Editing Reno, Nevada (section)

===Gambling and modern Reno===
Reno took a leap forward when the state of Nevada legalized open [[gambling]] on March 19, 1931, at the same time as it liberalized its divorce laws. The statewide push for legal Nevada gaming was led by Reno entrepreneur Bill Graham, who owned the Bank Club Casino in Reno, which was on Center Street. No other state offered legalized casino gaming like Nevada had in the 1930s, and [[casino]]s such as the Bank Club and Palace were popular.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barber |first=Alicia |title=Tour {{!}} Historic Gambling Clubs and Casinos |url=https://renohistorical.org/tours/show/19 |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=Reno Historical |language=en-US}}</ref> A few states had legal [[Parimutuel betting|parimutuel]] [[horse racing]], but no other state had legal casino gambling.

Within a few years, the Bank Club, owned by [[George Wingfield]], Bill Graham, and Jim McKay, was the state's largest employer and the largest casino in the world. Wingfield owned most of the buildings in town that housed gaming and took a percentage of the profits, along with his rent.<ref>Moe, Al W. ''The Roots of Reno'', [https://www.amazon.com/Roots-Reno-Al-W-Moe/dp/143921199X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322253439&sr=1-1Booksurge], 2008, p.153</ref>

As the divorce industry declined, gambling became the major Reno industry. While gaming pioneers such as "Pappy" and Harold Smith of Harold's Club and Bill Harrah of the soon-to-dominate Harrah's Casino set up shop in the 1930s, the war years of the 1940s cemented Reno as the place to play for two decades.<ref>Moe, Al W. ''Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling'', [https://www.amazon.com/Nevadas-Golden-Gambling-Revised-Expanded/dp/0971501904/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322275959&sr=1-1 Puget Sound Books], 2002, p.68</ref> Beginning in the 1950s, the need for economic diversification beyond gaming fueled a movement for more lenient business taxation.<ref name=cultureamerica/>

At 1:03&nbsp;pm, on February 5, 1957, two explosions, caused by [[natural gas]] leaking into the maze of pipes and ditches under the city, and an ensuing fire, destroyed five buildings in the vicinity of Sierra and First Streets along the Truckee River. The disaster killed two people and injured 49. The first explosion hit under the block of shops on the west side of Sierra Street (now the site of the Century Riverside), the second, across Sierra Street, now the site of the Palladio.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.historicreno.org/media/custom/docs/FPv18n1.pdf | title = Disaster on Sierra Street | last = Fenwick | first = Jerry | date = 2015-01-01 |publisher = Historic Reno Preservation Society | access-date = 2024-07-03}}</ref>

The presence of a main east–west rail line, the emerging interstate highway system, favorable state tax climate, and relatively inexpensive land created good conditions for warehousing and distribution of goods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Town Building (1868-1912) {{!}} 4th Street Prater Way History Project |url=https://4thprater.onlinenevada.org/era/town-building |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=4thprater.onlinenevada.org}}</ref>

In the 1980s, [[Native American gaming|Indian gaming]] rules were relaxed, and starting in 2000, Californian Native casinos began to cut into Reno casino revenues.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/us/with-gambling-in-decline-reno-struggles-to-reinvent-itself.html | work=The New York Times | first=Norimitsu | last=Onishi | title=With Gambling in Decline, Reno Struggles to Reinvent Itself | date=July 14, 2012}}</ref> Major new construction projects have been completed in the Reno and Sparks areas. A few new luxury communities were built in [[Truckee, California]], about {{convert|28|mi}} west of Reno on [[Interstate 80 in Nevada|Interstate 80]]. Reno also is an outdoor recreation destination, due to its proximity to the Sierra Nevada, [[Lake Tahoe]], and numerous [[ski resort]]s in the region.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.visitrenotahoe.com/things-to-do/ski/ |title=Tahoe Skiing and Snowboard |publisher=Visit Reno Tahoe |year=2019 |access-date=30 August 2019}}</ref>

In 2018, the city officially changed its flag after a local contest was held.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thisisreno.com/2018/05/photos-renos-new-flag-flying-high/|title=PHOTOS: Reno's New Flag Flying High|date=May 28, 2018|website=This Is Reno}}</ref> In recent years, the Reno metro area − spurred by large-scale investments from [[Greater Seattle]] and [[San Francisco Bay Area]] companies such as [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]], [[Tesla, Inc.|Tesla]], [[Panasonic]], [[Microsoft]], [[Apple Inc.|Apple]], and [[Google]] − has become a new [[list of technology centers|major technology center]] in the United States.<ref name="bloomberg.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-22/reno-is-starting-to-look-more-like-silicon-valley |title=Reno is Starting to Look More Like Silicon Valley |work=Bloomberg |last=Weise |first=Karen |date=June 22, 2017 |access-date=March 30, 2022 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221182800/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-22/reno-is-starting-to-look-more-like-silicon-valley |archive-date=December 21, 2019}}</ref>