"Seeking new revenue, casino bosses turn Sin City into Club City"

By: Priscilla - May 06th 2013

Revelers dance to the music played by DJ Afrojack inside the XS nightclub in Las Vegas on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. (AP / Julie Jacobson)
Hannah Dreier,
The Associated Press
Published Sunday, May 5, 2013 3:27PM EDT

LAS VEGAS — To step into club XS at the Wynn Las Vegas is to enter the dreamscape of a modern artist with fetishes for gold and bronze and bodies in motion.

A golden-plated frieze made from casts of nude women sits atop a shimmering staircase.

Waves of electronic dance music grow louder with each downward step toward a pulsating, football field-sized club where lasers cut the air above thousands of dancers.

The revelers take their cues from the famous DJs onstage who are known to surf the crowd in inflatable rafts, throw sheet cakes at clubbers’ faces and spray vintage champagne into their mouths.

In Sin City, where over-the-top is always the sales pitch, lavish nightclubs featuring a heart-pounding party have become the backbone of a billion-dollar industry that is soaring while gambling revenue slips.