I’m talking about Las Vegas–Lost Wages–Nevada, USA. Personally, it holds no attraction for me, but I was just there for a conference. I couldn’t help but notice that there were virtually no people of African or Latin extraction, only Asian and white types. Being of the dorky white persuasion myself, I wondered what these portents might mean.
Now I don’t have any belief that skin color or ethnicity has anything to do with this. I’m sure it’s a cultural thing. Or maybe it’s my failing powers of observation. I know that blacks and latins like to gamble, but apparently the Vegas ambience isn’t entertaining (hence Cafe Society for this thread) to those particular sets of cultural backgrounds. Any insight?
The only Vegas people I know are all Latino. They’re all educators working in the school district. Of course, it’s only like 5 people.
Interesting. I’d be curious about the SES mix in Vegas. Unfortunately, on the lower end is where you tend to see people of color. What race are the wage staff in the hotels and casinos?
I don’t know about in the casinos- I’ve been here for all my life and I have gambled next to both black and latino people. I do think there are far more Asian and white tourists but in the city itself there is a very large African-American community (or it may seem so to me as I grew up in Boulder City, 20 miles away, with very few non-white citizens). The Latino community is,I believe, the fastest growing here and will outnumber everyone pretty soon (in my non-scientific, lives in a Hispanic neighborhood opinion).
One thing I noticed about the Hispanic community where I live is that every morning when I pass the nearest elementary school- almost every Hispanic kid has a mother or older sibling walking them to school. The white kids are largely by themselves- which floors me because its located on Lake Mead Drive and its a VERY bad area to let your young child walk to school alone in. Might not have anything to do with the OP but my (again, unscientific impression) is that the Hispanic community puts more importance on family responsibility/care than lower classes of white people and therefore less likely to be in the casinos (although a great many work there!).
I went to college just outside of Vegas, in Henderson, and when I was going there the white students were in the minority. Lots and lots of Latino students–we actually won an award for the huge percentage they made up, if memory serves–and black and Asian from various different countries. Then there were a few really hot Lebanese boys, sigh…
Anyway, among the residents of the valley the racial makeup seems to be fairly close to the national average. I’m not sure about tourists, though.
On preview, whoa, another Doper who grew up in Boulder City?
Like Smokingjbc said, you were seeing the tourists. Believe me, any ethnic group you can think of and there will be a gaggle of them. (Just don’t get too obscure)
Anyways in the local paper they said Vegas is growing by about 100,000 people a year. Damn!! I wonder where they’re all coming from.
Asians and Whites as a gross quantity (and as a percentage for both groups?) have more disposable income than other minorities. Seems to make perfect sense that in the heart of the tourist zone, you’d see greater numbers of them. Chances are the people you saw weren’t “white trash” either (by that I mean same socio-economic scale as generally attributed to many blacks and latinos, such as how I grew up).
In the OP I meant to say “except for the staff, which seems to have a nice variety”–and yes, I’m talking about tourists in the casinos, gambling at the official games of chance.
The first time I was in Vegas, this one evening I was playing blackjack in the Mirage by myself when suddenly four Latina women of absolutely nuclear hotness sat down with me to play. I dunno why you didn’t see any Latinos but I sure had fun that evening.
I’m a poker dealer so I work in the environment, even if not the geographical area.
We have a huge amount of asian dealers. Far, far above the percentage of population. I’ve heard some of them remark many times how much asians love to gamble and if we let them, they would bet on the sun rising. It does show up in our clientele, a much higher percentage than you would think.
To cover the rest of the gambling diversity…more and more women are playing now than when I dealt 15 years ago. They are also getting into the harder games like Omaha. You can almost count on having at least one asian person at each table (1/10) at least. There are a few hispanic players, but not many. Most black players are either youngish guys or older women. Everyone else? A smattering of young white guys with Hollister shirts or gansta’d up, very few young girls and a metric shitload of old guys.
