Interesting piece in the Philly Inquirer about a pay-to-learn-to-gamble service: As far as Roberta Pickett is concerned, it was $100 well spent. “When I left,” said the 53-year-old Myrtle Beach, S.C., resident, “I really felt I could play craps.” Pickett was referring to her recent dice-shooting lesson at Trump Taj Mahal with Assisted Casino Entertainment
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news about gamblingIn preparation for my session at the International Casino Marketing 2010: Player Loyalty, Tech Updates & the Global Market eConference, I’ve been doing a great deal of research into casino tweeting. I’ve put together a list for a statistical study I’m undertaking, and am generally trying to get a better handle on what tweeting brings
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what's newIt’s Thursday, which means a new Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven. This week I tackle long-range planning, a topic I started thinking about after the euro’s decline two weeks ago: Tourism is a fraught industry. There’s always something that can keep visitors away—from health scares to economic malaise—out of the control of managers trying
Numbers tell the story Read More »
news about gambling, writingMy latest Las Vegas Business Press column is an extended take on the issue of accuracy in gaming stats, brought on by the Andy Rooney commentary of a few weeks ago: The gambling business is all about numbers. Whether it’;s a roulette table, a lottery or a low-stakes bingo game, it’s impossible to run without
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news about gambling, writingI’ve posted the latest in the Occasional Paper Series over at the Center for Gaming Research. It’s a great read: Paper 03: May 2010 Theodore Whiting. “The History of Baccarat,” Occasional Paper Series 3. Las Vegas: Center for Gaming Research, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2010. Abstract: The true origins of modern Baccarat
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gambling & culture, what's newJoel J. Miller. The Revolutionary Paul Revere. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010. 304 pages. Paul Revere is famous for his midnight ride, but his life says a great deal more about the founding of the American republic than that single incident. In this new biography, Joel Miller uses Revere’s life to tell readers a little more
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book reviewsIt’s Thursday, which means a new Green Felt Jungle piece in Vegas Seven. This week, I talk about one of the more interesting game inventors I’ve met, Jose Brito: There’s never any shortage of new table games in Nevada. Right now, there are 557 table games approved for the state’s casinos, though you rarely see
Table games are about to arrive in Delaware. From CBS-3: Gambling on table games begins this week at the first of Delaware’;s three racetrack-casinos.Low-limit test games begin Monday at Harrington Raceway & Casino, and the casino plans to go live with table gaming Friday for the start of the Memorial Day weekend, pending final approval
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news about gamblingJack Cashill. Popes and Bankers: A Cultural History of Credit & Debit, from Aristotle to AIG. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010. 259 pages. With many of our current economic problems blamed on over-leveraging (both nationally and right here in Las Vegas), it’s a good idea to get a sense of how credit and debt have historically
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book reviewsMy latest Green Felt Journal piece is out, in Vegas Seven. I get to name-drop Heraclitus to sound sophisticated before talking about the redo of the Trop: That’s because the only thing that doesn’t change around this town is change. There are few other places where anyone would even consider spending $150 million to “relaunch”
Trop tale in Vegas Seven Read More »
news about gambling, writingSome federal debate on legalizing and taxes online gambling, from the LVRJ: Democrat Shelley Berkley said she backs legalizing Internet gambling, but said it is too early to think about taxing it. “Because the industry is not even established yet, I can’t imagine how we can know with any degree of certainty how the special
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news about gamblingThe rules for Ohio casinos are being codified. From the Columbus Dispatch: Would-be Ohio gamblers can rest easy: The slot machines at the state’s four casinos will pay back, on average, at least 85 percent of the money people put into them. Gamblers at new casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo will be able
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news about gamblingMy latest Las Vegas Business Press article is available, in which I talk about perceptions and reality, particularly as they relate to Nevada table games hold: The table-game numbers present an even greater challenge to the idea that managers are putting the screws to players. True, in the past few years there’s been a regrettable
Casinos looser than some think Read More »
news about gamblingPart-time economist and full-time curmudgeon Andy Rooney trashed the gambling business in a recent 60 Minutes piece: The thing that bothers me most about gambling is that people fritter away money so they don’t get to spend it on things that someone else has been paid to produce. Gambling produces nothing. There’s only so much
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gambling & cultureLawyers for Terrance Watanabe how say that the high roller’s losses in 2007 were nearly 69 percent higher than they claimed in their original lawsuit. From the LVRJ: Lawyers for Nebraska philanthropist Terrance Watanabe say in a new lawsuit that his losses at Harrah’s Entertainment casinos were much larger than they previously reported, making him
It’s Thursday, which means the latest Green Felt Jungle in Vegas Seven is out. This week I talk about the Primm casinos texting promotion that you probably know about if you’ve driven along I-15 in either direction in the past few weeks: The company is just coming out of bankruptcy, and its Primm properties might
Texting Terribles in Vegas Seven Read More »
news about gambling, writingGreat story from KLAS about efforts to police the seamier side of the Las Vegas casino pool culture: Clark County Commissioner Steve Sisolak says what happens in European-style pools around the world doesn't necessarily happen in Las Vegas. "International visitors have increased considerably, and this is something that they've asked for," Commissioner Sisolak said. "There
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life in vegasThe Nevada gaming revenue numbers for March are out. From the LVRJ: Nevada casino revenues fell by less than 1 percent during March following February's double-digit increase. State casino operators collected $912.2 million during the month, a decline of 0.66 percent compared with $918.2 million collected from gamblers in March 2009. via Nevada gaming revenues
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news about gamblingGood article about the increased popularity of “sin” in this budget cycle in the Wall Street Journal: Nationwide, the public-funding crisis has led many state and local leaders to similarly reverse course. Hampered by withering funds for law enforcement, health care and other public services, a growing number of officials are condoning activities and businesses
The virtue of vice Read More »
news about gamblingMGM Mirage is partnering with dailygetaways.com to offer a different kind of travel deal. From the press release: MGM MIRAGE is participating in a unique one-month promotion through a specially created website, DailyGetaways.com , joining nearly 50 of America’s top destinations and travel brands to provide once-in-a-lifetime experiences and tremendous values unavailable anywhere else. Discover
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news about gambling