FAA grants approval for giant ferris wheel

Quote: EvenBob

It won't die, it will just have to scale down. Less customers means fewer hotels and casinos. I read here or somewhere that 55% of the people visiting Vegas are from SoCal. Its inevitable, given the financial state of CA, that they'll eventually have real Vegas type casinos. That will be the end of Vegas as we know it. Property values and jobs are still declining now, if CA gets casinos, fugettaboutit....

You are mistaken Bob, We have Vegas style casinos here in SoCal and have had them all of my adult life. I am 250 miles from Vegas but within 100 miles there are at least 10 Injun casinos offering Vegas style games, including Pechanga, which has more gaming space than any casino in Nevada.

Quote: EvenBob

I read here or somewhere that 55% of the people visiting Vegas are from SoCal.

I think it is closer to 25%. There are 19.3 million people that board an airplane in Vegas (down from 21 million). The traffic by the locals is minimal. A lot of people come from Phoenix, No-Cal, Utah, and the midwest. There is still a lot of people from the East.

Paco -

That ignores those who will drive from Southern California.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Paco -

That ignores those who will drive from Southern California.

I got the 25% from a source independent of mode of transportation. I was just trying to make it sensible.

Quote: Doc

I like both Biloxi and Tunica, and I expect we will return to both places several more times. However, they are nothing at all like Las Vegas.

True, but how many more casinos do you need to choose from? More and better shows in Vegas. Better restaurants and certainly more of them.

But that longer(?) plane ride and higher priced ticket may soon cause people to stop bothering with Vegas.

An actor may dream of playing on Broadway but going on the Dinner Theater circuit is often a more sensible choice. Gamblers dream of Las Vegas and value it, but in a time when casinos of some sort are everywhere a good many gamblers seem to be saying What Happens Fifteen Minutes Away Is Better.

I think the growth of poker will also factor in. Why goes to Vegas to play strangers versus playing against the locals ??

Quote: bigfoot66

You are mistaken Bob, We have Vegas style casinos here in SoCal and have had them all of my adult life.

CA casinos don't offer dice games or roulette, and slots are not allowed in card rooms, of which there are a jillion. The casinos in SoCal offer some of the games Vegas does, in my area places like that are called 'Mickey Mouse casinos' and they do a third of the business a real casino does. CA is the 6th largest gambling state, and of the 6, its the only one that doesn't allow high stakes gambling. If they ever allow dice games and roulette, slots in every casino, high stakes betting and sports betting, why would you need to go to Vegas.

Quote: FleaStiff

True, but how many more casinos do you need to choose from? More and better shows in Vegas. Better restaurants and certainly more of them.

But that longer(?) plane ride and higher priced ticket may soon cause people to stop bothering with Vegas. ... in a time when casinos of some sort are everywhere a good many gamblers seem to be saying What Happens Fifteen Minutes Away Is Better.

The only "casino" in North Carolina is Harrah's Cherokee. I went there once, and there is nothing there to make me want to go back. Ever.

The next closest casinos are in West Virginia. I have played in all of them except Charlestown. Yes, I can find a crap table in WVa that's as good as any, but only one casino in any area. Going there to stay would mean spending all my time at one table, and I enjoy myself more when there is a little variety. Only the Greenbrier has anything other than gambling that would interest me, and it is really out of my socio-economic stratus. I will play in West Virginia when passing through on some other purpose, but I doubt I would travel there for an extended visit at any of the casinos.

Next closest are the Delaware casinos or some of the ones in PA. I have been to the three in Delaware and doubt I will bother to go back. I will probably check out some of the ones in PA if only to add to my chip collection. I don't see DE or PA as really offering a vacation destination for me.

I live roughly mid way between Atlantic City and Biloxi/Tunica. Either direction is a long day's drive and offers a variety of Casinos. Biloxi and Tunica offer me lower room rates, sometimes free. The major shortcoming that these casino centers have compared to Las Vegas is the very limited options for entertainment other than gambling. Most any weekend, there will be someone that I have heard of performing in Biloxi or Tunica or Atlantic City. But there would probably be only one, and what would I do other than gamble on a Wednesday or Thursday night?

Las Vegas just offers me a whole lot more options -- gambling and otherwise -- than any of the other casino centers that I have visited so far. I will go to the others, but they won't keep me from returning to Las Vegas on a regular basis.

Now if I did have a real casino close enough that I could drop by for a few hours in the evening, that might satisfy my gambling urges so that I only paid the cost of travel to Nevada when I wanted to combine gambling with a couple of shows or something more. So far, there is no nearby option like that available to me and none visible on the time horizon. If I have to pay the price of a trip, Las Vegas remains a viable option for me. Therefore, I'll be there for WoVCon!

.....

I still think that you are mistaken Bob. It is true that there is no sports betting in CA, but they do have modified versions of Craps and Roulette that use cards and the games are popular (and the odds are identical to the vegas version of the games). I don't know what you mean when you say that there is no high stakes betting, I have seen $3000 bets at the tables before and I assume that is not the max. It is also true that the card rooms are not Vegas style casinos, but there are at few dozen Indian Casinos which are almost exactly like anything on the strip. I dont think people in SoCal are driving the 250 miles to Vegas instead of the 70 miles to their nearest Indian Casino because the roullete game is card based rather than using a steel ball.

I go to Vegas over Pechanga for several reasons: Lower table limits, looser slots/video poker, "free" alcohol, more liberal players clubs, etc. But the real reason I go to Vegas is because I can get hammered and go nuts in Vegas in a way that I just can't in SoCal. SoCal casinos are all about the gaming, but the strip is just a huge nonstop party. It is a very different atmosphere and it is worth the drive.