writing

Craftily arranged nouns, verbs, and more.

Get your eRTB ‘signed” and maybe make me happier

These days, some people prefer their books in print; some prefer them electronically. That’s why I’ve gone to great lengths to make the new edition of Roll the Bones available across as many platforms as possible. Well, if you define “making a few formatting tweaks to submit it to four different eplatforms” as great lengths, […]

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Roll the Bones, writing

Roll the Bones: Casino Edition is an iBook

For all of those who’ve been waiting to get Roll the Bones: Casino Edition on their iDevice in all its iBook glory, today should be a happy day: it’s now available! With this, the book is now available on all of the digital platforms that I’m aware of. Here’s the complete list of where to

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Roll the Bones, writing

The Strip in 2013: Recovery and Retrenchment in Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at what lies ahead for Las Vegas in 2013. Seem like the right time: The New Year has its restorative elements—the celebrations, the resolutions, the fresh hopes. But, against the background of the Great Recession, it’s also another occasion to fret about what lies ahead

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Vegas Seven

Roll the Bones: Casino Edition on the Kindle

Since I started working on the new edition of Roll the Bones in earnest last year, the question I got most was, “will it be available as an ebook?” My answer was always, “yes.” Today that became a reality, with the release of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling (Casino Edition) on Kindle. Yes,

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Roll the Bones: Casino Edition launches: How and why

I have some news to share on the book front: it’s been a long time coming, and there’s more work to be done, but you can get a copy of Roll the Bones: Casino Edition through lulu.com before the official launch. So far, lulu.com is the only place you can buy the book, and it’s

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writing

Nightlifeless in Vegas Seven

Vegas Seven’s nightclub issue is out today! And what better topic for the Green Felt Journal than…casinos without nightclubs: If you’ve been on the Strip in the past five years, you know that nightclubs are front-and-center at most big resorts. Which begs the question: What’s a Vegas casino look like today when you subtract the

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Vegas Seven

The Year of Hope and Holding Steady in Vegas Seven

Today’s Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven is a look back at 2012: The people who run Las Vegas casinos were expecting a lot in 2012: a return to prosperity on the Strip, a revival downtown and a federal framework for online poker. They didn’t get everything they wanted, but at the end of the

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Vegas Seven, writing

Our Rodeo Soul, Vegas Seven cover story

This week, I’ve been honored with another cover story in Vegas Seven magazine. Here, I step a little bit away from the gambling beat and investigate the past and potential future of National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas: The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which comes to the Thomas & Mack Center Dec. 6-15, is like

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Vegas Seven, writing

The New Road Starts Here in Vegas Seven

Last week’s Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven took a look at how the repurposing of a nondescript piece of commercial real estate just west of the Strip is full of significance: The 20,000-square-foot converted warehouse’s history is just as interesting as its future. Before the new tenants started moving in, the building was the

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Vegas Seven

Inside the Trading Room in Vegas Seven

In addition to the cover feature, I’ve got a Green Felt Journal in this week’s Vegas Seven that takes us behind the scenes, into William Hill’s sports betting war room: It’s 8:30 on a Sunday morning in October, but for the crew of bookmakers at William Hill headquarters on Grier Drive, just south of McCarran,

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Vegas Seven, writing

The Columbus of Highway 91 in Vegas Seven

This week, I’m privileged to have a cover story in Vegas Seven. It’s about the mostly-unsung hotelier who, I think, is the real discoverer of the Las Vegas Strip, Thomas Hull: The natural advantages of Las Vegas, Fisher said, would make it “the metropolis of Nevada,” but only if properly pushed: “If a good hotel

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Vegas Seven, writing

Colbert Arrest Highlights Hypocrisy of Prohibition in Vegas Seven

Last week, Mike Colbert’s arrest was big news. I commented about it pretty extensively in a few places, but I didn’t have time until yesterday to pull my thoughts together and put them down in one place. The result is a Vegas Seven blog post: The arrest last week of 25 people—including Cantor Gaming’s sports

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Vegas Seven

With PBR, Rodeo’s Heart Will Go On in Vegas Seven

The rare Celine Dion headline title drop for a Vegas Seven piece this week. It’s about Professional Bull Riding: We’re used to early December being rodeo time in Las Vegas; that’s when the National Finals Rodeo takes over the town. But NFR’s not-so-little cousin, Professional Bull Riders’ Built Ford Tough World Finals, shakes the ground

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Vegas Seven

Music to Your Ears in Vegas Seven

This is probably the last literary spinoff from G2E: a piece in today’s Vegas Seven about the man behind the music in many Las Vegas casinos: Here’s the funny thing about music in public places: If it’s working the way it should, you don’t even notice it on a conscious level. There’s just an extra

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Vegas Seven, writing

Signs of the (Disappearing) Times in Vegas Seven

In this week’s Vegas Seven, I have a Latest Thought about a Downtown preservation effort that, I think, says a lot about what the city is becoming: Which is why it’s interesting to see what new arrivals to Las Vegas notice the most. Slots in convenience stores? Franchise pawnshops? Tap water that’s somewhere north of

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life in vegas, Vegas Seven

The Experience of Fremont in Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at the origin of the Fremont Street Experience: Fremont Street and the downtown casinos might be on the verge of a renaissance. Several casinos have reinvented themselves with renovations and expansions that try to blend nostalgia, modern comforts and value. But this isn’t the first

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life in vegas, Vegas Seven, writing

Poker’s Perilous Perch in Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at where poker stands in September 2012. On one hand, live poker’s been on the decline for a few years. On the other, online poker is, some feel, going to transform the state’s economy. Here’s where we are: Nevada poker is in an odd place.

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Vegas Seven, writing

South Point Puts It On (the) Line in Vegas Seven

When I heard that South Point Poker,, LLC, had been awarded the first license as an online poker provider in Nevada, I was immediately curious about the company: who were the people making this historic step? Everyone knows Michael Gaughan, but I had a feeling he wasn’t coding the site in his spare time. So

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Vegas Seven