Dealing with gambling, history, and popular culture for a living, I like to keep abreast of new developments. This means a whole bunch of things: following financial results for casino companies, checking out casinos for the latest games and promotions, and seeing how gambling is depicted in art. Today I decided to spend five minutes […]
I don’t generally follow the banking industry, nor do I claim to know much about it, but I’ve got a sneaking suspiscion that payday loan places are a rip-off. So I was intriuged to find out that Arizona now has more payday loan businesses than Starbucks and McDonalds–combined.
If, like me, you enjoy the Reno Peppermill, you are in luck: there’s going to be more of it soon.
Last year, I snapped a picture of the Grand Casino Gulfport’s barge: The Grand didn’t fare so well in Hurricane Katrina: it was swept from its moorings and deposited across Highway 90. Today, I was emailed a series of photos of its implosion: Why the implosion? Read on…
The major casino companies involved in the Gulf Coast have already announced that they intend to rebuild. But will it be on land or water? Mississippi gov. Haley Barbour, speaking more broadly of the general reconstruction of the region, said that “if we rebuild the Coast and South Mississippi back just the way it was
Rebuilding the Gulf Coast Read More »
news about gamblingI’m waiting for this poster to arrive in the mail some day…it’s an even-money bet as to whether I would find a place for it in my office. It would balance out my brand new “ROBOTcasino” poster. This isn’t a parody, either: the “Taiwan Fulgent Entertainment Company” was giving them away at G2E. The poster
A t-shirt for the times Read More »
haphazard worldI had a ton of great stuff with which to inform and entertain everyone today, but the only news I have time for is directly work-related. With the help of Nishanth Bezawada, my grad student assistant, I have posted a beta version of the online version of the now-famous G2E 2005 exhibit “A Centennial Celebration
As I write this, the Global Gaming Expo 2005 is in its waning hours. There are a host of stories in the LV Sun and RJ about the technologies unleashed this year–mostly server-based gaming, which is largely still in testing mode. There were a ton of attendees and exhibitors this year. I’ve spent most of
For those of you who are curious, my session this morning at G2E on the Wire Act was, I think, a real success. Bob Blumenfeld gave a great summary of the US/Antigua WTO case and Bill White from Global Cyber discussed the possibilities of intra-state legal Internet gaming. All in all, an interesting session. I
As the Las Vegas Review Journal will tell you, the Global Gaming Expo has arrived. I was down there yesterday–working on a Sunday again–to drop off some materials for the big centennial of Las Vegas gaming exhibit, and the place was already buzzing. I’m expecting to be down there most of this week, so chances
I know people say that the casino industry is recession-proof, but this might be taking this too far. Steve Lopez of the LA Times has a great story about someone gambling in Lake Charles, Louisiana, even though his New Orleans-area home is still underwater. Evidence, perhaps, that the human urge to gamble is almost as
Gambling after Katrina Read More »
gambling & cultureOne of the things that’s been taking up my time in recent weeks has been creating “A Centennial Celebration of Gaming in Las Vegas,” an exhibit that will run at this year’s Global Gaming Expo. Curious?
Centennial Gaming History Read More »
gambling & culture, life in vegasIt’s hard to believe, but Die is Cast is one year old this week. Here’s a few random thoughts: If Rome on HBO couldn’t get any cooler, there was gambling–and a gambling-related brawl–that, according to episode 2’s title, “brought down the republic.” Was the gambling scene historically accurate? In a sense, yes: all the archaeological
I never thought of this until now, but wouldn’t it be funny if, in keeping with the success of Spamalot, they tweaked Caesars Palace to be more like Life of Brian than Gladiator? That’s just a thought as I prepare to go to the grand opening of the Augustus Tower.
No, this isn’t something out of Total Recall or The Moon is a Harsh Mistress–there is really an entrepreneur who is selling air to people who live right here on Earth where, at last check, the air was still free. His gimmick? Nostalgia.
Projections of the damage caused by Katrina, it seems, keep getting worse. The governor of Mississippi was quoted as saying that all Gulf Coast casinos had been completely destroyed. Even if it’s not that dire, it looks very bad. Any destruction of property, of course, pales beside the loss of human life, just as any
I just got a press release detailing what’s going on with Harrah’s casinos in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina. It’s not the end of the world for the company by any stretch of the imagination–they’ve got property damage and business interruption insurance–but things don’t sound that great for the Gulf Coast casinos, with no
Update from Harrah’s Read More »
news about gamblingIn the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it is clear that the damage is much worse than originally thought. Dozens of people have lost their lives, homes and business have been destroyed, and much of the Mississippi Gulf Coast has been devastated. As far as casinos go, this is an unmitigated disaster.
Hurricane Katrina is, as I write this, devastating parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, and, as is increasingly common these days, there is a connection to gambling: casinos in the area, particuarly on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, have been hit hard, and the impact–in both the short and long run–will be felt nationally.
Katrina closes casinos Read More »
news about gamblingYesterday, I wrote up a story about a wealthy Singapore family who sent their teenage son to a casino management seminar to learn about the business of gambling. Today, we’ve got something from the other end of the socio-economic spectrum: South African school children who gamble so that their families can eat.
Kids gambling are breadwinners? Read More »
gambling & culture