Have you ever wanted to check out the pope’s wheels? Here’s your chance, thanks to a hot tip from the Las Vegas Hilton: Kruse International will auction Pope John Paul II’s personal vehicle, a 1975 Ford Escort GL, at the 32nd Annual Las Vegas Fall Auction at the Las Vegas Hilton (October 28&29). He is
Pope-mobile at Las Vegas Hilton Read More »
life in vegasOften, when I am giving a public lecture or statement, I say that the federal government has endorsed casino gaming. Some people just nod, while others look confused or even contemptuous. “What do you mean?” they ask. The first example I cite is Indian gaming: each of the three branches of the federal government has
Military slot machines Read More »
news about gamblingAccording to one Malaysian parliamentarian, gambling leads to superstition. From The Star: -In the kampung, when people want to win numbers games, they go to see the bomoh and even make offerings to trees so that their numbers will come up winners. -All this shows that gambling can make people carry out deviationist practices,†said
Gambling can lead to deviationism? Read More »
gambling & cultureIs this a case of casinos imitating life? It’s spooky: Harrah’s Entertainment has closed the Bourbon Street casinos two weeks early because of a water main break. From the LVRJ: The off-Strip Bourbon Street Casino, bought by Harrah’s Entertainment this summer for future development, closed Monday two weeks ahead of schedule. Harrah’s, which bought eight
Bourbon Street Goodbye Read More »
life in vegasCheck out this review of the new Al Pacino movie Two for the Money from the aptly-named Couch Slouch: There’s a new sports-betting movie out called “Two for the Money.” Larry King calls it “the best movie about gambling ever made! … This film has everything.” Couch Slouch calls it “the worst movie about gambling
Two for the Money reviewed Read More »
gambling & cultureIf you bought a t-shirt with the names of all Atlantic City casinos back in 1985, it might have looked like this: If you like this shirt, you can bid with Vintage Pimps and maybe take it home. This shirt is cool because most of the casinos have changed names, which shows how much the
Vintage Atlantic City Read More »
atlantic cityThis isn’t really a gambling auction, but this movie poster is cool anyway: I don’t believe no one has bid on this. Right now, $17 could make this yours. Check the auction here.
Gambling with souls Read More »
gambling & cultureIf you’re curious about my travels on Tuesday, here’s a third-party account of what went down: From Foster’s Online: A legislative committee studying expanded gambling options heard the pros and cons of putting casino-style gaming at the state’s racetracks on Tuesday. The state attorney general’s office, the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police and
What I did on Tuesday Read More »
news about gambling, what's newThree-card Monte, AKA the shell game, is remarkably resilient. Hundreds of years old, if not thousands, it just keeps soldiering on. The game has apparently been revived–in a slightly different form–on the roads of Kerala, India. From newindpress: ‘Natakuth’, a sort of street gambling, which is a punishable offence under Section 15 of Kerala Gaming
Cutting the Wire‘s first review is in–Nina Ayoub from the Chronicle of Higher Education scooped the world and got the first review of my latest book into print before anyone else. You can read an excerpt from the review here–you need to be a Chronicle subscriber (or resident at a university that is) to read
I’ve now checked the appropriate box and enabled user registration, so you can join the fun by commenting. My next challenge is to import by old Blogger entires at Casino.ptz, which will give me a nice archive of about 4 years of blogging. As always, comments, etc, are appreciated: email me if you’ve got them.
The Congress for the New Urbanism, led by Andres Duany, is going to be involved in rebuilding Mississippi. From Building Online: Mississippi Governor Enlists Congress for the New Urbanism in Historic Coastal Planning Effort. Working with Gov. Haley Barbour, a national team of 100 architects, planners, development experts, and other professionals organized by the Chicago-based
A New Mexico doctor is stating trials on a pill that may “cure” problem gambling–by blocking the “pleasure pathways” of the brain. Why does think make me think of A Clockwork Orange?
Problem gambling pill? Read More »
UncategorizedNow that I’m getting the blog under control (and because I’m going to be out of the office most of next week), here’s this week’s big announcement: I’m going to be appearing at the Vegas Valley Book Festival next weekend. I’ll be promoting this book: More directly, I’m a panelist on one session and moderating
Vegas Valley Book Festival Read More »
life in vegasThanks to some help, it looks like I’m getting the hang of WordPress. Things still aren’t perfect, but they are definitely looking up. For the old Greymatter index, try http://www.dieiscast.com/index2.html.
Things are getting better… Read More »
what's newDie is Cast is under construction–specifically, I’m working on getting WordPress configured the way I want and then importing my old Greymatter blog entries If you want to access the old index, try http://www.dieiscast.com/index.html. As you can see, this isn’t going that smoothly. Anyone with advice, please email me: dave@dieiscast.com
Under construction Read More »
what's new…could Hooters be referred to as “a very clean corporation.” I’m not making this up.
This is hardly one of the day’s dominant issues, but there is a fascinating story in the Columbus (Georgia) Ledger-Enquirer about how Fats Domino may have gotten his inspiration for his 1960 hit “Walking to New Orleans.” Guess what? It involves gambling.
“Walking to New Orleans” origin? Read More »
gambling & cultureAs you can see, some of the changes I forecast last week are here. Let me know what you think of the new design and layout–I’m still open to more changes. If you’ve got the site cached, hit REFRESH. Otherwise things will look pretty funky. Changes include: – new color scheme – new professional section