On Jul 20, 2008, at 6:35 PM, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
The problem is that 2600 is cheap. New York has a
comparable amount
of convention space and significantly more hotel space than Las
Vegas. It's just that a lot of it is expensive, and a good bit of it
is not hacker-convention-friendly. Las Vegas is somewhat more
tolerant of what conservative people call "fringe" groups.
You think the average Vegas casino likes the idea of opening their
doors to a bunch of hackers?
DefCon has, many times, almost "not happened next year" because of
Vegas hotel nervousness. Only now that DefCon has developed a
reputation of running up a bar tab (the Alexis Park outright told them
one year we outdrank the Air Force) will many casinos even take their
calls. It is still been an uphill challenge for DefCon to find hotel
space.
Las Vegas might, as a city be more tolerant.. but nothing makes
casinos nervous than the thought of a thousand sweaty hackers running
loose on their slot machine networks. Remember: it was classic
"hackers" that came up with the whole card-counting schemes that
cleaned up the blackjack tables all those years ago.
And Vegas supposedly has the most hotel rooms of any metropolitan area
in the world, and the most convention space in the United States. One
corner, Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Blvd., has over 20,000 rooms.
Even "smaller" properties in Vegas typically have 500 rooms. In 2008
alone, Vegas is adding almost 10,000 rooms: and 2008 is a "slow
year". 18 of the world's 25 largest hotels? In Las Vegas. There
isn't even a New York hotel on that list.
As somebody who's lived and worked in Sin City, Vegas is insane. New
York might be a big city, but imagine if 5th Avenue was all 2,500+
room hotels, and you might have an idea what Las Vegas Blvd. South is
like.