A month ago, Vegas mogul Steve Wynn opened Encore, his new $2.3 billion hotel and casino. Attached to the Wynn, which set a new standard for Vegas luxury when it opened in 2005, Encore is in many ways an attempt to turn it up yet another notch. Its 11 brand-new boutiques include an ultraluxe Chanel [...]

To get an idea of how desperate the situation has become in Las Vegas, you only need to look at the tourism board’s ad campaigns. Last summer, it was “Crazy Times Call for Crazy Fun.” Now, it’s “The Dangers of Thinking.” Are things really so bad in Sin City that you have to flip your [...]