LAS VEGAS (March 15) -- Cities and states across America are adding or expanding casino gambling to raise revenues in these tough times, but that's one well Las Vegas can't really drill any deeper.
But never fear, Sin City officials have found another vice to exploit: They want to open a liquor store in the baggage claim area of McCarran International Airport.
The idea would make the Vegas airport the first in the nation to offer such a service, airport director Randall Walker told Clark County commissioners at a meeting last month. At that meeting, the commission that oversees the facility was receptive to the idea and voted unanimously to have Walker spend 30 days preparing to put the project out for bid.
The commissioners are expected to vote on the proposal this month.
As of now, millions of Vegas tourists ask taxi and limo drivers to stop at the nearest liquor store en route to their hotels, Walker said, so why not save them the stop?
The airport chief estimated McCarran would earn as much as $600,000 a year in revenue, money he said that could reduce the fees the airlines pay to gates, thereby encouraging them to fly more planes to Vegas and charge less to fliers. That would help boost tourism.
That seems like a lot to ask of a lowly jug of Captain Morgan Rum, but County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani says cheers to the concept.
"It's something that tourists were requesting, and we're a tourist town," she said. "I think it's a good idea."
The proposal, however, has made unlikely allies of liquor store owners and anti-drunken-driving advocates from the region's main group on the topic, Stop DUI.
Stop DUI executive director Sandy Heverly sent a letter to Walker and the commissioners warning that such a store would be "an invitation to consume the alcohol on site while waiting for your baggage and the shuttle bus to take you to your rental car."
Heverly, in an interview with AOL News, also raised the concern that the baggage claim area is a place where people of all ages must while away time.
"You're going to have people sitting there and drinking and everybody exposed to that, including children," she said. "At least if they go to the bars in the airport, I don't have to go in there with my children. You don't have a choice down in baggage claim."
Several stores near McCarran, from 7-Elevens to mom-and-pop package liquor outlets, do robust business from tourists who stop for supplies on their way to the Las Vegas Strip. Mark Van Aken, owner of the Office Bar about a half-mile north of McCarran, says as much as 60 percent of his business comes from selling packaged liquor and that nearly all of those customers come directly from the airport.
Van Aken said he's heard the airport concession is "almost preordained for one of the area's larger packaged liquor companies" and that a small-business owner like himself could never seriously compete for the concession because he doesn't have the capital to build the shop or pay the rent.
He and others in the area believe the commission will be sacrificing several small businesses at a time when they can least afford it by giving a well-healed company the first crack at more than 30 million people flying in.
"The main thing is, I don't think it's right for the commission and the airport to give one person this much advantage over everybody else," Van Aken said. "If they do this, there's a 50-50 chance I won't survive."
Van Aken was also baffled over how $600,000 could make much of a difference to the economics of flying to Vegas. McCarran is the nation's 15th busiest airport, with more than 44 million passengers coming and going annually and more than 570,000 "aircraft operations" a year, so he figures that revenue becomes insignificant when stretched across all that traffic and all those people.
Walker was unavailable for comment for four days last week, but Giunchigliani countered that "every dollar makes a difference," particularly in this punishing recession. She also dismissed concerns about drinking at baggage claim by noting that travelers already can get loaded at airport bars and bring those drinks to baggage claim or to their rental cars.
"I think people are trying to presuppose a problem that probably isn't a problem," she said. "Let's see what happens and then, if we want to say you can't drink in the baggage claim area, we can do that."
Giunchigliani and other commissioners seem to be embracing the city's unusual anything-goes ethos on this topic. At the public meeting where Walker received permission to put together a request for proposal, only one commissioner expressed concern for the small businesses and the airport environment.
In response to that, another commissioner, Tom Collins -- and yes, that's his name -- led a unique exchange.
"How many airports in the country have slot machines?" he asked Walker.
Two, Walker replied: Las Vegas and Reno.
"See, we're different," Collins declared, going on to suggest that some tourists would buy Las Vegas-branded packages of liquor and take them home unopened as souvenirs.
