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159 I often travel by air from my current midwestern home to Las Vegas for a weekend visit. Unlike many of my fellow passengers, my intentions are family- or, more recently, research-oriented. But sitting on a flight inbound to McCarran Airport on a Friday, I always sense the energy of the mostly tourist group. It all starts near the gates prior to boarding the flight. A group of four middle-aged men, for example, joke and discuss the fun they anticipate while celebrating a fortieth birthday in Sin City without the distractions of home, family, and work. Onboard the aircraft, the buzz of conversation is louder than on weekend flights to other cities. Photos are taken in anticipation of the Facebook page update describing the trip. Passengers discuss what hotel they will stay in, what shows they plan to see, how the Strip has changed since their last visit. Alcoholic beverages flow at high rates, too, adding to the energy and decibel level. Descending into the Las Vegas Valley, I have often overheard someone giving the history of this or that part of the tourist landscape to an excited first-time visitor to the city. I have also noticed a special mood on the return flight Sunday evening. The plane is ghostly quiet. No plans, no laughing, faces are plain and emotionless . Drinks are taken quietly and most passengers sleep. Perhaps they are just worn out from all-night parties in casinos and clubs. Perhaps they are recovering from an abundance of alcohol consumed while throwing dice at the craps table. Then again, maybe they are depressed because of the money they won and then lost on a single hand of twenty-one. This is what Vegas is built on: money left behind by tourists. This is what happens in Vegas and stays in Vegas. But what about the people who stay in Las Vegas? What about the locals? Gambling and adult entertainment make up a large portion of the economy in this city and not just on the Strip. And for many Las Vegans, direct involvement in either industry is a part of life, whether it be as a dealer at Wynn Las Vegas, a stripper at Crazy Horse Too, or a player at the video poker machines at PT’s Pub. Granted, as gambling expert Howard Schwartz put it, C H A P T E R SEVEN Life in a Town of Glitter and Gold 160 e v e r y d a y l a s v e g a s “the out-of-towner is here with discretionary money. He spends what he has and enjoys the city on a sporadic basis.” The local gambler, on the other hand, may end up spending his rent money on a game of poker only to be dealt a bad hand. The gambling scene is probably the most significant way in which locals are connected to the outsider’s image of the city. A close second is the abundance of sexually oriented businesses in this city that is often referred to as an adult Disneyland. Living in a culture of gambling and sex, in short, epitomizes how Las Vegas is a different kind of normal. an omnipresent landscape Gambling by itself does not make Las Vegas as unique as it once did. Today some form of legalized betting exists in every state but Utah and Hawaii. It is also a global phenomenon, the most prominent recent examples being Macau, China, and Singapore, where many of the Las Vegas casino moguls have duplicated their Las Vegas monoliths to cater to a burgeoning and prosperous Asian clientele. Yet, Las Vegas remains the gambling standard. The fact that it is Las Vegas gamers who stand out in the Asian market is evidence of that. So is the claim of local boosters that gamblers living near riverboat or Indian casinos will still be drawn to Las Vegas in order to experience the “real thing.” More important for locals, however, is the omnipresence of the gambling landscape throughout the Las Vegas Valley. Darren Sedillo’s response to my question about how the city is unique is telling in this regard: “Obviously, there is the gambling. There’s the Strip that everyone knows of, but also on every corner is a ‘saloon’ where you can spend your entire paycheck in five minutes and maybe get a free beer. Then there’s the grocery stores where you see the granny gambler, and the gas stations...

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