What Happens in Vegas During Diwali... Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is marked by five days of revelry, replete with boxes of desi (pure) ghee sweets and earsplitting firecrackers that sparkle in the sky. The party is incomplete without shuffling a deck of playing cards and winning the popular game or two of teen patti, also known as flash. If you win at games of chance during Diwali, according to the popular belief, the goddess Lakshmi, the bearer of wealth, will generously bestow riches upon you during the new year. Gambling is frowned upon for the rest of the year for Hindus. So, naturally, the gaming capital of the United States, Las Vegas, embraces Diwali. And despite the city's well-established reputation as a spot where outlandish, uncharacteristic behavior is welcomed, for Diwali, Las Vegas goes a little traditional. Here are a few of the social and cultural events that marked Diwali celebrations in Las Vegas this year, courtesy of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association: Friends of India Las Vegas, a nonprofit group that promotes Indian culture in Las Vegas and has been active in area for the last 27 years, organized a cultural show on Saturday, which had about 150 participants and over 950 attendees. Performances included Indian classical recitals by children and musical renditions of Bollywood and classical favorites by Indian-Americans. No Indian festival is complete without the ritualistic puja, or prayer. The Hindu Temple of Las Vegas, which opened in April 2001, was the venue for the Diwali puja on Monday evening. Origin India, a restaurant and bar in Las Vegas, offered a five-day special meal for the festival, which included pindi channa, a spicy preparation of chickpeas, and sarson ka sag makki ki roti with mooli and methi, mustard greens and corn flour flatbread served with radish and fenugreek. The restaurant has also been organizing a daylong Diwali event for the last six years, which in the past has attracted about 150 people. "This event has allowed us to communicate Indian traditions to people who are not familiar with them" and rouse interest in Diwali among "non-Indians and Indians alike in Las Vegas," said Sara Talesfore, a spokeswoman for Origin India, in an e-mail. Promoters of Diwali in Las Vegas hope for a beeline of Indians to try their luck there this week. But actual numbers are hard to come by since the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority does not provide any figures on the nationality or the origin of visiting gamers.