with the dazzling lights, you know, fine dining
09:17or sports.
09:18Vegas was very rooted in sex workers walking the floor, being in your casinos, sitting by the bar.
09:24And that has definitely changed.
09:26They aren't able to anymore.
09:28And is that all to do with New Vegas?
09:31I've heard the words cleaning up their act.
09:33Yeah.
09:33Making it more friendly for tourists.
09:35Yeah.
09:35But with that, what they're doing is really pushing sex workers further underground, making them not visible,
09:41pushing them to the streets, being street based workers.
09:45And that's a perfect storm for criminalization.
09:49What scale are we talking?
09:51In recent years, we do see an enormous amount of sex workers that are harmed.
09:56Tourists are changing how they're really approaching these situations.
10:00We have cases where recently someone met with a client and they had actually drugged the condom they used.
10:08And she was in the ER for a few days.
10:10There's people that slip pills into drinks, people that strangle people.
10:15And then, of course, people unfortunately passing away.
10:19And how do the police react to these sort of cases?
10:23They really try to hide it and push it underground when they can.
10:27Reporters won't write on it.
10:28They do what they can really to keep sex workers out of mainstream media because of the stigma.
10:35It's only really talked about when we push it.
10:38When we bring the awareness, when we show up in court, the police don't want those cases to be visible,
10:43to be read,
10:44because they don't want Vegas to be seen as an unsafe city.
10:48They don't want the violence to be known of what goes on here.
10:59I want to try and understand just how dangerous this life can be.
11:03I've made contact with a sex worker who's been working in the Las Vegas area for eight years.
11:10We've agreed to protect her identity because she fears being targeted for speaking out.
11:18Every sex worker I know, for the most part, has experienced violence of some sort.
11:24It's paranoia and fear.
11:28Every time you go see a client, that's a possibility of you not coming out of that.
11:35I have been sexually assaulted.
11:38I've been robbed.
11:40And when that happens, what do you do?
11:43Nothing.
11:43Can't really do anything about it.
11:45You just kind of have to deal with it and hope for the best because it's better to let them
11:52do whatever than leave dead or with a broken face, you know?
11:58That's our reality.
12:01That's so scary that you can go through something like that.
12:04Yeah.
12:06We have nobody that looks out for us but each other.
12:11People don't realise how bad the police are here.
12:15Is there a part of you that's scared of the police force?
12:18Always.
12:19Not even just here, just always everywhere.
12:22There's violence that is perpetrated against sex workers by law enforcement.
12:28She tells me that before Vegas, she was working in neighbouring California,
12:33where she alleges she was the victim of an appalling abuse of power by a police officer.
12:40Police take advantage of their position by extortion or, you know, threats of arrest if you don't have sex with
12:50them.
12:50To me, that has happened.
12:52What?
12:53Yeah.
12:55For a long time, it wasn't something I talked about to anyone ever.
12:59I was 17 at the time. It was when I first got in the industry.
13:03What did you do in that situation?
13:06Just did it and took it and lived with the trauma from it.
13:12I'm really sorry. That's horrendous.
13:14I was scared, you know, as a teenager.
13:17Like, what am I going to do? No one's going to believe me, you know?
13:20Like, nothing's going to happen. This is a cop.
13:24I mean, we can't do anything. Like, if we're on the job, we can't report that.
13:30We can't go to the police because we're the ones that get arrested for committing a crime.
13:36In 2025, a change to the law in Nevada was proposed that would protect sex workers from being charged with
13:43prostitution offences if they called for medical assistance or reported a crime to police.
13:48But law enforcement opposed the change and Nevada's governor rejected it.
13:53We put the concerns about sex workers feeling unprotected to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department.
13:59They declined to comment.
14:01But in a debate over the proposed law change last year, the Metro Police claimed that taking legal action against
14:08a sex worker when they report a medical emergency does not happen.
14:12They said it was an inaccurate narrative which increases the mistrust of the police by sex workers.
14:18They encouraged sex worker victims to come forward without fear of prosecution and said the police will investigate allegations of
14:26battery, sexual assault or any other crime as opposed to prostitution offences.
14:41In 2024, the rate of violent crime overall in Las Vegas was 26% higher than the national average in
14:49America.
14:51Many businesses here have turned to private security firms for extra support.
14:57One of the biggest, Protective Force International, has agreed to show me the type of work they do.
15:04Hello.
