History of Las Vegas
Prehistoric Southern Nevada was a virtual marsh of abundant water and vegetation.

As eons passed, the marsh receded. Rivers disappeared beneath the surface. The once teeming wetlands evolved into a parched, arid landscape that supported only the hardiest of plants and animals. Water trapped underground in the complicated geologic formations of the Las Vegas Valley sporadically surfaced to nourish luxuriant plants, creating an oasis in the desert as the life- giving water flowed to the Colorado River.

Construction workers in 1993 discovered the remains of a Columbian mammoth that roamed the area during prehistoric times. Paleontologists estimate the bones to be 8,000 to 15,000 years old. Hidden for centuries from all but native Americans, the Las Vegas Valley oasis was protected from discovery by the surrounding harsh and unforgiving Mojave Desert.

Mexican trader Antonio Armijo, leading a 60-man party along the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles in 1829, veered from the accepted route.

While Armijo's caravan was camped Christmas Day about 100 miles northeast of present day Las Vegas, a scouting party rode west in search of water. An experienced young Mexican scout, Rafael Rivera, left the main party and ventured into the unexplored desert. Within two weeks, he discovered Las Vegas Springs.

OASIS DISCOVERED
The exact date is unknown, but Rafael Rivera became the first known non-Indian to set foot in the oasis-like Las Vegas Valley.

The abundant artesian spring water discovered at Las Vegas shortened the Spanish Trail to Los Angeles, eased rigors for Spanish traders and hastened the rush west for California gold. Between 1830 and 1848, the name "Vegas," as shown on maps of that day, was changed to Las Vegas which means "The Meadows" in Spanish.

Some 14 years after Rivera's discovery, John C. Fremont led an overland expedition west and camped at Las Vegas Springs on May 13, 1844.

His name is remembered today in neon as well as museums and history books. The Fremont Hotel-Casino in Downtown Las Vegas bears his name as does Fremont Street -- the main thoroughfare through the heart of casino-lined Glitter Gulch.

MORMON INFLUENCE
Mormon settlers from Salt Lake City traveled to Las Vegas to protect the Los Angeles-Salt Lake City mail route and in 1855 began building a 150-square-foot fort of sun-dried bricks made of clay soil and grass, a substance known as adobe.

The Mormons planted fruit trees, cultivated vegetables and mined lead for bullets at Potosi Mountain. Mormon pioneers abandoned the settlement in 1858, partly because of Indian raids. A portion of the "Mormon Fort" has withstood the ravages of time and is an historic site today near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard North and Washington Avenue. Scientists began an archeological dig on the site in November 1992.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) currently make up about 12 percent of the Southern Nevada population and in December 1989 dedicated a Mormon Temple in Las Vegas. The temple spires are visible in the foothills of Sunrise Mountain to the east of the city.

RAILROAD TYCOONS START BOOM
By 1890 railroad developers had determined the water-rich Las Vegas Valley would be a prime location for a stop facility and town. More than a quarter century earlier, Nevada, known as the Battle Born State, had been admitted to the Union in 1864 during the Civil War.

Work on the first railroad grade into Las Vegas began the summer of 1904. The tent town called Las Vegas sprouted saloons, stores and boarding houses.

Rails were connected with the eastern segment of track in October 1904. The San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, later absorbed by its parent the Union Pacific, made its inaugural run from California to points east on Jan. 20, 1905.

The railroad yards were located at the birthplace of a partially paved, dusty Fremont Street. Jackie Gaughan's Plaza Hotel, located at Main and Fremont streets in Downtown Las Vegas, today stands on the site of the original Union Pacific Railroad depot. Freight and passenger trains still use the depot site at the hotel as a terminal -- the only railroad station in the world located inside a hotel-casino.

Advent of the railroad led to the founding of Las Vegas on May 15, 1905. The SanPedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, owned by Montana Senator Williams Andrews Clark, auctioned off 1,200 lots in a single day in an area which today is casino-lined Glitter Gulch.

NEVADA GAMBLING GLITCH
Nevada was the first state to legalize casino-style gambling, but not before it reluctantly was the last western state to outlaw gaming in the first decade of the 20th Century.

At midnight, Oct. 1, 1910, a strict anti-gambling law became effective in Nevada. It even forbid the western custom of flipping a coin for the price of a drink.

The Nevada State Journal newspaper in Reno reported: "Stilled forever is the click of the roulette wheel, the rattle of dice and the swish of cards."

"Forever" lasted less than three weeks in Las Vegas.

Gamblers quickly set up underground games where patrons who knew the proper password again jousted day and night with Lady Luck. Illegal but accepted gambling flourished until 1931 when the Nevada Legislature approved a legalized gambling bill authored by Phil Tobin, a Northern Nevada rancher. Tobin had never visited Las Vegas and had no interest in gambling.

He said the legalized gambling legislation was designed to raise needed taxes for public schools. Today, more than 43 percent of the state general fund is fed by gambling tax revenue and more than 34 percent of the state's general fund is pumped into public education.

Legalized gambling returned to Nevada during the Great Depression. It legitimized a small but lucrative industry. That same year construction started on the Hoover Dam Project which, at its peak, employed 5,128 people.

The young town of Las Vegas virtually was insulated from economic hardships that wracked most Americans in the 1930s. Jobs and money were prevalent because of Union Pacific Railroad development, legal gambling and construction of Hoover Dam 34 miles away in Black Canyon on the Colorado River.

World War II stalled major resort growth in Las Vegas. But the seeds for future expansion had been planted in 1941 when hotelman Tommy Hull built the El Rancho Vegas Hotel-Casino on what is now vacant land opposite the current Sahara Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

During World War II, nearby Nellis Air Force Base grew into a key military installation. Originally built to train B-29 gunners, it later became the training ground for the nation's ace fighter pilots. Many key military personnel assigned to Nellis during World War II later returned as civilians to take up permanent residency in Las Vegas. Today thousands of people are connected to Nellis in the form of active duty personnel, civilian employees, military dependents and military retirees.

WORLD-FAMOUS STRIP STARTS
The success of the El Rancho Vegas triggered a small building boom in the late 1940s including construction of several hotel- casinos fronting on a two-lane highway leading into Las Vegas from Los Angeles. The stretch of road evolved into today's Las Vegas Strip. Early hotels included the Last Frontier, Thunderbird and Club Bingo.

