Empty casinos, boarded-up buildings and cross-dressing streetwalkers… city hailed as the ‘new Vegas’ is post-apocalyptic hellscape, writes RUTH BASHINSKY

There are growing whispers that a lesser-known Nevada city may be the new Las Vegas after rip-off prices and Trump boycotts triggered a tourism slump in Sin City. 

But after spending 24 hours in Reno – nicknamed ‘The Biggest Little City in the World’ –  I don’t think Vegas has much to worry about. 

Having stayed the three previous nights in Sin City, I can testify to just how expensive it is. 

I was charged $25 extra to eat my breakfast on plates at the Bellagio Hotel, while the city’s most expensive buffet at Caesar’s Palace left a lot to be desired. 

Despite that growing reputation for bad value, Vegas was still buzzing with people. Reno, on the other hand, was deserted. 

The first sign of trouble was when I landed at the airport. 

It was so empty that my luggage had been lifted off the carousel by the time I’d made the short walk from my flight and gone missing.

My attempts to track my bags down took a while, which made me fearful I was missing out on valuable party time in Reno, which coincided with Labor Day weekend.

I needn’t have worried. On making it to the city’s downtown, it was dead.  

When I arrived at The Atlantis Casino Resort Hotel I assumed there would surely be something exciting happening. Wrong again.

There was a skeleton crew working and the casino that took up the entire first floor was filled with retirees – many in wheelchairs or motorized scooters. It felt more like an assisted living facility than one of the most upscale hotels in Reno.

I had to make a quick stop at the Boot Barn to finalize my Wild West look.

Dressed in cowboy hat, denim skirt, new scarf and belt, I was ready to take downtown Reno by storm.

Sadly, I soon realized I could have worn pajamas because there was so little happening. 

Many of the downtown businesses had been boarded up, with most of the people I spotted living on the streets. 

The casinos, the Arch of Reno Wedding Chapel and a sad looking souvenir shop were all open, but empty. 

Walking out of the chapel, I proceeded down Virginia Street and saw what appeared to be an attractive woman with long blonde hair who looked stylish in her high-heeled shoes from behind. 

My immediate reaction was that things were picking up and more people were filling the streets.  

But when I got closer I realized the ‘she’ was a ‘he’ who stopped to talk to two men. I don’t think they were enquiring about directions.

When I stepped into the Club Cal Neva, Reno’s oldest casino, the two-story venue had fewer than a dozen people inside. 

And none of them looked the type who’d be up for a friendly chat. 

Slot machine after slot machine covered every square inch of floor space. 

The entire venue was filled with a stench of cigarette smoke that made me feel like I was developing a serious illness in real-time. 

Reno’s food was nothing to write home about either. The Seafood and Sushi  restaurant in our hotel had rave reviews, but I didn’t think much of it. 

I couldn’t figure out out how anyone can ruin a California roll – rice, avocado, cucumber and imitation crab. 

But Reno managed it. 

Don’t just take my word for it though.

Robert Pollack, who was in Reno from Vegas for a business meeting, told me that the city felt ‘depressed’ compared to ‘vibrant’ Vegas. 

‘[In] Vegas, there is a lot of action, big time shows, restaurants, things to do. Reno is more like an old person’s town. They are not very busy. They claim to try with some shows there, but not the flair of Vegas.’ 

‘It’s a smaller town and a smaller community, and economically deprived, so a lot of the casinos are very empty. A lot of the buildings are older and not updated, and kept up, and there’s a large homeless population.’ 

Brady Leach, 26, a financial advisor, and Cassidy Will, 26, who owns a marketing firm, were in Reno on business.

The couple who frequent Vegas often had to adjust their expectations in Reno.

‘We are MGM Rewards people, and when they didn’t have it, I knew it started on a bad note,’ Will said.

Her fiancé said, ‘Reno is way different. It’s a lot quieter than Vegas. You are not seeing the people on the streets or in the casino that you do in Vegas, and a lot of places look closed or abandoned.

