拉斯维加斯的蜕变之路（二）

　　长时期经济危机最后冲击到了博彩业。游客数量增长的速度超过了酒店房间数量。2004年，MGM Mirage宣布在Strip街建设大规模公寓楼群CityCenter以供应市场需求。成本从最初估计的30亿增加到90亿多。去年10月开放，增加了4800个房间，使得本身已经超出需求的情况更为严重。到2009年末，游客数量降低了3%，但房间数量增长了6%，空房率极高。而且，内华达的博彩业盈利整体下跌超过10%，为该州下跌幅度最大的一年。

　　大部分原因是更大范围的经济衰退，尤其是伴随着衰退期的消费下降。竞争激烈也是另一个原因。1987年，高级法院颁布法律，容许当地美国部落可以在部落属地开设赌场，即便这些归属州政府管辖的土地禁止赌博。1988年，国会通过了印第安博彩业管理法案，对这类商业制定了法律框架。

　　今天，在29个自治州内有200多个部落经营赌场生意，包括内华达州和加利福尼亚州（加州有很多游客去往拉斯维加斯）。美国最大的赌场是Foxwoods，由康涅狄格州西部的Meshantucket Pequot部落经营管理；还有MoheganSun赌场，由康涅狄格州的Mohegans家族管理，从纽约开车只需两个小时。这两个赌场收益的很大一部分都是当日交易。加利福尼亚州Temecula市的The Pechanga 度假村与赌场，位于洛杉矶和圣地亚哥之间，它离这两个城市都很近，离拉斯维加斯较远。2008年，印第安州赌场收入大约为270亿美元，比07年增长1.5%，而拉斯维加斯却在下跌。这已初见区别。

　　除了这些直接的竞争外，还有一些小的竞争对手。大约有15个州有“racinos”（即赛马场加赌场）或者老虎机；很多提供视频纸牌，黑杰克或骰子，这是电脑版的流行桌面游戏。联邦禁止体育赌博的禁令在内华达开始瓦解：特拉华州请求准许体育赌博的诉讼失败，但仍有权利在其他职业足球比赛上赌博。新泽西州参议院小组最近通过法律，准许亚特兰大城在体育赛事上押注。

　　但这些都没那么容易摧毁拉斯维加斯。第一，大部分人去拉斯维加斯的目的不仅是去赌博：2009年，只有13%的游客和2%首次去那里的人是为赌博而去--更多的是去探望朋友或家人，或去度假。

　　当然，度假的人可以去赌博--83%的游客会赌博，但拉斯维加斯的赌博只是一个“附加项目”--Racinos和老虎机全美国到处都是，根本不具备多大的优势。除了诸如剧院、滑稽剧和高尔夫等娱乐活动，拉斯维加斯遍地都是休闲娱乐场所（mobsters the Rat Pack the World Series of Poker等等），没有其他地方可以像它一样全面。这是美国最奇特也最迷人的城市，它在沙漠之中闪闪发光就像一座海市蜃楼。

　　译文：

　　The crisis hit at the end of a long period when visitor numbers were growing faster than the number of hotel rooms. In 2004 MGM Mirage announced plans for a massive complex on the Strip CityCenter to cash in on rising demand. The cost rose from an initial estimate of around $3 billion to over $9 billion. It opened in December last year adding 4 800 hotel rooms to a city already struggling to fill the rooms it had. By the end of 2009 the number of visitors was down 3% from the previous year but room numbers were up 6% slashing the occupancy rate. Equally alarming gambling revenues in Nevada as a whole fell by over 10% the state’s steepest-ever annual decline.

　　Much of this is due to the broader economic malaise in particular the drop in consumer spending that accompanied the recession. But competition is also to blame. In 1987 the Supreme Court ruled that Native American tribes could establish gambling operations on tribal lands even if those lands lay within states that prohibit gambling. The following year Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which created a framework of regulation for such businesses.

　　Today more than 200 tribes run casinos in 28 states including Nevada and California （which supplies many of the visitors to Las Vegas）。 The biggest casino in America is Foxwoods run by the Meshantucket Pequot tribe in western Connecticut; that and the Mohegan Sun casino run by the Mohegans in Connecticut are both around two hours’ drive from New York and much of their business comes from day punters. The Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula California between Los Angeles and San Diego is closer to both than is Las Vegas. In 2008 gaming revenue at Indian casinos was about $27 billion a 1.5% rise on the previous year whereas Las Vegas saw a drop. Proximity seems to make a difference.

　　In addition to this direct competition there are smaller foes too. Around 15 states have “racinos” or slots parlours attached to race tracks; and many of them offer video poker blackjack or craps which are computer-based versions of popular table games. The federal ban on sports betting outside Nevada is beginning to crumble at the edges: Delaware lost its appeal to allow sports betting but retains the right to take bets on multiple professional football games and a New Jersey state-senate panel recently approved legislation to allow sports betting in Atlantic City.

　　Yet none of this may be as damaging to Las Vegas as it appears. For one thing most people do not go there just to gamble: in 2009 only 13% of all visitors and a mere 2% of first-time ones said gambling was their primary purpose for visiting-fewer than said they were coming to see friends or family or for a holiday.

　　Certainly holidaymakers can and do gamble-83% of visitors did-but Las Vegas offers a “gambling plus” factor that the racinos and slots parlours opening all over America cannot rival. Aside from attractions such as theatre comedy and golf Las Vegas is full of associations （mobsters the Rat Pack the World Series of Poker and so on） that no other destination can offer. It is the strangest and most fantastic city in America glittering in the middle of the desert like a neon mirage.