Winds of change blowing through Las Vegas

Press, 25 October 1985, Page 18

Winds of change blowing through Las Vegas

From

WILLIAM SCOBIE

in Nevada

Las Vegas is on a winning streak. After years in the doldrums, blamed by city bosses on a combination of local strikes, a national economic slow-down, and the inroads of rival Atlantic City, this noisy, neon-bright gambling capital of the world is revelling in an unexpected boom. Nevada’s gaming control board has proudly announced that the desert city’s 50-odd casinos reported a thumping 14.7 per cent increase in their “win” (money taken in over money paid out) for the first half of 1985, for a grand total of $1993 million. Winnings for the full year should reach a record $4035 million, says the control board’s financial analyst, Stu Curtis.

Even so, while traditional business thrives, America’s favourite “Sin City” is engaged, rather desperately, in a costly bid for new ’‘action.” It wants the corporate world to “think Vegas” when it thinks expansion. The city and its neighbouring townships, alarmed by the lean early 1980 s — when the growth rate of casino revenues fell 10 per cent, dashing beliefs that Vegas was “recession-proof — sorely want to diversify their economy. The land of bare-breasted showgirls, instant divorce, and supermarket slot-machines is peddling a new image: a bustling

metropolitan Vegas of half a million people enjoying low taxes, cheap housing, and an ardently pro-business state Government in a dazzling sun-belt climate. How can the “anything-goes” city, which counts among its founding fathers the gangster Bugsy Siegel, hope to compete with staider sun-belt cities in the race for new industry, especially coveted high-technology companies? “We push the fact that gambling gives us a huge tax base, eliminating the need for personal and corporate income tax,” says Berlyn Miller of the Nevada Development Authority, an organisation created to lure industry to the gambling mecca. Nevada is also the only western state with no unitary tax (which taxes income coming in from foreign countries and other states). Other attractions, says Andy Grosse, Nevada’s head of economic development, include vast tracts of inexpensive raw land for plant, and “affordable” housing. Vast military bases such as the Nellis air force field and the ultra-secret nuclear weapons test site give Vegas a claim to a slice of the multi-billion Reaganaut defence budget pie.

Among some 80 companies that have taken the Nevada bait and started operations are LeviStrauss, the jeans-maker, Aerojet General, a missile contractor, and Citicorp, the giant New York bank holding company, which has centred its credit card operation in Las Vegas. Do Citicorp’s clients feel a shade dubious about sending cheques to a Vegas address? No problem. State bosses quickly persuaded the post office to allow the big bank to use “The Lakes” — the name of a land development where the Citicorp plant was built — as a postmark. “If all these blue-chip companies have chosen us as their home,” beams Mr Grosse, “why, a gaming environment is obviously no problem to a company’s work force.” To polish the city’s image further, the once-sleazy downtown area is being spruced up. Winos, transients, and other evidence of inner-city decay are gone from the old gambling centre.

Downtown’s noise and neon glitter are unabated, but its largest casino-hotel is striving for a new up-market image. Restyled in green-and-white marble topped with masses of gilt icing, the Golden Nugget has become one of

the priciest joints in town, offering “superior” night-club acts (Sarah Vaughan, Frank Sinatra).

The immense golden sign — a landmark for years to gamblers on incoming jets — has gone from its roof. Indeed, no name-sign is displayed anywhere. And those who complain about the inconvenience of this affectation are likely to be told by management: “If our customers don’t know where they are, we don’t need them.”

Civic leaders say more than $440 million has been spent on new building downtown, bringing the total of hotel rooms to 8000, adding a “civic plaza,” convention space, and improved transport. Love it or loath it, La Vulgarissima offers by far the best tourist bargains in the United States, with rooms as low as $35 (a fifth of Los Angeles prices for similar accommodation) and remarkably cheap air-hotel packages — predicated, of course, on the hope that what the visitor saves on the swings he will surrender at the tables.

Why this sudden revival in Las Vegas’ fortunes — and its confidence in the future? “The economy is on the upswing, Atlantic City had a bad season, and the new video games and slots are proving to be huge money-makers,” says an aide to Mayor William Briare. “The winds of change are blowing here: it looks nicer, cleaner, safer.”