This piece in the LA Times mentions the current pressure to legalize some forms of Internet gambling, with a hint of the real story: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) have both introduced bills in Congress to lift a federal ban on much online play and clarify the law, which is even […]
Net gambling rundown Read More »
news about gamblingRon Abell. Tap City. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1985. 274 pages. This is hardly a new release, but I just read this book for a class I might be teaching about gambling and media. And it’s a book I should have read a long time ago. Tap City is about a fictional Seven-Card Stud
Book Review: Tap City Read More »
book reviewsI’ve got a new column in the LVBP, about the dubious morality (and even more dubious economics) of many states that legalize gambling: There's a paradox here: Many states legalize gambling only to bring in revenue in lieu of raising taxes. When their citizens can't generate the kind of tax revenues state governments can't do
Morality, economics, and gambling expansion Read More »
news about gamblingThis is a very interesting story from the LV Sun: Gaming board agents have made nearly 400 arrests in connection with casino and gambling-related crimes in Nevada this year, compared with fewer than 300 for all of 2008.Regulators can’t explain the uptick, especially given that law enforcement resources to combat theft haven’t increased amid budget
Casino crime on the rise Read More »
news about gamblingJerome Tuccille. Gallo Be Thy Name: The Inside Story of How One Family Rose to Dominate the U.S. Wine Market. Beverly Hills: Phoenix Books, 2009. 288 pages. The American wine industry has seen tremendous change over the past eighty years. Driven (mostly) underground by Prohibition, winemakers faced several obstacles after repeal in 1933, chiefly American
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book reviewsWith all of the problems the Large Hadron Collider has had, a pair of physicists are mulling the possibility that nature itself is conspiring against it. It’s possible, they say, that the potential creation of a Higgs boson particle is so abhorrent that “ripples through time” are preventing the machine from operating as it’s supposed
Playing Casino War with the universe Read More »
gambling & cultureThere’s an article in today’s LVRJ about casino coffee shops being replaced by chains: We've said goodbye or nearly so to dressing up for a night out, all-night buffets, free lounge entertainment and 99 cent shrimp cocktails. The latest Las Vegas icon to fall victim to changing market conditions: traditional coffee shops in locals casinos.The
Bye bye coffee shops? Read More »
news about gamblingJim McManus has an interesting article on the American-ness of poker in the latest Chronicle of Higher Education: American DNA is a notoriously complex recipe for creating a body politic, but two strands in particular have always stood out in high contrast: the risk-averse Puritan work ethic and the entrepreneur's urge to seize the main
And not a moment too soon. We’ve acquired a major new collection that I’m in the process of…processing and we’ve got Roger Gros giving a Gaming Research Colloquium talk this Thursday. If you’re not curious about what kept me away for so long, you can jump down a few paragraphs for some City Center-related comedy.
Timothy Egan. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 352 pages. Forest fires are a perennial concern, particularly in the American West, as is government stewardship of public lands. This was no less true in 1910, when the Forest Service was young and the worst fire
Book Review: The Big Burn Read More »
book reviewsIt’s not carpet, but it does have to do with what you walk on in a casino. This little bit was in the latest Wynn Newsletter, and I thought it was interesting: Wynn Las Vegas is a visual feast unlike any other on the Strip. There is so much to take in, so much care
Flowers on the floor Read More »
news about gamblingI’m not going to be posting much over the next several days–I’ve got a project that will keep me away from the office for a while. You’ll undoubtedly learn more about it after I’m back in touch. I’ve got a book review and something else fun in the pipeline, so you may be hearing from
All of you aspiring casino game creators (and those who are interested in how games are created) might want to read this piece in the SF Chronicle: Webb, who splits his time these days between Las Vegas and Darby, England, likens the process of getting casinos to license the game to “pulling teeth,” and notes
3-card Poker Creator in SF Chronicle Read More »
news about gamblingIt’s always great when people debunk casino-related myths and misconceptions. I’d like to point you to The Straight Dope’s handling of a casino counterfeiting question: Dear Cecil:It occurs to me that it would be much simpler to counterfeit casino chips than paper currency. Besides the fact that its the mob thats after you and not
Straight Dope on counterfeit chips Read More »
news about gamblingThis is hardly breaking news to anyone who reads this blog regularly, but gambling revenues are down nationwide. This Economix piece in the New York Times blogs is as good a summary as any: Two weeks ago, my colleague Ian Urbina had an article about the falloff in gambling across the country, and the lower
Nat’l decline in gaming taxes Read More »
news about gamblingThis experiment at a Monte Carlo lounge has the benefit of novelty. From the LV Sun: It sounded like an odd fit for Vegas. The fact is the waitresses in the new lounge at the Dragon Noodle Co. inside the Monte Carlo aren’t wearing uniforms. They’re wearing costumes. It’s true that melding entertainment and service
Niche marketing on the Strip Read More »
news about gamblingI’m pleased to be able to announce two major events coming up this fall at UNLV: October 15 Gaming Research Colloquium: Roger Gros, Publisher, Global Gaming Business Magazine “Information, Please: 25 Years of Covering the Gaming Industry 2 PM in Lied Library’s Extended Study Area First Floor View flyer (pdf) December 3 Gaming Research Colloquium:
Two upcoming events at G2E Read More »
what's newThose of you familiar with Ventnor might lament the passing of an age: that aluminum section of boardwalk is being replaced, at last, with plain old wood. From the AC Press: About two blocks of Ventnor's Boardwalk near the Atlantic City line are so odd because the surface is made of aluminum, not wood. Those
Metal b’walk too heavy for Ventnor Read More »
atlantic cityMy comments on the recent Harrah’s purchase in the LVRJ were a combined Planet Hollywood/Ohio racetrack thought: David Schwartz, director of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas' Gaming Research Center, said that the “common sense and intuitive response” would seem to be to ask why a company carrying $19.3 billion in debt is “buying more
Thoughts on Harrah’s “spree” Read More »
news about gamblingThis isn’t part of the Gaming Research Colloquium Series but may be of interest to those interested in gambling nonetheless. Next month, anthropologist Barbara Oakley will give a talk called “Bad to the Bone: Can Our Genes Make Us Act Badly?” I’m not going to let my knee-jerk anti-biological determinist reaction keep me from a
Interesting anthro lecture Read More »
gambling & culture