The Mirage hotel and casino in Las Vegas has spent $25 million in its latest ploy to get people to come to their casino, but it won’t add any space to their casino or rooms to its hotel.  The money was spent on updating the famous volcano outside because apparently it takes 20 years for one of those to go out of date.

Previously the volcano just sprayed water that was lit by red lights to make it look like lave, but now the volcano is equipped with a number of fireball devices.  The spectacle will now feature 12-foot flame and fiery lava running down the crevices of the volcano.

“It looks dangerous, but in reality it’s not,” said Jim Doyle, new technologies director at WET. “We just want people to stand back on their heels.”

The show will also feature a drum track put together by former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart.  The whole thing is synchronized to give patrons a complete experience – where they can actually feel the eruption.

The biggest question is whether or not the casino will see any benefit from this new spectacle; sure it will definitely draw a crowd, but will people go inside.

“It does draw thousands of people for every eruption, but the challenge is getting them inside the property,” said Scott Shibella, president of Mirage.

Either way, this is a sign of the times, when Las Vegas casinos have to pull out all the stops to attract new customers.