The El Rancho Vegas was razed by fire on June 17, 1960. As time passed, many other first-generation Strip resorts lost their identity through absorption by new owners, demolition, extensive renovation and name changes.

By far the most celebrated of the early resorts was the Flamingo Hotel, built by mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, a member of the Meyer Lansky crime organization.

The Flamingo with a giant pink neon sign and replicas of pink flamingos on the lawn, opened on New Year's Eve 1946. Six months later, Siegel was murdered by an unknown gunman who fired a shotgun blast as Siegel sat in the living room of the Beverly Hills, Calif., home of his girlfriend, Virginia Hill.

Siegel's life was the subject of a 1992 movie entitled "Bugsy." Although the historic accuracy of the movie is questionable, the movie prompted the Flamingo to open the "Bugsy Celebrity Theater" in November 1992. The Flamingo, after numerous ownership changes, is now owned and operated by the Hilton Hotel Group. Its proper name is the Flamingo Hilton.

While the El Rancho Vegas and other 1940s resorts followed a western ranch-styled theme, the Flamingo was what Siegel called a "carpet joint." It was modeled after resort hotels in Miami. Only the Flamingo Hotel name has survived the 1940s era of Las Vegas Strip development. The final end of the Flamingo as Bugsy knew it was announced early in 1993 when Hilton Corp. revealed plans to construct a $104 million tower addition at the Strip resort -- the last of a six tower master plan. The addition opened in the spring of 1995.

Architectural plans included razing the outmoded, motel-style buildings at the rear of the property, dooming the fortress-like "Bugsy Suite" and bullet proof office used by the gangster before his death in 1946. In December 1993, the last remnants of Bugsy Siegel and his residence were destroyed when the hotel bulldozed the Oregon Building that held the suite in which the gangster once lived.

BUILDING BOOM SWEEPS LAS VEGAS
Resort building continued to accelerate in Las Vegas in the 1950s. Wilbur Clark, once a hotel bellman in San Diego, Calif., opened the Desert Inn in 1950. Two years later, Milton Prell opened the Sahara Hotel on the site of the old Club Bingo. The Sands Hotel opened that same year, 1952. Those hotel names have survived but the properties have undergone numerous ownership changes.

In 1955, the Riviera Hotel became the first Strip highrise in at nine stories. Previously, Wilbur Clark's Desert Inn had offered guests the highest unobstructed panoramic view of the Las Vegas Valley from the resort's third-floor Skyroom, a cocktail and dancing haunt of visitors, residents and celebrities.

Other resorts that opened during the building boom begun in the 1950s included the Royal Nevada, Dunes, Hacienda, Tropicana and Stardust hotels on the Strip and the Downtown Fremont Hotel-Casino. The Royal Nevada later was absorbed into the adjoining Stardust Hotel property.

In another part of the city, the Moulin Rouge Hotel-Casino opened in 1955 at a time when blacks were not welcomed guests at Strip casinos and black entertainers were required to live off- premise while entertaining Strip audiences. The Moulin Rouge, frequented by all races, was built to accommodate the growing black population.

Joe Louis, the late heavyweight champion of the world, was a Moulin Rouge owner-host. The Moulin Rouge has had a stormy past, closing and re-opening many times over the years. As times and attitudes changed, Louis became a much loved casino host at Caesars Palace on the Strip. The Moulin Rouge was declared a national historic site in 1992 when plans for its revival were announced.

City and county community leaders also realized in the 1950s the need for a Las Vegas convention facility. The initial goal was to fill hotel rooms with conventioneers during slack tourist months.

A site was chosen one block east of the Las Vegas Strip and a 6,300-seat, silver-domed rotunda with an adjoining 90,000-square- foot exhibit hall opened in April 1959 on the site of the current Las Vegas Convention Center.

The silver dome was demolished in 1990 to make room for convention center expansion to a 1.6-million-square-foot facility of which 1.3 million square feet is exhibit space. It is currently one of the largest single-level facilities in the world.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, supported mainly by room tax revenues, today is a major player in attracting more than 28.2 million visitors to Las Vegas in 1994, including more than 2 million convention delegates.

ENTERTAINMENT IS LAS VEGAS
Entertainment, along with gambling, built Las Vegas' reputation as a playland getaway of the world.

When the El Rancho Vegas was the only resort on the Las Vegas Strip in 1941, singers, comedians, strippers, instrumentalists, dancers and a wide variety of performers were booked to entertain hotel guests in the resort's small, intimate showroom.

The hotel-casinos that followed copied the successful star format for a number of years.

The Stardust was the first hotel to break with the star policy by debuting a stage spectacular as its main entertainment feature. The resort imported the Lido de Paris from France. It was acclaimed by critics as a more spectacular version than the Paris original.

The Lido had a 31-year run at the Stardust Hotel. It was replaced in 1991 with the current new spectacular entitled Enter The Night.

The success of Lido encouraged other resorts to adopt a production show policy.

The Dunes, which disappeared from the skyline in a fiery, dusty staged implosion in 1993, engaged Minsky's Follies in 1957, the first time that topless showgirls debuted on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Tropicana Hotel bought the American rights to the spectacular Folies Bergere. It remains a showroom favorite to this day. Backstage tours are a hot Las Vegas attraction.

During the 50s and 60s, casino lounges also provided continuous entertainment from dusk to dawn at no charge to the customer except the cost of a drink. These lounges, which became major entertainment attractions in their own right, spawned the names of Don Rickles, Buddy Hackett, Shecky Greene, Alan King, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, the Mary Kaye Trio and many others.

NO HOLDS BARRED
In the initial years of the Las Vegas Strip, "no" was a big word -- no cover, no minimum, no state speed limit, no sales tax, no waiting period for marriages, no state income tax and no regulation of gambling as it is known today. In modern times about the only "no's" remaining are no state income tax and no waiting period to obtain a marriage license. No cover charge is still the rule in some casino lounges.

The state legislature has imposed sales taxes and strict gambling regulation laws. The federal government has forced Nevada, as well as other states, to adopt highway speed limits.

Nevada gambling styles, games and machines evolved to keep pace with more sophisticated, affluent players. Baccarat, known in France as chemin de fer, appeared in high-roller Strip casinos. Keno writers no longer used black indelible ink brushes to mark tickets. Mechanical slot machines, once affectionately termed "one- armed bandits," became antique collector items in the age of electronic gaming.

