I think you nailed it in your comparison to daytrading. It’s relatively easy to seucre entitlements (low barrier to entry) in Las Vegas and what you are seeing are the last lemmings to go over the cliff.

Unlimited or easily subdivisible land has no real value and a market can become saturated quickly when amateurs are entering the market (and your friend quitting his day job is a huge red flag that’s its time to try something else).

Only when there are major constraints (politically, environmentally or physically) does land become more valuable.