# What Are Other Countries' Equivalents of Las Vegas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916 "2011-07-13T19:56:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/41 "2011-07-15T01:21:37Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Don’t those cruiseferries also sell alot of duty-free alcohol for people to stock up on instead of paying the higher prices in government’s liquor monopoly? I’ve been on the ferry between Helsinki and Stockholm. There were people leaving the liquor store with _shopping carts_ of booze. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/42 "2011-07-15T03:38:13Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Kathmandu has casinos that are barred to Nepalis. They’re strictly for foreigners. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > Isn’t that also the case with Singapore’s casinos? No that’s not true. That country’s [Casino Control Act](http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_1615_2009-11-30.html) stipulates: \*\*"Lastly, the Act provides social safeguards to counter the issue of problem gambling: “(1) Entry fees will be levied on Singapore citizens and permanent residents at $100 for every 24 hours in the casinos and $2000 annual membership.”\*\* That’s Singaporean dollars, of course. S$100 = US$82.25 and S$2000 = US$1644 I do think it may be the case with Cambodia’s Phnom Penh casinos that Cambodians are barred from them completely, but I’m not sure about the ones I mentioned on the border in Poipet. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/43 "2011-07-15T10:35:55Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Don’t those cruiseferries also sell alot of duty-free alcohol for people to stock up on instead of paying the higher prices in government’s liquor monopoly? Yes, but duty restrictions when returning to Norway are such that you can’t really stock up as you’re only allowed to bring back a liter of anything above 22 % (or 1.5 liters of wine below 22 %) and 1.5 liters of wine below 22 % (or the equivalent volume of beer) and 2 liters of beer. Many of the EU countries, also have cheaper neighbours (Danes go to Germany, Germans go to Poland, Poles go to Belarus) and a larger tax free exemption, also if you’re not on a ferry where restrictions on purchase are equivalent to the tax free exemption you can engage in a bit of smuggling, as many Norwegians do when they drive to Sweden. All of which is irrelevant to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/44 "2011-07-15T10:56:07Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > During the apartheid era, gambling was illegal in South Africa but legal in some of the nominally-independent homelands, which is why [Sun City](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_City,_North_West) was set up in the former Boputhatswana. But it’s a multi-hotel resort, not an actual city. Damn, beaten to it - but yeah, Sun City. Multiple hotels, gambling, revues, porn, boxing, beauty pageants - and with the Palace of the Lost City it’s got that creepy “fake themed hotel decoration” thing that Vegas does a lot, as well. It’s just missing the legal hookers a cab-ride away. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/45 "2011-07-16T18:42:52Z")
Personally I don’t believe that there is anywhere like Vegas. Not so much because of the gambling, but because of the "themed "buildings and entertainment, Egyptian pyramid, Arabian nights, New York, Paris, sailing ship sea battles,erupting volcano, dancing fountains and so on… All in one place. I’ve been there a few times and consider it to be one of the wonders of the modern world.’ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/46 "2011-07-17T01:28:20Z")
Heh. One time we saw a bum in an old suit stumbling across the road in Vegas. I told the wife: “_That’s_ what happens when you stay too long in Vegas.” ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/47 "2011-07-17T02:46:21Z")
I don’t think there is any gambling per se, but Gunsan, South Korea is home to A-Town (sorry… “International Cultural Ville” is the official name now that nobody uses), which currently is home to a lot of bars, some restaurants, and a few stores selling bootleg DVDs, electronics, and hand-made fabric and leather goods (custom-made leather jackets, jerseys, etc.) It used to be where all the prostitutes worked, before the government cleaned the place up a bit, and until last year, it was the closest part of Gunsan that any of the American military guys at the nearby air base were allowed to go to (3 miles away, in the middle of a bunch of barley fields). At some point in the future, it is supposed to become some kind of international business district connected to the port, but for now it’s still “A-Town”, the preferred destination of American airmen who hate their livers or want to try Souju (which, for whatever reason, is outlawed on base). ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/48 "2011-07-17T11:21:59Z")