Blackjack dealers no longer dealt single decks but switched to "shoes" that held multiple decks. Silver dollars, once the coin of the realm in Nevada, disappeared and were replaced in casinos with silver-dollar-size tokens.

In the 60s, multiple coin slot machines debuted. Mechanical penny and nickel slot machines that took one coin at a time evolved into the popular computerized dollar slot machines capable of accepting multiple tokens simultaneously. High-roller slot players today can find machines that accept $500 tokens. The size of jackpots grew from a few hundred dollars to $10 million dollar progressive jackpots paid on a computerized statewide network of slot machines.

In the 70s, video machines that substituted television screens for reels, were introduced. Computerized slot machines now feature poker, keno, blackjack, bingo and craps.

Some slot machines accept credit-card style gambling. Casinos continue their evolution toward high-tech wagering with every applicable breakthrough in modern technology.

DAWN OF MEGARESORTS
In 1976, when casino-style gaming was legalized in Atlantic City, N.J., it became apparent to Las Vegas casino owners that Nevada no longer could claim exclusive rights to gambling casinos. It perhaps hastened the beginning of another era for the Strip -- the megaresort.

Hotel-casinos began the race to become full-blown destination resorts for travelers, vacationers, gamblers, conventioneers and all members of the family.

Circus Circus Enterprises Inc., in October 1968 already had opened a circus-tent-shaped casino complete with midway games and rides for youngsters. A hotel was added in 1972. Owners of the resort have developed a $90 million water theme park called Grand Slam Canyon on five acres adjoining the Circus Circus Hotel-Casino.

The entertainment park, a takeoff on the Grand Canyon, includes 140-foot mountains, a 90-foot Havasupai Falls, and a coursing river where the adventuresome can assault river rapids, plunge over a 50-foot waterfall, fly through the canyon and caverns in a double-loop, cork-screw roller coaster or lounge on beach- rimmed, lagoon-like pools.

Grand Slam Canyon, which opened Aug. 23, 1993, is climate- controlled and enclosed by a vented pink space-frame dome.

The 3,049-room Mirage Hotel-Casino opened in the fall of 1989 at a construction cost of $630 million. It features a white tiger habitat, a dolphin pool, an elaborate swimming pool and waterfall and a man-made volcano that belches fire and water.

Mirage owner Steve Wynn, who also owns the Golden Nugget Hotel-Casino in Downtown Las Vegas, constructed the 2,900-room Treasure Island adjacent to The Mirage at a cost of $430 million. The hotel features Buccaneer Bay where a full scale pirate ship and British frigate engage in a battle of cannon fire. In the end, the pirates blast the British and the frigate slowly sinks beneath the churning waves.

With Treasure Island, which opened Oct. 27, 1993, and the Mirage side by side on the Las Vegas Strip, Wynn has nearly 6,000 rooms on a 100-acre site.

Additionally, Wynn purchased the 164-acre Dunes Hotel and Country Club on the Las Vegas Strip for $75 million in 1992. He spent $1 million renovating the country club on the golf course. In October 1993, the flamboyant casino owner staged a $1.5 million spectacular in which the north tower of the Dunes Hotel was imploded and the famous Dunes Hotel sign destroyed amid a shower of fireworks never before equaled west of the Mississippi.

More than 200,000 people crowded onto the Strip to witness the spectacular.

Wynn plans to build a resort named Beau Rivage on the Dunes site and has announced a deal with Gold Strike Resorts to construct a hotel/casino on another part of the property north of the Tropicana Avenue and the Las Vegas Strip intersection.

The Excalibur, a 4,000-room colossus, opened June 19, 1990. The imaginative medieval "castle" was developed by Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. for between $260 and $290 million. Some floors are devoted solely to non-gambling entertainment for children and the young at heart. Court jesters perform in public areas. The showroom features jousting on horseback by knights of King Arthur's court. William Bennett, founder of Circus Circus Enterprises Inc., constructed the 2,526-room, pyramid-shaped Luxor a quarter mile south of the Excalibur.

The Luxor, a modern marvel which cost $375 million dollars to build, is linked to the Excalibur by monorail.

The Luxor features a full-scale reproduction of King Tut's Tomb. The world's most powerful beam of light shines from the top of the pyramid. It is visible to planes 250 miles away in Los Angeles. The atrium in the middle of the pyramid could hold nine Boeing 747s stacked one atop of another.

The most ambitious resort project in the history of Las Vegas is located at the intersection of the Las Vegas Strip and Tropicana Avenue. It is the MGM Grand Hotel & Theme Park -- the largest resort hotel in the world and the dream of pioneer Las Vegas hotel developer and multimillionaire entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian.

The $1 billion, 112-acre resort hotel, casino and theme park highlights the MGM Hollywood image. With the 33-acre theme park as the center piece, the 5,005-room hotel boasts a 171,500-square-foot casino, 12 theme restaurants, a 1,700-seat production showroom, a 630-seat production theater, three swimming pools, five tennis courts, a child care center and a 215,000-square-foot, 15,200-seat special events arena for concerts, sporting events and exhibitions. The MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park opened Dec. 18, 1993.

In August 1994, MGM Grand Inc., and Primadonna Resorts Inc., revealed a joint venture to build a 1,500-room hotel/casino on 18- acres at Tropicana Avenue and the Las Vegas Strip. The $300 million resort, named New York, New York, will highlight the best the "Big Apple" has to offer. The property's skyline will feature replicas of such New York City landmarks as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. The resort is scheduled to open sometime in 1996.

The huge hotel conglomerate ITT Sheraton Corp. made it's first foray into Las Vegas and gaming in 1993 when it purchased the Desert Inn Hotel Casino from Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp.

Late in 1994, Sheraton announced a deal to purchase Caesars World Inc., the parent company of Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip for $1.7 billion. The deal was expected to be finalized sometime in 1995, pending approval from a host of state and federal regulatory agencies.

When New Year 1994 dawned in Las Vegas, the dusty railroad town that started its race toward the 21st Century in 1905 boasted more than 86,000 hotel and motel rooms and had become home to 13 of the 20 largest resort hotels in the world. By the start of 1995, the city was awash with more than 88,500 rooms.

DOWNTOWN BOOMS AGAIN
Downtown Las Vegas, where it all began, has launched an extravagant project to keep pace with the booming Strip. The multimillion dollar project is called "The Fremont Street Experience." The Nevada Legislature passed enabling laws in 1993 to make the project financially feasible and construction was started in 1994. The project is scheduled to be completed by September 1995.

