I’ve been a Nevada resident for 30 years, written numerous books about the Silver State, and am more at home here than in the other six places on two continents where I’ve lived, so I feel I’m qualified to say that no other state in this (currently dubious) union is built on more of a foundation of falsehood.
If little is as it seems in the Illusion State, the casino is the perfect symbol of it. The players come in all shapes and sizes, but all (except for a handful of pros) are fostering the same fantasy: that they can sustain their losses and that it’s all in good clean fun (the compulsive gamblers are all pretending that they’re not hooked).
It’s also a myth that the locals don’t gamble; they do more than their part to ensure the success of the prevailing industry. One of the oldest gags in the casino joke-ography concerns a down-and-out-looking guy who accosts a passerby outside Slots A Fun.
“Buddy,” he says, “can you lend me a few bucks to help feed my kids?”
The stranger asks, “How do I know you won’t take the money, head straight to a slot machine, and gamble it away on one spin?”
“Oh,” the guy shrugs, “I’ve got plenty of gambling money.”
And is it any wonder that the most prevalent form of entertainment is magic? Meanwhile, Elvis lives by way of hundreds of imposters, some of whom—the Asian, African-American, teenage, geezer, and female varieties—don’t seem too concerned about the finer points of impersonating.
Perhaps the grandest illusion is that Nevada is a “state” at all. At 70 million acres, it’s the seventh largest, though 87.3% is claimed by the U.S. government, first out of 50 in federal dominion. Indeed, a huge chunk of central Nevada, roughly the size of Connecticut, is off-limits to civilians.
The Nevada economy is mostly built on the specter of instant riches, while the desert “wasteland” conceals some of the most concentrated mineral wealth in all the world.
The point is, like the gold mines that burrow a mile below under Virginia City, you have to dig deep to get to the bottom of Greater Vegas. And that’s the fun of it. As the sages tell us, “Illusions bring you closer to the truth.”
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