Nobody doubts that Vegas could "handle" GenCon.  The doubts center around 1) Whether Vegas would welcome GenCon, or whether GenCon would be "yet another mid-sized trade show" to Vegas, and 2) Whether the decidedly non-family friendly atmosphere/reputation* of Vegas would hurt their attendance numbers in a substantial way.

*Whether you think it's accurate or not, Vegas has tried hard to foster the "adult" atmosphere and reputation.  And it has succeeded, at *least* insofar as the reputation is concerned.

I do remember the later years of Gen Con Milwaukee. The city did give us lots of love, and even closed down a city block for us so we could have parties in the street. We even got to see They Might Be Giants- for FREE- at a Gen Con block party on Kilbourne Ave.

But....

You couldn't find a hotel room. Anywhere. And this is in a city where we even got to use the college dorms at Sandburgh Hall for housing. One year I literally drove back to Chicago every night because there were no hotels to be found. Trying to eat out wasn't happening either, the restaurants were swamped. I vividly remember 90+ minute waits everywhere almost nonstop, and many restaurants just stopped taking reservations.

Sure, the convention center could hold more people. The surrounding area just couldn't accommodate more people.

CES takes over vegas. There really is an atmosphere and the hotels try very hard to make attendees happy. Will every hotel be as family friendly? Probably not. But there are many options.

https://www.oyster.com/las-vegas/hotels/roundups/best-kid-friendly-hotels-in-las-vegas/

Another consideration- how far are these "kid friendly" hotels from the convention center?

I am not even going to share how much I just had to pay... but if anyone is willing... There are rooms available at the Alexander right now. It's only .6 miles from convention center.

That was my first Gen Con and only one in Milwaukee. 

So I idly went and checked hotel prices in Vegas for next year's CES. You can certainly tell which hotels are 'within walking distance'. The prices are in the $600 a night range. Yes, you can also book for anywhere from $35 and up but...I thought the impetus for moving to Vegas was 'cheaper and plenty' within walking distance hotels.

I'd rather not pay $632 a night thanks.

Oh and as for moving from Milwaukee, clearly he felt Indy was a better choice for him and the convention, which it was. Doesn't mean he wants to take that gamble again. Or that he HAS to.

Grand Prix Vegas was held in May 2015.

I have heard, and I have no verification if this is true, that people who purchased ONE DAY badges for each day got 4 lottery times.

I've also heard of people making multiple accounts to get more than one lottery.

If either of those are true, that would be really not cool.

That's working as intended—well, not that Gen Con intended for people to game the system, but I imagine they can only do so much if people are going to make fake accounts.

The first one sounded wonky to me, but I have a high degree of trust in the source.
That source may just be misinformed (and thus my disclaimer).

The second I'm sure has happened.

The Vegas strip is not family-friendly, at all.  There are topless cards everywhere.  Including all over the sidewalks.  There are drunken people everywhere, 24/7. 

And nobody wants to walk 1/2 mile in 103 degree temps, even if they're not in cosplay, and even if they're not hauling backpacks and miniatures bags and supplies to GM or run a seminar. 

I get that people think Las Vegas would be great.  Heck, *I* think Las Vegas is great.  I love Vegas.  But not for GenCon.

Been going to GenCon for many many years. We have never stayed downtown. Usually, by the time we get into housing "lottery" of some sort, everything is sold out and we have to book 30 minutes outside the city. There was only one year we have ever used the housing block to book and that hotel wasn't downtown.  This year is the first year I haven't been able to book a room outside the block that isn't 45 mins+ outside of Indy. I don't know what's gotta give but something has to. 

? There are quite a few hotels within 45 minutes outside the block available, all the way from downtown(ridiculous prices), airport($170) so-so, cheap but only 5-6 miles away (65-85) a night.

Indy itself still has quite a lot of housing available. My shock, on looking, was the hostel charging $205 a night. Wat!

A bunch of interesting points.

Personally, Vegas is my favorite city, Vegas has a plethora of good "cheaper" connected rooms (CES draws 180,000 so you can't compare to that), Vegas has lots of food (buffets!!!), and it definitely has the meeting space.  But, I would never take my kids to Vegas.

As gharris said, it's pretty hard to miss the adults only atmosphere.  I'd let my kids out during the day but as soon as the soon goes down, my kids would be on locked.  From the cards to the drunken revelers, it's just not kid friendly.