The Jerde Partnership, a firm specializing in creating lively urban centers, plans to wrap the entire downtown area in light and sound. "The Fremont Street Experience" is a public/private partnership between the Fremont Street Experience Company -- an entity owned and operated by a group of Downtown casino operators -- and the city of Las Vegas.

The $63 million project consists primarily of a space frame that will rise nearly 100 feet and stretch approximately 1,500 feet along Fremont Street from Main to Fourth streets.

Set into the inner surface of the space frame will be 1.5 million lights. The lights will come to life nightly in a multi- sensory show that will be combined with such theatrical effects as smoke, fog and robotic lights.

The Fremont Street Experience also calls for landscaping and patterned paving. Street performers will entertain patrons enjoying sidewalk cafes or viewing goods on festive pushcarts and kiosks. Enhanced security and cleaning will help contribute to a safe, enjoyable visit.

Also planned is a Downtown parking building for 1,500 vehicles with an entertainment-style retail shopping plaza.

The Fremont Street Experience will become a center for festivals, holiday celebrations and live entertainment when completed, according to planners.

Fremont Street was officially closed to vehicle traffic Sept. 7, 1994. On Sept. 8, state and city officials, prominent Las Vegans and members of the Fremont Street Experience participated in a "cruise through history," in a line-up of classic cars from the Nevada Car Club Council that made the last vehicular ride down Fremont Street to celebrate the next step in the evolution of Glitter Gulch.

From the modest beginnings of Las Vegas, Fremont Street initially was in the forefront of the gambling industry. It became the city's first paved street in 1925, the first street to have a traffic light and it is the site of the first Downtown highrise -- the Fremont Hotel, built in 1956.

The Apache Hotel on Fremont Street in 1932 was the first Las Vegas resort to have an elevator. The Horseshoe was the first casino to install carpet. And the first gaming license was issued to a Downtown Fremont Street gambling hall.

Downtown Las Vegas already had 36 years of history by the time the El Rancho Vegas became the first hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip in 1941.
POPULATION
City of Las Vegas -- 478,434
City of Henderson -- 175,381
City of N. Las Vegas -- 115,488
Clark County -- 1,375,765
Nevada -- 1,998,257
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000

Between 4,000 and 6,000 people move into Clark County monthly.
In 1999, 33.8 million people visited Las Vegas while in
2000 the number rose to 35.8 million.
More than 3.8 million of those were convention delegates.
In 2000 there were 124,270 hotel/motel rooms available.
Source: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Research

LAS VEGAS McCARRAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
1 mile (1.6 km.) from the Strip
3.5 miles (5.6 km.) from the Convention Center
5 miles (8 km.) from Downtown Las Vegas
McCarran is ranked 8th busiest in the world by the
Airports Council in Washington, D.C.
Serves 51 air carriers including:
24 scheduled 2 helicopter services
8 commuter
17 charter
Averages 980 flights a day.
Direct flights to 58 U.S. cities, 1 European city.
In the first four months of 2001, 18.5 million passengers
passed through McCarran. 36.8 million passengers passed
through in 2000. 1.2 million of those were international passangers.
1.3 million square-foot (1.04 million square meter)
terminal with 92 gates, covers 2,820 acres, 5,000 cars a day
use parking facilities, tram to some terminals.
Baggage control computer ramp, moving pedestrian walkways.
Class A port-of-entry, bilateral agreement with Canada,
international signage.

WEATHER
Average temperature 66.3 degrees (19 degrees centigrade). Average yearly rainfall 4.13 inches (10.64 centimeters). Average daily humidity 29 percent. 211.5 clear days annually, 82.4 partly cloudy days, 71.3 cloudy days.
TRANSPORTATION
More than 965 cabs service metropolitan Las Vegas. More than 325 limousines are available. 16 bus and/or charter firms operate in the city. Citizens Area Transit (CAT) is a public transportation company that operates 31 routes throughout the Las Vegas metropolitan area, and 1 route in Laughlin.
WEDDING CHAPELS
More than 35 wedding chapels. In the first five months of 1995, there were 44,104 wedding licenses issued including 158 in Laughlin. In 1994, 99,310 wedding licenses were issued in the Las Vegas area, with 79 in Laughlin. $35 license fee; Marriage License Bureau hours are 8 a.m. (0800) to midnight (2400) Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. (0800) Friday to midnight (2400) Sunday; 24 hours all legal holidays in Nevada. On Valentine's Day weekend in 1994, 2,353 marriage licenses were issued. A license can be purchased in Laughlin 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Justice Court Clerk's office in the Regional Government Center, 101 Civic Way.
MUSEUMS
Boulder City/Hoover Dam Museum, Guinness World of Records Museum, Las Vegas Art Museum, Las Vegas Museum of Natural History, Liberace Museum & Foundation, Lied Discovery Children's Museum, Lost City Museum of Archaeology, Clark County Heritage Museum, Nevada State Museum & Historical Society, Marjorie Barrick Museum of Natural History/UNLV, Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Movie Museum.
LIBRARIES
10 urban branch libraries, 11 rural branch libraries.
HOSPITALS
7 acute care hospitals, 4 hospices, more than 2,000 hospital beds, several licensed nursing homes, private psychiatric hospitals.
ATTRACTIONS
MT. CHARLESTON -- 35 miles (56 km.) from Las Vegas, highest elevation 11,918 feet (3,615 meters), winter skiing, picnicking, hiking, horseback riding, tours available.
BONNIE SPRINGS OLD NEVADA -- An old western town in Red Rock Canyon 16 miles west of Las Vegas with a motel, shops, activities and western shootouts.

DEATH VALLEY -- 135 miles (216 km.) from Las Vegas, 40 minutes by plane, lowest elevation on North American Continent at 280 feet below sea level (84.93 meters), Zabiske Point, 20 Mule Canyon, Scotty's Castle, tours available.

ETHEL M CHOCOLATE FACTORY -- Self-guided tours available for factory and outside botanical garden and cactus display.

GRAND CANYON -- About 300 miles (480 km.) from Las Vegas, 1 1/2 hour flight by plane, tours available.

