Add to that the fact that it was originally engineered by organized crime to ensnare workers who were working on the water-source that made living there possible

If that was in a novel, you'd go "now the author is going a little heavy on the dystopian capitalism narrative, isn't he? Who would do something so stupid and get away with it in real life?"

cheap sin

Funny, but nothing is cheap in Vegas. I'm surprised the sidewalks don't charge for admission.

Props for transcription.

One time, I was trying to think of a fun way to have a Las Vegas style location in a D&D campaign, so I googled Las Vegas D&D and found a thread where someone in Vegas wanted to run a module. The thread was titled "Curse of Strahd in Las Vegas", and that sent my mind to some interesting places.

I wouldn't call it cheap sin, but yeah it's a pretty accurate description.

You know just how far away from The Law that place was when the mob got its' claws on it? That's also the land where polygamy remained a standard practice until relatively recently.

Check out the 1994 “The Stand” miniseries or read the book by Stephen King. It explores the idea of the main bad guys and their leader, who is essentially the devil, taking up residence in Las Vegas.

It truly is evocative of some weird fey trap that enchants its victims into reveling their own lives away.

Already doing this! The Kingdom of Castravolva, run by the Rakshasa Castravolva! The only Rakshasa.

Yes, it definitely is. Also in most dnd games, probably. Art imitating life.