Are There More Casinos or Churches in Las Vegas?

In a QoD from a while back, you debunked the myth that Las Vegas has the most churches of any city in the U.S. But how about this one: Does Las Vegas have more churches than casinos?

One estimate we saw says that there are as many as 500 churches -- in every denomination from Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Pentecostal, and Assembly of God to synagogues, mosques, Hindu, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Serbian Orthodox -- in the Las Vegas area, though that figure tends to be clouded by the number of storefront churches in Strip malls and the tendency to count wedding chapels as places of worship.

On the other side, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, Las Vegas Valley is home to 104 non-restricted gaming licensees and 1,380 restricted licensees (establishments, mostly small bars, with 15 or fewer slots).

So, considering nearly 1,500 places to gamble, more than three times as many as our estimate of churches, Mammon has the Almighty outnumbered.

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RussellMorgan Sep-05-2017

The most churches per capita legend makes me laugh

Anyone that thinks that could possibly be true has never traveled through some of the Mormon cities in northern Utah. I grew up in Salt Lake City within a 10 minute walk of 4 LDS churches and one Methodist church to boot. It isn't uncommon to see two LDS churches built side by side in Utah.

[email protected] Sep-05-2017

Storefront

Hey, don't discount storefront churches.  They often are the first step for an unrepresented or underrepresented denomination to start a new mission church.

Also, while your math is fine, I could see some argue that a business for which a handful of slots is a sideline isn't really a casino, unless you also count businesses that keep some religious tracts in a rack by the door as churches.  So I think some might reasonably compare only the full casinos with the non-restricted licenses, in which case even taking out wedding chapels and the like would give churches the advantage.

ddotscott Aug-14-2018

If you think Vegas has more casinos than churches, you’re just a tourist...

Lol @ trying to make the case for restricted licensees being “casinos.” Yeah, I’m sure millions of people flock here from all over the world to play Game King at 7-11. 

The reality is those of us who live here — grew up here, were born here — we don’t need the Gaming Control Board to define what a casino is. And, even if the heathen among us aren’t real sure what churches are, all they need to do is take a ride to know their ubiquity in this town extends well beyond Las Vegas Boulevard. 

North to south, east to west; without question, there are far more churches in Vegas than casinos — and, beyond that, more churches than places you can buy Slurpees.

Question of the Day - 05 September 2017

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