People can gamble from morning until night in Las Vegas, but they can’t buy a state lottery ticket

Walking up the jet bridge on arriving in Las Vegas earlier this week, the first thing I saw was a bank of slot machines.

In most US airports there is no separation between passengers who are arriving and those who are departing. They can freely mix at the same gate.

So it is unclear whether the people at the slot machines in the terminal building just after 10am were taking their first opportunity to gamble on arriving in Las Vegas or whether they were trying to win back money they may have lost during their stay.

My flight was packed. I had not realised that Reinvent 2023, Amazon Web Services’ technology conference, was taking place, bringing thousands of visitors to the city in the desert.

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After several years in the doldrums, the city is bouncing back, although it has still not reached the levels it enjoyed before Covid.

Before Covid, close to 40 million people came every year. But as the travel market collapsed in spring 2020, a city that relied on visitors was hit hard

Las Vegas was hammered by the pandemic.

The economy of the city revolves around hospitality. It draws its lifeblood from the conventions, trade and sporting events as well as revenue generated from those who travel to gamble or attend the shows on its famous strip.

Before Covid, close to 40 million people came every year. But as the travel market collapsed in spring 2020, a city that relied on visitors was hit hard.

Hotels, restaurants, shops and companies that offered tourist amenities and activities began to let people go.

Eventually, an estimated 125,000 people working in the direct and indirect tourism sector lost their jobs. Unemployment peaked at 33 per cent in the region in April 2020.

The recovery has been slow but steady. Last year the number of visitors climbed back to about 38 million – but still below the pre-pandemic levels.

In the key hotel sector, the room occupancy rate stood at 82 per cent, compared with 88 per cent in 2019.

The state of Nevada has an unemployment rate of more than 5 per cent – higher than the US national average, which stands at less than 4 per cent.

Nevada, like elsewhere across the US, has experienced high inflation in recent times, including rising rents.

It was against this backdrop that hospitality workers in the city won significant improvements in terms and conditions after several months of tough negotiations with the big hotel and casino operators.

About 35,000 workers had threatened to go on strike last month – a move that would have caused huge disruption when the city was hoping to attract hundreds of thousands to the strip for the Las Vegas Formula One motor racing Grand Prix.

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Other big events were also in the offing, including the Super Bowl next February.

Just in time to avert the planned industrial action, the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165 reached a deal with the big hotels, Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts International and Wynn Resorts.

Workers will receive a 10 per cent wage increase in the first year and a 32 per cent rise over the five-year life of the deal.

It also includes a reduction in workload among housekeeping staff. And importantly for many hotel workers, the deal will see rooms cleaned daily.

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At the start of the pandemic politicians in Nevada had introduced a daily room cleaning law. However, this was repealed last April when a majority of Democrats joined all Republicans in the state Senate, against the strong wishes of trade unions.

It remains to be seen whether this comes back to haunt Democrats in terms of support or fundraising in elections next year.

A key US Senate seat in Nevada, currently held by Democrats, is up for election next November.

Backers of the proposed reforms claim that it is not that people in Nevada don’t buy lottery tickets; it is that they do so in neighbouring states such as California, which receive all the revenue

Another issue on which voters may have to decide is whether to allow a state lottery.

As witnessed in the airport terminal, people can gamble from morning until night in Las Vegas. But they cannot buy a state lottery ticket as this practice was banned by the state constitution, ratified 160 years ago.

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Backers of the proposed reforms claim that it is not that people in Nevada don’t buy lottery tickets; it is that they do so in neighbouring states such as California, which receive all the revenue.

Critics are concerned about the impact the move could have on the existing gambling industry, which brought in more than $14 billion in revenue last year – although supporters point out that the big casino operators also have presences in states that have their own lotteries.

It would take several legislative hoops to be jumped through but, if approved, a Nevada state lottery could be competing with the slot machines, blackjack and craps tables in five years or so.