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For small companies with limited capital,
forecasting the future in the midst of Vegas'
rapid expansion has become difficult, especially
since 9/11, which decimated the casino business.
Nearly 70 percent of Vegas small businesses
conduct some form of commerce with the gambling
industry. After 9/11, the casinos, which depend
heavily on tourists arriving by air, laid off
15,000 workers and slashed contracts with
thousands of small suppliers.
The long-run gambling picture remains clouded as
well. New American Indian casinos in California
have begun stealing business from Nevada: A
report by investment banking firm Bear Sterns
concluded that by 2004, California casinos will
cost Nevada gambling centers more than $600
million per year in lost revenue.
Yet even as the casinos struggle, the population
of Las Vegas continues to expand. Though the
population of Clark County, which is dominated
by metropolitan Las Vegas, reached 700,000 only
in the late 1980s, it currently approaches 1.6
million. "You have this divergence of trends--a
soft economy now but projections of more massive
migration to Vegas--that makes it tough to
develop long-term business plans," says Craig
Miller, 58, president and CEO of Pictographics,
a digital imaging firm with 33 employees. "Big
businesses can plan ahead and make mistakes, but
small businesses, especially in such a
competitive environment, will get killed if they
plan poorly."
Learn More
Get the basics on choosing the perfect location
in Pick Your Spot.
Is your town the opposite of Vegas? Then read
Winning in a Losing Town.
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