LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Strip is ground zero for a $400 million transportation turf war and the win is still up for grabs.

The fight over the profitable taxi territory started in October 2014, when the mobile app Uber set up shop in Reno and Las Vegas, arguing current laws regulating taxicabs didn’t apply as they are not a transportation company, but rather a tech company, according to company officials.

A Nevada judge didn’t buy Uber’s arguments that it is immune to transportation regulations and ordered Uber to shut down. With 41 million annual visitors in Las Vegas alone at stake, the company isn’t running away. In fact, it’s turned to old-school methods to get what it wants: lobbyists.

Uber has hired 16 lobbyists to push two bills through the Nevada legislature that would establish a framework by which it could legally operate. The ride-sharing company has tried the same strategy in dozens of other cities and states, often with successful results. But Nevada has been one of the toughest markets to penetrate, in part because of the powerful cab industry.

“What you are talking about is people who are in the industry for a long time, having relationships with people who have been in the legislature for a long time, and it just keeps passing on,” said Rick Vellota, a veteran reporter for The Las Vegas Review Journal.

According to campaign records, the taxicab industry has contributed at least $750,000 to various elected officials in the Nevada legislature since January 2014. It has hired a fleet of lobbyists and consultants to work the Capitol.