Not that Las Vegas is a great destination for bargain hunters ; apart from the odd souvenir store, it's not tacky, and it's not cheap. Instead, tourists can expect to encounter jazzed-up outlets of all the usual chains to be found in any US suburban mall, plus a leavening of high-end international names. What's really generating all the excitement is that the big casinos have started to bring Las Vegas's traditional flair for display and presentation to these shopping malls, turning them into must-see attractions. As for what makes the malls the most profitable in the nation, it would be nice to imagine that the city is full of successful gamblers who can't wait to flaunt their new-found wealth. However, the truth is more likely that visitors find themselves losing so much on the tables and slots, with nothing to show for it, that getting something in return for their money - however expensive - suddenly seems a miraculous alternative.

Along the Strip in particular, the shopping boom shows no signs of faltering. The arrival of the exquisite but very small Via Bellagio at Bellagio in 1998 did little to rock the Forum's throne, but things hotted up in 1999, when the Venetian unveiled its gloriously over-the-top Grand Canal Shoppes . Since then, the Desert Passage at the revamped Aladdin has appeared, on much the same extravagant scale, while Mandalay Resort Group has been pressing ahead with the construction of a huge new mall between Luxor and Mandalay Bay ; negotiations for Harrod's of London to be its anchor have fallen through, but something spectacular is certainly in the offing. Not to be outdone, the Strip's veteran Fashion Show Mall is in the throes of a massive expansion.

Not every casino has succumbed to the mall-building craze, however. Both the MGM Grand and the Mirage devote a tiny proportion of their space to shopping, while others among their neighbors stick to the traditional formula of offering only souvenir-type stores, such as Luxor 's enjoyable selection of Egyptian-themed outlets.

Neither is there all that much variety between one major Strip mall and the next, in terms of actual stores. Thus Ann Taylor and bebe have four outlets each within half a mile, at the Forum, the Grand Canal Shoppes, the Desert Passage, and the Fashion Show Mall, while several others are represented three times over. Bellagio may have won a much-publicized tussle to secure the Armani store that the Venetian wanted, but there was already one at the Mirage , and an Armani Exchange in the Forum.

As a city of over a million inhabitants, Las Vegas has of course its fair share of busy shopping districts - most notably along South Decatur Boulevard and South Maryland Parkway , a couple of miles west and east of the Strip respectively - as well as the kind of malls you'd find anywhere in the United States. Once again, however, few visitors bother to stray far from the Strip.