Apparently someone wants to build a super casino somewhere in Ireland, so if that ever happens it’ll be our little Vegas Blackpool in England is a little bit Vegas. Otherwise I’d have to opt for Monte Carlo. I dunno, would that be too gauche? ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/49 "2011-07-17T12:45:23Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Personally I don’t believe that there is anywhere like Vegas. > > Not so much because of the gambling, but because of the "themed "buildings and entertainment, Egyptian pyramid, Arabian nights, New York, Paris, sailing ship sea battles,erupting volcano, dancing fountains and so on… > > I’ve been there a few times and consider it to be one of the wonders of the modern world.’ um, have you ever left the US? (Mexico and Canada don’t count, somewhere you need a passport to go to) I’m guessing not. All those theme hotels are cheap tacky molded concrete and every Casino looks the same inside, cheap carpet and tacky fittings. For modern wonders of the world check out this list: > **[Wonders of the World](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonders_of_the_World)** > > Various lists of the Wonders of the World have been compiled from antiquity to the present day, in order to catalogue the world's most spectacular natural features and human-built structures. > The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is the oldest known list of this type, documenting the most iconic and remarkable human-made creations of classical antiquity; the canonical list was established in the 1572 Octo Mundi Miracula, based on classical sources which varied widely. The classical sources o... Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge and Panama Canal absolutely… Las Vegas… no fricking way. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/50 "2011-07-17T17:32:05Z")
> [@coremelt](#): > > um, have you ever left the US? (Mexico and Canada don’t count, somewhere you need a passport to go to) I’m guessing not. All those theme hotels are cheap tacky molded concrete and every Casino looks the same inside, cheap carpet and tacky fittings. > > For modern wonders of the world check out this list: > [Wonders of the World - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonders_of_the_World) > > Empire State Building, Golden Gate Bridge and Panama Canal absolutely… Las Vegas… no fricking way. Actually I’m a Brit, and yes I have been to Mexico and Canada as well as the U.S. many ,many times. I’ve also been all over Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, North and sub SAharan Africa, the M.E. including Israel, India, the far east, oh and I nearly forgot the Arctic and Iceland. I may have missed some places (Its easily done), yep sorry the Caribbean as well (spelled wrong I know). Apart from books and other media a lot of my knowledge is from first hand experience . People who think that the internet is a replacement for study,experience and education have never really impressed me very much. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/51 "2011-07-17T18:11:31Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > Blackpool has a similar kinda brash, cheerful reputation (UK), but gambling is legal everywhere, so it’s hard to think of a real equivalent. Saying that gambling is legal everywhere in the UK is true only up to a point, as there are restrictions on the number and size of casinos. Remember that the last government had to abandon its plans to introduce “Las Vegas style” super-casinos. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/52 "2011-07-19T01:54:37Z")
A timely article: [Chinese take a gamble on the pleasures of Sin City](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-take-a-gamble-on-the-pleasures-of-sin-city-2312139.html) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/53 "2011-07-19T11:26:30Z")
> [@Lobelia\_Overhill](#): > > Apparently someone wants to build a super casino somewhere in Ireland, so if that ever happens it’ll be our little Vegas Yeah it’s got the go-ahead, in [Two-Mile Borris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Mile_Borris), Co. Tipperary. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/54 "2011-07-19T13:56:59Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Yeah it’s got the go-ahead, in [Two-Mile Borris](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Mile_Borris), Co. Tipperary. Shouldn’t it be in the [Hills of Donegal?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwvhvDE3FMs) ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916/55 "2011-07-19T20:30:16Z")
First thoughts were also Macau and Poipet, but then I remembered: [Viva Kaz Vegas!](http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63354) (drove past this, but didn’t get a chance to check it out) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-equivalents-of-las-vegas/588916.md?page=2)