You might remember that a while ago I recommended Burt Dragin’s reading/signing event that we hosted at UNLV. The LVRJ attended, and gave it a great write-up:
Burt Dragin spent considerable time in Las Vegas during the 1950s but never lived in the gambling resort town.
An 8-year-old Dragin started taking frequent “family vacations” from California so his father could indulge in legally what he was having little trouble engaging in illegally around Beverly Hills — gambling.
“My father … always gambled beyond his means,” Dragin said. “Las Vegas was built, initially, on people like my father.”
A journalism professor at Laney College in Oakland, Calif., Dragin discussed his family and the problem of compulsive gambling Friday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“There is no mystery about those who, like Steve Wynn, are inclined toward owning the house,” Dragin read from his autobiography, “Six to Five Against: A Gambler’s Odyssey.”
“It’s guaranteed gravy. You walk around with a frozen smile and watch the suckers crushed by the immutable odds.”
How widespread compulsive gambling is in the country depends on who you ask, according to Dragin.
He said that most neutral studies say approximately 5 percent of the population, or 11 million, suffer from compulsive gambling. However, Dragin added that the American Gaming Association puts the number at less than 1 percent.
Emphasizing that he is not a moralist, he said the gaming industry is not contributing enough money toward research and treatment programs to address issues that helped build lavish Strip resorts.
ReviewJournal.com – Business – Author says he escaped family demon: gambling
The event was a great success. I want to run another one in October. If you know of an author on a book relating to gambling–be it an academic monograph or a novel–get in touch with me. That being said, if it’s a systems book I probably won’t be able to get the administration behind it: they’re all for fostering discussion about gambling, but I think they draw the line at flat-out teaching people how to play blackjack. Of course, that won’t stop me from teaching my students how to count cards when I teach Econ 404 next semester up in Reno.
If you attended, thank you for coming, and if you’ve got any suggestions for future authors to feature, please let me know.