LAKE MEAD NATIONAL RECREATION AREA -- Closest point 25 miles (40 km.) from Las Vegas, more than 550 miles (880 km.) of shoreline, swimming, water skiing, camping, boating, fishing, six marinas, tours available. Visitors totaled 3.8 million for the first five months of 1995 and 9,913,705 in 1994.

HOOVER DAM -- 34 miles (54.4 km.) from Las Vegas, 726 feet high (220.00 meters) from bedrock, wonder of the modern world, tours of inside and outside of dam available; in July 1994, the 30 millionth visitor toured the dam since it opened. Visitors touring the dam totaled 279,205 in the first five months of 1995 and 712,130 in 1994. Black Canyon River Raft Tours available below dam.

RED ROCK CANYON -- 15 miles (24 km.) west of Las Vegas, 3,000- foot (910 meters) escarpment produced by thrust fault, Bureau of Land Management visitors center, scenic area of rock formations and desert. Visitors totaled approximately 585,600 during the first five months of 1995 and approximately 900,000 in all of 1994.

VALLEY OF FIRE STATE PARK -- 55 miles (88 km.) from Las Vegas, scenic landscapes of hidden canyons and unique rock formations, petroglyphs and remains of ancient Indian civilization, Nevada Park Service visitors center, tours available. Visitors totaled 66,702 in the first five months of 1995 and 244,052 in 1994. There is a $3 entrance fee.

CHURCHES
More than 500 churches and synagogues, more than 40 faiths.
SCHOOLS
184 primary and secondary schools, 11th largest district in the U.S. Enrollment for the upcoming school year is expected to be more than 160,000 students.
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS
Annually more than 20,000 students enroll. The campus is 335- acres (134 hectare); 127 graduate and undergraduate programs offered; more than 600 faculty members; recognized as a "rising star of American higher education."
COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF SOUTHERN NEVADA
Nearly 20,000 students enroll annually including full time, part time and non-credit. Three campuses including an 80-acre (32 hectare) campus in North Las Vegas, a 75-acre (30 hectare) campus in Henderson and an 80-acre (32 hectare) Health Science Center campus in Las Vegas. Has the only public planetarium in Southern Nevada.
RECREATION
30 golf courses including 1 in Laughlin and 2 in Mesquite. More than 85 tennis courts. 8 bowling centers. Swimming pools at all major hotels and motels. 15 acre Wet 'n Wild water park with surfing, swimming, rafting and water slides. Family amusement centers including Scandia, Funtasia and Mountasia feature miniature golf, go-carts, Grand Prix cars, roller skating, batting cages, bumper cars, virtual reality. Ice skating rink at Santa Fe Hotel/Casino.
INDIANS
There are three Indian tribes indigenous to Nevada including the Shoshone; the Washoe, and the Paiute of which there are the Southern Paiutes and the Northern Paiutes. There are 25 reservations in the state encompassing 1,304,837 acres (521,934.8 hectares). Two of the reservations, totaling 75,804 acres (30,321.6 hectares), are in Clark County.
NEVADA
Name means "snowcapped" in Spanish, it was admitted to the union in 1864, its nickname is the "Battle Born State," it is the seventh largest state in terms of square miles and ranks 38th in population.
CLARK COUNTY
County was created Feb. 5, 1908, its name honors William A. Clark, U.S. senator from Montana who built the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, the county covers 7,881 square miles (20,490.6 square kilometers) which is comparable to the area of Massachusetts.
LAS VEGAS
Name means "the meadows" in Spanish, founded in 1905, incorporated March 16, 1911, the city covers 84.272 square miles (219.1 square kilometers).
LAS VEGAS CONVENTION CENTER
3.2 million square feet of total space with approximately 2 million square feet of net exhibit space, and 380,000 square feet of net meeting room space, accommodating 170 meeting rooms with seating capacities from 20 to 7,500. An additional 100,000 square feet at the Cashman Field facility.
PERFORMING ARTS
Allied Arts Council, Nevada Dance Theatre, Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra, Nevada School of the Arts, Reed Whipple Cultural Center, Las Vegas Little Theater, New West Theatre Company, Rainbow Company (children's theater), Nevada Opera Theatre.
GAMBLING
There are 1,271 gaming licenses in Clark County, 122,800 slot machines and 3,896 live table games including poker and pan.
Gaming Control Board, June 1995
Clark County casinos won $5.8 billion in the first nine months of 2001 and $7.7 billion throughout 2000. Statewide, casinos won $2.343 billion in the first four months of 1995 and $7.1 billion in 1994.
Gaming Control Board, June 1995

The number of slot machines statewide total 176,995 and the number of live table games statewide total 5,782.
Gaming Control Board, June 1995


LAUGHLIN
Modern day boomtown 90 miles (145 km.) southeast of Las Vegas on the Colorado River, more than 5.6 million tourists visited Laughlin in 1994 including more than 150,000 from foreign countries; there are 11,779 rooms available in Laughlin and it's sister city Bullhead City, AZ; gaming establishments won $182.6 million in the first four months of 1995, and $534.9 million in all of 1994; there are 12,667 slot machines in operation in Laughlin and 409 table games; there are nine major hotels; the average temperature is 72 degrees (22.22 degrees centigrade), and entertainment includes boating, fishing, sunbathing.
OTHER BORDER RESORTS
MESQUITE -- 77 miles (124 km.) northeast of Las Vegas; 1,171 rooms; three major casino resorts, Si Redd's Oasis, Virgin River Hotel-Casino and Players Island Resort Casino Spa. A smaller property, Stateline Casino, is also located in Mesquite. Activities include golf; tennis; sporting clays; health spa, and western ranch.
PRIMM -- Three major casinos, Whiskey Pete's, Primadonna and Buffalo Bill's. The three resorts are linked by monorail. Buffalo Bill's features the world's steepest, fastest roller coaster. Primm is the last chance for motorists to gamble in Nevada. A convenience store on Primadonna property in California sells lottery tickets.

JEAN -- Two major casinos, Gold Strike Casino and Nevada Landing, flank Interstate 15 approximately 25 miles south of Las Vegas; rooms $18 a night during the week; 5 cent arcade for children; RV park planned.

GOLD STRIKE INN -- This major casino is just three miles west of Hoover Dam and is the first gaming enterprise travelers encounter after driving to Nevada from Arizona across the dam. Features a 17-story hotel with 378 rooms.




