David Gordon. The Serialist. New York: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks, 2010. 335 pages. Fiction is much harder to review than non-fiction. With the latter, you just need a good topic and a passable writing style, and you can get a feel for the book within a few pages. Fiction, which requires a much bigger investment […]
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book reviewsThursday means another Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven. This week I discuss the team behind Harrah’s tweets: Social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook have been invaluable tools for casinos. They can foster a sense of familiarity with guests, but they are anything but casual. Plenty of work goes into manning the new-media
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news about gambling, writingBased on a discussion in my Gambling and the Media class, I wrote a little essay about how gambling’s depicted in film and literature. Now it’s a Las Vegas Business Press column: Looking at how gambling is depicted in books, films, and television says a lot about how people perceive the pastime, but it often
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gambling & cultureI spent a few hours down at the World Series of Poker this morning, and came away with one of the best interviews I’ve done yet. It’s now podcast #22 in the UNLV Gaming Podcast Series: 22-June 14, 2010 Jack Effel, Vice President, International Poker Operations and Director, World Series of Poker at Harrah’s Entertainment
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news about gambling, what's newThis is getting predictable. In May, casino revenues in Atlantic City declined 9% from May 2009. Year to date, revenues are down 7.9%, and it doesn’t look to get much better. I don’t think that table games in Delaware and Pennsylvania are going to help. It was an across-the-board decline. Every casino posted lower revenues
AC slides more in May Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingIt’s Thursday, so I’ve got a new Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven. This week, I profile new Hard Rock Hotel president Joseph Magliarditi: The Hard Rock Hotel got a new president and chief executive officer on June 1. Joseph A. Magliarditi comes with extensive experience in the Las Vegas casino industry and promises to
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news about gamblingThe Gaming Control Board has released Nevada’s April 2010 gaming revenue numbers. To give everyone some perspective on the month, I’ve put together a new report: Nevada Gaming Statistics: April Comparison. This four-pager charts the performance of Nevada casinos over the past 7 Aprils. This month, we’ve got four reporting areas: Statewide, Las Vegas Strip,
April numbers tell a story: volatility Read More »
news about gamblingThink you know what makes a good casino suite? Well, the good folks at the El Cortez think you might, too, so they’re inviting you to design a suite for them–if you’re an interior designer, architect, or part of a team with at least 1 member licensed in Nevada. Here’s the press release: he El
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news about gamblingThis might be the nuttiest gambling story of the year. You’ve got to read it to believe it. From the Independent Online: Traditional beliefs about the clairvoyant powers of vultures could spell trouble for the birds as gamblers look for a sure bet during the World Cup. According to muti tradition, eating the brains of
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gambling & cultureThe Trump Taj Mahal’s bad beat jackpot has finally paid off, in record fashion. Thanks to 84 year-old John Bazela’s four sevens getting beaten by by four aces, everyone at the table is quite a bit wealthier this morning. From the AC Press: Tom Gitto, the casino’s director of poker, said the jackpot usually hits
Bad beat profitable in AC Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingCasting around the Internet for stories to comment on, I saw a promising headline: Newsweek would tell me exactly why Garden State casinos were having such a hard time. Here’s the first paragraph, but you should click through and read the whole thing, just for fun: The Great Recession has brought more bad luck. According
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atlantic city, news about gamblingInteresting piece in the Philly Inquirer about a pay-to-learn-to-gamble service: As far as Roberta Pickett is concerned, it was $100 well spent. “When I left,” said the 53-year-old Myrtle Beach, S.C., resident, “I really felt I could play craps.” Pickett was referring to her recent dice-shooting lesson at Trump Taj Mahal with Assisted Casino Entertainment
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news about gamblingIn preparation for my session at the International Casino Marketing 2010: Player Loyalty, Tech Updates & the Global Market eConference, I’ve been doing a great deal of research into casino tweeting. I’ve put together a list for a statistical study I’m undertaking, and am generally trying to get a better handle on what tweeting brings
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what's newIt’s Thursday, which means a new Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven. This week I tackle long-range planning, a topic I started thinking about after the euro’s decline two weeks ago: Tourism is a fraught industry. There’s always something that can keep visitors away—from health scares to economic malaise—out of the control of managers trying
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news about gambling, writingMy latest Las Vegas Business Press column is an extended take on the issue of accuracy in gaming stats, brought on by the Andy Rooney commentary of a few weeks ago: The gambling business is all about numbers. Whether it’;s a roulette table, a lottery or a low-stakes bingo game, it’s impossible to run without
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news about gambling, writingI’ve posted the latest in the Occasional Paper Series over at the Center for Gaming Research. It’s a great read: Paper 03: May 2010 Theodore Whiting. “The History of Baccarat,” Occasional Paper Series 3. Las Vegas: Center for Gaming Research, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2010. Abstract: The true origins of modern Baccarat
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gambling & culture, what's newJoel J. Miller. The Revolutionary Paul Revere. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010. 304 pages. Paul Revere is famous for his midnight ride, but his life says a great deal more about the founding of the American republic than that single incident. In this new biography, Joel Miller uses Revere’s life to tell readers a little more
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book reviewsIt’s Thursday, which means a new Green Felt Jungle piece in Vegas Seven. This week, I talk about one of the more interesting game inventors I’ve met, Jose Brito: There’s never any shortage of new table games in Nevada. Right now, there are 557 table games approved for the state’s casinos, though you rarely see
Table games are about to arrive in Delaware. From CBS-3: Gambling on table games begins this week at the first of Delaware’;s three racetrack-casinos.Low-limit test games begin Monday at Harrington Raceway & Casino, and the casino plans to go live with table gaming Friday for the start of the Memorial Day weekend, pending final approval
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news about gamblingJack Cashill. Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit & Debit, from Aristotle to AIG. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010. 259 pages. With many of our current economic problems blamed on over-leveraging (both nationally and right here in Las Vegas), it’s a good idea to get a sense of how credit and debt have historically
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book reviews