15:04Hello.
15:05Hey, how's it going?
15:05Good, thanks. I'm Tia. Nice to meet you.
15:07Alan, nice to meet you.
15:08I'm the assistant chief with Protective Force International.
15:10This is our headquarters here in Vegas.
15:12There are now nearly four times as many security guards as police in Las Vegas.
15:19PFI has 200 armed officers.
15:21In the past year, they've been hired by 18 casinos and many other private properties in the city.
15:28Here's where we have our virtual reality training.
15:31They are permitted to use their firearms to prevent imminent harm to themselves or others.
15:37Down here is our surveillance room. It's kind of where we monitor everything.
15:42Oh, wow.
15:43Yeah.
15:43You've got cameras in a lot of places.
15:45520?
15:46Yeah, 520 cameras.
15:47520 cameras total, yes.
15:49And what are you looking for in particular?
15:51Illicit activities, crime occurring, people trying to steal vehicles,
15:55to even just vagrants on property that would need to be moved on.
15:58Does it happen a lot? Do you see things a lot?
16:00There's always activity, especially here in Vegas.
16:09Today, Chief Officer Jonathan Alvarez is leading the team.
16:13You're going to get your own vest and a radio.
16:17I'll get you set up.
16:19So this is just in case anything happens then?
16:22Yeah.
16:22We want you to be safe.
16:23Just in case, yeah.
16:28PFI patrols cover parts of downtown.
16:31Here, casinos and bars are pushed up against an area struggling with high rates of poverty and drug use.
16:41This whole block is essentially ours.
16:44The sidewalk is public property, so that's not our jurisdiction.
16:50What's up, Arnar?
16:52You heading out?
16:56Unit one to control.
16:59Go ahead, unit one.
17:01Looks like got one sleeping under the brush here.
17:06You good, bro?
17:08Unfortunately, this is private property, bro.
17:09You can't be hanging out here.
17:10Unit one to control.
17:11It's going to be code four.
17:12We're going to be providing him a golden ticket.
17:18He gives you all the details and stuff, but if you go there, they'll help you out, man.
17:22They'll help you out.
17:22All right, bro.
17:24Good luck.
17:26What does that golden ticket provide for them?
17:30We partner very closely with outreach programs from the shelters.
17:33These golden tickets provide somewhere to go out of the heat, food, water.
17:38That organization itself has resources to get them the help that they need.
17:42If they're high, they're intoxicated, they have a detox center there.
17:46You can go to that place and there's a laundry list of help that they provide that whoever truly wants
17:54to get off the streets and start a fresh life, you can do it through that organization.
17:58Our top priority is making sure that the properties are safe and our residents are safe, but our secondary mission
18:05is making sure we have some sort of solution for these issues that we face on a daily, not hourly
18:10basis.
18:11Do you think that society is doing enough to help homeless people here?
18:14I have not seen a city that provides such an outpouring of help like Las Vegas.
18:22But I think at the end of the day, homelessness is a significant choice.
18:27And if they choose not to be part of society, it ends up consuming them.
18:33They turn to narcotics, they turn to substance abuse, to alcohol, and then they kind of spiral down.
18:38Our properties, our businesses, they have to thrive.
18:41And nobody is thriving with, you know, hundreds of homeless people defecating in front of the door of businesses.
18:50Like things that happen in other states, we cannot allow that happen here.
18:59Do you think the homeless population knows that this is kind of a no-go area now?
19:06Yeah, we've been able to educate them a lot further than...
19:11Oh, here we got somebody here.
19:14Oh.
19:15The same guy?
19:16Same guy.
19:17Oh, God.
19:23Partner, this is our area, bro, I told you.
19:26Pretty much everything from Maryland to the Fremont Street is all ours, bro.
19:30Head out there.
19:32Drop your ticket, bro.
19:37So he dropped the ticket?
19:39Yep.
19:41We give him the opportunities and the resources, so you saw exactly first-hand.
19:45He just threw the ticket down.
19:47Do you ever feel bad about moving people on?
19:51No.
19:52It's sad, but we hope that one day he does get the help that he needs to get off the
19:57streets.
20:00Unit one in control.
20:02Jonathan spots some other belongings.
20:04I'm going to make contact with the second one.
20:08It looks like just a bunch of things, though.
20:11Stand by.
20:15Somebody's stuff is here.