Las Vegas Historical Information
1829 -- Discovered by Spanish explorers.
1855 -- First settlement by Mormons in Las Vegas.
1905 -- Town of Las Vegas established by auctioning of land.
1905 -- The First United Methodist Church of Las Vegas formed. The original members bought the land at 3rd & Bridger that the church sits on today in the original property auction.
1911 -- The city of Las Vegas is incorporated.
1926 -- First commercial airline flight, Western Airlines.
1931 -- Hoover Dam construction begins in Black Canyon.
1931 -- Gambling legalized in Nevada.
1935 -- Hoover Dam dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt.
1940 -- Clark County population 16,414 (Las Vegas-8,422).
1941 -- El Rancho Vegas opens on the Strip, destroyed by fire 19 years later.
1941 -- El Cortez Hotel opens downtown.
1942 -- Last Frontier Hotel opens. (Later called New Frontier and Frontier.)
1944 -- The first Helldorado parade and rodeo is conducted.
1946 -- Bugsy Siegel opens Flamingo Hotel. State levies first gaming taxes.
1950 -- Clark County population 48,289. (Las Vegas-24,624).
1955 -- Gaming control strengthened. Gaming Control Board created within the Nevada Tax Commission by the Legislature.
1959 -- Las Vegas Convention Center opens. The Nevada Gaming Commission is created by the Legislature.
1960 -- Clark County population 127,016. (Las Vegas-64,405).
1966 -- Howard Hughes arrives to live at Desert Inn.
1967 -- Nevada legislature passes a law allowing publicly traded corporations to obtain gambling licenses. The law is refined in 1969.
1970 -- Clark County population 273,288 (Las Vegas-125,787).
1975 -- Nevada gaming revenues first crack $1 billion mark.
1977 -- Clark County gaming revenues first crack $1 billion mark. The Nevada Legislature passes a foreign gaming law allowing Nevada-based casino owners to operate casinos outside Nevada's borders.
1980 -- Clark County population hits 463,087 (Las Vegas- 164,674) as Las Vegas celebrates 75th birthday.
1981 -- Las Vegas celebrates Golden Anniversary of Gaming.
1985 -- First National Finals Rodeo held in Las Vegas.
1989 -- Mirage opens Nov. 22, with 3,039 rooms.
1990 -- Clark County population 741,459 (Las Vegas-258,295)
1990 -- Excalibur opens June 19, to date the world's largest resort hotel with 4,032 rooms.
1991 -- Ground broken on MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park; Treasure Island Hotel, and pyramid-shaped Luxor.
1991 -- The Las Vegas Online Entertainment Guide goes online as a dial-up BBS system.
1992 -- First Las Vegas Bowl held at Silver Bowl.
1993 -- MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park tops off. Flamingo Hilton announces plans to raze Bugsy suite and office.
1993 -- Dunes Hotel sold to Steve Wynn's Mirage Inc.; the north tower and Dunes sign imploded Oct. 27.
1993 -- Money won by Nevada casinos tops the $6 billion mark for the first time.
1993 -- Grand Slam Canyon Adventuredome opens Aug. 23.
1993 -- Luxor Hotel opens Oct. 15 with 2,526 rooms.
1993 -- Treasure Island Hotel opens Oct. 26 with 2,900 rooms.
1993 -- MGM Grand Hotel and Theme Park opens Dec. 18, with 5,005 rooms and a 171,500-square-foot casino; to date the largest resort hotel-casino in the world.
1993 -- The Nevada Legislature passes enabling legislation for development of "The Fremont Street Experience."
1994 -- Buffalo Bill's in Stateline and Boulder Station Casino on Boulder Highway in Las Vegas open.
1994 -- Mirage Resorts Inc. and Gold Strike announce plans to jointly construct Monte Carlo, a mega-resort north of the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and the Strip. The resort will have a Victorian theme.
1994 -- Plans to construct New York-New York Hotel Casino at the intersection of the Strip and Tropicana Avenue announced by MGM Grand and Primadonna Resorts.
1994 -- Work begins on Fremont Street Experience. Downtown Fremont Street is permanently closed to automobile traffic on Sept. 7, 1994.
1994 -- Steve Wynn reveals plans to construct Bellagio, a 46-story hotel casino at the intersection of the Las Vegas Strip and Flamingo Road.
1994 -- Sam's Town on Boulder Highway expands with the opening of a 650-room tower and lush, plant-filled atrium.
1994 -- Boomtown opens a 300-room hotel-casino on Blue Diamond Road.
1994 -- The first non-stop, regularly scheduled charter service from Europe begins with weekly flights by Condor from Cologne, Germany.
1994 -- Four skywalks are built over the intersection of Tropicana Boulevard and the Las Vegas Strip.
1994 -- County opens Interstate 15-McCarran airport connector road system that tunnels under the east-west runways.
1994 -- Work begins on the Desert Inn Road arterial, which will tunnel under the Las Vegas Strip.
1994 -- The Fiesta, the first hotel-casino in North Las Vegas, opens with 100 rooms.
1995 -- Vegas World closes its doors Feb. 1 for work on a casino complex at the base of the Stratosphere Tower.
1995 -- Clark County population for the first time is estimated at more than 1 million residents.
1995 -- The first Hard Rock Hotel opens March 10.
1995 -- New visitors center opens at Hoover Dam.
1995 -- Circus Circus Inc. buys Gold Strike Resorts.
1995 -- $25 million monorail begins running between MGM Grand and Bally's hotel-casinos on June 14.
1995 -- William Bennett, former president and CEO of Circus Circus, buys Sahara Hotel-Casino
1995 -- Bally Entertainment Corp. announces it will build Paris Casino Resort, a $420 million hotel, on 25 acres adjacent to Bally's Las Vegas on the Strip.
1995 -- Texas Gambling Hall & Hotel opens next door to the Fiesta on Rancho Road in North Las Vegas.
1995 -- $25 million monorail begins running between MGM Grand and Bally's hotel-casinos on June 14.
1995 -- The Las Vegas Online Entertainment Guide moves from dial-up to the Internet.
1995 -- ITT Corp. buys Caesars World Inc. for $1.7 billion, including Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
1995 -- Construction begins on Steve Wynn's 46-story, $1.25 billion 3,000-room Bellagio, located at the intersection of Flamingo Road and the Las Vegas Strip.
1995 -- Circus Circus Enterprises buys Hacienda and surrounding 100 acres.
1995 -- The face of downtown Las Vegas changes forever with the Dec. 13 opening of the $70 million Fremont Street Experience.
1995 -- Las Vegas reported a 29 million visitor volume for the year. Statewide gross gaming revenue surpasses $7.3 billion. Clark County produced $5.7 billion of the state's gaming revenue total.
1995 -- Landmark Hotel imploded Nov. 7.
1996 -- Ground breaking ceremonies for Las Vegas Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience held on Jan. 24.
1996 -- The $13 million Las Vegas Strip beautification project, in which 76,000 palms, shrubs, flowering foliage and ground covers were planted, was finished in March. It was started in May 1995.
1996 -- Wayne Newton celebrates 25,000th Las Vegas performance. Siegfried and Roy celebrate 15,000th Las Vegas performance.
1996 -- Work is completed on the Desert Inn Road arterial, creating the first tunnel under the Las Vegas Strip.
1996 -- Stratosphere Tower, the tallest free-standing observation tower in the U.S. and the tallest structure west of the Mississippi River, opens April 30, only to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy nine months later (Jan 27, 1997). It continues to operate.
1996 -- Hilton Hotels Corp. purchases Bally's Entertainment Corp., parent company of Bally's Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas Strip for $3 billion.
1996 -- Caesars Magical Empire, a multimillion dollar dining and entertainment complex opens in Caesars Palace June 18.
1996 -- Monte Carlo, a joint venture between Circus Circus Enterprises Inc. and Mirage Resorts Inc. opens June 21.
1996 -- The $72 million, 1,100-acre Las Vegas Speedway park with tracks for drag, stock car and formula car races to open September 1996.
1996 -- Clark County Commission grants building permits for the $500 million, 2,900-room Paris Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
1996 -- Hyatt Hotel Corp. announces plans to build a 500-room hotel on the shores of Lake Las Vegas
1996 -- Circus Circus Enterprises announces a joint venture with Four Seasons Regent to build a 400-room, five star non-gaming hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
1996 -- The Sands Hotel, after 44 years of continuous operation, is closed June 30 by owner Sheldon Adelson who announces plans to build a 6,000-room megaresort on the Las Vegas Strip site. Sands tower imploded Nov. 26.
