My piece on the Riviera is out in Vegas Seven as of yesterday. Busy day, so I didn’t have time to post this. It’s this week’s Green Felt Journal: As destroy/erase/improve gives way to rework/repaint/recycle, older Las Vegas hotels that a few years ago might have been imploded have gotten new leases on life. Over
Riviera’s Rebirth in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenI’ve got the first UNLV Gaming Podcast in about 6 months posted. It’s Kah-Wee Lee’s excellent Colloquium talk. Here are the details: 31-September 15, 2011 Kah-Wee Lee "Taming Vice: How Machines and Architecture Changed the Culture of Gambling" Lee is a doctoral candidate in the department of architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. His
UNLV Gaming Podcast 31 is up Read More »
Center for Gaming ResearchIf you’ve been thinking about running in the Zappo’s.com Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon and Half-Marathon on December 4 but haven’t been sure, this might tip the scales. You can–guaranteed–run the half marathon with me. I’ll be leading the 1:52 half-marathon pace group, so if you don’t mind a somewhat leisurely pace, I’d love
Run the Strip with me Read More »
life in vegasMy column in this week’s Las Vegas Business Press is out. It’s a meditation on what less ambitious Strip developments really mean for Las Vegas. With just about everyone in the industry mistaking the 2005-2007 boom for a new normal, it made tons of sense to trade in your sun-faded casino for a newer, bigger
Dreamer’s paradise reality check in the LVBP Read More »
Las Vegas Business Press, life in vegasClayton M. Christensen and Henry Eyring. The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2011. 496 pages. In this book, aimed chiefly at university professors and administrators but also trustees, regents, and potential students, the authors attempt to identify just what’s got higher education costing more and
Book Review: The Innovative University Read More »
book reviewsWhen I was at the Linq-announcing press conference, I had many questions about how building this project would impact the casinos it will linq together. So I asked them. The result is this week’s Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven: With all due respect to artists’ renderings, the recent unveiling of plans for Caesars Entertainment’s
Linq’s stirring up the Strip in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, Vegas SevenLast week when I first tweeted news that O’Sheas was being closed as part of the great Linq construction, I got a lot of questions, testimonials, and eulogies about beer pong. So I asked Rick Mazer (I’m too tired to retype his entire title, but he’s in charge of CZR’s Center Strip properties) what was
Beer Pong Forever! in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThis week’s Las Vegas Business Press column looks at a travel operator I met in the vendors’ room at Creation Entertainment’s Las Vegas Star Trek convention: We all know that its getting harder and harder to bring visitors and their money to Las Vegas. But a small startup that specializes in connecting people with the
Geek niche in the Las Vegas Business Press Read More »
Las Vegas Business PressAt long last, an article that I wrote during the recent Creation Entertainment Star Trek convention is out as this week’s Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven: The first thing you see walking into McFadden’s at the Rio is William Shatner in his full late-1960s Technicolor glory on one of the wide-screens that’s usually devoted
Trekkie Nightlife in Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, Vegas SevenA little while ago I received an invitation to participate in G2E‘s conference track. Here are the details: 9:15AM – 10:15AM (Wednesday, October 05, 2011) Social Media Insights, Part III: ROI Although it officially costs nothing to tweet, the hard costs associated with staffing and content development are undeniable. This session will examine how casinos
Me @ G2E: Social media insights Read More »
news about gamblingMy Las Vegas Business Press column on the dubious benefits of cost-cutting in a hospitality company is out today: It goes without saying that there are several ways to cut costs. Shaving off some perks — first-class travel for jet-setting execs or caviar in the employee dining room — makes eminently good sense when revenues
Cut costs or invest? in the LVBP Read More »
Las Vegas Business Press, life in vegasGoing through my “My Documents” folder, I happened across something I wrote just after the Aria opening. It’s pointless little anecdote about my completely inconsequential run-in with Cesar Pelli. This was back when I still had the energy to write things on spec, which is broke writer-speak for “no one’s hired me to do this,
Something that never found a home Read More »
writingI didn’t post this here when it was first published, but this is a piece I wrote on eleven pioneers of Indian gaming for Tribal Government Gaming magazine: Indian gaming is a relatively new phenomenon. If someone had casually mentioned driving to an Indian reservation to play blackjack in 1978, they’d have been sent to
Indian gaming pioneers in Tribal Government Gaming Read More »
writingMichael Levy. Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching, and Eating with China’s Other Billion. New York: Henry Holt Company, 2011. 256 pages. China’s burgeoning middle class and growing economic power is all over the news these days. But there’s more–about a billion people more–to the large Asian country than Beijing and Shanghai. IN KOSHER CHINESE, Michael Levy
Book Review: Kosher Chinese Read More »
book reviewsToday Vegas Seven‘s gigantic, double-wide “best of” issue hits news racks everywhere around Las Vegas. I contributed a few items (see if you can guess them), but I wrote more than made the final cut. So, for your reading pleasure, to spark discussion and stimulate debate, I’m sharing what I wrote here: Best Casino Memorabilia
In today’s Vegas Seven, you can read my brief profile of Joe Magliarditi: In his new job as president of the Palms, Joe Magliarditi sees some obvious reminders of his earlier experiences.The Rio, where he got his start in gaming in the 1990s, was the prototypical casino with a visitors/locals marketing split. The M Resort,
Joe Magliarditi profile in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIf you haven’t seen them already, I’d like to draw your attention to two recent items on Two Way Hard Three. First is my write-up of a serendipitous encounter with the Cosmopolitan street team: Late last week, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas unveiled its latest secret weapon–a purple truck. Since its existence was confirmed on
In this week’s Las Vegas Business Press, I take a look at one aspect of Terry Lanni’s legacy: There’s already been a great deal written about his work at the helm of MGM Mirage, including his role in guiding the company through two mergers that created today’s MGM Resorts International, and his pioneering work with
Terry Lanni’s dignified diplomacy in the LVBP Read More »
Las Vegas Business PressIf you missed it, I had a short piece about what’s going on with the exterior of the Palazzo and Venetian in Vegas Seven: If you’ve been in the vicinity of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sands Avenue lately, you might have noticed some work being done on the Venetian/Palazzo megacomplex. Several weeks ago, the letters
Polishing the Palazzo in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenTom Hopkins. Selling for Dummies: Third Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2011. 362 pages. If you’re in sales, you’re probably always looking for that extra edge. If you’re not, you’d probably like to know a little more about how salespeople get you to sign. In either case, Tom Hopkins’ SELLING FOR DUMMIES is a good
Book Review: Selling for Dummies Read More »
book reviews