Las Vegas has shed some of its depraved image.
The city has become a sports and top-tier entertainment mecca and has pushed some of its darker pleasures a little bit down the list of available choices.
Still and all, the Las Vegas Strip offers its share of vices. You can, of course, indulge in gluttony with both the world's finest restaurant operators and a broad selection of fast-food chains and eateries designed around excess.
Related: Country superstar signs for first-ever Las Vegas Strip residency
Gambling is still the lifeblood of Sin City and the growth of legal sports betting nationally seems to have only increased the demand on the Strip. Las Vegas also has never lacked places to have an adult beverage and that's now matched with legal cannabis.
The Las Vegas Strip still does not offer cannabis-consumption lounges, but the new Dazed Lounge at Planet 13 is just off the Strip. The consumption laws, which ban smoking marijuana except in private residences and the new lounges, have not appeared to openly stop people from consuming it on the Las Vegas Strip.
Las Vegas may not be as seedy as it once was, but the Strip has found ways to turn things that once were mostly the domain of families and children into adults-only.
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Image source: Swingers Las Vegas
Las Vegas Strip welcomes an adults-only golf experience
Swingers Las Vegas, a name meant to be provocative, will bring its grown-up take on minigolf to Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Nov. 8. More than just a golf experience, or minigolf plus alcohol, Swingers is meant to bring people together, both in the social and the adult sense.
"Founded in London, Swingers pioneered what is termed ‘competitive socializing’ and the renaissance of what the Brits call 'crazy golf' – by taking the classic game of mini-golf and reinventing it for a 21-and-over audience with DJs, street food, and great cocktails served by caddies on the course," the company said in an email to TheStreet.
"Swingers’ unique and theatrical setting delivers an incredible social experience in a party atmosphere."
The Las Vegas Strip location, housed in MGM Resorts International's (MGM) Mandalay Bay, will become the flagship for the brand.
"The 40,000-square-foot destination will include four crazy golf courses, multiple bars, and eateries, the Swingers Carnival arcade concept and introduce a new design, distinct from other locations worldwide: an English country estate complete with an impressive English country house," the company said in a news release.
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Golf tries a Las Vegas Strip takeover
Traditional golf has always been a Las Vegas fixture, but new takes on the sport have become big on the Strip and off it. In April Tiger Woods opened his take on minigolf, food and drinks a mile off the Las Vegas Strip.
"The Las Vegas PopStroke features a two-story building set on two uniquely designed 18-hole minigolf courses, including an open-air dining area with climate control, an expansive outdoor beer garden, four bars featuring craft beers and signature cocktails, a fully enclosed outdoor playground for children, and oversized televisions and screens throughout the property to satisfy sports enthusiasts," the company said.
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In addition, Atomic Golf has taken over a huge space adjacent to the Strat at the end of the north side of the Strip.
"Sitting on 100,000 square feet, steps from the famed Las Vegas Strip, Atomic Golf boasts four distinct floors comprised of 103 digitally enhanced golfing bays with state-of-the-art golf technology," according to a news release.
Also there: "a collection of original games, designed specifically for Atomic Golf, that infuse golf play with an interactive videogame; six full-service bars, each with their own unique menus and atmospheres; flexible meeting and special event space; luxury golfing suites featuring a VIP entrance and a private bar; the one-of-a-kind Putting District with eight digital putting bays."
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