20:17Obviously, that's a visual deterrent for, you know, tourism and things like that.
20:22Like, that has to be cleaned up.
20:27This individual came out from our property over there, but he's just walking through.
20:33We're not Gestapo's.
20:35We're not, like I said, we're not the police department.
20:37So we don't make contact if they're just going through, walking through.
20:42Because Vegas does have his eccentric individuals.
20:46Good morning, sir.
20:48Hello.
20:48You doing good today?
20:52Hey, partner, is that your stuff over here?
20:54No? Okay.
20:59It is your stuff, though, right?
21:01Well, you can't have it on the property, my man.
21:03Nobody's giving you a golden ticket yet?
21:04Dude, I'm a veteran.
21:06So am I, man.
21:07We got something in common.
21:08Here you go.
21:09Well, that'll be the best thing to do.
21:10They can help you out with everything.
21:12I went to the hospital like two days ago, brain surgery.
21:14Oh, man.
21:15Well, you look great for that.
21:16You look like you're doing good.
21:17Yeah.
21:18All right, man.
21:19I'm John.
21:20Army veteran as well.
21:21Well, I'll give you some time to pack up, brother, all right?
21:24All right, my man.
21:31But I guess, you know, you just move them on from this area.
21:35Then they just go somewhere else.
21:37Yeah.
21:38And that's the unfortunate thing.
21:40Typically, what ends up happening is those areas end up calling us.
21:55The local authorities in Vegas do offer services for homeless people,
21:59including a large resource center co-funded by donations from some casinos.
22:07But despite the billions of dollars coming into Las Vegas every year,
22:12Nevada's homeless rate is one of the highest in the US and rising.
22:20I'm visiting a homeless shelter, the Las Vegas Rescue Mission,
22:24to try and better understand the scale of the problem.
22:32Other shelters will do, like, a breakfast or a lunch during the day.
22:36But we're known for our dinner every evening.
22:47We serve about 800 trays of food a day.
22:51But we're seeing that number really increasing steadily over the months.
22:56British-born Heather Williams has worked for the Las Vegas Rescue Mission for 10 years.
23:00She began by volunteering around her corporate career.
23:05Now, she's here full-time as Director of Development.
23:08In terms of the beds that you have here, how full are they?
23:12We're pretty much full.
23:14We have just over 300 beds on property.
23:17I've heard that Las Vegas Rescue Mission is one of the only places that houses women and children.
23:22Is that true?
23:23We're definitely one of the only open shelters that do that.
23:27Most shelters will only have space for men.
23:30But the need for women and children shelters is growing a lot higher now.
23:42Hi, Juana. I'm Tia. Nice to meet you.
23:45Nice to meet you. Thanks so much for meeting me today.
23:49Juana is a single mother trying to rebuild her life and hold on to her children.
23:55This is where we sleep, my kids and I. These are our beds.
24:02How long have you been here for?
24:04I've been here for going on three months. My kids have been here for about a month and a half.
24:10How many of you live in here?
24:13There's three other families apart from myself and my kids.
24:17There's two, four, ten of us all in all in here.
24:20I was homeless since, like, the middle of the year last year.
24:23I was sleeping in the back of a laundromat.
24:26You know, like in the street, anywhere I could sleep.
24:30So I'm glad I'm here.
24:32Like, I never want to go back to those streets.
24:34Can you tell me what that experience was like for you?
24:37It was scary, especially because I'm a female.
24:41You know, they called it Sin City, the Devil's Den.
24:44It's not for nothing.
24:45And it's not even just the people and the drugs and all these other problems.
24:50It's the weather, like, the weather itself.
24:52It's so hot outside. How did you cope with that?
24:55Um, I couldn't.
24:57Yeah, like, it was...
24:58I would try to stay in the shade as much as I could.
25:01It was hard. It was rough.
25:04It's really hard to handle.
25:05There's a lot of days where you just want to give up.
25:08I was always just trying to get high.
25:10What sort of drugs were you taking?
25:13Crystal methamphetamines, and I know nowadays they lace it up with fentanyl.
25:16I was to the point where I was hearing voices, and I was walking down the street talking to myself.
25:21If you don't mind me asking, when you were on the streets, where were your kids?
25:24They were with my sister.
25:25I put my kids through more than what I put myself through.
25:29You know, because at the end of the day, they're the ones that suffer.
25:32I'm 64 days sober today.
25:34Congratulations.
