Betting against earthquakes in Vegas

According to a new report, a big earthquake is just as likely to hit Las Vegas in the next 50 years as you are to seven out at craps. From KLAS:

UNLV and UNR scientists estimate a magnitude 6.6 quake would cause $18 billion in damage to buildings. It would kill 900 people. About 300,000 buildings in Las Vegas would suffer major damage and up to 11,000 people would need public shelter.

Clark County director of development services, Ron Lynn, says this is valuable information especially because of the mega casinos and hi-rises.

“What we are looking at in earthquakes is the survivability of the people inside. The buildings are going to be damaged,” said Lynn.

…

There are many active faults in the Las Vegas valley. Still, the new report found there is only a 10 to 20-percent chance of a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake here in the next 50 years. Lynn says we must take the report seriously and not gamble with the future.

“After all we are a gaming community. We know that the odds reestablish themselves each and every roll of the dice, if you will. They establish themselves each and every year. So it could be next year. It could be the year after. It could be 50 or 100 years,” said Lynn.

Las Vegas Now | Shocking New Data on Earthquakes in Southern Nevada Released

Since you’ve got a 1-in-6 (16.67%)chance of rolling a seven at any given time (with two dice), I figured that was close enough to 10-20% to make a point (pun intended).