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Each Tremendous Bowl Sunday, hundreds of gamblers head to the Grand Sierra Resort and On line casino, the biggest of its form in northern Nevada, to wager on the large sport and occasion with fellow soccer followers. Excessive rollers dine on all-you-can-eat buffets and the champagne flows in V.I.P. rooms all through the huge complicated. Lengthy strains snake out of the William Hill Sportsbook simply off the on line casino ground.
However the motion this yr was supercharged as a result of the Tremendous Bowl included the San Francisco 49ers, and lots of the workforce’s followers in California, the place sports activities betting remains to be unlawful, crossed the border into Nevada to put down bets and have fun with their brethren.
A few of the followers thought-about touring to Las Vegas, the place the Tremendous Bowl was performed for the primary time this yr. However they didn’t need to battle the crowds solely to pay daunting costs for motels and meals. Reno might lack the thrill of Las Vegas, they mentioned, however the self-proclaimed Largest Little Metropolis within the World had the good thing about being reasonably priced and handy, roughly a four-hour drive from the Bay Space.
“I might have gone to Vegas, however every little thing’s hiked up there,” mentioned Daniel Burnett, a 49ers fan from San Francisco who stayed the weekend on the Grand Sierra. “Right here, every little thing’s in a single place.”
All the pieces, it appears, however a 49ers win. They fell to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs in time beyond regulation, 25-22, leaving many San Francisco followers on the on line casino shocked, and some in tears.
Nonetheless, it was like Nevada’s Tremendous Bowl overflow occasion with a decidedly extra low-key vibe. The on line casino motels in Reno would not have the fountains that grace the Bellagio on the Vegas Strip. Few folks come right here for midnight helicopter rides. What occurs in Reno doesn’t at all times keep in Reno. However for regulars like Jacob and Nicole Wooden, two Raiders followers who drove 4 hours from Clearlake, Calif., Reno is simply effective.
“No method I’m paying $11,000 for a ticket in Las Vegas,” Mr. Wooden mentioned. He and his spouse, who additionally bets on horseracing and basketball, have watched the Tremendous Bowl in Reno for a dozen years.
In some ways, the Tremendous Bowl highlighted anew the hole between Las Vegas and Reno. Las Vegas is a global leisure capital often known as the setting for motion pictures just like the “Ocean’s” and “Hangover” franchises. After years of being shunned by skilled sports activities leagues, town is now residence to the Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights and the Raiders of the N.F.L.
Reno? Many casinos have shut or merged. Downtown is pockmarked by open tons. Sports activities? There’s a Triple A baseball franchise, the Aces, and the Nationwide Bowling Stadium.
And whereas Las Vegas continues to market extravagance and extra, Reno, which is lower than one-quarter of the scale, appears without end at a crossroads. The cities stay rivals, particularly once they battle for funding within the state capital, Carson Metropolis, half-hour south of Reno. However when folks consider Nevada, Las Vegas usually springs to thoughts.
“The North-South divide in Nevada may be very ingrained and entrenched,” mentioned John L. Smith, a longtime journalist from Las Vegas who now lives in Reno. “The South was jealous of the North’s energy. The North was jealous of the South’s pizazz and cash and progress.”
It could be laborious to ponder, however for a few years Reno was Las Vegas earlier than Las Vegas turned Sin Metropolis. Based within the 1860s as a railway hub, town prospered in the course of the silver and gold rushes. Reno turned the divorce capital of America as a result of {couples} have been required to stay right here for under six months — lowered in later years to 6 weeks — earlier than benefiting from the state’s liberal guidelines for splitting up.
As divorces flooded in, so did legal professionals and bankers. Motels, casinos and different leisure institutions sprang up. After playing was legalized statewide in 1931, new guests arrived. Films that flicked on the metropolis’s divorce business have been filmed in Reno, together with “The Misfits,” starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable.
However Reno has been a metropolis of transients, and as different states adopted “no fault” divorce legal guidelines, one of many metropolis’s calling playing cards pale. By the 1950 census, Las Vegas had surpassed Reno as casinos went up on the Strip, drawing Hollywood entertainers and larger crowds in southern Nevada.
Reno, named for a Civil Battle normal who by no means stepped foot in Nevada, continues to seek for a brand new id. Beginning within the Eighties, it was hit by a wave of on line casino closures and bankruptcies. The circulate of gamblers coming right here slowed after Native American casinos opened in California.
Motels and casinos have been knocked right down to make method for redevelopment that has barely begun. Final yr, an overhaul of the previous Harrah’s Reno resort and on line casino stalled, leaving a large eyesore. Most of the remaining casinos are windowless, self-contained bubbles which have turned the encompassing streets into uninviting walkways.
“Downtown is at struggle with itself, battling the wants of the casinos for parking and open area geared towards vacationers versus residential mixed-use density,” mentioned Alicia Barber, an area historian and creator of “Reno’s Massive Gamble: Picture and Status within the Largest Little Metropolis.” “We’re making an attempt to ascertain a way of place.”
Issues acquired so unhealthy that analysts finding out town in 2010 puzzled whether or not Reno might flip into the Detroit of the West by 2020. In December, Allegiant Airways — whose title is on the stadium the place the Tremendous Bowl was performed — mentioned it could now not fly in or out of Reno, leaving simply two airways providing nonstop flights between town and Las Vegas.
Prior to now decade or so, Reno has pivoted. Apple, Tesla, Panasonic and different firms have opened services within the space, attracting Californians in quest of tech jobs and cheaper houses. The town has marketed its easy accessibility to world-class snowboarding and different outside pursuits close to Lake Tahoe.
Reno nonetheless has loads of casinos to attract gamblers from California, Idaho, Utah and different neighboring states the place sports activities betting has not been legalized. None has completed extra to draw these guests than the Grand Sierra, which has a movie show, a bowling alley, evening golf equipment, a 3,000-seat theater and a Charlie Palmer steakhouse.
Chris Abraham, the senior vp of selling at Grand Sierra, mentioned the resort places on Tremendous Bowl events yearly, however guests have been up 10 p.c this yr as a result of the 49ers have been within the large sport. About 1,600 friends packed a ballroom and dined on Kansas Metropolis barbecue, wings and nachos. Smaller teams paid as much as $2,000 for a desk within the Lex Nightclub.
“Lots of people checked out Las Vegas and mentioned it was going to be ridiculous there, I can get the identical form of expertise right here,” Mr. Abraham mentioned.
As sports activities playing has unfold, the Grand Sierra and Reno have been providing folks extra causes to go to. In 2022, the sports activities e-book was refurbished and a Chickie’s & Pete’s sports activities bar opened. The resort will make investments about $1 billion into the 140-acre property over the following decade, together with constructing a ten,000-seat enviornment.
However even with all that but to come back, Reno was nonetheless an oasis in contrast with Las Vegas for some followers this yr.
“It feels good however further good as a result of the 49ers are in it,” Deron Dow, who drove from San Francisco together with his girlfriend, Martha Anaya, mentioned earlier than the sport.
And it beat paying the costs and combating the crowds in Las Vegas.
“Vegas would have been method worse,” Mr. Dow mentioned.
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