I just found out Hawaii and Utah are the strictest states in the US regarding gambling. It's 100% totally illegal in both states. There's no state lottery, (legal) church bingo, pull tabs, Indian casinos, anything! (The federal law allowing Indian tribes to have casinos on reservations, exempt from state laws, only applies to states that "regulate" gambling, not to those which ban it completely.)
Now I can understand that in Utah it's because of the Mormon influence. But Hawaii? What a missed opportunity.... Hawaii's OTL economy is very much fueled by tourism, and has been, at least since 1959, and possibly since 1945.
WI Hawaii had seen the opportunity to become another Nevada, except with beaches and a more pleasant climate, and legalised gambling?
Is there enough demand for Honululu and Las Vegas to both prosper? I'm guessing Hawaii would also get a lot of the Asian high rollers who IOTL go to places like Macau. Would Las Vegas be at a serious disadvantage over the climate issue? Or would the proximity to US population centres makes up for it? Does this possibly affect the Caribbean gambling centres? Similar climate, but not very well-known and not part of the US....
Would New Jersey even try to enter the gambling market with this much competition? Would the revival of legalised gambling in much of the US in the 1980s/1990s still occur?