NEWSFLASH

VISITING LAS VEGAS WITHOUT BETTING A NICKEL

Las Vegas, Nevada, July 7, 2000 - (By Boo Chanco, Star) -- I did the unthinkable. I actually visited Las Vegas without betting a nickel. That's like getting yourself elected to Congress and renouncing your pork barrel.

I was severely tempted to drop a quarter in one of the slot machines, as we waited in line for the $10 all-you-can-eat buffet lunch at Orleans, one of the bigger hotel-gambling joints here. Then I remembered Paeng Buenaventura admitted he was surprised the peso's now above P43.50. That did it. I decided to keep my quarter.

This is only my second visit to Las Vegas, the first being last year. I've been going to the US fairly regularly but always managed to skip Las Vegas. Last year, my curiosity got the better of me. Our Los Angeles-based relatives organized a family expedition to Las Vegas and we camped out at Circus Circus.

This year, it just so happened that my wife's sister, Winnie and her husband Rene Jarantilla were being invited to buy a timeshare at the Hilton and as a come-on, were invited for a free weekend stay. So, we were off to the world's gambling capital, as were a few million other July 4th holiday fun seekers.

But none of us really enjoy gambling so what will we do in Vegas? Eat. Shop. Sightsee the theme hotels. Where else in the world can you be in Paris one moment and just by walking down the street end up in Venice? Hop in the car and you can be in Luxor and the mysteries of ancient Egypt. Or the adventure of an Asian rainforest and culture in Mandalay. Or back in time to ancient Rome at Ceasar's Palace. They are still working on an Arabian nights themed place and, of course, that pirates show still gathers the crowd and stops the traffic along the strip in front of Treasure Island.

Tourists are everywhere. All shapes and sizes and ages. Even the kids are out on the strip with their parents at midnight checking out the many wonders of Las Vegas. The topless revues are still there but it seemed to me, not as ubiquitous as I imagined it would be. Las Vegas is no longer just an adult playground. It has become America's playground, period. It is a Disneyland, one extremely large theme entertainment park where there is something for everybody in an otherwise useless expanse of desert.

If I were a tourism official, I would be very green with envy. But there is really nothing to it if we had the money and the imagination. Gambling drives the business but my guess is Las Vegas will grow in other ways too. The discount malls, now all over America, are crowd drawers too in Las Vegas. And the cheap food is something else. You can actually pay less than $10 to have a meal that will put you in a hospital bed for indigestion.

Yet, in a city where money seems to be flowing, it is a real tragedy to be down and out and not just because you lost everything at the casino. Susan Synder, a columnist for the Las Vegas Sun, last Sunday wrote about "the 40-year old Las Vegas widow and mother of five (who) had enough food for two more meals, no phone service and a 24-hour eviction notice."

According to Synder, US government reports indicate the widow's predicament is shared by many. "Nationally, the economy is booming and unemployment is low. Yet one in 10 US households -- about 36 million people -- has someone facing hunger."

An expert from Tufts University, Synder says, published a report that observed "it is the first time in modern history that a strong economy has not been followed by a decrease in hunger. People aren't starving , but they're close. One late rent payment or high utility bill and they're pushed over the edge." The widow with five kids says she meets a lot of people who hold two or three jobs to break even and they all feel invisible in the shadow of billion dollar resorts.

Well, Las Vegas is a tough town. Good thing I didn't read that column before I pigged out on the buffet tables of Paris, Orleans and Monte Carlo. My indigestion would have been accompanied by a severe conscience attack.