I consider it my duty to send my best wishes for Nevada Day cheer to all of my fellow Silver Staters, and to educate all non-Nevadans about this glorious celebration of…Nevada. Here’s a quote from James W. Hulse’s The Nevada Adventure: A History: We who live in Nevada are likely to forget what a strange […]
There has been plenty of gambling art: Huntington Press even has a book filled with it. Here’s a story about a Northern California artist’s arm’s length approach to the subject. From the Oakland Tribune: LISA ESHERICK is a Berkeley artist who currently has an exhibit of her casino paintings on display in San Francisco. But
Gambling art in Berkeley Read More »
gambling & cultureArne K. Lang. Prize-Fighting: An American History. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Company, 2008. 266 pages. In my all-too-brief, but then again way-too-long career in casino security, I always looked forward to fight weekends. Boxing fans, I discovered, were among the most interesting, intelligent, and historically-engaged casino patrons I had the pleasure of meeting. Folks
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book reviewsAfter what seems like months, I see that I’ve got another Business Press article available online: Once, casinos threw huge parties to remind the community that they were a year older. Large cakes in the shape of the hotel were common, with showgirls gamely framing the desert in well-circulated publicity photographs. Casinos bought advertisements that
Today’s Sun has an interesting piece about how different corporate cultures work on the Strip: As it turns out, the industry’s giants, MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment, have evolved into different animals at the top of their respective food chains. Customers will be familiar with some of these differences. While most MGM Mirage resorts are
Diff’rent strokes for casino folks Read More »
news about gamblingWe’ve all heard the doom and gloom about casino stocks. I’m not sure I get all the fuss. Either they’ll be going up or they’ll be going down. It’s a 50/50 prop, right? So we shouldn’t be surprised when they decline in value for a while. Small comfort, I’m sure, to those who’ve substantially invested
An uncertain future Read More »
news about gamblingThere’s still time to register for the Winter Getaway, so I figured I let you know a little more about it. Here’s an excerpt from a Frommer’s article that gives you the flavor of the event: When one of Peter Murphy’s poems got “slaughtered” at a famous writer’s conference a few year’s back, he vowed
Just to give you an idea of what I’m working with, I wanted to post this letter from my Homeowners’ Association. It’s probably no better and no worse than most HOAs, but they went a little “nuts” with the “quotation marks” and capitalizing Common Nouns. You’ve really got to click and read the whole thing–it
A very quotable newsletter Read More »
life in vegasMatt Weiland and Sean Wilsey, eds. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America. New York: HarperCollins, 2008. 569 pp. This collection of original essays is an attempt to duplicate–in concentrated form–the classic WPA 1930s state guides. The editors solicited pieces about each of the 50 states, and conclude with a conversation about Washington, DC.
Book Review: State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America Read More »
book reviewsChuckmonster over at ACTripping was kind enough to post an extended rant, followed by pictures that I took of Atlantic City. If I was allowed to do a stream-of-consciousness lecture with Powerpoint, it would look something like this. Check it out, from ACTripping: Since Ive been in Las Vegas, Ive made it back to AC
Updating Atlantic City Read More »
atlantic cityWe’re having a great talk next Thursday night down at the library. It’s been on the gaming.unlv.edu schedule for a while, but I thought it would be nice to offer a friendly reminder: "There Were Few Solid Facts to Get in the Way": Popular Perceptions of Bugsy Siegel as Founding Father of Las Vegas A
Bugsy unearthed at UNLV! Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingI’ve got a pretty long review of Des Wilson’s Ghosts at the Table in the current issue of The American Interest. In the review, I go from talking about the book to discussing the place of poker in global culture. Here’s a sample: Poker is the quintessential American game. As with jazz or capitalism It’s
Review in The American Interest Read More »
book reviews, writingI’ve been watching reruns of Classic Trek lately (that’s Star Trek: The Original Series for purists, or The One With Kirk and Spock for those with a non-geek awareness of the show), and it gave me an idea: what if the new wave of Las Vegas casinos and condos is Star Trek: The Next Generation
To boldly go where no analogy has gone before Read More »
news about gamblingIt’s hard to believe, but the Bellagio is a decade old. Ten years ago today, Steve Wynn taught the fountains to play…metaphorically, I guess. That’s right, on October 15, 1998, the Bellagio opened its doors. Here’s a reminder from the October 15, 1998 LV Sun: And so it begins: the latest, the greatest — and
Happy birthday Bellagio Read More »
news about gamblingThis stuff just writes itself. The Atlantic City one-week smoking ban-ban, which I derided as a hallmark of small-town politics, is going to get longer–because a councilman is on vacation. From the http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/284950.html: A City Council member's vacation cruise will extend a casino smoking ban for an extra five days to at least 12 days.
More small-town fun Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingI found this draft that I forgot to post last week, and thought it might be topical. Enjoy. Trop wants to make a comeback in Atlantic City. It’s kind of like asking the girl who dumped you at homecoming to go to the prom. From Newsday: Tropicana Entertainment LLC, whose corporate affiliates were stripped of
Like me, you’ve probably got town hall fatigue from this grueling election season. But here is a town hall-type meeting you might want to attend: A panel discussion on the ins and outs of the gambling industry will be held October 14, from 10 a.m. to noon, at UNLVs Paradise Campus. Admission is free. Mark
State of the state of gambling Read More »
news about gamblingHere is a classic “only in Atlantic City” story: the city’s casinos must ban smoking for a week because it will take that long for the city council to vote on delaying the ban for a year. Huh? From the AC Press: On Wednesday, Atlantic City is supposed to become the largest casino market in
HUGE publishing news: Roll the Bones is going to be translated into Polish very soon. I’ve been told that the agreement has been signed, and that after I write a brief introduction they will be good to go. This is tremendously good news for all of the Roll the Bones fans in Poland, who can
It’s been a busy week so far–I gave a talk at the Liberty Fund in Indianapolis yesterday and learned from afar that the Plaza v. Plaza verdict had come down. I’ll have more to say about that on the next Vegas Gang podcast, which should be fun. With all of my travel yesterday I got
Book Review: American Lightning Read More »
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