gambling & culture

Yesterday I jokingly predicted the cresting of the poker wave, but here’s some evidence that the gambling wave–at least the Las Vegas one–is still building. Read about it, minus the tortured metaphors, from the LVRJ: The “Big Six” gaming operators are starting 2006 with record-breaking profits, up nearly 45 percent from the first quarter 2005, […]

That’s Penn National Gaming, not the school, though the school is just fine, as well, and as an alum I officially encourage all high schoolers with a record of academic excellence to consider Penn. But this is a note of appreciation for the gaming company, which is much larger than most people think, and which

I often explain the evolution of the casino floor by taking about slot machines. Once, players had to “buy” change from employees, then put quarters or tokens into slot machines. Then bill validators let players put cash directly into slots. Now, Ticket In Ticket Out (TITO) interfaces let players put in bills and get tickets,

I’ve been having trouble accessing this site yesterday and today, so I guess everyone else has as well. To compensate (and because I thought this was interesting when I found it in the stack) I’m going to offer some free advice. And it’s not even from me, but nationally-recognized casino expert Henry Tamburin. His book

Lotteries have been put to many uses over the millennia. In Ancient Rome, for example, the Vestal Virgins were chosen by lottery, as were several government posts. (All this, by the way, is in Roll the Bones) And, of course, plenty of states and nations use lotteries to get revenues. But the Georgetown Hoya has

Courtesy of Sue Schneider of the River City Group, here’s an update on the attempt to ban Internet gambling proposed in the US Congress: Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., who has been trying to ban online wagering for about 10 years, had planned to introduce an online gambling prohibition amendment today by attaching it to S2349

I read an interesting article about the rise of Hamas to power and the dim prospects for the once-booming Jericho casino, and thought about writing an extended piece for the LVBP considering the idea that casinos need liberal democracy to survive (that’s a small “l” and small “d”–I don’t want this to degenerate into partisan

Great news for British proponents of gaming education yesterday, as the United Kingdom’s first school dedicated to teaching casino operations opened. From the BBC: The UK’s first gaming academy, to teach trainee croupiers the tricks of the trade, was officially opened in Lancashire on Wednesday. Blackpool and The Fylde College has built its own training

If you are curious, I’ve got a new article in today’s Las Vegas Business Press. The gist of it is that Sports leagues can no longer stick their heads in the sand. Here’s a sneak peek: Illegal sports betting is the dirty big secret of modern college and professional sports. League representatives talk tough —

Thanks to the fact that I get the Vegas Resource newsletter, I got a very helpful email this weekend. It’s more than a source for coupons and 2-for-1 offers, with information on show openings and closings, and all other cool things. This week’s newsletter reminded me that players can get annual win/loss statements from casinos

The nation of Antigua looks askance at American prohibitions on Internet gaming. Actually that’s a bit of an understatement, as they have taken the US to WTO dispute resolution over the issue. As you can imagine, the country is not happy about a pending prohibition bill before Congress. Here’s a press release I got in