Nevada ghost towns built on the irresistable lure of gold!
The difference is that as Las Vegas casino-hotels crumble into the desert, its gambling operators will find new homes on the internet and provide a new gold-rush of webmasters and online marketers. For those who recognize the inevitability of this dramatic shift in fortune, it is the greatest wealth-building opportunity since Microsoft went public in 1986 and created four billionaires and 12,000 millionaires.
The great decay is already well under way. Last year, Vegas was named "America's most abandoned city" by Forbes Magazine - edging out Detroit for the honor - and the number of fleeing residents has almost become a stampede.
Many people feel the exodus is due to a temporary US economic slowdown. It's not. Both the slumping economy and the Las Vegas home and hotel room vacancies are mainly due to increasing gasoline prices which will continue to climb relentlessly as global oil reserves become depleted.
Would you drive to Vegas to gamble if it cost you a dollar a mile? Well that's exactly where gas prices are headed. and when it gets here in the next ten years or so the fuel cost for the short hop from Los Angeles will cost anywhere from $300 to $600, putting spur of the moment gambling excursions to Vegas out of the question for most people.
For Seattle residents, the round trip to the tables at the Luxor would cost more than $2,500 at the pumps. A quick side trip to the Grand Canyon would be an extra $600.
Of course, many automotive changes will be made before gas prices reach $20 a gallon. But four-dollar gallons are only months away, and we'll probably be facing five five by the end of next year. Canadian prices have already soared to $4.50, and Europeans pay almost six dollars a gallon. American prices are bound to follow, and you can bet your last sheckle that Las Vagas and Reno will sink slowly back into desert as they do.
By the time that happens though, most gamblers will be accustomed to placing most of their wagers at online casinos, bingos, and sportsbooks and the casino affiliates who introduced them to the long list of advantages of gambling online will be making piles of money.
So what will happen to all of all those glittering multi-billion dollar casinos? A few will likely hang on for awhile, but most will close thier doors move onto the Web. The lights of Vegas will gradually flicker and die.
Since its beginning in Reno, Nevada, 70 years ago, Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. has become the world's largest casino operator with 85,000 employees and gambling operations on four continents.
It owns the World Series of Poker, a multiweek tournament in Las Vegas that has morphed into a global tournament franchise not unlike a major sports league. An online version is all ready to go when online gambling is finally legalized.
Last May, Harah's launched a subsidiary in Montreal to capitalize on the spread of Internet gambling, with Mitch Garber, the former CEO of online gambling giant PartyGaming at its head. Their intent was to explore Internet gambling opportunities in Europe, and Garber moved swiftly, opening 'Caesar's Bingo Online' in the UK in July, making it the first Brick and Mortar casino to go online.
Note: If you click on the Caesar's link, you'll find the beautiful Caesor's Bingo center fully operational, but not available to you in America. Instead, you'll be redirected to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.
Although No other Las Vegas or Atlantic City operators have announced their intentions of jumping on the online bandwagon in anticipation of online gambling finally becoming legalized, but there's no doubt they will as their revenues continue to decline.
Cal Smith
P.S. If you have been looking forward to a trip to Las Vagas you'd better do it soon. To make it easier for you, I have arranged to provide you with FREE luxury accomodation for four people, for four nights in your choice of the finest casino-hotels in town!
