Talking America

The chips are down

• Jon Kelly
• 12 Sep 08, 11:43 PM GMT

I've been flicking through the Las Vegas Sun. According to the paper, city mayor Oscar Goodman, a Democrat, has commissioned a set of personalised poker chips which he gives to visiting dignitaries.

On one side, the chips read: "The Happiest Mayor of the Greatest City in the World." On the other, they carry a photograph of Mr Goodman himself.

Delegations from Peru, Russia, China, Slovakia and Kenya have been lucky enough to take home these mementos, the paper reported. It quoted the mayor himself on why so many flock to his city: "They love the glitz and the glamour."

This tells me something about Nevada politics. But I'm not quite sure what.

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What happens in Vegas

• Jon Kelly
• 12 Sep 08, 08:13 AM GMT

I can see why Las Vegas became the casino capital of the US. Coming out here in the first place must have been quite a gamble.

Who other than a punter, or someone completely deranged, would build a city amid the barren, arid emptiness of the Mojave desert? But for decades it has been defying the odds.

It came as a jolt when the bus arrived in town. One minute we were surrounded by miles of nothing except lots of dust and the odd boulder. The next we were in the midst of what appeared to be Blackpool as designed by Hieronymous Bosch, the replica Eiffel Tower straddling an imitation "Paris" being my favourite landmark here so far.

It would be easy to mock Vegas's excesses, but I think that would be to miss the point. In a country where boldness and risk-taking are celebrated like nowhere else, is it any wonder that Americans flock here?

Of course, there's a darker history to the city, as anyone who watched Scorsese's Casino will know - one in which the presence of the mob loomed large. And recently the local economy has suffered, with takings and visitor numbers down as tourists tighten their belts.

But if Vegas offers a very different take on the American Dream from that suggested by Venice Beach, it surely stems from the same sense of optimism that wealth and riches can be within anyone's grasp.

I don't gamble these days, not since Ivan Sproule let me down by failing to score in a Scottish Cup semi-final a couple of years back.

But I thought I'd wander over to Orleans casino to try to find some Americans who were winning and losing.

The din of the slot machines rattling around me, I got talking to Gene and Cathy Ormond, who moved to Vegas from New York three years ago after Gene retired. Those years have been good to them, they told me - the weather was better, they'd been able to buy a much bigger house thanks to local house prices, and twice a week they could go out to play the slot machines before heading for a meal.

"I just think it's so glamorous," Cathy told me. "When you fly in and you see all the lights, it's beautiful. There's so much to do here. We're so lucky."

Why did Americans like to gamble, I wondered?

"Everyone just wants to hit the jackpot, I guess," Gene chuckled. "You know that the odds favour the casino, but it's still fun trying."

Sitting nearby, were George Lazar, 78, and wife Anna-Marie, 77, visiting from Cleveland, Ohio, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

They hadn't been so fortunate in recent years. When George retired as an aircraft designer, he had thought he had provided for his old age.

"I was quite well-off," George sighted. "I had a lot invested. Until the markets crashed, that is. We're getting by, but it's hard for people right now."

"I'm really angry about the way this country is being run," Anna-Marie interrupted. "All those foreclosures. It's time for change."

Like the Orlandos, they were decent people who wanted to enjoy their retirement. But America is all about making your own luck.

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