In today’s Green Felt Journal, I take on a subject that some in the industry don’t like discussing–whether high-profile crimes mean the Strip is less safe than it should be: When tragedy strikes, police and tourism officials are usually quick to stress that these are random events in an otherwise safe city. They point to […]
Crime and Perception | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn today’s Green Felt Journal, I look at the growth of Las Vegas as a family reunion destination. It all really fits: Family-friendly Las Vegas never went away—it just doesn’t get the same press as nightclub Las Vegas or tech-startup Las Vegas. For proof, look no further than the burgeoning business the city does in
The Other Convention Business | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn today’s Green Felt Journal, I look at a few of the personalities behind Ultimate Poker: Online poker seems so … unearthly. Hands are dealt on a glowing screen. Cards are made out of pixels, not pasteboard. And yet it’s here, and it’s very real. For now, there’s one company that offers online poker in
Poker Pioneers | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I tackle the issue of smoking in casinos on the Las Vegas Strip: The implicit question raised in those cheeky billboards is this: Smoking is banned in restaurants, movie theaters and indoor arenas. Why is it still permitted in Nevada casinos? The short answer: because casinos were exempted from
Smokeless on the Strip? | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Vegas Seven, I’ve got the cover story: a look back on John F. Kennedy’s visits to Las Vegas: It was a meeting for the ages: the midcentury King of Cool getting together with one of the nation’s fastest-rising political stars. The star of From Here to Eternity and the hero of PT
JFK in Las Vegas | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take up bowling, which seems to be heading towards a renaissance in Las Vegas. Las Vegas’ first casino bowling alley opened in 1959 when the off-Strip Showboat added lanes as part of its successful effort to refocus on locals, driving growth at the property for the next 20
Pin Interest | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenFor this week’s Green Felt Journal, I offer you an 800-word version of the 10,000-word paper I presented at the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking. It’s my attempt to assess whether the mid-decade spate of mergers was good for anyone…and from what I’ve discovered, it looks like the answer is “not really.” From Vegas
Casino Concentration and the Logic of Empire | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenBusy week, so I’m just posting this week’s Green Felt Journal about the EB-5 program, which is changing Las Vegas: “Invest In Your American Dream,” reads the text next to a photo of the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. The words are quickly replaced by “LAS VEGAS EB5 IMMIGRATION CENTER IS YOUR BEST CHOICE,”
Investing in America | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenI’ve been wanting to write more about Macau, which is such a huge gambling story, for a while, and when given a feature slot for Vegas Seven, jumped on the chance to talk about Macau’s impact on Las Vegas. The result is this week’s cover story: Back in the early days—2006 or so—American executives signing
The History of Our Future | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenLast Sunday, on a short deadline for my Green Felt Journal, I suddenly got inspired. I recalled that Caribbean Stud Poker no longer had a separate line item in the monthly Gaming Revenue Report (these things apparently stick in my head), and figured, that’s got to be worth a column. Some digging for numbers and
One Game’s Wild Ride | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn addition to the two features (Light and space) in this week’s Vegas Seven, I have a Green Felt Journal, which talks about the probably impact of MGM’s proposed Park development: How about getting back to urban basics and creating a worthwhile street-level experience? That’s what MGM did on April 18 with the formal announcement
MGM’s Park Will Be Good in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenI already shared one feature I had in this week’s Vegas Seven: my piece on space tourism and Vegas with a sidebar on Zero-G, which currently flies out of McCarran. I also wrote a feature on the evolution of nightclubs, as seen in the soon-to-open Light at Mandalay Bay: With all that success, it’s no
Anatomy of a Nightclub | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenA few weeks back I got an email about an event connected to the launch of Virgin America’s thrice-daily LAX-LAS flights. I usually don’t go to those kinds of events–there’s not too much to “cover” outside of photo ops. But I got thinking…wouldn’t it be fun to ask Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson how Vegas
Vegas to the Moon! in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenBased on a Twitter conversation with @AgentMarco, I decided to look into what was happening with betting on video games. The result was this week’s Green Felt Journal: Could betting on video games be the last chance for gambling? In 2009, Woody Levin debuted BringIt.com, a website that let gamers open accounts and bet against
Will Video Games Go Vegas? in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at how a British invasion has changed Las Vegas nightlife: The two biggest demographics in Las Vegas these days seem to be nightclubbers and international visitors. As a bit of anecdotal evidence of the trend, the casinos in development that have stoked the imagination plan
The British Are Coming! in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenI’ve got a little resort fee reverie in Vegas Seven this week: Resort fees—those mandatory per-night add-ons of between $3 and $25 that include charges for services guests may or may not use during their stay—migrated to Las Vegas in the early 2000s, but have recently gotten a second wind. Caesars Entertainment had for years
Resort Fees Costing Casinos Goodwill in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at how the proposed Resorts World Las Vegas differs from the project it replaced: When Resorts World Las Vegas rises from the abandoned husk of Echelon on the north Strip, it will be very different from what Echelon would have been. And the differences tell
With Resorts World, Macau Comes to Vegas in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at how the Strip’s original boutique hotel is keeping up with the competition: But the original boutique hotel-within-a-hotel on the Strip, the Four Seasons, is generating some buzz of its own with a two-phase renovation that’s just started its second half. Sharing the Mandalay Bay
Keeping a Season Ahead in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Vegas Seven, I consider the bigger impact of the attention focused on problem gambling due to the case of Maureen O’Connor: The recent revelation that former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor had reportedly embezzled more than $2 million from a charitable foundation to feed her gambling addiction has focused attention on pathological
Defining a Dark Allure in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThis is one of the most emotionally-difficult pieces I’ve had to write for Vegas Seven–a look at the career and legacy of my friend and mentor Bill Eadington, who passed away last week: Within five years of his 1969 arrival at the University of Nevada, Reno as an assistant professor, Eadington had made the case
A Game-Changing Scholar in Vegas Seven Read More »
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