If nothing else, today I learned that I’m not the only one with casino carpet as a wall decoration (three guesses about which carpet it is). I got an email from a gentleman whose father manufactured carpets during the 1950s and 1960s. He made this one for an unknown Las Vegas casino, and now it’s
For a few years now, everyone who is anyone in casino design has known that theming has gone the way of the 99-cent shrimp cocktail. But has it actually gone the way of the $29 room rate, surprising everyone with a boomerang comeback? This LA Times story made me wonder: Only two months after announcing
Themed hotels alive and well–in SoCal Read More »
news about gamblingI’ve got a new column in the Las Vegas Business Press about how food and beverage offerings (well, mostly food) can help or hurt a casino: Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach. The same is true for the masses of gamblers, conventioneers, and tourists who visit hotel-casinos. With a generally similar
Talking about food in the LVBP Read More »
news about gamblingEditors of Babble.com. Dirt is Good for You: True Stories of Surviving Parenthood. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009. 256 pages. This book is intended for “urban, hipster” parents, which I’ve concluded is code for “since we pay $2500 a month for a 4th floor 800 square-foot walkup, we think we’re better than people who live
Book Review: Dirt is Good for You Read More »
book reviewsIt’s a happy day in my writing career. The Polish translation of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling is out at last. For those of you who speak Polish, here’s the first bit of the prologue: Jak feniks z popio?ów By? 5 czerwca 1637 r. Puryta?scy osadnicy, przybyli niedawno ze starego kontynentu, posuwali si?
Roll the Bones in Polish Read More »
what's new, writingHere’s some good news about the Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon from the LVRJ: In the 10-plus months since it was announced that Competitor Group was taking over the Las Vegas Marathon, there have been several new additions to the race A new name — the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon — that
After about a week’s delay I’ve finally gotten the 15th UNLV Gaming Podcast up, featuring Global Gaming Business publisher Roger Gros. It wasn’t easy–midway through Roger’s Gaming Research Colloquium talk, my recording device cut out. Luckily, I was able to sit down with Roger and ask him a few questions that reproduced, with a few
UNLV Gaming Podcast 15 (Roger Gros) is up Read More »
what's newThis is a well-written NY Times article about where Atlantic City is today, even if it’s the same song we’ve been hearing for decades now: Just a few years ago, Atlantic City was boomtown U.S.A. Day-tripping retirees plunked quarter after quarter into slot machines at the casino warehouses lining the Boardwalk. The city was in
More death spiral talk in AC Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingI’m still not where I want to be with the book review I’m working on, but here’s something I can share. I’m going to be moderating a panel at G2E about F&B as a marketing tool. Here is the info: Thursday, November 19, 2009: 9:15 AM – 10:15 AM Role: PANEL MODERATOR Creating Identity: Using
This piece in the LA Times mentions the current pressure to legalize some forms of Internet gambling, with a hint of the real story: Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) have both introduced bills in Congress to lift a federal ban on much online play and clarify the law, which is even
Net gambling rundown Read More »
news about gamblingRon Abell. Tap City. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1985. 274 pages. This is hardly a new release, but I just read this book for a class I might be teaching about gambling and media. And it’s a book I should have read a long time ago. Tap City is about a fictional Seven-Card Stud
Book Review: Tap City Read More »
book reviewsI’ve got a new column in the LVBP, about the dubious morality (and even more dubious economics) of many states that legalize gambling: There's a paradox here: Many states legalize gambling only to bring in revenue in lieu of raising taxes. When their citizens can't generate the kind of tax revenues state governments can't do
Morality, economics, and gambling expansion Read More »
news about gamblingThis is a very interesting story from the LV Sun: Gaming board agents have made nearly 400 arrests in connection with casino and gambling-related crimes in Nevada this year, compared with fewer than 300 for all of 2008.Regulators can’t explain the uptick, especially given that law enforcement resources to combat theft haven’t increased amid budget
Casino crime on the rise Read More »
news about gamblingJerome Tuccille. Gallo Be Thy Name: The Inside Story of How One Family Rose to Dominate the U.S. Wine Market. Beverly Hills: Phoenix Books, 2009. 288 pages. The American wine industry has seen tremendous change over the past eighty years. Driven (mostly) underground by Prohibition, winemakers faced several obstacles after repeal in 1933, chiefly American
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book reviewsWith all of the problems the Large Hadron Collider has had, a pair of physicists are mulling the possibility that nature itself is conspiring against it. It’s possible, they say, that the potential creation of a Higgs boson particle is so abhorrent that “ripples through time” are preventing the machine from operating as it’s supposed
Playing Casino War with the universe Read More »
gambling & cultureThere’s an article in today’s LVRJ about casino coffee shops being replaced by chains: We've said goodbye or nearly so to dressing up for a night out, all-night buffets, free lounge entertainment and 99 cent shrimp cocktails. The latest Las Vegas icon to fall victim to changing market conditions: traditional coffee shops in locals casinos.The
Bye bye coffee shops? Read More »
news about gamblingJim McManus has an interesting article on the American-ness of poker in the latest Chronicle of Higher Education: American DNA is a notoriously complex recipe for creating a body politic, but two strands in particular have always stood out in high contrast: the risk-averse Puritan work ethic and the entrepreneur's urge to seize the main
And not a moment too soon. We’ve acquired a major new collection that I’m in the process of…processing and we’ve got Roger Gros giving a Gaming Research Colloquium talk this Thursday. If you’re not curious about what kept me away for so long, you can jump down a few paragraphs for some City Center-related comedy.
Timothy Egan. The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. 352 pages. Forest fires are a perennial concern, particularly in the American West, as is government stewardship of public lands. This was no less true in 1910, when the Forest Service was young and the worst fire
Book Review: The Big Burn Read More »
book reviewsIt’s not carpet, but it does have to do with what you walk on in a casino. This little bit was in the latest Wynn Newsletter, and I thought it was interesting: Wynn Las Vegas is a visual feast unlike any other on the Strip. There is so much to take in, so much care
Flowers on the floor Read More »
news about gambling