Why Las Vegas?

I'm told Reno has Density Altitude problems and capacity limitations.

We go for the cheap flights, cheap rooms, and great food and entertainment. All that exists because of the casinos, so it’s nice that we enjoy a wager every now and then.

It's a matter of crowds attracting crowds. The fact that so many people visit the city makes flights cheaper and food/entertainment better. This also leads to all the "Vegas" meme type stuff (ie 'Vegas, baby' and "Only in Vegas') and the city delivers enough of that to keep me coming back - the people that return as often as I do (4 times a year) would tend to agree with that (I presume).

And Ping Pang Pong at Gold Coast is really, really good. Go there for dim sum.

I'd be driving from the LA region, so it'd be an extra six hours past Vegas, which is a hard sell...

But, for me, I suppose it boils down to an abject lack of meaningful marketing. Even before I started gambling, I had a pretty decent sense of Vegas. (Mostly accurate, though my imagination involved considerably less time and effort spent parking.) Before I went to Laughlin, I had a vague idea what to expect. (Unfortunately, I find the river smells like sewage disturbingly often and the general population is both older and more irritating than I expected.)

Reno? That falls somewhere between "That place used to be like Little Vegas, right? Is it still around?" and "Didn't somebody shoot somebody there once, just to watch them die?" I really have no idea what's over there, and considering it's over twice the distance away, I'm not inclined to head over on a whim.

It wasn't for nothing. The guy stepped on my dogs shadow.

Even a nice folk song about Reno.

It's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble
And you reap just about what you've sown

You can walk down the street, pass your face in the window
You can keep on fooling around
You can work day and night, take a chance on promotion
You can fall through a hole in the ground

Now there ain't no game like the game you're playing
When you got a little something to lose
And there ain't no time like the the time you been wasting
And you waste just about what you choose

There's a man at the table and you know he's been able
To return all the odds that you lay
Hey, but you can't feed your hunger and you ain't getting younger
And your tongue ain't got nothing to say

And it's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the ground underneath you is beginning to tremble
And the sky up a above you has grown

There's a time to be moving and a time to be grooving
And a time just for climbing the wall
But the odds have been doubled and it ain't worth the trouble
And you're never going nowhere at all

It's a long, long way down to Reno Nevada
And a long, long way to your home
But the change in your pocket is beginning to grumble
And you reap just about what you've sown

There's a man at the table and you know he's been able
To return all the odds that you lay
Hey, but you can't feed your hunger and you ain't getting younger
And your tongue ain't got nothing to say

Good point, OP. There was a time not too long ago where Vegas was basically the ONLY place to gamble aside from horse, dog, and Lottery. That was when most states had a ban on casinos. Since the casino ban has been lifted on most, if not all, there really isn't that much incentive to go to Vegas anymore since most people can just hop into their local casino to gamble nowadays.

Quote: Nathan

Good point, OP. There was a time not too long ago where Vegas was basically the ONLY place to gamble aside from horse, dog, and Lottery. That was when most states had a ban on casinos. Since the casino ban has been lifted on most, if not all, there really isn't that much incentive to go to Vegas anymore since most people can just hop into their local casino to gamble nowadays.

exactly what I was going to post.

I now have local casinos near me so no need to fly 6hrs each way (plus 1.5hrs at airport).
there's nothing in Vegas that interests me anymore.
RIP: Casino Royale's $3 craps with 20x odds (100x with $5 min)

Quote: Nathan

Good point, OP. There was a time not too long ago where Vegas was basically the ONLY place to gamble aside from horse, dog, and Lottery. That was when most states had a ban on casinos. Since the casino ban has been lifted on most, if not all, there really isn't that much incentive to go to Vegas anymore since most people can just hop into their local casino to gamble nowadays.

Your local casinos such as the Indian Reservations may not have favorable rules so Vegas would still be on table for anyone who is interested in trying to win. I lived in Vegas for over a decade, and had traveled to Reno time to time. In comparison, I thought Vegas was so much better. Even when I relocated out of state and found myself returning to Nevada, but Reno of all places, my negative views of the city still lingered. It's only when I actually spent some time here in this city, I have discovered it's so much better than Vegas in terms of gambling, with the exception of live poker & bingo. It's true though, we don't get the A entertainment. Kind of surprised that people are finding airfare so high. My friend from the east coast finds better deals to Reno than Vegas. Southwest, Frontier are some of the budget airlines that serves Reno, although their prices may not seem to be on the budget side at times.

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded"- Yogi Berra