October 2005

Is this a bust?

I got this one while searching Pravda for Russian gambling news. It’s a keeper. From FunReports: The police department of the Russian city of Ulyanovsk obtained information about an attack that a group of criminals was going to commit against a local business woman. The police decided to arrest the gangsters in the woman’s apartment, […]

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haphazard world

The lottery millionaire and the purloined plastic

Well, that was little more than a fancy way to lead into this story from the LV Sun about a woman who used a stolen credit card to buy a lottery ticket–and is paying the price: A Southern Oregon woman used a stolen credit card to buy a state lottery scratch-it ticket that was worth

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gambling & culture, haphazard world

CCTV voyeurs?

My lecture at the architecture school as part of the Graduate Lecture Series went really well last night. I got a chance to get some feedback on my “4 stages of casino resort evolution” idea and got to talk a lot about casinos, particularly my experiences in security and surveillance. When I saw this story

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atlantic city

Hot betting at the Hilton

At any given moment, an uncountable number of new games are being proposed, developed, tested, and usually forgotten at casinos across the world. Since the disappearance of faro from Nevada gambling halls in the 1940s, many have come to challenge the Big Three–craps, blackjack, and roulette. By the 1980s, baccarat had emerged as a major

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gambling & culture, life in vegas

Pants for the lounging gambling devil

Do you know a slender guy or gal who A) likes gambling B) is devilishly inclined C) likes lounge pants? Well, this auction is just for you: super comfortable Lounge Pants. 100 % cotton jersey knit fabric. Made in the USA. MSRP $24.99. Brand new, never worn, never washed. They have an elastic waist band

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gambling & culture

ND net poker coming?

As I said in Cutting the Wire, online gambling will become unambiguously legal in the United States once we reach a certain tipping point: the need for state revenues will outweigh any lingering opposition to “expanded” gambling. The Grand Forks Herald reports on a North Dakota legislator who sees the same thing: A lawmaker who

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news about gambling

Mandalay Place, 11/12

If you’ve been waiting to have a copy of Suburban Xanadu or Cutting the Wire autographed by the author, you are in luck. On Saturday, November 12, at 2 PM, I’ll be at the Reading Room in Mandalay Place, signing books. I’m going to be giving a short talk, answering questions, and signing books–it should

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what's new

Military slot machines

Often, when I am giving a public lecture or statement, I say that the federal government has endorsed casino gaming. Some people just nod, while others look confused or even contemptuous. “What do you mean?” they ask. The first example I cite is Indian gaming: each of the three branches of the federal government has

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news about gambling

Gambling can lead to deviationism?

According to one Malaysian parliamentarian, gambling leads to superstition. From The Star: -In the kampung, when people want to win numbers games, they go to see the bomoh and even make offerings to trees so that their numbers will come up winners. -All this shows that gambling can make people carry out deviationist practices,” said

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gambling & culture