25:36I ended up going to jail.
25:38I got sober, and I got closer to God.
25:41When I got out of jail, I decided, like, I've got to change my life.
25:52I just got them back.
25:57So I'm really happy.
26:01How did it feel for you when you eventually got them back?
26:05Like, no drug in the world could ever top the love that I have for my kids.
26:15I couldn't ask God for, like, a better situation at the moment.
26:26I think what became apparent to me today was the homelessness problem here is massive, and you've got the blazing
26:34heat.
26:35You know, it's almost 45 degrees.
26:37I can't imagine what it's like being out here all day for a lot of people.
26:41And while the homelessness shelter is doing everything that they can, there's a lot of people here who have slipped
26:47through the cracks.
26:55Paramedic Sam helps some of the city's most vulnerable homeless people.
27:01Those who are avoiding the searing heat by living underground in a network of storm drains known as the tunnels.
27:12Hi, Sam. How are you?
27:14Hey, you're doing well. How about yourself?
27:15I'm good, thank you.
27:17Sam's one of the few people who can take me into the tunnels, which are thought to shelter more than
27:22a thousand people.
27:26So what do you usually do when you go down?
27:28It starts with a wellness check, making sure, you know, seeing if anybody needs anything, seeing if they have any
27:34medical issues that we can address.
27:35I've got some basic medical gear with me, toiletries, some food, some water, some snacks.
27:46We're going to be walking underneath the freeway.
27:49So we've got the freeway right there, we've got Caesars Palace and the tunnels basically running right underneath our feet.
27:54Wow.
27:56We're going to see if we can walk down.
27:58All right.
28:01Above ground, it's nearly 40 degrees Celsius today.
28:05So for many, the cool tunnels are a refuge for when there's nowhere else to go.
28:14Hey, guys.
28:16Hello.
28:17How are you guys doing today?
28:18We're in medical.
28:20We're down here just checking in, seeing if you guys do anything.
28:23You guys keep cool?
28:24At the entrance, I meet Louis.
28:29Would you say that there's facilities that help people like you?
28:33I don't know. I don't go to them.
28:35Do you not? Why?
28:36You start asking, you know what I mean, questions that have no bearing on whether you're homeless or not.
28:41You know what I mean? I consider police to turn, set me up, take me to jail, so I don't
28:44really.
28:46Okay.
28:46So you think a lot of people don't go because they're scared that maybe they'll...
28:50I don't think you're scared. Do you want to go to jail?
28:53I don't want to go to jail, no.
28:56Definitely not.
28:58You know what I mean?
28:59I mean, you've got to figure out who your friends are, and my friends ain't going to take me to
29:02jail.
29:03And that happens a lot.
29:04Do shit like this, trash pants and whatever.
29:08In 2025, a camping ban made it a misdemeanor to camp, lie down, sleep, or store personal property in public
29:16places.
29:19Violating this law can result in 10 days in prison, or a fine of up to $1,000 if convicted.
29:27Has that ever happened to you?
29:29Yeah, just kind of, yeah.
29:31Twice in, what, a week?
29:33Twice? What, this week?
29:35Yeah.
29:36Okay, thank you, Louis.
29:38Not a problem, thank you.
29:46You can see the graffiti down here and burn marks from people's fires.
29:53God, it's so dark down there.
29:55It is so hot outside, but down here, I feel completely cool.
30:00It's almost like it's aircon, it's like a ventilation system.
30:04Up here, we should have a storm drain that's emptying out.
30:07Oh, God, look, you can see it all coming out there.
30:10When it rains, this can be filled top to bottom of water.
30:13You know, an entire, just this entire channel is just full of water.
30:16And so, you know, if you're caught in a flash flood down here, you know, you're probably not surviving.
30:25In another part of the tunnels, we meet David.
30:29Nice to meet you, volunteer.
30:30Hi.
30:31Do you mind if I sit down with you for a sec?
30:33Yeah, good.
30:33Thank you so much.
30:35Do you need anything from Sam?
30:37He's a medic.
30:38How you do it on socks, toiletries, toothbrush, toothpaste?
30:40All socks.
30:41Take socks? All right.
30:43How long have you been here for?
30:45About four years.
30:47How do you find it living down here?
30:51Out of sight, out of mind.
30:52Out of sight, out of mind.
30:58David offers to guide us further into the tunnels.
31:02Hey, anybody home?
