Casinos

Two decades ago, real estate mogul Randy Black turned this blip on the Arizona border into a boomtown when he opened the first of four casinos. Nearly 1 million visitors a year followed, and hotels, restaurants and stucco homes seemed to sprout from sand. "It seemed to be one of those things that 'Geez, it's just going great. It's never going to end,' " said Victor Kotalion, who left Las Vegas in 1990 for this arid patch off Interstate 15.

The Currans of Granada Hills have been taking family vacations on the Las Vegas Strip for years. They weren't about to pass it up just because Jeff Curran's business selling upscale cookware is down sharply. But this summer it would be a smart Vegas vacation. A year ago they plunked down $100 each for tickets to the Blue Man Group show at the Venetian. This year, the family of four -- Jeff, 59, his wife, Michele, 55, and their adult son and daughter -- took in the Mac King Comedy Magic Show at Harrah's with tickets discounted to $10 apiece.

A federal judge cleared the way Thursday for creation of nine at-large Democratic casino precincts on the Las Vegas Strip for Saturday's caucuses, but the decision did little to calm the internecine battle between supporters of Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan sided with the state Democratic Party and rejected a challenge by Clinton supporters and the Nevada State Education Assn. to ban the at-large Strip precincts.

The most confusing measures on Tuesday's state ballot are the four Indian gambling propositions. But, cutting through all the fabrication and jargon, there's one simple way to look at this. The central question is: Should the state grab, by whatever legal means, any money it can find to help balance its books? Or has the expansion of Vegas-style Indian gambling in California gone far enough?

Arthur Hancock, a fourth-generation thoroughbred breeder, pointed out his office window on a recent morning to illustrate a fundamental difference between horse racing and casino gambling. A shimmering copper sun was rising over his 1,800-acre bluegrass farm. A clutch of lithe prize ponies grazed under a gunmetal sky. "Look out there," said Hancock, 64. "This is a whole different world." Las Vegas it was not.

There are signs throughout the neon city that the Vegas economy has lost some of its shimmer. Casinos have laid off hundreds of workers. Hotels are slashing room rates. Foreclosure signs mar suburban streets. And now, the 99-cent shrimp cocktail has broken the dollar mark. The price of the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino's signature dish recently rose to $1.99, the victim of the escalating price of bay shrimp. The increase was the first in 17 years, and was viewed locally as an ominous indicator.

WANDA SYKES is sucking up to Vegas-goers. A lot. The stand-up comic and actress is stoked about becoming something of a regular at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. But then she's confronted with the fact she told Ellen DeGeneres earlier this year the audiences she plays to at casinos tend to be, uh, fat. Now she's explaining she didn't mean casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. "Oh, it's totally different in Vegas," the 44-year-old comic insists. "It's like this.

Riverside County Sheriff Stanley Sniff on Tuesday called on federal authorities to shut down the Soboba Casino, saying the tribal council had ordered security officers to block or delay his deputies from entering the troubled reservation, where five members have been shot to death during confrontations with his department.

Casino operator Boyd Gaming Corp. announced Friday that it would stop work for nine months to a year on a $4.8-billion mega-development in Las Vegas. The Echelon -- slated to include a 140,000-square-foot casino, nearly 5,000 guest rooms in five hotels, two theaters and about 750,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space on 87 acres -- joins several suspended projects serving as reminders of the troubles facing Sin City's gambling market.

In sin city, Halloween is circled in red. The Circus of Horrors, Hillbilly Hell and Vampire's Blood Feast are among the many haunted houses that promise to terrify Vegas visitors. There's even a haunted casino for folks who don't find the real gambling halls scary. "The feel of fear, that's what you want to give them," says Jason Egan, the founder of Fright Dome, the largest Halloween attraction in town, at Circus Circus.