quote of the day
“Those who bring cell phones to church are not committed to God,” Escobedo said. “It’s very distracting to be praying and suddenly hear birds chirping or techno music.” Source: Wired News: Word From on High: Jam Cell Calls
More underage gambling!
As if the whole Neopets controversy isn’t enough, how about this article from Canada.com? Internet wagering is a growing phenomenon among adolescents because they love the thrill of risk and are comfortable with interactive games, gambling experts said yesterday. “There are more kids gaining access to Internet gambling because there are more and more teens
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UncategorizedStriking distance
I haven’t said much about the Local 54 strike in Atlantic City here, mostly because I’ve been giving you fun stories about hard-up Swedes and gambling Neopets. Today, I read a great article in the Philly Inquirer: It’s a good thing Borgata bosses inked a contract with casino workers last year. If they hadn’t, those
Swedes getting less, gaming more
The conventional wisdom has been that Nordic countries, with their long, dark winters, mean plenty of time for two things: drinking and sex. But the conventional wisdom may be wrong. According to a recent study, Swedes might be turning to online gaming as a substitute for sex. From the Local: Despite the international reputation for
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gambling & cultureMcDonald’s and child gambling
As if eating the food there wasn’t bad enough for kids, the folks at McDonalds are now apparently encouraging kids to gamble online…sort of. From Austrailian seven.com.au: A McDonalds toy giveaway linked to a website that features gambling games has outraged parents, an anti-pokie campaigner and a psychologist. For decades McDonalds has sold soft drinks,
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gambling & cultureNot a nuisance!
For the past two days, most of the cable news networks have been playing up President Bush’s retorts to Senator Kerry’s remarks about terrorism. Here is the original quote from CNN: ”We have to get back to the place we were, where terrorists are not the focus of our lives, but they’re a nuisance,” the
Casino Nation
There is an interesting article Forbes about the expansion of casino gaming: California is not the only state where gambling is on the ballot in November (indeed California alone has two initiatives), and it is not the only place where racetracks want to salvage their flagging business, which is based on one kind of gambling,
More about G2E
Tons of articles about G2E 2004. Here’s a few: GLOBAL GAMING EXPO: Experts take ideas for a spin Marketers eye young crowds, branding Slot makers feel celebrities’ pull at expo Gambling expo highlights glitz Survey: Casinos shifting to younger designs BusinessWire news archive for entire show I haven’t seen anything specifically about the Wire Act
The G2E Panel
The much-anticipated “Legal Limbo” panel at G2E 2004 is now history. I’m blogging from the expo floor, so this will be quick–look for an update tomorrow with links to any media coverage. Bascially, I said hello, then introduced Bob Blumenfeld, who spoke about the Wire Act and the “March Madness” prosecutions of March 1998. Bob
Live at G2E
G2E was much as I anticipated it–very large, with many new machines. Here’s a few: Click on it–you can see it in full size, the fruit of my brand new Minolta 5.0 megapixel camera–look for more great images soon. Anyway, I know that gaming manufacturers don’t target their machines towards kids, but when’s the last
Macau success story
The rapidly-growing casino industry in Macau is gathering steam. From the People’s Daily: Macao’s casino racked in 500 million patacas (62 million US dollars) in gross revenue in the first three days of the National Day holiday which began on Oct. 1. Tuesday’s Macao Daily News reported that the holiday market has boosted the gaming
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news about gamblingGlobal gaming in Vegas
After a year of preparation, the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) is back in town. Let’s see what the LVRJ has to say: Pennies and celebrities promise to be two persistent themes weaving together what for the third year in a row will be the biggest show on earth for the gaming industry. Running through Thursday,
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gambling & culture, life in vegasA Grand Decade in Elgin
The Grand Victoria casino is marking its first ten years in Elgin, Illinois, and the Chicago Daily Herald is running a series of articles this week, starting with this one which talks about the transformation the casino has brought to Elgin:
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gambling & cultureMy week
It’s been a busy week. It looks like I’m a little closer to getting Uneasy Convictions signed. I’m now 28 pages into chapter 2 of Roll The Bones, and hope to have most of the chapter on paper by the end of the weekend. In other news, I did a TV shoot for Equator HD
Striking in AC
With the union and casino management unable to reach a labor accord, casino workers in Atlantic City have gone on strike. From, of all places, the Toronto Star: Front-office executives served drinks, lawyers flipped hamburgers and accountants made beds today after about 10,000 union workers went on strike at seven of Atlantic City’s casinos. Cocktail
Deer folly turns tragic
I had a story that seemed to be a barrell of laughs, until some hammerheads in the Pennsylvania Game Commission ruined it. It begins with a deer living in Southwest Philadelphia who decided to get some takeout fried chicken, in the neighborhood of 52nd and Baltimore (not that far from where I once lived, at
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haphazard worldAntigua update, Jay Cohen will speak
The ecommerce times has a great recap of Antigua’s WTO case, which is the subject of my panel at G2E: The U.S. government decided recently to negotiate with, rather than litigate against, the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda (both referred to as Antigua) over the issue of online gaming. This decision came about after
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news about gambling, what's newShatner/Rollins duet
I’ve heard pieces of William Shatner’s recorded work, and I always thought that he and former Black Flag/Rollins Band/ spoken word artist Henry Rollins would eventually collaborate. Actually, I never even came close to thinking about that. But, according to NME.com, it has happened: Almost 35 years since the release of his debut album, William
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haphazard worldThe big picture
The world’s economy is slowing down, but gaming has expanded. If you’ve got $3000–yes, that’s $3000 American–to spend, you can read all the details, or you can see what I cut and pasted from the press release on yahoo: The 3rd Global Gambling Review: Double or Quits? is now available from Casino City Press, the
Mooncake gambling
This might be the coolest story I’ve discussed yet. Mooncake gambling exists, and it is a thriving recreation in a Chinese city. From China Daily: in Xiamen, a coastal city of East China’s Fujian Province, you find a pack of six dice inside after opening every gaudily-decorated box of mooncakes. Gambling? Right, but it is