Episode 1

Las Vegas has reinvented itself to pull in a new generation of visitors - recasting the city away from being the home of gambling to the world’s go-to destination for live entertainment. In this two-part series, reporter Tir Dhondy finds out how the city has changed, what this new, improved version of Vegas offers today’s visitors, and how this shift is being perceived by the people who live and work there.

Tir goes to a high-octane pool party, which charges thousands of dollars for a poolside cabana, to discover how casinos are cashing in on the party scene. In a Vegas innovation, massive screens around the pool show scores of live sports events from around the world so that party-goers can bet from the comfort of their sun lounger. Insiders tell Tir that table gaming is being phased out, as the casinos extract more money through major sports and live events.

But when the dancing stops, Tir hears stories of how the city is turning a blind eye to crime and drugs. She meets a man who was drugged and robbed while attending a pool party, and he tells her that neither the venue nor the police wanted to know. The coroner for Las Vegas tells Tir that drugs deaths are rising and warns that party-goers could find their drugs laced with fentanyl – a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent and deadly than heroin.

Tir sees the effects of America’s opioid problems first-hand when she goes on shift with the Las Vegas paramedics, who attend a scene where drugs have caused a near-death situation.

Tir then drives out into the desert to meet Mikki Mase, a gambler who claims to have won $32 million on the tables in Las Vegas. Now, he is no longer welcome on the Strip. He tells Tir that he became too successful, so the casinos closed their doors to him.