Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

is only 14 miles over the California border. The

Nevada Gaming Commission The Nevada Gaming Commission is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of casinos throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming Control Board. In 1959, the Nevada Gaming Commission ("Commission") was created by the pass ...

groups it as one gaming region, with a total of five casinos earning more than $72 million in the last fiscal year. In other reports the Reno region is consolidated with the Sparks region which is only four miles farther east on Interstate 80.

Indian casino competition

Unlike Las Vegas, the Reno/Sparks region built only one major new casino since the 1990s, the

Silver Legacy Reno Silver Legacy Resort & Casino is a hotel and casino located in Downtown Reno, Nevada. It anchors a network of connected hotel-casinos in the downtown Reno core that included Circus Circus Reno and Eldorado Reno and are owned and operated by Caesa ...

. The older casinos, particularly the ''Atlantis'' and the ''Peppermill'', have been updated and new hotel towers have been added. Reno is competing with the ''United Auburn Indian Community'' which has built the large

Thunder Valley Casino Resort Thunder Valley Casino Resort is a hotel and casino located in unincorporated Placer County in Whitney, California near the city of Lincoln, California, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Sacramento. It is owned and operated by the United Auburn In ...

Lincoln, California Lincoln is a city in Placer County, California, United States, part of the Sacramento metropolitan area. Located in an area of rapid suburban development, it grew 282.1 percent between 2000 and 2010, making it the fastest-growing city over 10,000 ...

. This casino is off

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

on the drive from

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

, California. In addition to being 80 miles closer, it is also at low altitude, so that it is not necessary to cross the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountain range which frequently becomes hazardous in winter. Further competition arrived on December 18, 2008 with the opening of the ''Red Hawk Casino'' run by the

Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Shingle Springs Rancheria (Verona Tract), California is a federally recognized tribe. Government The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians is an independent, sovereign tribal government led by an electe ...

. The Red Hawk Casino is also very close to Sacramento. Ray Hagar from the

Reno Gazette-Journal The ''Reno Gazette Journal'' is the main daily newspaper for Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Gannett Company. It came into being when the ''Nevada State Journal'' (founded on November 23, 1870) and the ''Reno Evening Gazette'' (fou ...

said, "The competition from tribal casinos was once a thorn in Reno's side. Now, it is poised to be the dagger in the heart of Reno-Sparks and Lake Tahoe properties that can't afford to join in the Cold War-style escalation of the Atlantis and Peppermill expansions."

Largest casinos

According to the abstract, there are thirteen thousand rooms in the Reno casinos. For FY08 gaming revenue was $872m and non-gaming revenue was $733m. Casinos with revenue over $36 million had 77% of the gaming revenue, and 82% of the non-gaming revenue. There are ten casinos in Washoe County, many of which are nearby Reno, but are not classified as being in Reno/Sparks region by the Nevada Gaming Commission. ''Boomtown Reno'' and ''Gold Ranch Reno'' to the west of the city and ''Tamarack Junction'' to the south are examples of casinos in this group.

Revenue History

Gaming Revenue in the Reno area peaked in June 2006 as competition from Sacramento Indian casinos intensified. Revenue began to rapidly decrease from that point as the recession took over. All figures are in thousands of dollars and show the change over a 4-year period.

References

External links

Visit Reno list of Casinos and Interactive Map

City of Reno
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nevada Gaming Area, Reno Economy of Reno, Nevada Gambling in Nevada