I spend most of my time researching and interpreting the past. I think this has some relevance for us today, and it interesting on its own merits as well. But I usually get asked to prognosticate about the future: where will Las Vegas be in fifty years, which new casino will be most successful, etc, etc, etc. I usually beg off, because it’s a lose-lose proposition: if you successfully predict the future, people will say the answer is patently obvious. For example, I boldly predicted that I would not win the 2005 New Las Vegas Marathon, and I was correct. It would be easy to say that was an easy prediction to make: after all, I run about half as fast as the average marathon winner, and several elite runners were entered in the race, along with hundreds of recreational runners who are also way faster than me. Similarly, I’ve said that if current trends continue, Las Vegas will continue to grow, but that any one of a number of events, some of which we probably can’t foresee, could be harmful to the city and the gaming industry. Yes, that’s a vague, wishy-washy thing to say, but it’s about all I can say about the future with confidence because, unlike history, we don’t know what happened. But if I tried to dress this up as a “prediction,” people would rightfully say it was a waste of time.
The other possibility is that someone confidently predicts something, and the person is completely wrong. I heard that I guy said that air travel would never be possible, a few years after the Wright Brothers flew. We’ve all heard examples of this. Arthur C. Clarke even came up with a law describing the phenomenon.
Well, all that is just a long-winded way for me to say that I just might have seen the future. You might laugh, but if anyone thought televised poker games would be big entertainment back in the 1990s, you would have said they were crazy. I got this tidbit from the Las Vegas Hilton’s Hot Sheet:
The 2005 World Domino Tournament, which was held at the Las Vegas Hilton November 18-20, 2005, will begin airing on ESPN Deportes on March 21, 2006 at 10 p.m. ET. The telecast was produced in a reality show format and will include seven one- hour shows. The 2005 World Domino Tournament featured more than 40 teams from the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean competing in a two-day tournament that featured the most skilled professional players. The 2005 World Domino Tournament is also scheduled to air in English on ESPN II in June.
You never know–this could be the next WSOP.
Speaking of the poker tournament, Harrah’s has a new World Series of Poker slot machine out:
No Bluff.
The World Series of Poker is now available as a video poker game. Try your hand at the World Series of Poker branded slot series.
See a Sneak Preview of the Game!
I didn’t sit through the whole Flash animation sequence, but it seems like every video poker game variant out there, but themed with the WSOP.