Gaming briefs for July 20, 2004

Tuesday, July 20, 2004 | 10:36 a.m.

Reno-Atlanta service planned

RENO -- Delta Air Lines plans to begin nonstop service between Reno and Atlanta, a link area tourism and economic development officials said will bolster Northern Nevada's economy.

"It will have an impact on convention sales efforts," said Deanna Ashby, executive marketing director for the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority. "It will open up the East Coast for attendees to attend shows we already have booked.

"It also will open up our ability to get more leads out of the East Coast market. Destination marketing and air service work hand in glove," she said.

Beginning Dec. 1, the daily flight will leave Reno-Tahoe International Airport at 8:30 a.m., arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport at 3:47 p.m. The flight would return to Reno at 9:17 p.m.

Panel votes to ban casinos

DES MOINES, Iowa -- City zoning commissioners have voted to ban casinos in the capital city.

Despite resistance by the commission, city officials said they plan to continue talks about opening casinos. A single development could provide the city with up to $8 million a year.

The commission voted for an amendment that would ban gambling downtown, then added an amendment to ban gambling citywide. Decisions by the advisory group are rarely overturned.

City officials are considering building a $200 million hotel-casino complex, a riverboat casino and hotel or an expansion of the Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino.

In June the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission took the first steps to lift a state moratorium on issuing new gambling licenses.

Voters in Polk County would need to approve a casino proposal before a license could be issued.

LV-Indianapolis service planned

Northwest Airlines will add a daily round trip between Indianapolis and Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport as part of a major expansion by the airline in Indianapolis.

The Minneapolis-based carrier said today that it would fly the Las Vegas route with a twin-engine, 124-passenger Airbus A319 jet beginning Oct. 31.

The new route is part of a 19-flight expansion in the Indianapolis market.

Northwest, the seventh busiest carrier at McCarran, currently has 14 flights a day to five markets: Minneapolis, Detroit, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Memphis, Tenn. The airline will compete with ATA Airlines and Southwest Airlines on the Indianapolis-Las Vegas route.