Wendover, UT and West Wendover, NV are essentially one state-straddling community, though gambling is legal on one side of town and against the law on the other. This sharp distinction has caused economic strife for residents on the Utah side; while both communities and both state governments long ago decided the halves should be incorporated into one Nevada town, such a change would require Congressional approval to change state borders and has therefore been indefinitely delayed.
In the meantime, the vast majority of visitors to both Wendovers come for the gambling, in a handful of casinos often visited on the sly by Utahns, who can make the long straight drive across the desert from Salt Lake City in less than two hours. The casinos are the heartblood of the several thousand permanent residents; there is very little unrelated industry in town.
Wendover lies astride I-80 in the desert of the Great Basin, about 120 miles west of Salt Lake City and 110 miles east of Elko.
