Solar Power in Las Vegas Casinos

It might come as a surprise to some, but Las Vegas is actually one of the most environmentally conscious cities when it comes to energy generation. The oasis in the desert ranks second in the country for most solar panels per capita.

Vegas, known as the world’s gambling capital, is a big promoter of renewable energy and today we will tell you how its famous casinos implement green policies. We’ll also discuss how gambling in general can become more eco-friendly and why, for example, playing at casinos that accept PayPal is good for the environment.

Vegas Goes Green

Las Vegas is inarguably a big energy consumer. The city is known for its entertainment facilities, whether those be hotels, casinos, stadiums or concert halls. These facilities drive tourism with the city welcoming millions of tourists every year, breaking its own record in 2023 with 40 million visitors.

Naturally, this many people, mixed in with the attractions that require a significant amount of energy, is a recipe for an environmental disaster. Nowadays, people are much more conscious of the damage of fossil fuels and Vegas, once a big offender, now serves as an example for other cities with its environmental policies.

As previously said, Las Vegas ranks second in the US for solar panels installed per capita and comes third in for total installed capacity, as per Environment Nevada research. Vegas is using its natural resources, like the abundant sunshine in the desert, to power big hotels, as well as personal residences.

Casinos Adopting Solar Energy and Other Green Policies

Let’s now discuss specific Vegas casinos and how they implement solar energy and other green policies in the hopes to revert the effects of climate change.

MGM Las Vegas

The MGM casino brand is one of the biggest promoters of renewable energy and environmentally conscious policies. MGM operates 14 resorts on the Las Vegas strip which naturally require huge amounts of electricity.

This is why MGM built the MGM Resorts Mega Solar Array, 30 miles north of the Strip, which sports 323,000 solar panels. The MGM Resorts Mega Solar Array is equipped to produce up to 100% of the daytime energy necessary to power all MGM-owned hotels and casinos in Vegas. The Solar Array currently contributes 40% to the total energy use (day and night) but as seen, it’s capable to do even more.

Moreover, MGM promotes water and energy conservation in its resorts and casinos, along with eco-friendly waste management policies.

Wynn Resorts Las Vegas

The Wynn casino brand is also committed to environmentally conscious policies. Wynn pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2050 and one of its goals is to reach 50% renewable energy procurement by 2030.

Wynn operates two Las Vegas casino resorts, namely Wynn Las Vegas and Encore Las Vegas, with these two resorts now using 49% renewable energy for their operations, reaching that goal in 2022.

In addition to its green practices, Wynn also contributes to social causes and education; the Wynn Employee Foundation donates to non-profits around the country with Wynn matching the donations of its employees; Wynn employees donated $800,000 to the foundation in 2022 and offered 28,000 hours of labor volunteering for various charities.

Las Vegas Sands

Las Vegas Sands, part of the Sands brand, was one of the three casino resort brands, the other two being the aforementioned MGM and Wynn, which first pledged to implement renewable energy and other green initiatives to its operations in 2016.

So far, the Sands brand, with hotels all around the world, has implemented more than 250 different eco projects meant to limit greenhouse emissions and reduce electricity and natural gas consumption. The casino resort has solar thermal and solar photovoltaic systems on-site which provide renewable energy.

The hotel buildings are also equipped with technology that conserves electricity and reduces energy consumption.

Additionally, Sands has water conservation policies including water reuse in the resort and advocating for sensible water use and preservation of local ecosystems in the county.

The Sands has received many awards for its environmental policies, including 5 Macao Green Hotel of the Year Awards.

How to Make Gambling Eco-Friendly

As already discussed, land-based gambling is associated with a lot of energy consumption and waste which is damaging to the environment, especially if the casino doesn’t procure its electricity from renewable sources.

This is why some environmentally-conscious players have turned to online gambling as a way to limit their carbon footprint. At the same time, there is still a lot of energy consumption associated with running and playing at an online casino.

For example, casino servers operate 24/7 and as such require great amounts of electricity. Furthermore, technology nowadays becomes obsolete very quickly and that necessitates casinos to purchase new hardware (associated with more energy consumption) and throw out existing hardware (thus creating more waste).

Lastly, some online casino payment methods like cryptocurrencies are damaging to the environment because mining them uses huge amounts of energy.

Luckily, there are solutions to all these issues. Green servers, or servers running on renewable energy, are becoming more popular in the online gambling industry and they can completely replace the non-environmentally friendly ones in the next few decades. In terms of the technology, some online casino brands are now investing in long-lasting and upgradable technology to limit the waste used for its production and the waste created by switching to newer technology.

Players can also contribute to green practices by choosing payment methods that are environmentally-friendly, thereby excluding options such as cash and crypto. PayPal, for instance, is entirely digital and the company also set a goal to reach net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2040.