John Buntin. L.A. Noir: The Struggle for the Soul of America’s Most Seductive City. New York: Harmony Books, 2009. 409 pages. In this lengthy exposition of Los Angeles police and corruption, John Buntin examines the career of two Angelenos: Bill Parker, who became one of the LAPD’s most important–and controversial–chiefs, and Mickey Cohen, who occupied […]
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book reviewsAlong with word that business in Las Vegas is “bouncing along the bottom,” the big news today is the latest in celebrity bad marker cases, former NBA star Antoine Walker. From the LVRJ: Walker faces three felony counts related to writing bad checks at Las Vegas casinos between July 2008 and January 2009. According to
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news about gamblingYou’ll have to wait until September, but you’ll be able to hear surveillance expert Derk Boss discuss current trends in casino surveillance and loss prevention. Here’s the summary: September 3, 2009 Gaming Research Colloquium Series: Derk Boss, DJ Boss and Associates “Behind the Camera: Current Trends in Casino Surveillance and Loss Prevention” Thursday, September 3,
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what's newHarrah’s had announced–in very unspecific terms–what it plans to do with its fantastic assortment of Strip acreage. From the LV Sun: They didn’t announce their intentions at the time. The economy was still humming, and with tourism booming and new resort construction expected by consumers and demanded by investors, the decision was something of a
Hey! What passes for good news on the casino revenue front: the decrease in revenue isn’t as bad as it’s been. Who would have thought we’d be saying that back in 2007? From the LV Sun: Casinos along the Las Vegas Strip won $480.8 million in May, making it the 17th straight month of a
Nevada revenue decline declining Read More »
news about gamblingTrisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile. I’d Trade My Husband for a Housekeeper: Loving Your Marriage after the Baby Carriage. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2009. 176 pages. It’s another Amazon Vine review, and another advice book. If you wonder why I review so many of these, its because there seem to be a lot of them
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book reviewsThe casino industry has lost one of its major innovators with the passing of Bernie Goldstein this weekend. From the Quad City Times: Bernard “Bernie” Goldstein, 80, who got his start in business as a scrap metal dealer and became a major player in Americas gambling empire, died Sunday in Trinity Pathway Hospice, Bettendorf. “Im
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news about gamblingReview of Gerald F. Davis’s Managed by the Markets: How Finance Re-Shaped America,
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book reviewsCasinos in most of Russia are about the close. From BBC News: Gamblers in Moscow and other major Russian cities are placing their last bets ahead of a government ban on casinos and gaming halls. A new law comes into effect at midnight, confining gambling to four regions far from the capital. It bans gambling
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news about gamblingColorado casinos are getting ready to start play with more games and higher betting limits. From the Colorado Springs Gazette: At the Colorado Grande Casino in Cripple Creek, the last security cameras are being placed over the roulette table. At Bronco Billys Casino, gamblers are laying wagers on blackjack table in the new table games
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news about gamblingI’ve put up today’s Gaming Colloquium lecture as a podcast. You can listen to it here or subscribe in iTunes. You know, I don’t think Steve Cyr used the word “zeitgeist” in his talk, and Bjerg didn’t once mention boozed-up high rollers. That’s what I like about this speakers’ series–we can hear a real diversity
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what's newReview of Greg Kot’s Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music
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book reviewsRichmond Shreve. Lost River Anthology (Rites of Passage). Cape May, New Jersey: Cape Island Press, 2009. 146 pages. This is new ground for me: the first person I’ve had in a workshop or class who’s published a book. Richmond Shreve was in my creative non-fiction workshop a few years ago at the Winter Getaway, and
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book reviewsIt looks like this is going to be the new look of this site for a while. I’m pretty busy with other projects so I don’t have the hours I need to work on the thorough redesign, and there’s only so much sleep you can miss before it catches up with you. I might adjust
Review of Linda Himelstein’s The King of Vodka, a biography of Pyotor Smirnov.
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book reviewsI upgraded WordPress to version 2.8 this morning, after having put off every upgrade since 2.5. Everything went fine (or so it seemed), but after the installation was complete, I had a blank page here. There’s some kind of problem with the custom theme I’ve been using, so I’ve adopted this theme temporarily. All the
This looks different! Read More »
what's newIf you don’t get your slot jones on in the airport and can’t wait to get to a casino, you will soon be in luck: the county commission has approved a proposal for slots at the unified car rental center, even though the bid seems a bit high. From the LVRJ: Anxious to get revenue
Connected to this WSJ article about the NFL not liking sports betting, there’s a pretty neat, though somewhat vague, interactive map of American gambling: The NFL Doesnt Want Your Bets – WSJ.com.
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news about gamblingYes the Tropicana Atlantic City, which was “repossessed” by the Casino Control Commission over a year and a half ago, has finally been sold…to Carl Icahn. From the AC Press: Tropicana Casino and Resort, once expected to fetch $1 billion or more, was sold today for $200 million to a group of lenders headed by
Our long national nightmare is over Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingI think this story from KLAS really demonstrates what a global business gambling has become: Federal prosecutors have charged two men with conspiring to sell counterfeit video slot machines bearing the name of the Reno-based International Game Technology. The two men include a 43-year-old Cuban national accused of selling the slots in Latvia. Rodolfo Rodriguez
Global slot scheme Read More »
news about gambling