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Comment by iqy | Hacker News Reader

On an unrelated note, as a non-American, it's stunning to see how wide those roads are, how big those parkings are, and the amount of SUVs and pickup trucks. I mean, that's kind of the American stereotype, but it calls my attention to see that it's actually true. (Speaking about the last link in particular.)

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Keep in mind that restaurant is on the outskirts of Urbana and footsteps away from I-74 in a very rural part of Illinois. It's a college town, but that's a couple miles away from the campus.

Most Illinoisans live in or around Chicago. Chicago has big streets too, but does not look like Urbana:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.970376,-87.7207679,3a,75y,6....

Heh - i actually live near there! The video gambling definitely has fizzed out rather than exploding. The beginnings of the charts & data show exponential growth at first but things got linear. When this first happened of course I would throw in a few bucks when out for a beer with my pops or whatever. Occasionally you double your 20 bucks or whatever and can buy the next round of drinks. However, it's not too popular and most people arent really interested.

Legalized sports betting in real time however would be different. I'm not a big gambler but love sports and analytics. Could definitely see myself throwing some money here or there. It's pretty easy to bet against the bulls / white sox / blackhawks right now, they all suck ass.

That particular restaurant has a larger parking lot than most restaurants its size due to its location literally adjacent to the interstate highway.

The nearby road is an artery that connects to the interstate; most roads are not the 5-total-lane configuration (though that is indeed the most common configuration for major thoroughfares).

A fair comparison to tptacek's example of Chicago residential streets would be more like: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1148295,-88.2320852,3a,75y,1... or perhaps https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1114168,-88.2121028,3a,75y,2...

Or a look at the dense commercial zone supported by the University of Illinois campus: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1102513,-88.2296903,3a,75y,4...

That said, SUVs are now more purchased than sedans, and scenes like https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1102414,-88.230319,3a,15y,34... are the norm.

The prevalence of busses in street views of Urbana should also be considered unusual. Because of the university, Champaign-Urbana has an exceptional (for the US) bus service. It only takes 30 minutes to travel 3 miles (5 km), with only a 30 minute wait between pickups: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Springfield+%26+Kenwood+(SE+...

Regarding parking lots, everything from https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1172443,-88.205592,3a,75y,31... to more dense 'downtown' areas like https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1177271,-88.2417685,3a,75y,1... are typical.

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