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Scanning the Vegascene – II
Statistics are said to be the device of the lazy writer. They have also been called mendacious and this is true for they can be made to testify for either side. Even so, the recitation of a few bears recording here.
Nevada is the fastest growing state in the union. Its population increased 29 per cent in the three years, 1960-1963. For a comparative base, the national increase for same period was 5 per cent. Clark County (Las Vegas) had a population of 16,000 in 1940; over 100,000 in 1964. In 1965, gross revenue from gambling – money taken in prior to expenses – was well over $282 million, just in three counties (which did 95 per cent of the business). In Clark County gross gambling revenue was $163.2 million; in Washoe County (Reno), $75.9 million; and in Douglas (Lake Tahoe), $43.4 million.
The Nevada Gaming Commission’s preliminary reports for 1963 indicate gross gambling revenue went over the $300 million mark for the first time. Taxes and fees paid to the state climbed from $14.9 million to $15.7 million during the same period.
Because it is possible for casino operators to “dip the cream” off the top of gross revenues in counting rooms, this skimming reduces true figures and cheats Nevada of a portion of taxes.
Combined with the tourists, (some 20 million a year) gambling supplied 28 per cent of the state’s tax revenue of jobs. Of 155,000 persons engaged in nonagricultural work, 116,000 or 75 per cent, are employed directly or indirectly, by the gambling industry. Gambling is legal in Nevada and is the major industry in the state.
Most other communities earnestly seek out factories and business. Nevada has no apparent desire for it. “Let the factories go elsewhere,” appears to be the philosophy. Large industrial firms would bring in growing families and the attendant necessities which would only serve to increase taxes. However, the rapidly expanding population with increasing school needs and demands for municipal services is also bound to force the tax base up.
Even so, Nevada has a tax system which is the envy of the 49 other states. In fact, Nevada’s current state tax policy has maintained Nevada as one of the very few fiscally sound states in the union.
Under a directive of the U.S. Supreme Court’s “one man, one vote” mandate, Nevada legislators adopted a reapportioned bill which would shift control in both the state Senate and Assembly to Las Vegas and Reno. It will end 50 years of domination by small rural counties. Clark County, 44.5 per cent of the state’s population in the 1960 census, will take 40 per cent of the seats. Washoe County will take 30 per cent.
What is so wrong about gambling? Moral people invest in fire and automobile insurance. You might say that the individual bets a reputable insurance company $7.50 each month that he won’t live another month, and the company bets him $5,000 that he will. If he loses his bet every month what is this other than a long gamble?
The rational viewpoint, to be sure, is that insurance is for the protection against financial loss.
You may buy an Irish sweepstakes ticket for $3 and have a chance to win $140,000. The wage-counter could not accumulate such a sum in a lifetime. Should he win, he would be rewarded handsomely. Should he lose, his ticket cost was negligible. The buyers of lottery tickets are merely trying to get some easy money.
“People gamble because it’s fun. It’s as simple as that.” Actually, it isn’t as simple as that. Numerous books have been written about the psychology of gambling and gamblers. Charlotte Olmsted, an anthropologist, attaches a phallic symbolism to the handle of a slot machine. With roulette, Miss Olmsted observed, “the fact that the ball always finds a slot may have a particular appeal to the socially isolated player with a poor sense of identity.”
The magic word in Las Vegas for the last couple of years has been “convention.” Nearly all the large casinos have built special annex buildings to take care of booming convention business. The Las Vegas Convention Bureau announced the month of October last as a new convention record. About 26,758 conventioneers were at the 43 meetings during the period. And in the first 10 months of 1965 there were 179 conventions with 112,468 delegates spending $21.9 million. Estimated final total of 1965 delegate business is $35 million as compared to 1964’s $17 million. Last November, the American Dental Association staged the largest convention ever held in Las Vegas!
Most of the top names of the entertainment world make the Vegascene, their substantial salaries being subsidized by casino profits. The mammary landscape has vast appeal. Men come to see the girls, and men are the ones who gamble. The bra-less brigade has devotees, no doubt, but the Sun & Games has no equal in America.
Gradylogue, No. 25, February 1966
Handset in 11-pt. Wayside Roman for members of the National Amateur Press Association by Milton R. Grady at Pillbox Private Press, Des Moines, Iowa 50317
Printed with a 10 x 15 Chandler & Price press.