Las Vegas, sometimes known as the US’s gambling capital, is not among American cities that are starting to see the first glimpses of the end of the long-lingering recession.
“The nation’s gambling capital is staggering under a confluence of economic forces that has sent Las Vegas into what officials describe as its deepest economic rut since casinos first began rising in the desert here in the 1940s,” says the NY Times.
The city’s second economic pillar to gambling is the construction industry, which has also fallen into a deep hole.
Unemployment in Nevada is now 14.4 percent, according to national figures. It’s the highest in the nation.
Overall, “It’s been in bad shape before, but not this bad,” said David G. Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “If you look at the gaming revenues, they have declined and continue to decline over the past three years. “
Bad as times were after Sept. 11, some observers say it’s even worse today.
Mayor Oscar B. Goodman touts a comeback but even he admits:
“Our daily room rate average is not what it was. Our hotel room rates are bargains now. People aren’t spending on gambling as they have in the past. Ordinarily Las Vegas was the last to go into a recession and the first to come out. This one is different.”
On the positive side: the Times says there are some signs that gambling revenues, which are down to 2004 levels, have at least stabilized.
By David Wilkening
