Reno's in a nice location. Close to major population areas - San Francisco and Sacramento among others. And only a half hour drive to the beauty of Lake Tahoe and numerous top knotch ski resorts.

So what went wrong!??

Class, this week's homework assignment is to list the top ten reasons in order of importance on why Reno, Nevada has never attained the level of attention (status, importance, profitability) that Las Vegas has experienced since gambling became legal in the 1930's.

If you cannot think of 10 reasons, please feel free to just list those that you feel are important and we should be able to combine them with others and eventually agree on the top 10.

OK, class dismissed! Thank you!



------------------
will800

Good question, Professor! IMO, it's a numbers game as far as gambling goes. Granted, San Francisco is about a 4 hour drive, and Sacramento is about 2 hours away, but the population in both of those areas would fit into a very small area of Southern California (and we wouldn't have it any other way up here in the north<g> ). The Lake Tahoe area draws many U.S. and international visitors, but I think many of them are "tour-driven" with Lake Tahoe and Yosemite being stops on the tour, and Reno being ignored. There are retirement communities in the Reno/Tahoe area (Gardnerville comes to mind), but most retirees want better year-round weather; they aren't going to move from Michigan to shovel snow<g>, and the winter weather also cuts down on the local visitors. Skiers have a much better choice of runs in the Tahoe area.
I don't know that anything "went wrong" with growth in the Reno area; it's just that the growth of Las Vegas has been phenomenal.
It's about a 3-hour drive for me to either Reno or Lake Tahoe, and the choice depends on either mood or visitors....if I have an out-of-state visitor, I head for Tahoe. If I just need to relax and don't really want to gamble, I head for a spa suite at Caesars Tahoe<g>, but if I'm in a gambling mood, it's off to Reno! Even with the slow-down of recent years, there are more and better gambling opportunites there.

------------------
Daisy-Beyond Vegas Moderator
daisy@talkvegas.com

Will,

I agree with Daisy about it being a numbers
situation with Reno. I would add that I think
the layout of Reno versus Las Vegas works against Reno, because the hotel/casinos are
concentrated downtown, and there is no "Strip" as such. All the other places are
sort of scattered around town in Reno, Sparks, and Lake Tahoe, which makes casino
hopping more difficult. Also, Reno was more
of a developed city than Las Vegas was before gambling came along, which restricted the way in which it could grow.

Finally, climate has something to do with it.
Las Vegas doesn't have winter. Reno does.
People who live in snow country like to come
to Las Vegas to get away.

Dick 9/7/99

I think a more important question would be, "Did Reno go wrong?" There is nothing carved in stone that says that Reno should be just like Las Vegas. There is nothing that says it should resemble Las Vegas in any way. There is nothing that syas that Reno should grow and develop around the legalization of gambling.

Janet Reno? I can name ten reasons for her to be put in jail.<g>

I think it's like comparing apples to oranges, it's not a fair comparison.
My one and only trip to Reno was several years ago. I'll be the first to admit, I/we where expecting a scaled down Las Vegas. What we found was something completly differnt. It's a slower town. The entertainment (while we where there) was lacking. The feel of the night was more dark, and quiet. Like mentioned on another post, there is no strip. It's a town that was worn hard and not a whole lot spent on "sprucing up". We stayed intirely too long 9 nights in November. Had a wake-up call, when we rented the car and it had 2 ice scrapers in the glove box! LOL (we used them both)
I think it's an "all depends on what your looking for" type thing. We did find the people a whole lot more friendly up there! I remember the wet bar in our hilton suite was shaped like a blackjack table. We sure where treated nice by the Hilton for $49 a night! <S> Would we go back, probably not. But it does have it's followers and I can see why others may love the place. There just wasn't enough excitment in the town for me.
So I'm not so sure Reno, went wrong, as much as maybe they just took another path.


------------------
Lee-PA
Moderator, What's New Forum
lee@talkvegas.com