21世纪的拉斯维加斯困难重重

　　赌博中心从当地社区转移。蒙特卡洛赌场所在的国家是摩纳哥，摩纳哥被法国所包围，但却是一个独立的国家。摩纳哥公民不得进入赌场的，但其他人都在鼓励他们打开钱包。澳门连接中国大陆的只有一个狭窄的地带。直到1999年，澳门都是处于葡萄牙的统治之下。现在澳门是中国的一个特别行政区，但来自内地的旅客要进入澳门需要一个特殊的签证。

　　拉斯维加斯坐落于北美最荒凉的一些山谷之中。第一次在拉斯维加斯落户的是1855年寻求独立和自由的摩门教徒。在20世纪初，拉斯维加斯只有30个农夫耕种着丛林土地。但在1911年，州政府为了寻求新的收入来源，仅在6个星期之内就取消销售所得税，个人所得税以及财产继承税，并且在1909年废除了赌博禁令。

　　1951年，国会的一个委员抱怨，内华达州参加赌博活动的人涉嫌有组织的犯罪。尤其是迈尔Lansky，本杰明西格尔和达利兹，控制了该州的赌场，并利用它们来清洗毒品钱和其他非法所得。

　　西格尔于1946年在加沙地带成立了第一家豪华酒店。今天这家豪华酒店是由Harrah的上市公司所拥有。该地带最北端的赌场是高盛子公司的财产。加沙地带的最大复杂的建筑是威尼斯宫和金沙会议展览中心，是由拉斯维加斯的金沙公司所拥有，金沙公司也是一家上市公司，价值167亿美元。

　　在过去的半个世纪中，拉斯维拉斯城市的人口急剧以及稳步上升。今天，近200万人生活在拉斯维加斯都市圈，这是拉斯维基加斯不可阻挡的赌博魅力的体现。但是，20世纪对拉斯维加斯也许是美好的，但21世纪的拉斯维加斯有可能困难重重。

　　拉斯维加斯努力重塑自己，使自身成为一个家庭友好的度假胜地，但在20世纪90年代经过短暂的尝试之后，拉斯维加斯现在正试图返回到罪恶之城的原始状态。有一句著名广告语是这样说的，“无论拉斯维加斯发生了什么，我都将停留在拉斯维加斯。”它仍然是美国唯一依法对体育投注的地区。然而，随着其他赌博形式崛起，使拉斯维加斯正面临着来自其他赌博形式的竞争。而美国本地的赌场比比皆是。

　　译文

　　GAMBLING centres operate at one remove from their local communities. Monte Carlo’s casino is in Monaco, surrounded by but independent from France. Monaco’s citizens are not allowed into the gaming rooms, but everyone else is encouraged to open their wallets. Macau is attached to mainland China only by a narrow isthmus. Until 1999 it was under Portuguese rule. Now it is a Special Administrative Region of China, but visitors from the mainland need a special visa.

　　Las Vegas sits in a valley in some of North America’s most inhospitable terrain. It was first settled in 1855 by Mormons seeking freedom from American rule. At the beginning of the 20th century a mere 30 homesteaders tilled the scrubby soil. But in 1911 the state government, seeking new sources of revenue, offered divorces in only six weeks, the quickest in the country. It also scrapped taxes on sales, income and inheritance and repealed the ban on gambling passed in 1909.

　　By 1951 a congressional commission complained that too many of the men running gambling operations in Nevada were involved with organised crime. Mobsters, notably Meyer Lansky, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and Moe Dalitz, had gained control of the state’s casinos, using them to launder drug money and other ill-gotten gains.

　　Siegel made the Flamingo into the first luxury hotel on the Strip in 1946. Today it is owned by Harrah’s, a listed company. The Strip’s northernmost casino, the Stratosphere, is the property of a Goldman Sachs affiliate. The Strip’s largest complex, made up of the Venetian, the Palazzo and the Sands Expo Convention Centre, is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, another listed company that has a $16.7 billion market cap.

　　Over the past half-century the city’s population has climbed steeply and steadily. Today nearly 2m people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area-a testament perhaps as much to the miracle of modern air conditioning as to the irresistible allure of gambling. But whereas the 20th century was good to Las Vegas, the 21st may prove more perilous.

　　Following a brief attempt at reinventing itself as a family-friendly resort in the 1990s, it has now tried to return to its roots as Sin City; one of its more famous advertising campaigns promises that “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It remains the only place in America where punters can legally bet on sports. Yet just as the rise of other forms of gambling threatens horseracing, so Las Vegas now faces competition from other venues. Native American casinos abound. And despite UIGEA, so do opportunities for online gambling.