Las Vegas Business Press

We’re no longer number one! in the LVBP

I’ve got a new piece in the Las Vegas Business Press about how Las Vegas is going to have to adjust to no longer being number one in gaming: In June, Macau casinos took in about $2.6 billion in revenues, an increase of more than 50 percent from the previous year. This achievement highlights the […]

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Las Vegas Business Press

Smoking ban rollback thoughts in LVBP

After talking about the street “performers” on the Strip, I figured I should discuss something totally noncontroversial in this week’s Las Vegas Business Press. So I settled on an article on the recent rollback of the gaming tavern smoking ban: Back in November 2006, a majority of voters approved the Nevada Indoor Clean Air Act,

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Las Vegas Business Press

An open letter to the NRA in the LVBP

The more I’ve been thinking about the situation on the Strip, the more I’m convinced that those who have a major stake in the continued viability of the Strip as a walkable pedestrian thoroughfare really need a better response to the performers/panhandlers/salespeople who are crowding out the tourists. So I wrote an open letter to

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Las Vegas Business Press, life in vegas

Patriotic argument for legal ‘net poker in the LVBP

I found myself on a roll during the Focus Roundtable on online poker I participated in a while back, and decided to flesh out one of my ideas into a piece for the Las Vegas Business Press: Surely it’s not just patriotism that tells me Americans would take more chips from their overseas counterparts than

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Las Vegas Business Press

Downtown as an example in the LVBP

A while ago I posted that report on Nevada gaming revenue trends from 1984 to 2010. I decided to write an extended opinion piece about one facet of that report for the Las Vegas Business Press (not the Las Vegas Journal-Business Review): In general, the past quarter century has been good for Nevada gaming: revenues

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Las Vegas Business Press

Nevada’s destiny and online poker

If you’re not completely sick of opinion pieces about online poker, here’s my two cents, from the Las Vegas Business Press: The recent Black Friday indictments in which federal prosecutors charged three of the world’s biggest online poker providers with fraud and violating the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act have rocked the poker world. In

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Las Vegas Business Press, writing

Baccarat and gaming win in the LVBP

In this week’s Las Vegas Business Press, I look at what the continued reliance on baccarat means for Nevada: Since the second quarter of 2010, the fortunes of the Las Vegas Strip — and, by proxy, of Nevada’s gaming industry — have been tied to baccarat. The game’s had a presence in Nevada since the

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Las Vegas Business Press

Gaming evolving to web/mobile in LVBP

I’ve got a new piece up in the Las Vegas Business Press about how the current debate over legalizing online gaming in Nevada is really informed by the past development of gaming in relation to technology. But I don’t think it’s as boring as it sounds: With the current debate over Assembly Bill 258, which

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Las Vegas Business Press

Sahara signals Strip woes in LVBP

I’ve got a new column in the Las Vegas Business Press, in which I consider the meaning of the Sahara’s impending closure. Even in flush times, running a Las Vegas casino was never a license to print money. Casinos have changed hands, declared bankruptcy and even closed their doors. But the recently announced closing of

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Las Vegas Business Press, writing

Sandoval’s message to gaming in the Las Vegas Business Press

My latest column in the Las Vegas Business Press is now available. In it, I consider Governor Sandoval’s recent call for modernization in Nevada’s gaming regulations: In his State of the State address, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval briefly noted the necessity of updating the state’s gaming regulations to reflect the new realities of 21st century

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Las Vegas Business Press, news about gambling, writing

October & the future in LVBP

This week in the Las Vegas Business Press, I finally get a chance to discuss the October Nevada gaming numbers: For both the state and the Strip, it was the third consecutive month of positive year-over-year revenue growth — as good a sign as any that, for now at least, the bleeding has stopped. At

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Las Vegas Business Press, news about gambling, writing

G2E evolves in the Las Vegas Business Press

In this week’s Las Vegas Business Press, I offer a long view of the Global Gaming Expo: The conference panels are finished though they have been recorded for posterity, and the last of the exhibit booths have been disassembled at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It is an appropriate time to consider how the industry

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Las Vegas Business Press, news about gambling, writing

Baccarat doesn’t = back in LVBP

In my latest Las Vegas Business Press column, I dissect the August 2010 Nevada gaming numbers: And if your casino doesn't offer baccarat or high-end play, you might be out of luck. With only 22 out of the 329 casinos with nonrestricted licenses in the state 6.7 percent offering the game, only a few are

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Las Vegas Business Press, news about gambling, writing