31:05Do you guys need a toothbrush or anything?
31:07Of course.
31:08How about some waters for you guys?
31:10Yep.
31:11The view above this person's makeshift home...
31:15Oh, my God.
31:18..is Caesar's Palace Casino.
31:30Down below, you have homeless people.
31:35And above, you have these lavish casinos, which have five-star hotels in them.
31:55Vegas is a city of two worlds.
31:59If you compare it to the pool party that I went to, or some of the casinos that I've been
32:05in...
32:07It's sad to see people living out of society in the dark.
32:29Billions of dollars have been invested into the strip in the last few years.
32:33And it's paying off for the big corporations.
32:38In 2024, visitor spending in Vegas hit an all-time high for the third consecutive year.
32:44An average of $1,300 per visit.
32:48Despite a relative decline in spending on gambling...
32:51The city's new entertainment, sport and dayclub offerings are generating huge incomes.
33:00The food, service and hospitality sector is the largest employer here.
33:06But Vegas wages are lower than the national average.
33:09And the cost of living has rocketed here in recent years.
33:13So what's going to happen if workers like Mohammed can no longer afford to live in the city?
33:19Hi, how are you?
33:20Hello, I'm good, how about you?
33:22I'm good, thank you.
33:23So this is where you grew up, is it?
33:25Yes it is.
33:26The outskirts of what they don't show.
33:29I met Mohammed earlier on in my trip at a boxing gym supporting young people in the community.
33:36That's the house I grew up in.
33:39What does it feel like looking at it now?
33:42Bringing back good and bad memories.
33:44Yeah.
33:45It looks way different now.
33:48It's been eight years since I've been here.
33:50Eight years, really?
33:51Yes.
33:51Why so long?
33:52This whole area, especially this street, was very dangerous.
33:56A lot of shootings and a lot of violence.
33:59This street, I had about three friends live on this street.
34:02We knew everybody.
34:04A lot of blood, a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, a lot of laughter.
34:08Was shed in this neighbourhood.
34:11Seems pretty quiet to me. Has it changed over time?
34:14From what I've seen, yes.
34:16Because during the day time, this whole place would be active back when I grew up.
34:19Really?
34:19Yeah.
34:21But it's quiet now.
34:22The people I really know, like neighbours and stuff, are no longer there.
34:28Why do you think it's changed so much since you were here?
34:30Do you think it's not really affordable for people to live here anymore?
34:33Oh, yeah.
34:34Most definitely.
34:35OK.
34:36So do you think a lot of people from this area have been pushed out?
34:40Yeah.
34:42It's not that it's hard to get a job, it's the paying.
34:45There's not enough jobs that are paying enough for us to survive here.
34:49Like, here on the east side, it's about $1,500 a month.
34:52And that's just your rent a month.
34:53People are just making enough to have a place to live, not to eat.
34:57So they're starving out here.
34:58And in the suburbs, where I moved to, to get out of this environment, I'm paying $3,400 a month.
35:04You know, in a nice area, and I'm still struggling to get by myself.
35:07$3,400 a month is quite high as well.
35:10Oh, yeah.
35:10Like, more than London rates.
35:12It used to be cheaper out here, but everybody from California and all around us are moving over here.
35:17Because they heard, oh, it was cheaper.
35:19From the east side, west side and north town, if you drive all around those areas, you'll see a whole
35:24lot of vacant homes.
35:35The city's become an attractive place to live, but that's pushed house prices up.
35:42One report says only 20% of homes for sale in Las Vegas are affordable to families on an average
35:48income.
35:52That's left lots of houses vacant.
35:54Others are converted as tourist lets, and many are snapped up by investors.
35:59In one deal I've seen, a corporate landlord purchased 264 of the area's homes in a single day.
36:07According to the latest figures for 2025, in total, Nevada has nearly 124,000 empty homes.
36:19I'm heading back out with the private security company, PFI.
36:23They help some property owners secure their empty homes.
36:29So where are we heading?
36:31We're heading to one of our apartment complexes that is known for a lot of squatting in the vacant units
36:37that they have on property.
36:39So we're going to go see if we can clear it out.
36:42There's a fair few of you, isn't there?
36:44Yeah.
36:45We have a lot of properties in this downtown area, so this area is pretty saturated with all of us.
36:50In these vacant units you can find anything from human trafficking, drug trafficking, prostitution.