1996 -- Flamingo Hilton celebrates 50th anniversary. Caesars Palace celebrates 30th anniversary.
1996 -- State Line, NV, at the Southern Nevada-California border, is renamed Primm in honor of the community's founder Ernest Primm.
1996 -- Ground breaking held for 3,000-room Planet Hollywood Hotel Casino adjacent to The Desert Inn at Sands Avenue and the Las Vegas Strip. Construction on the joint venture between ITT Corp. and Planet Hollywood was never started.
1996 -- Circus Circus implodes Hacienda Hotel Casino Dec. 31 to make way for megaresort.
1996 -- 29.6 million people visit Las Vegas in 1996; state gross gaming revenue totals $7.45 billion, and Clark County population hits 1.1 million.
1997 -- The Tropicana Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip celebrates its 40th anniversary.
1997 -- New York-New York Hotel Casino opens on the Las Vegas Strip Jan 3. More than 100,000 people a day visited the new resort during the casinos first days in operation.
1997 -- Hilton Hotels Corp. makes a $10.5 billion hostile take-over move on Jan. 28 against ITT Corp. which resists the bid. ITT shareholders reject Hilton take-over in favor of a more lucrative offer by Starwood Lodging. The deal involves ownership of Caesars Place and The Desert Inn on the Las Vegas Strip.
1997 -- The 6,945-yard, par 71 Lakes Course opens Feb. 7, the first golf course located in Primm, NV.
1997 -- Sheldon Adelson breaks ground in April to build a 6,000-room, $1.8 billion Venetian theme resort on the grounds of the original Sands Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
1997 -- Steve Wynn, builder of Las Vegas Strip megaresorts, calls for a slow approach to future expansion in Las Vegas.
1997 -- The U.S. Air Force celebrates its 50th anniversary in an unequaled display of aviation military might attended by 80 foreign, high-ranking NATO and Pacific Air Command officials, and 300,000 spectators.
1997 -- Sue Henley, a Las Vegas construction inspector, wins $12,510,549 on a Megabucks slot machine April 14 in New York-New York Hotel/Casino. It is the largest slot machine jackpot in history to date.
1997 -- Coca Cola Co. opens its World of Coca Cola store in the Showcase Mall marked by a 100-foot-tall glass Coca Cola bottle.
1997 -- The first non-stop scheduled commercial flight from Frankfurt-Mein International Airport in Germany lands May 7 with 215 passengers at McCarran International Airport.
1997 -- Sunset Station Hotel-Casino opens June 10.
1997 -- Players Island Resort Hotel and Spa in Mesquite purchased by Virgin River Casino and renamed CasaBlanca on July 1.
1997 -- The Forum Shops at Caesars on Aug. 29 opened 35 new shops, stores and restaurants in a 276,000-square-foot expansion. The growth doubled the size of the upscale shopping mall adjacent to Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip.
1997 -- The Aladdin Hotel closed on the Las Vegas Strip Nov. 25 making way for a $1.2 billion gambling and hotel complex. Plans call for development of a Middle East-theme shopping center, a 2,600-room hotel as well as a joint venture with Planet Hollywood Inc. for development of a neighboring $250 million, 2,000-room music-theme resort.
1997 -- The Desert Inn Hotel Casino completes $200 million renovation and expansion.
1997 -- Owners change the name of the Boomtown Hotel Casino to Silverton after Majestic Realty Co. took control of the struggling resort from Boomtown Inc.
1997 -- Harley Davidson Cafe opens on the Las Vegas Strip, continuing the theme restaurant proliferation.
1997 -- Caesars Palace opens new tower in December.
1997 -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. buys Showboat Inc. in a $1.154 billion deal.
1997 -- The Frontier Hotel, owned by the Elardi family, is sold to Phil Ruffin, a Kansas industrialist, for $165 million.
1997 -- Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino opens Masquerade Village and new 41-story, 1,025-room tower giving the resort a total of 2,556 suites.
1997 -- Alan Paulson, California entrepreneur, buys the Gold River Casino/Hotel in Laughlin.
1998 -- Star Trek: The Experience opens Jan. 4 at the Las Vegas Hilton.
1998 -- Ameristar Casinos, Inc. opens The Reserve Hotel Casino on Feb. 10
1998 -- Circus Circus officials announce that Mandalay Bay will be the name of the company's new resort at the Strip and Russell Road. The hotel's working name was Project Paradise.
1998 -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts buys ITT Corp. for $14.6 billion. The purchase includes acquisition of Caesars Palace and The Desert Inn hotel/casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.
1998 -- Eagle Canyon Airlines buys Las Vegas-based Scenic Airlines.
1998 -- The Aladdin Hotel is imploded on April 27.
1998 -- Northwest Airlines inaugurates non-stop service June 1 from Tokyo to Las Vegas.
1998 -- Japan Airlines inaugurates non-stop service October 2 from Tokyo to Las Vegas.
1998 -- Koren Airlines makes history in August with three non-stop charter flights from Seoul, Korea, to Las Vegas.
1998 -- Country Star restaurant on the Strip is acquired by Mirage Resorts Inc. and closes.
1998 -- Bellagio, billed as the most expensive hotel in the world ($1.7 billion) opens October 15 on the Las Vegas Strip and initiates a policy barring persons under 18 years of age who are not registered guests of the hotel.
1998 -- Las Vegas Convention Center opens an expansion, boosting its total space to 1.9 million square feet.
1998 -- The Debbie Reynolds hotel-casino, a half block east of the Las Vegas Strip on Convention Center Drive, is sold at public auction August 5 to the World Wresting Federation for $9.27 million.
1998 -- The Las Vegas Motor Speedway is sold in December by founders Bill Bennett and Ralph Englestad to North Carolina-based Speedway Motorsports Inc., headed by O. Bruton Smith, for $215 million.
1998 -- Proposition 5 is passed by California voters in November, opening the door for casino-style gambling on American Indian reservations.
1998 -- A 66-year-old Las Vegas resident hits a $27.58 million progressive Megabucks jackpot November 15 at the Palace Station Hotel Casino.
1998 -- The D gates open at McCarran International Airport.
1998 -- Annual gross gaming revenue in Nevada hits the $8.1 billion mark.
1998 -- Annual number of visitors to Las Vegas totals 30.6 million people.
1998 -- Hilton Hotels Corp. spins off its gaming division to Park Place Entertainment Corp., including the Las Vegas Hilton, Flamingo Hilton, Bally's and soon to open Paris Las Vegas on the Strip, December 31.
1999 -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. purchases the Rio Hotel-Casino Inc. for $888 million, Jan. 1.
1999 -- MGM Grand Inc. buys Primadonna Resorts Inc., taking 100 percent ownership of New York-New York Hotel-Casino on the Las Vegas Strip and Whiskey Pete's, Buffalo Bill's and Primm Valley Resort & Casino in Primm, NV, March 1.
1999 -- Mandalay Bay Resort opens March 2 with 3,300 rooms.
1999 -- Four Seasons Hotel opens March 2 with 424 rooms
1999 -- Japan Airlines adds a fourth nonstop flight per week in April from Tokyo to Las Vegas.
1999 -- Phase I of the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino opens May 3 with 3,036 suites.
1999 -- The Las Vegas Convention Center celebrates its 40th birthday.
1999 -- Circus Circus Enterprises changes its name to Mandalay Resort Group.
1999 -- The Resort at Summerlin opens July 15.
1999 -- Paris Las Vegas Casino Resort opens September 1, 1999
1999 -- Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Rod Stewart, Elton John, Tina Turner, Wayne Newton and Don Rickles are among the many entertainers booked by Las Vegas resorts to ring in the new century.
2000 -- A $3 billion deal closes to sell Caesars World Inc., including Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, to Park Place Entertainment.
2000 -- The Resort at Summerlin changes its name to The Regent Las Vegas.
2000 -- MGM Grand Inc. announces the purchase of Mirage Resorts Inc., creating the largest corporate buyout in gaming history.
2000 -- Steve Wynn buys the Desert Inn and closes it on August 28.
2000 -- El Rancho (formally the Thunderbird, then the Silverbird) is imploded on October 3. Las Vegas Lingo
Every part of the world has its own language and Las Vegas is no exception. Here are some hints to make the local lingo more understandable.


