Historically, Nevada had one of the lowest populations in the United States, often having population smaller than territories yet to become states. In fact, Nevada had been the state with the lowest population until Alaska was admitted, having a mineral based economy prone to boom and bust cycles. Las Vegas was little more than a railroad town that trains stopped in because it was one of the few areas with water.
Of course, after World War II Nevada went on to experience a major population boom. The Atomic Age and Jet Age were both felt perhaps more heavily in Nevada than anywhere else, and led to the unusual situation of tourists watching nuclear tests over the horizon at Nevada Test Site from their hotel rooms in Las Vegas. The state experienced other benefits of these developments too, such as mining uranium and other materials required for advanced technologies and being home to a solid rocket motor factory.
I'm wondering to what extent some of these developments were inevitable, and to what extent Nevada benefited. Nevada was always going to benefit from the development of air conditioning and the need for its minerals. However, there were other locations that were considered for nuclear test sites, and other locations that would be suitable for aircraft testing, especially in the Southwest. Nevada probably benefited to some extents from legalized gambling, but without the decline of Atlantic City and the Communist Revolution in Cuba it might have been little more than a regional place for people from California.
It's also possible that Nevada was held back by some developments. While the presence of a nuclear test site may have helped grow the economy in the early days and wasn't something many people were concerned with at the time, it probably scared people away in later years. Nevada's selection for the nuclear waste repository probably didn't help matters, and Nevada politicians argued that created the perception that the state was a "nuclear wasteland", which would hold back development and investment in the state.
So, what would have happened if things had gone differently? Might Nevada have remained one of the smaller states? Alternatively, might it have been able to grow even larger?