Don’t tell Lenore Davis that Reno isn’t a gambling town. The San Francisco Bay Area resident still prefers Northern Nevada’s older casinos despite her proximity to California tribal properties.
“Honestly, I wish they had never happened,” Davis said of her home state’s $12 billion Indian gaming market.
Tribal casino competition has been cited as the main cause behind Reno’s overall gaming revenue decline, which has sunk by more than 12 percent since 2000 and led to the closure of older casinos including the Sundowner and Golden Phoenix.
A new wave of Northern California tribal casino expansion this year sent up the warning flag to Reno gaming operators.
