Italy gambling

The Vegas Boom Town

The modification of the gambling capital was more perceived than real.

None of the new missions for the town, nor even the desperate assertion of normality, actually changed the nature of the resort metropolis, and Las Vegans, never truly became committed citizens in any traditional sense.

They preferred to isolate themselves in a residential culture from the central city and the Strip, and gambling remained the predominant force in the local economy, as well as in many regards, the entire society.

But like the outlying subdivisions and the individualistic outlook that set inhabitants apart from the resort districts, the atomic tests, the campaign for industry, and the national conventions all made residents feel more at home in the unusual metropolis, making the town more legitimate by ostensibly reducing the significance of casino gaming.

Once Las Vegans decided that gambling amounted to something less than their reason for existence as a community, once they felt more certain that they remained within the boundaries of respectable society, they accepted the resort industry more willingly.

Even while worrying about the influence of gaming on the moral fiber of the community and experiencing the disorientation that accompanied rapid change, southern Nevadans seldom lost sight of the positive role played by gambling in their lives.

By reducing its significance in their own minds, residents were able to embrace more openly the advantages that the industry afforded the hometown.

The same hotels and casinos that accommodated and entertained tourists, and repelled eastern moralists, also provided Las Vegas with distinctive architecture, historic landmarks, a prosperous and rewarding economy, and cultural attractions.

Southern Nevadans resisted the domination of their lives by casino gaming, but as the resort industry seemed less threatening, they enjoyed its amenities increasingly and incorporated them more easily into their picture of a respectable and livable hometown.

Las Vegans redefined the resort city in their won minds by striving to dilute the importance of gambling, and reshaped it into a suitable place of residence by building a domestic culture that protected families from tourist activities.

Both practices were responses to an uncomfortable environment, reactions that, like maintaining well-watered lawns in the middle of the desert, seemed to make the metropolis more acceptable by making it conform more closely to familiar models.

This process, by which newcomers became Las Vegans, took place more in the minds of individual residents, one at a time over the entire postwar period, than throughout the whole city at any single time.

As townspeople grew accustomed to the city, they adopted the boosterism that characterized promotional efforts on behalf of southern Nevada.

They demonstrated an attachment to their chosen city like converts to a new faith, deriving vindication for the decision to settle in such a questionable hometown---- a large enough task in itself--- and took pride in the city's progress.

Las Vegans were often justified in their pride.

They had helped to build a vital metropolis at an inhospitable site selling the unlikely commodity of casino gaming.

Prosperity reassured inhabitants that their way of living and their community were respectable and legitimate.