In what many here considered a sign of the times, downtown Reno’s showcase gambling establishment, the Silver Legacy Resort Casino — a 35-story, 1,700-room giant whose opening in 1995 was supposed to usher in a new golden age for the city — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late May. Its owners have said the filing will not affect operations, a pledge seemingly reinforced by announcements of the coming acts, including Cheap Trick on Aug. 3, on a billboard next to its 120-foot replica of a mining rig.

Other fading casinos and some empty buildings loom over a small downtown that has been largely abandoned by residents. Reno, which was also hit particularly hard during the housing crisis, has struggled to reinvent itself precisely because it has been a single-industry city, experts say. Even before gambling, Reno made a name for itself by offering quick divorces, but it also lost that business in the 1960s after other states loosened restrictions on divorce.

“Reno has had it easy until recently because it had a monopoly on things that were illegal in the other states,” said Alicia Barber, a historian at the University of Nevada, Reno, and the author of “Reno’s Big Gamble.” “But now it’s facing tough questions for the first time. It’s like a child star that still wants the world’s attention.”

After peaking in 2000, when Indian casino gambling took off in California, gambling revenues in Reno have fallen by a third. What is more, gambling revenues per square foot of floor space are down nearly a quarter, according to the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

City officials and experts say that gambling will not disappear from Reno, but that its importance to the city, as well as its influence, has been waning.