The Gambling-Centric History Of The Swim-Up Bar

Unless you're insanely rich or go to a lot of hotels, the swim-up bar is more of an interesting novelty than a common fixture in your life. The idea of a swim-up bar is simple: When you're swimming in a pool, the bar is located directly within the water — seating included! — which allows you to swim directly up to the bar and grab a drink without ever leaving the pool. Many luxury resorts all over the world have swim-up bars in their pools, from Costa Rica to San Diego (via HGTV). 

Like most things at a hotel, a swim-up bar has two main purposes: entertain the guest while shaking them down for a little bit of extra cash. Think of the swim-up bar as the mini-bar in your hotel room. That little black fridge full of soda, alcohol, and snacks may be convenient and save you a trip down to the lobby but, as Slate explains, the absurdly high markup on those candy bars and little bottles of alcohol is to help cover the cost of the room, staff, and other furnishings. It's a luxury, to be sure, but it's also intended to get you to cough up a bit of extra change. Hotels, like any other business, provide a service in exchange for cash, whether it's a fridge full of beer or letting you drink cocktails in a heated pool.

But why even build a swim-up bar anyway? Who is it meant to appeal to?

Let's say that you and a partner or friend are at a Las Vegas hotel. You have a few bucks that you want to try and convert into a windfall in the casino, but your friend says that they're not going to do any gambling. Instead, they just want to relax by the pool, have a few drinks, and save their money. Little do they know, this particular hotel has a swim-up bar.

As Sandals explains, the idea behind the swim-up bar was born in Las Vegas — more specifically, in the famous Sands hotel in 1952. The Sands management, being the owners of a wildly popular hotel and casino, realized that although many customers were coming to try their luck in its casino, many customers preferred to stay by the pool, rather than be stuffed inside in the crowded and noisy casino. Perhaps if they were to bring the casino experience to the pool, the management team wondered, they would be a bit more willing to play a few games. Thus, the swim-up bar was implemented to appeal to guests who wanted the best of both worlds.

According to PUNCH, the swim-up bar, including its usual alcoholic offerings, also debuted with several "floating casino games." These included floating craps and blackjack tables and even poolside slot machines. So successful was this concept of a "floating casino floor" that other Las Vegas casinos quickly caught onto it.

Needless to say, Las Vegas, casinos, and hotels have changed a bit since the 1950s (given the addition of robot-delivered dessert shots, expect it to keep changing). While the swim-up bar was meant to evoke the feeling of enjoying the perks of the indoor casino out in the pool, how exactly does the modern-day swim-up bar differ from its original purpose?

It seems that, if you live in Michigan, you may be seeing more swim-up bars than usual as of late. In June of 2022, state lawmakers proposed that swim-up bars should be allowed at public pools, hotels, and other tourist-focused attractions (via Michigan Live). The reasoning (perhaps aside from the delightful novelty of being able to order a Mojito in nothing but your swimming wear) was that the revenue gained from these new swim-up bars would benefit Michigan's tourist economy. According to the Metro-Times, as of 2023, it seems that swim-up bars have now been made legal in the state. The new bill does state, however, that for the purpose of safety, all food and drink must be served in plastic containers so as to avoid any broken glass from intoxicated swimmers.

Some, however, have found swim-up bars to be somewhat shady. According to Yahoo! Sports, one woman on TikTok warns against visiting swim-up pool bars, as she claims that alcohol, other patrons, and pool water are not a good combination.