赌场已从自己的社区走向世界各地。蒙特。卡罗的赌城在摩洛哥，摩洛哥城被法国包围，但是独立的。摩洛哥城的市民是不准许进入赌城的，但其他人都热烈欢迎掏出钱包。澳门仅仅有一小块地带与中国大陆接壤。1999年之前被葡萄牙管辖。现在它是中国的特别行政区，但大陆人要进入澳门需要特别通行证。

　　拉斯维加斯坐落于北美最不适宜人类居住的地带。1885年美国摩门教徒为了寻求自由来到此地。20世纪初期仅仅只有30个农夫在耕耘这片贫瘠的土地。但在1911年，地方政府为了寻求新的经济来源，6个星期内使之分离，在历史上是最快的。而且免除了销售所得税、个人所得税和遗产税，并且在1909年解除了赌博禁令。

　　1951年，一份国会文书控诉在内华达开设赌场的很多人涉嫌有组织的犯罪。由Meyer Lansky Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel 和 Moe Dalitz带领的歹徒控制了内华达州的所有赌城，用来洗钱和其他不正当营生。

　　1946年Siegel在Strip街开了了第一家豪华酒店Flamingo酒店。现在为上市公司Harrah’s所有。Strip街最北端的赌场，Stratosphere，隶属于Goldman Sachs公司。Strip街最大的楼群，由Venetian、Palazzo和Sands会展中心所组成，为拉斯维加斯Sands公司所有，它是一家上市公司，拥有167亿美元股市市值。

　　在过去的半个世纪里，拉斯维加斯城的人口稳定快速地增长。现在有近两百万人居住在拉斯维加斯市区--这也许就是赌博那无法抵挡的诱惑力的有力证明。但无论20世纪的拉斯维加斯有多么风光，它在21世纪都将危险重重。

　　20世纪90年代，拉斯维加斯改头换面，打着“家庭度假胜地”的招牌推销自己，而现在它却试图回到原始状态“罪恶之城”。有个更有名的广告说“不管拉斯维加斯发生什么，我都要待在这里”。它是美国惟一一个准许在体育上赌博的地方。随着其他形式的赌博威胁到赌马，拉斯维加斯现在面临着其他赌场的竞争。美国本土赌场层出不穷。除了UIGEA，还有网上赌博。

　　经济危机也让生意更不好做。今年五月，内华达的失业率上升到了14%，超过国家平均失业率9.7%创历史新高。2008年，酒店-赌城只提供了16%的就业岗位，比1997年高峰时期低了7个百分点。州政府努力让就业渠道多样化，但赌博业与旅游业仍然是其经济组成的一大部分，所以相比于其他各州，这两年消费量的下降对内华达州的影响更大。

　　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 It also scrapped taxes on sales income and inheritance and repealed the ban on gambling passed in 1909.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.

　　The financial crisis has done its bit to make life harder. In May this year Nevada’s unemployment rate had climbed to 14% the highest in any state and far above the national average of 9.7%. In 2008 hotel-casinos provided only 16% of the state’s jobs-nearly seven percentage points fewer than at the peak in 1994. The state has tried hard to diversify but gaming and tourism remain a big part of the economy so the drop in consumer spending in the past two years has affected Nevada more than most other states.