Dark
No show; as in Dark Sundays means no shows on Sunday.
Tip
Same as a toke.
Toke
Same as a gratuity.
Comp
Short for free or complimentary.
RFB comp
The casino is impressed with a credit rating and has ordered that a customer be given free room, food and beverage (RFB) during a hotel stay.
In red
A comped customer's name usually appears "in red" on a maitre d's reservation chart.
High roller
A customer with the reputation of wagering large sums of money in the casino.
Marker
An IOU owed the casino by a gambler allowed by the hotel to play on credit.
Coupons
Redeemable for nearly everything from a free meal to a free pull on a slot machine. (Ask the hotel whether it has a coupon book.)
Shooter
A gambler who is rolling the dice on a craps table.
Shoe
A container from which several decks of cards are dealt on the Baccarat and blackjack tables which prevents the dealer from holding cards.
Stickman
The dealer who moves the dice around on a craps table with a hook-shaped stick.
Drop box
A locked box located on live gambling tables where dealers deposit paper money.
Boxman
The craps table dealer who sits over the drop box and supervises bets and payoffs.
Pit boss
A casino boss who oversees numerous table dealers.
Limit
The least or maximum bet accepted at a gambling table.
Spoon
One device used by slot machine cheaters.
Hit me
A phrase used by blackjack players who want another card from the dealer. Usually used in connection with a hand signal.
Eye in the sky
A one-way mirror surveillance in the casino area. Be sure to smile! Mirrors or dark glass that circles casino ceilings conceals people who are assigned to watch the casino action to prevent cheating by players or dealers. There are also cameras behind the decorative looking glass.

FACTS ABOUT NEVADA
On Oct. 31, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Nevada's admission to the Union as the 36th state.
Capital -- Carson City.
State colors -- Silver and blue.
State song -- "Home Means Nevada."
State tree -- Single-leaf Pinon.
State bird -- Mountain Bluebird.
State animal -- Desert Bighorn Sheep.
State grass -- Indian Ricegrass.
State fish -- Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.
State fossil -- Ichthyosaur, a prehistoric marine reptile.
State metal -- Silver.
State nicknames -- Silver State, Sagebrush State, Battle-Born State.
State flower -- Sagebrush.

Disclaimer* This Information is provided for educational purposes ONLY!