Heverly doubted that. Yes, she said, people coming to Vegas are going to drink. But, she said, "we don't need to give them a head start."
But never fear, Sin City officials have found another vice to exploit: They want to open a liquor store in the baggage claim area of McCarran International Airport.
The idea would make the Vegas airport the first in the nation to offer such a service, airport director Randall Walker told Clark County commissioners at a meeting last month. At that meeting, the commission that oversees the facility was receptive to the idea and voted unanimously to have Walker spend 30 days preparing to put the project out for bid.
The commissioners are expected to vote on the proposal this month.
As of now, millions of Vegas tourists ask taxi and limo drivers to stop at the nearest liquor store en route to their hotels, Walker said, so why not save them the stop?
The airport chief estimated McCarran would earn as much as $600,000 a year in revenue, money he said that could reduce the fees the airlines pay to gates, thereby encouraging them to fly more planes to Vegas and charge less to fliers. That would help boost tourism.
That seems like a lot to ask of a lowly jug of Captain Morgan Rum, but County Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani says cheers to the concept.
"It's something that tourists were requesting, and we're a tourist town," she said. "I think it's a good idea."
The proposal, however, has made unlikely allies of liquor store owners and anti-drunken-driving advocates from the region's main group on the topic, Stop DUI.
Stop DUI executive director Sandy Heverly sent a letter to Walker and the commissioners warning that such a store would be "an invitation to consume the alcohol on site while waiting for your baggage and the shuttle bus to take you to your rental car."
Heverly, in an interview with AOL News, also raised the concern that the baggage claim area is a place where people of all ages must while away time.
"You're going to have people sitting there and drinking and everybody exposed to that, including children," she said. "At least if they go to the bars in the airport, I don't have to go in there with my children. You don't have a choice down in baggage claim."
Several stores near McCarran, from 7-Elevens to mom-and-pop package liquor outlets, do robust business from tourists who stop for supplies on their way to the Las Vegas Strip. Mark Van Aken, owner of the Office Bar about a half-mile north of McCarran, says as much as 60 percent of his business comes from selling packaged liquor and that nearly all of those customers come directly from the airport.
Van Aken said he's heard the airport concession is "almost preordained for one of the area's larger packaged liquor companies" and that a small-business owner like himself could never seriously compete for the concession because he doesn't have the capital to build the shop or pay the rent.
He and others in the area believe the commission will be sacrificing several small businesses at a time when they can least afford it by giving a well-healed company the first crack at more than 30 million people flying in.
"The main thing is, I don't think it's right for the commission and the airport to give one person this much advantage over everybody else," Van Aken said. "If they do this, there's a 50-50 chance I won't survive."
Van Aken was also baffled over how $600,000 could make much of a difference to the economics of flying to Vegas. McCarran is the nation's 15th busiest airport, with more than 44 million passengers coming and going annually and more than 570,000 "aircraft operations" a year, so he figures that revenue becomes insignificant when stretched across all that traffic and all those people.
Walker was unavailable for comment for four days last week, but Giunchigliani countered that "every dollar makes a difference," particularly in this punishing recession. She also dismissed concerns about drinking at baggage claim by noting that travelers already can get loaded at airport bars and bring those drinks to baggage claim or to their rental cars.
"I think people are trying to presuppose a problem that probably isn't a problem," she said. "Let's see what happens and then, if we want to say you can't drink in the baggage claim area, we can do that."
Giunchigliani and other commissioners seem to be embracing the city's unusual anything-goes ethos on this topic. At the public meeting where Walker received permission to put together a request for proposal, only one commissioner expressed concern for the small businesses and the airport environment.
In response to that, another commissioner, Tom Collins -- and yes, that's his name -- led a unique exchange.
"How many airports in the country have slot machines?" he asked Walker.
Two, Walker replied: Las Vegas and Reno.
"See, we're different," Collins declared, going on to suggest that some tourists would buy Las Vegas-branded packages of liquor and take them home unopened as souvenirs.
Heverly doubted that. Yes, she said, people coming to Vegas are going to drink. But, she said, "we don't need to give them a head start."
