According to the data provided by the specialists, Las Vegas consumes more electric energy than the whole France. Casino-hotels are side by side with each other and each strives to attract the potential client with something different that could not be found at the competitor's place: from the constructed "mini-Manhattan" with small copies of the most famous New York sky scrapers and statute of liberty to "Egypt Pyramid" with a very bright projector on the top seen from the jet planes. Casinos are competing with each other in the design of their building, shows - national finals of rodeo and prestigious contests of popular songs - are held there. But still the roulette wheel remains "engine for progress". As local people say, a few years ago there was an effort to introduce “dress code“ for entering the casino. But soon the idea was abandoned - what is the difference who comes - a gentleman in the tuxedo or a guy wearing shorts, a lady in the cocktail dress or a housewife in the slippers - the main thing they are staking and playing! Rino is a little less popular than Las Vegas - "the largest of the smallest cities in the world", another gambling capital, "a small copy of Las Vegas", where luxurious hotels and casinos offer all the client wants: from "suites for just-married" (it is a whole industry in Nevada) to roulette and cards.
Where the mafia starts.
Probably no story about gambling would be complete without mentioning about such its aspect as relations with the criminal world - or mafia - if you prefer it. America still remembers as on a summer evening of 1947 a US citizen Benjamin Siegel was murdered by an unknown gunman who fired a shotgun blast as Siegel sat in his apartment of the Beverly Hills. He was also knows as "Bugsy" - one of the Las Vegas mobsters, owner of a luxurious hotel Flamingo who invested in it a fantastic for these times sum of money amountint to 6 million dollars.
"Behind the underground".
Still, the experts point out that gambling may hardly be completely banned even in theory. Tom Clancy in his "Op Center" describes Japanese game pachinko: "The game is played much like a vertical version of pinball with the player shooting the ball into the game in much the same fashion as in pinball. The balls fall down between slots on the game layout and most disappear at the bottom, but some fall into special holes. This sets into motion a type of slot machine. As with slots, the player wins if three matching pictures or symbols appear. The winner gets new balls. The balls can be exchanged for prizes. Even though gambling is illegal in Japan the parlors find ways around it. The balls can be turned in for prizes at the pachinko parlor's gift shop, but also can be exchanged for merchandise that can then be exchanged for cash at a window outside the pachinko parlor. Small teddy bears cost 20 thousand yens for a bear, big toy rabbits were as twice as expensive and you could get about sixty thousand yen for a toy tiger".
The most surprising event took place in USSR in late 70s. On one of the enterprises of the former Soviet Baltic states a production of quite an interesting toy under an innocent name "swing-bingo" (loto) was launched. In fact it was a prototype of a roulette, but much smaller. All the rest was just like in real casino: playing field, ball, numbers, "red and black"... It was available in the shops. The passion for risk and hazard was so strong that even Communist ideology could do nothing about it: even in the worst times of the soviet totalitarianism there were totalizator racings.
In Israel where gambling is prohibited another solution was found - in the evening a boat sails away from Eilat and casting anchor in neutral waters - opens the doors of the casino...
It is not an accident that, on leaving Rino you can see a box with one arm bandit on the first rate high way which splits the desert. The sign on the box says: "One more chance. Take it!"
