爱德森先生是拉斯维加斯Sands集团的总裁，多年来位于全球富人榜第三位，他坚持说他不做赌博生意，甚至不涉及博彩业（他和Michael Leven，拉斯维加斯Sands的主席，坚持说这两者的区别很重要。博彩与赌博的区别就像“品鸡尾酒和外出酗酒”）。

　　爱德森先生说，他做的是综合娱乐业。他在The Strip的两家酒店，Venetian和Palazzo，有数千间客房、高档购物中心（有些可以欣赏Venetian的街景，蓝色的天空、运河与驳船，尽收眼底）、餐厅、按摩房、宴会厅、会议中心，当然还有赌场。赌场是赚钱的必须工具，就像会议中心能吸引商务人事一样重要，那些人可能马上决定下次携家人一起来度假。但其盈利的70%并不是来自博彩业。

　　仅把赌场当做赚钱渠道之一的模式同样适用于整个拉斯维加斯城。2009年，游客平均每晚花在住宿上的费用为75美金，平均每人住3.6晚。食物花费250美金，仅仅250多美金用于购物，53美金交通，43美金观看演出和观赏景色。赌博的平均预算为482美金（从2005年开始急剧下降，平均赌博627美金）。有17%的游客根本不赌博，甚至包括在其他活动上花费更多的人。

　　作为“罪恶之都”，沙漠深处的拉斯维加斯要面对一个事实，那就是它的罪恶之源变得更为宽广。作为赌业的老大，它有相当大的优势：它的赌税增加了6.75%。新泽西的赌税为8%，其他大部分城市的税率更高。Sands在拉斯维加斯以外的唯一资产是Pennsylvania 的Bethehem，而那里的博彩所得税为55%。

　　比起20年前，内华达州现在的经营模式更加多样化，但它只可能达到拉斯维加斯那样的程度，而维加斯的财富状况依靠的是美国整体的经济。只要口袋里有钱，就肯定有人去The Strip。但可能不需要增加酒店房间，增长速度不会有以前快。要想扩充博彩业的市场，那就去东方吧。

　　译文：

　　Mr Adelson the head of Las Vegas Sands and for some years the world’s third-richest person insists that he is not in the gambling business nor even in the gaming business （a distinction he and Michael Leven Las Vegas Sands’s president consider important; the difference between gaming and gambling according to Mr Leven “is the difference between having a cocktail and going out drinking”）。

　　As far as Mr Adelson is concerned he is in the integrated-resort business. His twin hotels on the Strip the Venetian and the Palazzo combine thousands of hotel rooms upmarket shopping （some of it lining a Venetian streetscape complete with a painted blue sky canals and gondola rides） restaurants spas banquet halls convention centres and of course a casino. The casino is necessary to drive revenue just as the convention centres are essential to attract business travellers who may then decide to return for a holiday with their families. But around 70% of his revenue says Mr Adelson comes from non-gaming sources.

　　The model of using casinos as just one of many revenue-spinners also works for Las Vegas as a whole. In 2009 tourists on average spent around $75 a night on accommodation and stayed for 3.6 nights. They shelled out about $250 on food just over $100 on shopping $53 on transport and $45 on shows and sightseeing. The average gambling budget was $482 （down sharply from 2005 when the average punter bet $627）。 Some 17% of visitors do not gamble at all. But even those who do spend more on other activities combined.

　　Having begun as a secluded sinning haven tucked away in the desert Las Vegas has had to face the fact that its chief sin on offer has become much more widely available. But for casino owners it still has a big advantage: its gambling-tax rate is capped at 6.75%. New Jersey home to Atlantic City offers an 8% rate but most other places are much greedier. Sands’s only American property outside Vegas is in Bethlehem Pennsylvania where the state taxes gross gaming revenue at 55%.

　　The state of Nevada is more diversified than it was two decades ago but it is likely to return to strength only as Las Vegas does and Vegas’s fortunes depend on America’s economy. If people have money in their pockets some will inevitably find its way to the Strip. But there may be no need for new hotel rooms for some time and growth is likely to be flatter than in the past. For runaway expansion in the gambling market look east.