Don’t look for West Virginians in Las Vegas

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 | 7:36 a.m.

Millions of Americans come to Las Vegas, lured by our glitter, gambling, girls and golf. But not many West Virginians.

Only 8,880 flew into McCarran International Airport in 2004, the most recent year for which the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has data. That's less than half of 1 percent of the state's population, putting it last among states in sending tourists our way.

The national average is more than 5 percent.

West Virginians are also the least likely to move here. Based on driver's licenses turned into the Department of Motor Vehicles in 2004, West Virginians are the people least likely to move to Las Vegas.

So what do they have against us?

"I can't think of anything that West Virginians would have against Las Vegas," said Dawn Miller, an editorial writer for the Charleston Gazette. "It's a long way away."

Miller has never been to Las Vegas and doesn't have any plans to come.

Maybe West Virginians prefer the great outdoors. The hilly state has skiing in the winter, white-water rafting in the summer and hiking year-round, said Tom Hunter, spokesman for the West Virginia governor's office.

"It's just that we have so many great things to offer here," Hunter said. "It's four seasons of fun."

(Government spokesmen seem to be an exception to the statistical norm in West Virginia. Hunter has been here and is planning another trip, and two spokesmen in the Tourism Division have come to Las Vegas. One of them got married at Mount Charleston and is planning to come back with his wife to renew his vows. "I'm a big fan," he said.)

Or it could be for want of money. West Virginia has the lowest median family income in the U.S., $12,000 below the national average. And it doesn't have a major national airport, so flying to Nevada is a pricey proposition. A cheap flight from Charleston this weekend would cost about $650 - roughly 2 percent of the state's average family's income.

"I guess it's just not a place people think of," said Debbie Wilson, a reporter for the Times West Virginian in Fairmont. "When people think about Las Vegas, they think the hotels will be expensive, that everything would be so expensive that it wouldn't be affordable."

Besides, if West Virginians want to plunk their wages into slot machines, they can do it at home. The state has four racetrack casinos and slots in its bars and convenience stores. (Because the state keeps a whopping two-thirds of the gaming revenue for itself, gambling accounts for about one-fifth of the state's budget.)

But then, we're not going out of our way to woo West Virginia. LVCVA spokeswoman Erika Yowell says her agency doesn't spend any money in West Virginia.

"That's not one of our spot markets where we advertise," Yowell said. "We at the LVCVA know that there's a small percentage of people that are not going to be interested in coming to Las Vegas."

And a bunch of them live in a place where there are four seasons of fun.