Yahoo Finance's Akiko Fujita sits down with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman to explore the city's journey in legalizing sports betting, as well as Las Vegas' economy in relation to its booming tourist attractions and expanding presence in professional sports.
"The whole thought of this is our entire economy, 100% of the people that come here want to be part of this vitality, and the hospitality corridor of the Strip," Mayor Goodman says on recovering and reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic. "Even though we're diversifying our economy, it is more than just the Strip, and we can talk about technology and so many other things — our medical district, what we're doing there, the cultural base — these are all employment pockets."
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- We are just days out from Las Vegas hosting its very first Super Bowl. The big game is the latest in a string of sports wins for the city as the legalization of sports betting makes the city an increasingly attractive destination for leagues. But the city's mayor Carolyn Goodman says it wasn't always that way. I spoke to her about the long road it took her and her husband, the previous mayor, to get here.
CAROLYN GOODMAN: My husband actually made a list of all the commissioners of every major league sports and went out about the country to go visit these commissioners to talk about coming to Las Vegas. Of course, it fell on deaf ears, but it didn't stop us. And we had the Summer League with David Stern from the NBA here. And things began to develop, and we established good personal relationships.
And then in the 2003 Super Bowl, the city made an effort to advertise because we have a great city. Lots of hotel rooms, great entertainment, and of course, we were turned down. Why? Because Nevada was not the best place to be advertising. Had had legalized gambling. Well, lo and behold, every city, almost every state in the country is always looking for ways to fund their many, many projects.
And it became more and more challenging. And in 2018, the Supreme Court said, bingo. Open up sports betting, anybody. Legal, sports betting. And of course, here we were for years, decades having everything in place to monitor it and make sure how we do it. But therefore, it became OK. And so the Major League sports pursuit continued. It's so exciting for us here in Las Vegas to have this wonderful event coming here now, right now.
- How much of an economic boom or economic bump are you likely to get from the Super Bowl as in the city of Las Vegas? To what extent does that trickle down to the residents that live there?
CAROLYN GOODMAN: Well, you know I think first of all, the excitement here is palpable. Certainly because we have now enlarged our airport to bring in direct flights from around the world. Everybody knows the name Las Vegas, even if you don't speak English. You hear it, heads turn, they're excited. It seems to be a place where so much is going on. We've got great dining experiences, shopping, great weather normally, as I said, an ability to have conventions and meetings.
And just everything so tight and yet so many opportunities for personal sports-- be it golf or tennis. Red Rock is internationally known for its great rock climbing. Of course, we have dwindling Lake Mead which we're holding on to for all the boating events that you want to do. And it's just a place where 24/7, everything's open and that is like no other city in the country. Everybody closes down while we go into a new shift.
- I counted four sports teams, professional sports teams you've got in place in Las Vegas so far, including the WNBA. You've got another team moving in, the Oakland A's, soon to be the Las Vegas A's. How do you build on this vision?
CAROLYN GOODMAN: You continue on. We've been trying for the MLS, soccer, through Commissioner Garber now for my full term. We were pretty close as they seek to expand and bring in new franchises I am convinced it's just a question of when that Adam Silver will say, yep. We love Vegas.
I mean, it just continues because of the hospitality and our pride and how we do proceed to build a base for people to come and relax, have a good time, stop your worries, and come in here or pursue investing in our wonderful community, because unlike as you would well know, so many other states, we have no state income tax, no business tax, no estate tax. And we have so many opportunities where one can find funds to build and develop. So it's so exciting I hate to see. What's coming next?
- Mayor, let's talk about the broader economy. Nevada, the state of Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country. At last check, the rate is well above 5% in Las Vegas as well compared to 3.7% unemployment nationally. How much of this is a COVID hang up? Why do you think it's been so difficult?
CAROLYN GOODMAN: The fastest recovery out of COVID was right here in the heart of the city. Not in the county, and the city. We were the number 1 recovering place. Now, a lot of it for us in the heart of the city has to do with a lot of small business. It also had to do with the fact that our governor, during COVID, shut the strip down.
So when you go ahead and also close the schools, that's where the impact was. But all of our people-- we have a lot of unskilled but very necessary jobs to take care of our hospitality corridor. And when he, the governor, closed down our community, that put down the enormity of our hospitality workers.
- Yeah. I mean, when you think about the trajectory of where the economy is headed, are you confident you can get back to some of those pre-pandemic levels? Las Vegas really came to a halt, the impact was pretty significant. The services sector right at the heart of it.
CAROLYN GOODMAN: The whole thought of this is our entire economy, 100% of the people that come here want to be part of this vitality. And the hospitality corridor of the strip, even though we're diversifying our economy, it is more than just the strip, and we could talk about technology and so many other things. Our medical district, what we're doing there.
The cultural base. These are all employment pockets. But it was the strip, and that is what closed down. And so the recovery, it is almost back. We're almost up to the tourist visitation.
- Finally, Mayor, if I can bring the conversation back to sports, because that's where we started, and sports betting, which has really led to a big boom in the Vegas economy. Have you placed a bet on the big game?
CAROLYN GOODMAN: My husband will bet on cockroaches racing across the floor. We have one person that bets in the family-- well, to my knowledge. There are six members of the family but one. And he loves it. And we have more prop bets than you can imagine. Interestingly enough, no prop bets are being taken on whether Taylor Swift makes it or doesn't make it and how many times the camera is going to focus on her.
So it is, you're absolutely right. And our downtown, our sportsbooks here are just having the best times. And, of course, we have all these wonderful hotel rooms that shows Las Vegas does a lot of winning and what bets on.
- Mayor Goodman, really appreciate the time today. Thanks so much for joining us.
