In Las Vegas, it’s New Years all right…Chinese New Year. I’ve often said that casinos are in the forefront of commerce-driven multi-culturalism, and this is yet another example: Strip resorts are proclaiming, at considerably expense, their jubilation at the advent of the Year of the Dog. From the LV Sun: Marketing to Asian — particularly […]
According to the Detroit News, betting on the Super Bowl will be big business: An estimated 60 million people will bet $6 billion on the Super Bowl this year. But not a single wager will be made at a casino in Detroit or Windsor. Sports betting is illegal in Michigan, while Casino Windsor isn’t licensed
Betting on the Big Game Read More »
gambling & cultureIf you listened to Dave Berns interview me on KNPR, you heard my shocking revelation that I used to work as Mr. Peanut. Actually, it’s not that shocking, but “shocking revelation” sounds better than “talking about a past summer job.” So you can imagine my excitement at reading this article in the Atlantic City Press:
Peanut comeback–it’s all good Read More »
atlantic cityThe LA Times’s John Glionna has a very good piece on Asian problem gambling. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon, and it looks like UCLA is doing some serious research into it. Here’s a bit of the story from the LA Times (register to read the whole article): Bill Lee’s father
Asian problem gambling Read More »
gambling & cultureNew Jersey recently banned smoking indoors–unless you’re in a casino. Proponents of the ban have said that it was a political move–they could not have gotten the measure passed with the combined clout of casinos, bars, and restaurants. So they picked off the bars and restaurants, and have now come for the casinos. From Newsday:
If you like, you can listen to me being interviewed by Dave Berns on KNPR’s State of Nevada. Just click the link and listen away. Doing the interview was a lot of fun.
Running a clandestine casino requires a lot of stealth–you need to get the word out, but not tip off the cops. You need to account for large amounts of people coming and going. You also, apparently, need to lock your door. From the AP: Sheriff’s deputies found what appeared to be a small casino when
According to Star Trek, gambling will be a big part of the future. I’m a casual Star Trek fan at best, but I seem to remember that the senior officers in The Next Generation played poker together, and that the Ferengi guy on Deep Space Nine had a casino. It looks like Trekkies will be
Away team gambling? Read More »
gambling & culture…to go on the Strip? According to Liz Benston at the Sun, the Riviera might not be such a bad bet: A group of experienced real estate developers has reached an agreement with the chief executive of the company that owns the Riviera to buy out his shares of stock in the casino’s parent company
I’ve just posted a new book review: Review of Peter Fenton, Eyeing the Flash I also added some desktop wallpapers to gallery #6. Enjoy.
Check out the Die is Cast casino carpet gallery for two new galleries: Indian casinos and riverboat casinos. Sure, they each only have two casinos, but both have a panoply of carpet designs. I also added some Lake Las Vegas carpets. I had an interesting phone call yesterday that shows what a tremendous error in
Carpet images added Read More »
what's newThe World Series of Poker is getting bigger and bigger. With so much attention drawn to the tournament, you need someone to lay down the law. Hence, Harrah’s Entertainment has appointed a commissioner of the WSOP. From Yahoo: Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: HET – News) today announced that Jeffrey Pollack, vice president of sports and
Post-Katrina Biloxi will look very different from the city before August 29, 2005. There’s a good piece in the Sun-Herald about an amibitious proposal from Harrah’s and some unintended consequences of the burgeoning condo boom: Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest gambling company, will invest more than $1 billion to build two casinos in Biloxi, said
The perils of growth Read More »
life in vegasThere were a few stories about the teen gambling “epidemic” around the wires this morning. Here’s one of the better ones, from the Asbury Park Press: It takes more than luck to win at Texas Hold ‘Em, Eric Rothman says, which is why the 18-year-old high school senior enjoys putting his poker-playing skills to the
Kids playing poker Read More »
gambling & cultureI was down at the Boardwalk closing yesterday–it’s quite a thing to see a casino shut its doors. I’m going to be involved in an oral history program that will collect interviews from former employees, so if you know someone who used to work there, have them get in touch with me. I think there
A closing, thoughts on an opening Read More »
life in vegasWith the whole “Sin City” marketing strategy, it feels like a lot of Las Vegans think that they invented hedonism. I mean, people have been getting plastered and doing stupid things for millennia. I guess the genius of Las Vegas is that its promoters have boiled this down to a soundbite. Doing research for Roll
What happens at the coffeehouse… Read More »
haphazard worldMen’s Fitness magazine did some kind of poll to determine what the fittest and fattest cities in America are. Because you’ve probably got a pretty much uniform distribution of physically fit and unfit people around the country, this seems like a fool’s errand to me, but it made headlines. From MSNBC, but it’s everywhere: When
A days ago, Richard Velota of the LV Sun wrote an article about the future of the casino floor. It got picked up in a few other periodicals, and presents a really good view of the state of the art of server-based slots, which is where the industry is heading. From the LV Sun: Some
Server-based games Read More »
gambling & cultureThat’s probably just the first time I’ll use some permutation of that phrase over the next five years, because Boyd Gaming announced this morning that it is closing the Stardust to make way for Echelon Place. Because I’m such a “gaming industry insider,” I arrived at the office and found a copy of the press
A Stardust memory? Read More »
life in vegasI’m still busy with Roll the Bones, but I’ve got to post what I think is the one-liner of the year…so far. From the AP: Some teenage soccer players and their parents saw more sights than they wanted when they stayed at a hotel where about 200 swingers were having a New Year’s party. Paul