I’ve got a new occasional paper up. This one is a print distillation of RJ Rowley’s excellent Colloquium talk:
Rex J. Rowley. “Where the Locals Play: Neighborhood Casino Landscapes in Las Vegas”
ABSTRACT: Neighborhood casinos—gaming properties that target a primarily local market—are an influential feature on the Las Vegas cultural landscape. Such institutions reveal a number of geographical patterns that have important implications in gaming and place studies. The distinguishing characteristics of neighborhood casinos underscore the importance of proximity to a market, a focus that is evident in their advertising strategies. Additionally, the prominence of such casino-resorts within their respective neighborhoods makes them important symbols and indicators of the character of the surrounding community. These unique institutions teach lessons that can potentially be extrapolated to other gaming markets around the country.
Keywords: gambling, gaming, market proximity, cultural landscape, symbolic landscape
View the paper here (pdf)
via UNLV Center for Gaming Research: Occasional Paper Series.
Give it a read–it’s a very informative discussion of how locals casinos evolved and how they fit into contemporary Las Veags.