How games of chance reflect and influence the world around us.
Interesting summary of the current state of Macau from Fortune, via CNN: Hunter S. Thompson would have found much to fear and loathe in Macau, the former Portuguese colony rebranding itself as a gambling paradise. The good doctor (rest his soul) would have been vexed to discover that Macau, surrounded by water and crowded immigration […]
This is a big day for me–I get to announce a program that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time: at last, the Center for Gaming Research can offer research fellowships. That means that, if you are a qualified graduate student or professor, you can get $4,000 to spend a month studying in
Get paid to do research in Las Vegas Read More »
gambling & culture, what's newBreaking news out of the NY Times: casinos like Asian high rollers: Casino operators have long recognized that a large number of Asians, especially Chinese and Chinese-Americans, are avid gamblers. For years, casinos have dispatched special buses to any Chinatown within a day’s drive. Recently, though, casinos have become much more aggressive in wooing Asians
Asian high rollers: the new thing? Read More »
atlantic city, gambling & culture, life in vegasThis fall Microsoft is going to apparently release a new device called Surface that will change computing. Interesting, but there’s a casino angle too. From MSNBC: The radical new approach starts with the guts of the device itself. Under the impact-resistant plastic top skin on an otherwise nondescript table hide five infrared scanners, a projector
The host of this clip, Arthur Thomas, emailed it to me, saying that his grandkids had persuaded him to upload it to YouTube so that he could “be a cool dude.” I think he succeeded: YouTube – 1978 BEARDEBEAR Music Cool Slot Machines Secret Video The music starts out very Mitchell-esque, then quiets down a
70s slots with music to match Read More »
gambling & cultureNevada Representative Shelly Berkley has introduced a bill to study, not ban, online gambling. From the LVRJ: In another effort to roll back an Internet gambling ban, Rep. Shelley Berkley on Thursday introduced a bill calling for a one-year study of online wagering by the National Academy of Sciences. “One of the advantages of this
Berkley to the rescue? Read More »
gambling & cultureI caught this interesting bit about Pete Rose’s “evolving” admission of his betting on sports in the Times-Record: Pete Rose has a new spin on his gambling habit. The man who for a decade swore that he never bet on baseball, then admitted that he did so on occasion, now says he bet on every
Rose hustles the gambling record Read More »
gambling & cultureNew Mexico has outlawed cockfighting–from the ABQ Tribune: Gov. Bill Richardson signed a measure today that outlaws cockfighting in New Mexico, leaving Louisiana as the only state where the centuries-old bloodsport remains legal. State Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, a Doña Ana Democrat who has introduced legislation to ban cockfighting over the past 18 years, thanked
NM bans cockfighting Read More »
gambling & cultureThere are lots of things the media can get away with, but some things it can’t. You can’t impugn a strip steak if you’ve eaten a steak sandwich, for one. And you can’t claim that subliminal messages in slot machines affect player behavior. At least that what Konami hopes. Here’s the press release: An item
Sublibellous advertising Read More »
gambling & cultureAn interview I recorded a few weeks back is airing on NPR’s Justice Talking this week: Casino gambling has undergone a boom in recent years as cash-strapped states and Native American tribes have opened casinos and entertainment complexes across the nation. In this edition of Justice Talking, we’ll take a look at who is profiting
Talking Justice…and Casinos Read More »
gambling & cultureComing on the heels of the anti-casino archive, this could be the coolest story ever. From Radio Free Europe: Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov has called on the city’s gambling halls to eventually be turned into libraries. “More than 2,000 gaming halls were opened in a short time in Moscow and we are now actively closing
Casinos into libraries Read More »
gambling & culture, haphazard worldI’ve always hoped that, just as I spend most of my working (NOT waking) hours documenting and preserving the history of the gaming industry, there is someone, somewhere who is cataloging the decline and demise of gaming. My wish has come true. From the Evening Sun: The battle fought over a failed proposal to build
Anti-casino archives Read More »
gambling & culture, haphazard worldPachinko is a major Japanese industry, earning about $300 billion a year–about six times what all American casinos make. But, despite hard proof to the contrary, some are limiting their play, fearful that some pachinko profits end up in the coffers of North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Il. From the Mainichi Daily News: Gambling at
Pachinko funds N. Korean nukes? Read More »
gambling & cultureI didn’t get to post much last week because I was down at the Global Gaming Expo. Some of the time, I was hanging out at my exhibit on casino dining. Much of the rest of the time, I was trawling the expo floor, talking with exhibitors, in my continuing mission to remain an up-to-date
I don’t think this qualifies as breaking news, but Australians really like gambling. Well, it’s news in the Courier Mail: AUSTRALIANS love to punt, to the tune of $18.8 billion in the past year, an increase of 7.5 per cent. Spending on gambling has grown at a faster pace than total household spending for the
Look for a boom in electronic table games soon–IGT is now in the field, and we’ve seen what they’ve done in the slot zone for the past 20 years. From the LVRJ: Slot machine giant International Game Technology took the initial steps Monday to enter the electronic table game business with plans to develop blackjack
Electronic talking blackjack Read More »
gambling & cultureHumans have been using money for 7000 years, maxiumum, but their brains have been evolving for far longer than that. So how do we handle money, biologically speaking? And how can this be connected to gambling? This article from MIT’s Technology Review says how: According to new research by Mauricio Delgado, a neuroscientist at Rutgers
Losing money hurts! Read More »
gambling & cultureAs expected, the Internet Gambling Prohibition is driving a lot of companies out of the field. From CBS News: British-based online gaming companies began cashing in the chips of their U.S. operations Friday as President Bush signed a bill aimed at restricting Internet gambling in the United States. Sportingbet PLC and Leisure & Gaming PLC
Cultural conservatives, anti-gamblers, and others opposed to gambling on the Internet scored a victory this Sunday when Congress slipped the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into an unrelated port security bill, thus banning gambling on the Internet. Or did they? Yahoo.finance uk explains: It’s a safe bet that the passage of anti-Internet gambling legislation by
Net gambling “ban” Read More »
gambling & cultureI’m out of the office for a day, and two HUGE stories break: Congress passes an Internet gaming ban, and the world’s biggest gaming company might be bought out. Adding to the fun, Harrah’s and Boyd swap land, paving the way for Harrah’s redevelopment of its center Strip holdings. Here’s the HET buyout, from AP: