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#REDIRECT [[Manchester, New Hampshire]]
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'''ManchVegas''' (also '''Manch-Vegas''') is a local nickname for [[Manchester, New Hampshire]]. The term is a [[portmanteau]] of ''Manchester'' and ''[[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]]''.

"ManchVegas" was derived from illegal gambling in local businesses during the late 1980s or early '90s. Many pizza shops and local bars had video poker machines that would pay out real money. Following a city-wide bust of these machines, brothers Jim and Bill O'Mahony of Manchester coined the nickname.{{Fact|date=May 2007}} It was then adopted as a lampoon of the city's limited entertainment opportunities. Recently the term has become a source of pride as the city's entertainment scene has grown.

A 2003 [http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/New_Hampshire/Manchester-831355/Local_Customs-Manchester-R-1.html note] on Virtualtourist.com notes, "Residents reflect the regional dry humor by referring to sedate Manchester as 'ManchVegas'."

An [http://www.hippopress.com/pubnote/pubnote05818.html article] in Manchester's [[Hippo Press]] (a local alternative weekly) in August, 2005, noted that then-Manchester Mayor [[Robert A. Baines]], "is pushing to replace the nickname ManchVegas with Manchhatten" (meaning Manchester+Manhattan).

As of January, 2006, nine businesses in New Hampshire had registered with the New Hampshire Secretary of State's Corporate Division to use the name "ManchVegas" in their business. The earliest was registered [[August 11]], [[1998]].

Other, much less commonly used, nicknames are "ManchAngeles" (Manchester+Los Angeles) and Manchvegistan (referencing the city's immigrant population).

== Popular culture ==
Manchester band Moes Haven released an album of pop songs entitled "September: In Manchvegas" in 2006. It features 16 songs about people and places in the city.

== External links ==
* [http://www.unionleader.com/pda-article.aspx?articleId=11cfd129-6a77-4625-be5d-df6704734e8a ManchVegas: Love it or hate it, the Queen City's other name has stuck] by Scott Brooks, New Hampshire Union Leader. Sept. 26, 2005. (Requires registration)

[[Category:Manchester, New Hampshire]]

Latest revision as of 02:49, 7 June 2010