In an effort to determine America's "Smartest Cities", the Daily Beast created its own ranking.   Coming in one spot away from dead last was none other than Las Vegas.

The criteria required that a city have over 1 million people living in it.  Las Vegas came in #54 of all such cities in the US.

The Daily Beast says of Vegas:  "A city that prides itself on sin performs predictably for each of our intellectual based criteria."

If there is any good news, it's that Vegas didn't finish dead last.  That honor goes to Fresno, California.

"The race to the bottom wasn't even close. The largest city in California's San Joaquin breadbasket, Fresno, had deficiencies across the board. College education (less than 20 percent of the local population have four-year degrees), graduate studies, academic institutions (not much besides Fresno State), book purchases, voter engagement-it ranked in the worst 5 percent in almost all of our categories. Problems with gangs and crystal meth tend to deter the best and brightest."

Well, many of you would love to know the "Smartest City" and that honor went to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

"Raleigh-Durham has just about every intangible useful in attracting and developing a smart populace: It's a university hub, including two of the nation's elite schools (Duke and the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), and those schools led to one of the nation's great technology incubators (Research Triangle). On top of that, Raleigh, as the state's capital, attracts engaged political minds, as well. "We are fortunate to have great universities in Raleigh-Durham and great ‘smart' industries that enrich our community greatly," Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker told The Daily Beast. Enrichment enough to top our list."

San Francisco and Boston came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively.  Louisville, Kentucky and San Antonio, Texas finished just ahead of Las Vegas, which, of course, is not a good thing.

Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com