LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The Las Vegas City Council voted Wednesday to tighten regulations surrounding the lottery system used to allocate performance spots on the Fremont Street Experience, aiming to crack down on exploitation and bad behavior among street performers.
For months, FOX5 has tracked complaints from buskers who rely on the city’s lottery system to secure one of 38 designated performance circles to entertain crowds and earn tips. Performers described securing a spot fairly as working in “the trenches,” alleging that bad actors routinely game the system by claiming multiple spaces, selling them to the highest bidder, or paying homeless people to hold circles for them.
“There are a lot of people who aren’t performers at all, holding spots and selling them to the other person,” said Marcus Battle, a dancer on the street.
Some performers in the area say they’ve seen spots go for $50 to $100.
Battle’s partner, Martine Hyson, said he’s seen different techniques used to game the lottery system.
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“Unfortunately, as I said, they’re duplicating numbers. I don’t know how, but they’re duplicating numbers somehow, and they’re sharing them with people,” Hyson said.
In response, city leaders clarified that reserving, selling, or attempting to purchase access to performance circles is illegal. Violators face a $250 fine or a 180-day suspension for performing during the circle hours without registration, the sale or reservation of circles, the failure to display proof of registration, and performing outside of the circle.
Under the updated rules, performers may only reserve locations during designated lottery hours, which now run from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m. Each lottery drawing will designate one winner and one alternate; if neither arrives, the space will open on a first-come, first-served basis. The wait time allotted to spaces has also decreased from 30 minutes to 15 minutes.
Performers say they hope the reforms create a safe and less hostile work environment.
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