Some 49ers fans left Las Vegas for High Rollers and chose Reno
Every Super Bowl Sunday, thousands of gamblers head to the Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, the largest of its kind in northern Nevada, to bet on the big game and party with other football fans. High rollers dine on all-you-can-eat buffets and the champagne flows in the VIP rooms in the enormous complex. Long lines snake out of the William Hill Sportsbook, just off the casino floor.
But this year's action got a boost because the Super Bowl featured the San Francisco 49ers and many of the team's fans in California, where sports betting is still illegal, crossed the Nevada border to place bets with their brothers to celebrate.
Some fans considered traveling to Las Vegas, where the Super Bowl was played for the first time this year. But they didn't want to battle the crowds just to pay daunting prices for hotels and meals. Reno may lack the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas, they said, but the self-proclaimed Greatest Small City in the World had the advantage of being affordable and convenient, about a four-hour drive from the Bay Area.
“I could have gone to Vegas, but everything is too high there,” said Daniel Burnett, a 49ers fan from San Francisco who spent the weekend at the Grand Sierra. “Here everything is in one place.”
Anything, it seems, but a 49ers win. They fell 25-22 in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs, leaving many San Francisco fans in the casino stunned, and a few in tears.
Still, it was like the Super Bowl overflow party in Nevada, with a decidedly calmer atmosphere. The casino hotels in Reno don't have the fountains that adorn the Bellagio on the Vegas Strip. Few people come here for midnight helicopter flights. What happens in Reno doesn't always stay in Reno. But for regulars like Jacob and Nicole Wood, two Raiders fans who drove four hours from Clearlake, California, Reno is just fine.
“There's no way I'm paying $11,000 for a ticket in Las Vegas,” Mr. Wood said. He and his wife, who also bets on horse racing and basketball, have been watching the Super Bowl in Reno for 12 years.
In many ways, the Super Bowl has re-emphasized the divide between Las Vegas and Reno. Las Vegas is an international entertainment capital known as the setting for films such as the 'Ocean's' and 'Hangover' franchises. After years of being shunned by professional sports leagues, the city is now home to the Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights and the Raiders of the NFL
Reno? Many casinos have closed or merged. The city center is pockmarked with open lots. Sport? There is a Triple A baseball franchise, the Aces and the National Bowling Stadium.
And while Las Vegas continues to market extravagance and excess, Reno, which is less than a quarter the size, seems forever at a crossroads. The cities remain rivals, especially as they compete for funding in the state capital, Carson City, 30 minutes south of Reno. But when people think of Nevada, they usually think of Las Vegas.
“The North-South divide in Nevada is very deep and entrenched,” said John L. Smith, a longtime Las Vegas journalist now living in Reno. “The South was jealous of the power of the North. The North was jealous of the South's grit, money and growth.”
It may be hard to imagine, but Reno was Las Vegas for years before Las Vegas became Sin City. The city was founded in the 1860s as a railroad hub and prospered during the silver and gold rushes. Reno became the divorce capital of America because couples only had to live here for six months — reduced to six weeks in later years — before they could take advantage of the state's liberal rules on separation.
As divorces poured in, so did lawyers and bankers. Hotels, casinos and other entertainment venues sprang up. After gambling was legalized statewide in 1931, new visitors arrived. Movies about the city's divorce industry have been shot in Reno, including “The Misfits,” starring Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable.
But Reno has been a city of passers-by, and as other states passed no-fault divorce laws, one of the city's calling cards faded. By the 1950 census, Las Vegas had overtaken Reno as casinos expanded on the Strip, drawing Hollywood entertainers and larger crowds in southern Nevada.
Reno, named after a Civil War general who never set foot in Nevada, continues to search for a new identity. From the 1980s onwards it was hit by a wave of casino closures and bankruptcies. The flow of gamblers coming here slowed after Native American casinos opened in California.
Motels and casinos have been demolished to make way for a redevelopment that is just beginning. Last year, renovations to the old Harrah's Reno hotel and casino stalled, creating a major eyesore. Many of the remaining casinos are windowless, self-contained bubbles that have turned the surrounding streets into uninviting walkways.
“Downtown is at war with itself, fighting the casinos' needs for parking and open space aimed at tourists versus the density of mixed-use housing,” said Alicia Barber, a local historian and author of “Reno's Big Gamble: Image and Reputation in the Biggest Small City.” “We try to create a sense of place.”
It got so bad that analysts studied the city in 2010 wondered if Reno could become the Detroit of the West by 2020. In December, Allegiant Airlines — whose name is on the stadium where the Super Bowl was played — said it would no longer fly in or out of Reno and would fly only two airlines that offer nonstop flights between the city and Las Vegas.
Over the past decade, Reno has changed. Apple, Tesla, Panasonic and other companies have opened facilities in the area, attracting Californians looking for tech jobs and cheaper housing. The city has marketed its easy access to world-class skiing and other outdoor activities near Lake Tahoe.
Reno still has enough casinos to attract gamblers from California, Idaho, Utah and other neighboring states where sports betting has not been legalized. No one has done more to attract these visitors than the Grand Sierra, which has a movie theater, bowling alley, nightclubs, a 3,000-seat theater and a Charlie Palmer steakhouse.
Chris Abraham, the senior vice president of marketing at Grand Sierra, said the resort hosts Super Bowl parties every year, but attendance increased 10 percent this year because the 49ers were in the big game. About 1,600 guests packed a ballroom and dined on Kansas City barbecue, wings and nachos. Smaller groups paid up to $2,000 for a table at the Lex Nightclub.
“A lot of people looked at Las Vegas and said it was going to be ridiculous there. I can get the same kind of experience here,” Mr. Abraham said.
As sports gambling has spread, the Grand Sierra and Reno are offering people more reasons to visit. In 2022, the sports book was renovated and a Chickie's & Pete's sports bar opened. The resort will invest approximately $1 billion in the 140-acre property over the next decade building a 10,000 seat arena.
But despite all that was yet to come, Reno was still an oasis compared to Las Vegas for some fans this year.
“It feels good but extra good because the 49ers are in it,” Deron Dow, who drove from San Francisco with his girlfriend Martha Anaya, said before the game.
And it was better than paying the prices and fighting the crowds in Las Vegas.
“Vegas would have been much worse,” Mr. Dow said.