He laughed, ‘but the restaurant workers are really nice.’ 

Cassidy described the scene as ‘post-apocalyptic.’ 

While touring the area, the couple said they did hit a few casinos, but it was hard to compare to Vegas. 

The tables had a lower gambling minimum, but the vibe Leach described was completely different.’

‘The casinos are nothing like what is on the strip if you are going to an ARIA or a Cosmopolitan,’ he said, referring to two of Sin City’s glitzier resorts. 

Despite what visitors are saying about the drab and boring Reno, there is a revitalization happening.

Jeff Jacobs, the CEO of Colorado-based Jacobs Entertainment,  a gaming, hospitality, and entertainment company that has properties in Louisiana, Colorado, Nevada, and Ohio purchased the Sands Regency Casino Hotel in 2017.

After a multi-million dollar remodeling and rebranding effort the hotel casino got a new name, J Resorts, and made its debut in June 2023.

Jeff Jacobs, J Resort CE0, and owner of Gold Dust West casino for the last three decades, told the Reno Gazette-Journal that  ‘he expects J Resort to rival hotel-casinos in Las Vegas’.

In April, Jacobs announced an additional $128 million of development for J Resort, including a new grand front entrance, a 400-seat banquet hall, and outdoor festival grounds that can accommodate up to 15,000 people.

The redevelopment of the West Fourth Street corridor is part of their Reno Neon Line district project, and part of the billion-dollar project that will be spent to revitalize Reno’s downtown district, including the shuttered Bonanza Inn Hotel over the next 10 years, the Nevada Appeal reported.

Rachel Maness, 34, who has lived in Reno for the last 17 years was amused when asked if Reno was the new Vegas.

‘F**k No!’ she told Daily Mail.

‘Like the J Resort coming in and ramping it up like Vegas, but it’s still a Reno bag. ‘It has always been Reno. Reno is Burning Man – as close as you can get to Burning Man,’ she said. 

Partiers at the iconic Burning Man festival usually fly into Reno to travel on to the Black Rock Desert festival site. 

Reno is also a hotspot for outdoorsy travelers, as it is the closest city and airport to the pristine Alpine environment of Lake Tahoe. 

Maness describes Reno as ‘the Vegas of dive bars as opposed to the Vegas of nightclubs.’

‘We are small town. It is all art and party. We party harder than Vegas, I would say. Vegas is all tourists and we’re all local.’

But, for Maness, who works as a bartender at a strip club, she said that since COVID, she has seen a drop in tourism and said people are not spending money like they used to.

‘Before Covid, I was walking out on average $1,200 a day, now it is hard to make a few hundred,’ she said.  ‘Everyone is hurting in the bar industry right now.

Even with the challenges, she’s sticking it out. ‘We still love it and we will be here until it fixes itself.’

When the Daily Mail ran into a New Yorker at the empty Reno-Tahoe International Airport and asked them if Reno was the new Vegas, he quipped, ‘Is that a joke?’ 

‘There is no comparison. It is slower here. Vegas is fast-paced.’

The media planner turned the question around but answered it: ‘Which one are you picking, Reno or Vegas? Right. You are picking Vegas.’

Paula Johnson has been to Reno seven times, all for business.

The fashion buyer, who was standing outside the Atlantis Casino Hotel taking drags off her cigarette, said she loves Lake Tahoe and spent five days kayaking on the lake last summer, but she would never come to Reno for a vacation.

‘Where is the entertainment here? There is none. You can’t compare to Vegas. Vegas is all about the entertainment,’ she said. 

When asked if Reno is the new Vegas, she said ‘Absolutely not.’

Johnson also said ‘Vegas is not the same Vegas. The last time I was there was right after Covid. Everything was so expensive,’ she recalled.

‘It used to be a fun, quick weekend destination if that happens, it is a $3-4,000 vacation when before it was a $1,000 getaway.’

‘In Vegas, you walk outside on the streets and see people, but not here,’ she said.