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Las Vegas: How a City Among the Desert Became the World Gambling Capital

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Las Vegas, Nevada, is rightfully considered to be the world gambling capital as the city is home to the largest strip of land-based casinos in the world. Of course, it hasn’t always been that way, and gambling became legal in the area less than a hundred years ago, in 1931.

How did that city in the middle of the desert become one of the world’s most popular and well-known gambling destinations? Well, today, we are going to dive into Las Vegas history and see how the city became what it is.

How It All Began

People lived in the area for thousands of years, as the oldest traces of human activity are dated somewhere around 12,000 years BC. The first Europeans who came around were Spanish colonists who explored the area to find anything of value. They did not find the land to be too hospitable, so the very first European settlements were established by the Mormons in the 1850s.

https://unsplash.com/photos/bKx2zZUvv9kLater, the miners from Salt Lake City came to the valley looking for lead in the Red Rock Canyon. The confrontations between the miners and the Mormons caused the latter to leave the area. After the Mormons left, a man called Octavius Gass established a ranch he called Los Vegas. Los, not Las because there already was a city called Las Vegas in New Mexico.

The Salt Lake City Railroad decided that the area is perfect for refueling, so the company bought the land and the town began to grow. From 1911, it was officially known as Las Vegas. Nothing too special about that place, and it would go down as one of the hundreds of small towns in the middle of nowhere if not for a really opportune coincidence.

Gambling was illegal in the city up to 1931, and its eventual legalization coincided with the beginning of the Hoover Dam construction. There were thousands of workers and they all needed some entertainment and attractions to relax and spend some of their money, which is when the first casinos started to pop up. This is when the modern Las Vegas started to take its shape.

The Gambling Capital

After the gambling ban was lifted in 1931, the city started to transform into a resort area. By the early 1950s, Las Vegas was already a prosperous city popular for its luxurious hotels, casinos, and restaurants. Nowadays, Vegas is home to the world’s most lavish hotels and casinos, which makes it a desirable destination for gamblers from all around the world.

Of course, for those who cannot go to Sin City right now, there is such an option as the online mobile casino gambling in mobile casino Canada. This is a good way to gamble if you cannot go to Las Vegas as frequently as you’d like. You can have tons of fun and win real money, just like in actual casinos in Vegas.

Entertainment for Everyone

https://unsplash.com/photos/zPkqmqBZnPAOf course, there are casinos for every pocket in Las Vegas. There are VIP casino rooms for the players who play big as well as regular casino tables for those who just want to have fun and do not want to risk too much. There are luxury downtown casinos as well as smaller gambling houses. Of course, you can even go and play online casino games to get incredible winnings straight from your mobile device.

The city has been going through some rough times in 2020, as much as most cities out there. The number of tourists dropped drastically, and the gambling revenues have been really low due to the lockdown. Of course, it did not shake its position as the world’s gambling capital, and hopefully, the lockdown will end soon. Vegas truly is a marvelous city in the middle of an inhospitable desert, so it really is worth visiting.

Wrap Up

Las Vegas is a place like no other, that is for sure. It is still hard to imagine how that small town in the middle of the desert has managed to become one of the world’s most popular and well-known tourist destinations. Thanks to the historical circumstances, it is now one of the most prosperous cities in the US. Gambling is a quite lucrative business, and it brings billions of dollars to the city, which is how Las Vegas became the gambling capital of the world.