That’s the trajectory at Bill’s Lake Tahoe. From the LVRJ:

Harrah’s sells Bill’s Lake Tahoe casino site

It’s hard to say what Bill Harrah would have thought about this. On one hand, he was by no means shy around women–he was married seven times. On the other hand, he wanted Harrah’s Lake Tahoe to be, above all, a classy facility, and insisted on things like two bathrooms in a guest room. I think they still have the original commode-view TVs installed, but that’s beside the point. Somehow having a strip club out front doesn’t scream “class” to me, but times have changed since Bill was running the place.

From an economic point of view, that’s 310 slot machines that Lake Tahoe and the state won’t be getting back, and a further sign of the area’s decline as a gaming spot. It’s still a very attractive destination, though it’s hard to really reconcile a strip club with Tahoe as I see it.

Black Gaming, which operates 3 casinos in Mesquite, Nevada, has declared bankruptcy. From the LVRJ:

In statements last year, Black said the company was generating cash flow but was unable to manage its high amount of debt. Black, a longtime Las Vegas real estate developer, said the challenging economy of the past 24 months hurt the casino operator.

via MESQUITE CASINOS: Black Gaming LLC files bankruptcy – Business – ReviewJournal.com.

How bad are things in Mesquite? Pretty bad.

In 2007, the four casinos there made almost $167 million. Last year, there were only three casinos active, and they made just over $120 million. That’s about a 28% drop in business for the area over two years. Even without the added debt expense, that’s a tough nut to crack.

For reference, in 2007 (before things went south), the Balance of Clark County casinos, which include Mesquite, had an average overall income of 3.8% of revenues. That’s not as good as the Strip casinos, but it’s still an indicator of a profitable business. In 2009, casinos in that reporting area showed a net loss of 53.9% of all revenue–clearly an epic fail. Of course, these aren’t just Mesquite (Primm is another area included here), but this is clearly not the best time to be running a casino outside of the tourist corridor.

Although, to be fair, Strip casinos were also unprofitable in 2009, with a combined net loss of 30.2% of revenue. About $3 billion of the $4 billion loss was due to interest and depreciation expenses. It’s hard to see how these sorts of losses can be sustained for much longer without more bankruptcies coming, even in Las Vegas.

At the “opening ceremonies” for Aria, U.S. Green Buildings Council CEO Rick Fedrizzi said that Aria was an example of what architecture should be, and that schoolchildren should be brought in to see the building for itself as an example of what the future would be.

“Wow,” I thought, “Bringing kids to a casino to to be inspired. That’s something I haven’t heard before.” So I thought that maybe this was evidence that gambling was becoming even more mainstream in American culture.

Around that time, NBA commissioner David Stern said that his league was now willing to talk about supporting legal sports betting. Again, this seemed like a historic shift in attitudes.

With a little editorial suggestion, I put these and a few other ideas together, did some additional research, and the result was a featured story in the March 2010 Global Gaming Business magazine:

If you're reading Global Gaming Business, odds are you're pretty comfortable with the idea of gambling as an acceptable leisure pastime for adults. You're not alone, and you haven't been for a long time: Since the past decade, about one in five Americans has visited a casino at least once a year. With legal casinos breaking out of Nevada in 1978 and spreading steadily across the nation, there has clearly been a tolerance-at first often grudging-for casinos.

Yet the past few months have given the impression that gambling has now reached unprecedented levels of public sanction that goes beyond toleration and reaches toward outright approval, a historic change in attitudes.

via Gambling Goes Mainstream | Global Gaming Business Magazine.

I’d say this is evidence that we’ll see more, not less, gambling soon, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see online poker be the next big domino to fall. There is a vague public support for it and a smaller group of devoted players who would be grateful to any politicians who voted for it, but more importantly there are well-funded parts of the industry now in favor. I’m not enough of a political scientist to say whether the current partisan politics will make any specific bill more or less likely, but looking at it from a general cultural and historical perspective it seems that in retrospect no one will be surprised when this happens.