news about gambling

Everything about casinos, lotteries, racetracks, and other gambling businesses: news, design, and corporate intrigue.

Casino gambling lessons

Interesting 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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Numbers tell the story

It’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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Gambling fact and gambling fiction

My 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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Brito’s Gambet

It’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

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Delaware starts table games

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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Trop tale in Vegas Seven

My latest Green Felt Journal piece is out, in Vegas Seven. I get to name-drop Heraclitus to sound sophisticated before talking about the redo of the Trop: That’s because the only thing that doesn’t change around this town is change. There are few other places where anyone would even consider spending $150 million to “relaunch”

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Online gambling, taxes, and regulation

Some federal debate on legalizing and taxes online gambling, from the LVRJ: Democrat Shelley Berkley said she backs legalizing Internet gambling, but said it is too early to think about taxing it. “Because the industry is not even established yet, I can’t imagine how we can know with any degree of certainty how the special

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Casinos looser than some think

My latest Las Vegas Business Press article is available, in which I talk about perceptions and reality, particularly as they relate to Nevada table games hold: The table-game numbers present an even greater challenge to the idea that managers are putting the screws to players. True, in the past few years there’s been a regrettable

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About a whale

Lawyers for Terrance Watanabe how say that the high roller’s losses in 2007 were nearly 69 percent higher than they claimed in their original lawsuit. From the LVRJ: Lawyers for Nebraska philanthropist Terrance Watanabe say in a new lawsuit that his losses at Harrah’s Entertainment casinos were much larger than they previously reported, making him

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Texting Terribles in Vegas Seven

It’s Thursday, which means the latest Green Felt Jungle in Vegas Seven is out. This week I talk about the Primm casinos texting promotion that you probably know about if you’ve driven along I-15 in either direction in the past few weeks: The company is just coming out of bankruptcy, and its Primm properties might

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Nevada March numbers

The Nevada gaming revenue numbers for March are out. From the LVRJ: Nevada casino revenues fell by less than 1 percent during March following February's double-digit increase. State casino operators collected $912.2 million during the month, a decline of 0.66 percent compared with $918.2 million collected from gamblers in March 2009. via Nevada gaming revenues

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The virtue of vice

Good article about the increased popularity of “sin” in this budget cycle in the Wall Street Journal: Nationwide, the public-funding crisis has led many state and local leaders to similarly reverse course. Hampered by withering funds for law enforcement, health care and other public services, a growing number of officials are condoning activities and businesses

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Daily Getaways for MGM

MGM Mirage is partnering with dailygetaways.com to offer a different kind of travel deal. From the press release: MGM MIRAGE is participating in a unique one-month promotion through a specially created website, DailyGetaways.com , joining nearly 50 of America’s top destinations and travel brands to provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tremendous values unavailable anywhere else. Discover

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TI talk in Vegas Seven

The latest Vegas Seven is out, and in it I talk a little about Treasure Island, post-MGM Mirage: Treasure Island sits next to The Mirage, the casino that changed the Strip when it opened in 1989, and across the street from the Venetian/Palazzo and Wynn/Encore megaplexes, representing billions of dollars in casino capital. It’s not

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National gaming revenues decline

The AGA’s 2010 State of the States is out, and to no one’s surprise 2010 was another off year for gambling. From the LVRJ: According to figures released this morning by the Washington D.C.-based American Gaming Association, commercial casinos in 13 states collected $30.74 billion from gamblers, compared to $32.54 billion collected in 2008. via

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Wynn points to the future

I’ve got a new Las Vegas Business Press column up, in which I discuss the historical context behind Wynn’s musings about moving to Macau. Steve Wynn made headlines when he suggested he might consider moving the headquarters of Wynn Resorts Ltd. to Macau from Las Vegas. As always, Wynn's forthrightness points the way to a

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South Florida casino impact

Good article in today’s Miami Herald about expanded casino gambling in Florida: The promise of new jobs from gambling has been key to state lawmakers' decision to allow the games to become more high-stakes and widespread. “This is like building the Hoover Dam during the Depression,'' Brunetti has said.Gambling opponents, however, say the industry isn't

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Cantor changes gambling

My latest Vegas Seven column is up, about Cantor Gaming’s eDeck: Gambling has been evolving since our ancestors started filing down animal bones, eventually ending up with cubical ivory dice. The invention of block printing helped to popularize playing cards. In the 19th century, the telegraph led to the first remote gambling: off-track wagering on

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New UNLV Gaming Podcast posted

We’ve got a new podcast up over at the Center for Gaming Research: April’s Gaming Research fellow, Theodor Gordon, gives a talk on tribal sovereignty and labor relations at tribal casinos. It’s a great summary of Indian gaming history with plenty of detail about current labor issues. Here’s the abstract: The impact of tribal casinos

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