The State of Nevada has had a unique economy, first relying strictly on the mining industry than moving quickly to the gaming and tourist industry. Las Vegas and its surrounding area built and built, seemingly with no end in sight, going from a casino with a hotel to a hotel with a casino. Its new resorts were measured by the millions spent and soon became the mega-resorts of today which now measured in size by the number of billions spent to build. With the recent opening of City Center, the Clark County area now has approximately 200,000 rooms built or in the process of being built that it needs to fill each and every day.
I hate to be the bearer of doom and gloom but unless we do something to change our present status I predict Las Vegas will become one big retirement community. With gaming revenue down and property values continuing to plummet, the State’s revenue are currently near a billion dollars short. The State of Nevada’s Constitution calls for a balanced budget and no personal or corporate income tax. What helped build Las Vegas, now threatens to destroy it as both Governor and Legislatures scramble to come up with ways of cutting services or increasing tax revenues.
Rooms that were built to generate three to four hundred dollars are in most cases generating a hundred dollars or less per night. However the real problem is the type of tourist now occupying the room is no longer a gamer but tourists interested in acquiring a cheap vacation. They are no longer filling gaming tables or utilizing the new restaurants, but instead are eating at McDonalds.
With many airlines cutting flights, convention bookings are down as conventioneers remain concerned with the ability to obtain enough seats for their attendees. This in turn with the overall state of our economy has caused many companies to cancel.
In my opinion there are several things Nevada should do to overcome its present calamity. The first and most important would be to attract industry possibly in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Land Management, the Agency in charge of the majority of land in the State of Nevada. Industry creates jobs and jobs stimulate the economy which all helps to increase state revenue.
The second would be to increase taxes on Nevada’s mining industry which is currently our nation’s number one gold producer.
The third would be to bring back the old junketeers with a low airfare that would enable players to promise a number of hours of play in turn for a free trip to Las Vegas. This is a proposal that I expect Family Airlines will soon make to the Las Vegas gaming resorts. Family is an airline that I helped create which is currently in the certification stage and expects to have over 1.8 million seats available to Las Vegas during its first year of flight operations. The airline will offer ultra low fares with many seats offered at $19 for a one way fare from Southern California. This would allow for giveaway of seats for play.