36:59It's comforting knowing people like us are out there to help solve the problem.
37:04Is this the property?
37:06This is, yes.
37:08Okay.
37:08So we'll get out here.
37:22They've got a key to the property that they're going to check.
37:26No security.
37:32Probably scared you to leave here to make something out.
37:37Is someone in there?
37:38There's lights on.
37:40So they're checking it out.
37:43Do a full sweep in there.
37:55Stay here?
37:56Yeah, it's coming.
37:58So this one, actually, somebody's been in there.
38:01Right.
38:02Yeah, I can see stuff on the floor.
38:03Yeah.
38:04They'll come in here and they'll use the restaurant.
38:07You see, I mean, it's real dirty.
38:09There's a lot of...
38:09Oh, God.
38:11And with these ceilings, sometimes they like to hide things up here.
38:16Typically, you know, sometimes we'll find drugs, we'll find guns.
38:25A lot of these properties look really nice.
38:28Yeah.
38:29But then we'll come to find out how many vacants they have, and then we'll find out where the
38:34problems are.
38:40Rent in Las Vegas has gone up by over 35% since 2020.
38:46You've got a light on in the back, left.
38:49One reason blocks like these might be empty.
38:53So this one you could tell is a little more trashed.
38:57Yeah, freshly vacant.
38:59You could smell it even.
39:00Mm-hmm.
39:00I can smell something, yeah.
39:02Yeah.
39:03These are signs of nefarious activities.
39:05You can see a little bit of resin on there from some sort of narcotic.
39:09Most likely either marijuana or maybe even black car heroin.
39:13Mm-hmm.
39:21Broken security, it's anyone through here.
39:23It's all gone.
39:26With what we've heard about the housing crisis here in Vegas, a lot of squatters come in here
39:31and think that they can use them, looking for refuge, I guess.
39:41All around right now, it's very expensive to rent.
39:45It's also a lot harder now to even find a house to buy, because a lot of corporations are buying
39:51the houses
39:52and only having them to lease.
39:54I think one thing to help minimize the amount of vacancies would be to lower the rent so you can
40:02actually fill them.
40:04Unfortunately, that's above my pay grade.
40:31Before I leave Vegas, I'm checking in with Juana.
40:35Hi, Juana.
40:36Hi.
40:37How are you?
40:38I'm good, how are you?
40:39Nice to see you.
40:40When we first met, Juana was getting back on her feet with help from the Las Vegas rescue mission.
40:47How's everything been since I last saw you?
40:49Pretty good, actually. We moved from the rescue mission, so we got into this program that helps us with housing.
40:57I'm working steady. Everything's going really well.
40:59Oh, I'm so happy.
41:00Yeah. Staying clean. Staying out of trouble.
41:03I feel like I look better. I can speak more clearly.
41:07I got a job lined up and everything's falling into place.
41:16And how are they feeling?
41:18They're good, they're happy. Like, everyone in my family tells me they're like, they look happier, they're cleaner, like, they're
41:23just, like, they're more, they speak to people now.
41:26They're not just, like, all quiet with their heads down. Yeah.
41:29What are the plans for the future then? What do you have in store?
41:32I just want to go to school and find somewhere stable to stay, somewhere for us to call home.
41:39But, you know, right now we're just taking it day by day, and that's how we, that's how we go.
41:45It's a relief to know there is some support available for people like Juana.
41:51But there isn't enough for everyone struggling in this city.
41:59I came to Vegas to find out more about its new image and how it's attracting a whole new generation
42:04of visitors.
42:08The resort and their pool parties, the nightlife, the live music, the sports, it all combines to create an exciting
42:17party town.
42:19And I can see why Brits come out here to experience it.
42:25But the more time I've spent here, I've realised there's a lot of things which are hiding beneath the surface.
42:31And my perception of Vegas has definitely changed.
42:35We've heard so many times, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
42:41There's a huge PR machine keeping up this perception of this glossy, lavish place.
42:54It's clear Vegas is a complicated place with a lot of challenges.
43:03And like many other US cities, when it comes to luck and money, there will always be those who win
43:10and those who lose.
43:18And it's different, I'll lick my ting in LA.
43:21I can't fly to the States cause I got too much convictions.
43:24Apparently all I took is prison, but I don't know no different.
43:27Cause I was in jail up north, we ended up coalition.
43:29..
43:30..
43:32..
43:33..
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