Grandissimo Audiobook is coming!

I’ve gotten many questions over the past few months about whether Grandissimo will be available as an audiobook. Earlier, I didn’t have an answer. Now, I can definitively answer “yes.”

I’m working with voiceover maven Eric Martin, You can read more about him (and hear him) on his website. Part of the reason that I agreed to work with Eric is the high quality of his work. He’s done this many times before, and will deliver a high-quality audio version of my words. I think the readers (or, in this case, listeners) deserve nothing less.

I don’t have a firm release date yet, but Eric has finished through chapter 8, so things look good for sometime late in August.

It’s very gratifying to see the support and interest that the book has gotten thus far, and I’m grateful to Eric for his belief that this will make a compelling audiobook.

Stay posted for updates!

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For Online Gaming, Slow and Steady’s Just Right | Vegas Seven

In this weeks’ Green Felt Journal, I consider whether a “slow” rollout of online gaming in the U.S. is such a bad thing: Beyond the neon of Nevada and Atlantic City, gaming used to be something the nation spoke about in either whispers like that cousin who never made good or screams like that cousin

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Vegas Seven

How the Sidewalk Took Over the Strip | Vegas Seven

This week, I’ve got a cover story in Vegas Seven that traces the development of the precursor of today’s Strip retail boom, Hawaiian Marketplace: You’re walking south down las Vegas Boulevard, past a nondescript strip mall promising beer, wine and four-for-$9.99 T-shirts when you see it: the carved head of a bronze-helmeted warrior poking serenely

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Vegas Seven

A Fresh Study Sheds Light on the Habits of the Vegas Visitor | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I look at how the Vegas visitor is changing–and what that means: The big question is, Why do people come to Las Vegas in the first place? Naturally, there are many reasons, so GLS Research, which compiles the profile, asks subjects for the primary purpose of their most recent

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Vegas Seven

The Languages of Gaming | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Vegas Seven, I take a look at what the addition of a bilingual game at a North Las Vegas casino means: The Lucky Club’s move speaks to the growing presence of Spanish-speaking players in and around Las Vegas. And it’s not without precedent. In 2010, Buffalo Bill’s casino in Primm started offering

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Vegas Seven

The Festivalization of Las Vegas | Vegas Seven

This week in Vegas Seven, I contribute to the cover coverage of EDC with a feature on how EDC has paved the way for the festivalization of Las Vegas: It takes one thing to go from outsider to establishment in Las Vegas: success. When Pasquale Rotella’s Insomniac Events first brought the Electric Daisy Carnival to

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Vegas Seven

The Man Who Gave Regulation a Good Name | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I look back at the legacy of Bob Faiss, who immeasurably shaped gaming in Nevada and many other places: Faiss shaped the evolution of Nevada’s gaming regulation as an attorney who represented some of the state’s largest casinos, but never lost sight of what he considered truly important: what

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Vegas Seven

Putting the ‘World’ in the World Series of Poker | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I explore how the World Series of Poker has changed during the past decade at the Rio: When Harrah’s Entertainment—now Caesars Entertainment—bought Binion’s Horseshoe in January 2004, it also acquired the World Series of Poker. Harrah’s more or less sold the Downtown hotel-casino to West Virginia-based MTR Gaming three

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Vegas Seven

Will Expansion Mean Contraction? | Global Gaming Business Magazine

In this month’s Global Gaming Business, I take a look at what impact the expansion of casino gaming has had on mature jurisdictions: But since then, further expansion has put pressure on “mature” gaming markets like Atlantic City, Mississippi and Delaware, which have seen revenues decline. This raises the question of whether further expansion will

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Burton Cohen: The Man You Wanted Running Your Hotel | Vegas Seven

Here is this week’s Green Felt Journal, a tribute (in mostly his own words) to Burton Cohen: Cohen grew up in the hotel business in Florida, and his 16 years of practicing law made him a perfect chief executive, able to read contracts and grasp their subtleties but also aware of operational realities on the

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Vegas Seven

MGM’s Park and the Future of the Strip | Vegas Seven

In my latest Green Felt Journal, I riff on remarks MGM chairman Jim Murren made about his company’s Park development and the future of the Strip by imagining what the Strip will look like in 2019: An interesting way to ponder the Strip’s trajectory is to follow Murren’s lead, play the long game, and imagine

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Vegas Seven

The Coming Social Gaming Revolution | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at what changes might be afoot on casino floors across the country: Since the recession, however, slot machines have lost ground to tables. Last year, tables statewide earned 35 percent of total gaming win. That doesn’t sound like a big shift—5 percentage points over just

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Vegas Seven

The Online Gaming Debate: Not So Fast, Congress | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I propose a possible solution to the current schism between pro- and anti-online gaming forces in Congress (and the gaming industry): With both sides ratcheting up their lobbying, though, it seems that Congress is painting itself into a corner without a way forward or compromise that will satisfy everyone.

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Vegas Seven

Watch the Local Authors Panel from Henderson Libraries

I was honored to take part in the first Local Authors Panel as part of the big collection launch at the Paseo Verde Library on March 8. The panel was a fun, hour-long conversation about writing and Las Vegas.

If you weren’t part of the crowd, you can now see it in its entirety right here (sorry, I couldn’t find an embed option).

It was a good time had by all, and I’m hoping to take part in more events in the future. 

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Needs of High Rollers, Government Leave Casinos in a Bind | Vegas Seven

In this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at FinCEN, the federal bureau that, I think is going to make a big impact on Las Vegas in the near future: Would-be high-rollers, take note: If you ever have a transaction of more than $10,000 at a casino, the staff there will gather information

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Vegas Seven

New Lower Price for Roll the Bones ebook

In a little experiment on price sensitivity in the ebook format, I’ve decided to slash the price of the e-version of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling by nearly 20%. The list price for all versions of the RTB ebook is now $7.99. You can learn more or buy it at your favorite ebook retailer:

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Roll the Bones

Get signed books at Barnes and Noble in Henderson

If you missed your chance to get a signed copy of Grandissimo at one of the many events that I’ve been at lately, I have good news: there are several signed copies available for purchase at the Barnes and Noble on 567 N. Stephanie (info and directions). And here’s a picture of me signing one of them:

 

Thanks to everyone at the store who made this happen. I was very happy to hear that the book is selling well.

If you can’t find Grandissimo at your favorite bookseller yet, please ask them to stock it. Thanks!

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