Reno Exposed...

It's been pretty well documented that for many years people would just shake their head and ask "what's wrong with the Reno?"

And year after year, the hand wringing continued, but really, nothing really made sense. Well, it may not be as complex as it appears.

Someone once said, "we only do the things that are important", and I think that it is really as simple as that.

Competing against other locales, i.e.; Las Vegas, and now the Indian casinos, has never been important for the owners of Reno's casinos.

It's not really hard to understand. Case in point. I recently visited this outpost in NW Nevada and had the opportunity to taste the local fare, i.e.; I experienced Virginia Street in all of it's infamous glory. The El Dorado, Silver Legacy, Fitzgeralds, Harrah's [well, let's skip Harrah's], Sundowner and honestly, outside of the Silver Legacy, I became depressed. It's a depressing place. Why would anyone want to go there. I then visited Atlantis, Boomtown, J.A. Nuggett, and felt, well, at least people are alive here. Some of you might ask or say, see, it's the Thunder Valley effect.....and you may be right, but then, how does Boomtown, or J.A. Nuggett, both on I80 get away with little or at least a smaller effect than the downtown stores? Yes, the J.A. Nuggett reminds me of Mandalay Bay in the early hours of the morning, young drunks everywhere....and yes, they're a little sweaty, always has been, but they're still better than downtown; or take Boomtown, which may have the best SD in all of northern Nv.. The point here is that these people [the ones that own and run their casinos] know what the score is. They have CHOSEN this path. The Atlantis.....playable games, nice place, but comps? Give me a break.

Now, travel a little southwest and up and down the hill :) to that beautiful lake's southern edge and things are mighty different. And keep in mind that half this town [Stateline] is a Harrah's company store, and you should be even more impressed. It appears that they understand what's at stake. Why? Because it must be IMPORTANT to them.

60 miles, and it might as well be on the other side of the earth.

It really isn't any simpler. Death wish, naw. Self fulfilling prophecy, naw. Bad business management, naw.

Unmotivated? True. Could care less? True. Not Important? Absolutely TRUE.

Do I care? Absolutely not. Why? If they don't, why should I.

You see, the formula exists...it's not complicated. Yes to all those who state the obvious on overhead, profits, revenue and the like...all true, but meaningless. Why? One way to know is merely to see how the airlines handle flights into and out of Reno. Not well. It's not rocket science people.

So please...stop the hand wringing, and let the place die, if that's what it wants. We'll all mourn, and remember the good ole days [like there were some] and sing 'Ole Danny Boy... but you can't want more for [someone] a town, then it wants for itself. Why else could a California Indian casino, with CSM's and poorer slot payouts have this kind of efffect? It can't!

I go back to my opening description...Reno is depressing, and who wants to be depressed.

Not me..JMO
I'm cheery...:)
so cheers
bfb

for many people. Unfortunately, not enough people. And it's shrinking by the day. It's not about the Blackjack....it is, however, about everything else that goes into making any place a destination for many people. Face it, people aren't coming to Reno.They may pass through Reno, but Reno isn't the primary port of call.

FWIW, I like Reno. What's depressing about Reno is the lack of hope, fear of having a job [at casinos], the forever short-sightedness of casino management, not to mention the city's managers [they do have people making city decisions in Reno don't they?] and the list goes on and on.

The template for making a destination attractive is well known, and as memory serves, there's a place in the desert that has become pretty popular, so there must be other reasons, and as I said before, it is simple. Occam's Razor.

And your comments actually prove my point, i.e.; this hand wringing has been going on, and on, and on for many years as far as Reno is concerned. Really...isn't it enough already. Sometimes, alcoholics just really want to be alcoholics. There's nothing you can do to help without their consent.

One last point....if Las Vegas was only downtown [Las Vegas], it wouldn't be the place it is today.

I want Reno to survive. Most of us [in the advantage community] wants Reno to survive. The citizens of Reno wants Reno to survive, let's hope it does...but if it doesn't, it's not because of an Indian Casino, or Lake Tahoe, or Las Vegas...it's because of Reno. Period.

BTW, Lake Tahoe's games have improved.... :)

cheers
bfb

bfbagain and John Lewis both make excellent points about the situation in Reno. It is a great BJ city and I love playing there. Unfortunately, you can feel the place declining right before your eyes. While city and casino mgt. decision-making may be partly to blame,I still believe the influx of Indian casinos have to be a primary reason for the declining situation.