Nevada: The Casino Capital

           Heading downtown is kind of a nerve-racking experience. Why? Well, driving down there sucks, parking is hard to find, there are pedestrians everywhere, and if you ever want to make a left turn it is almost impossible without hitting a red light. Driving by the casinos is not only frustrating but crazy because cars and people come out of nowhere, so it’s better just to park farther away and walk to the casino district. (*venting*)

 While walking, I pretty much observe a very different environment than from that of my own. My neighborhood compared to that of the casino district could not be any more different from the outside. For me, my neighborhood is quiet, peaceful, picturesque, and the people that walk around are all kind and friendly. However, from my past experiences in the casino district, downtown is noisy, messy, smoky/dirty, and there are people who are very rude who walk around and are very vulgar. Now, I don’t mind profanity but I do know when and where profanity should and should not be used, and that is NOT in front of little children. There were two older men (who appeared to be homeless) who were ranting on about America and they were cussing very loudly and this family, with two little kids, was walking by and the father kindly asked the men to be a little more respectful, and they just ignored him and continued on. Besides this more negative perspective, there is a lot more diversity (in practically every aspects such as race/ethnicity, economic status, etc) downtown. The diversity is nice because you not only get to see how different your own “world” is from that of another, but it is almost like travelling to gain the perspective of another kind of culture.

 Similarities are harder to find though, but being downtown is actually an enjoyable place to be. It is enjoyable because you can go with family and friends and do many things that you cannot really do in my neighborhood. For instance, there is a movie theater by the river, an ice-rink during the winter, rock-climbing at Commrow, bowling all around, one can go and eat the famous Awful-Awful by the Nugget, people go can watch shows ranging from orchestra to magic to Broadway, or people can go play some games at Circus-Circus. Downtown is a place for all because it is a place made for all ages to help foster our economy. It is place to have fun although the casino district is known as being “sketchy.”

 A lot of people come to Reno to visit the casino district. The question is: Why? What is there to do in the casino district? Well, you can gamble if you are old enough and have the money to gamble, unlike us university students at the moment. We are allowed to go into the casinos, but it is off-limits for people who are underage to be around the slot machines and the poker tables. However, even though we cannot go into the casinos to gamble, we can do many other things to have fun.