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I guess there still is nothing like the Las Vegas experience.

California gaming not hurting Las Vegas

By HOWARD STUTZ
GAMING WIRE

SAN DIEGO -- Apparently, the sky didn't fall.

When California's American Indian tribes were given the go-ahead to open casinos in the late 1990s, naysaying Chicken Littles sounded Las Vegas' impending doom. Casinos throughout populous Southern California, they said, would divert Las Vegas customers from the Strip to the Indian reservations.

The boom would be over, revenue streams would evaporate and nearly one-third of Las Vegas' annual visitors would stay home. What happens in California, stays in California.

Paraphrasing Mark Twain, the predictions of Las Vegas' death were greatly exaggerated.

Five years after gaining legalization, San Diego casinos are populated with local residents and tourists from neighboring Southern California counties, cities and communities.

But during that same five-year period, visitation to Las Vegas has grown almost 8 percent to 38.6 million annual tourists and Strip casinos topped a record $6 billion in gaming revenues in 2005.

"The question is have we hurt Las Vegas? If Las Vegas wasn't what Las Vegas is, the answer would be yes," said Jerry Turk, a former downtown Las Vegas casino owner who manages Pala Casino for the Pala Band of Mission Indians.

"Las Vegas is smart enough to reinvent itself. Here's a mistake some other tribes make. They think they can replicate Las Vegas. They market themselves as the new Las Vegas. You can't do that and it's something they don't understand. It's a joke. You can't replicate Las Vegas because Las Vegas is so unique."

San Diego's leading casino operators and Nevada tourism analysts agree that some potential Las Vegas visitors stick around Southern California to get their casino entertainment fix. But at the same time, casinos in San Diego have created additional Las Vegas visitors.

"We saw this with New Jersey, the riverboats and anytime new jurisdictions have been created," said Frank Streshley, senior research analyst for the Nevada Gaming Control Board. "Casinos in new markets create new customers who want to see Las Vegas."

Visitor statistics from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority help support Streshley's assertion. In the recently completed Las Vegas Visitor Profile, six in 10 tourists said having other places to gamble made no difference in their decision to visit Las Vegas.

"Two things have happened because of Indian gaming," said John Piet, the authority's senior research analyst. "People have become more exposed to gambling and it creates a demand to visit Las Vegas. When they do come to Las Vegas for the first time, they are less intimidated about gambling."

Indian casinos have cut into the visitor pool that frequents Las Vegas from six to eight times a year strictly to gamble, Piet said. At least one of those visits is being lost to tribal gaming.

That's music to the ears of Don Speer, chairman of Venture Catalyst, which has served as the Barona Band of Mission Indians' gaming consultant for 15 years.

The Barona Valley Ranch casino markets to the traditional Las Vegas gaming patron, and even tries to entice high-end players with six- and seven-figure gambling budgets who would normally frequent the Bellagio and other luxury Strip resorts.

Barona Valley Ranch has a high-limit gaming area and two ultraluxury private gambling salons.

"We want to compete with the Strip for the best casino customers," Speer said, "and we believe that's what we're accomplishing because of the facilities Barona offers."

San Diego casino personnel said they think average Southern California gaming customers are sometimes taking gambling trips closer to home. Mary Crane, Pala's assistant general manager of hotel operations, who spent 23 years in downtown Las Vegas, said that's what customers have told her.

"If they are taking three trips to gamble a year, we're getting at least one of them," Crane said. "If they want just the gaming experience and a quick getaway, they're coming here. There is just so much more to Las Vegas."

Harrah's Entertainment, the only national casino company operating a San Diego gambling property, lures customers to Harrah's Rincon hoping to build visitation at one of the company's seven Strip casinos.

Robert Livingston, assistant general manager of Harrah's Rincon, said the casino is tapping a huge pool of Southern California customers stretching all the way up to expansive Los Angeles County.

"I think it's pretty clear that a trip a Southern California customer makes to a Southern California casino is a trip they are not taking to Las Vegas," Livingston said. "But we're not competing with Las Vegas, we're actually complementing Las Vegas. By creating new casino customers and enlarging our database, we hope that will fuel our properties in Las Vegas."

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I think it's cool for the old ladies that play the slots that we have
Casinos a little closer. But theres no Sportsbook or any Roulette
or Craps. So until California has that Vegas should have no worries.