Problem gambling is classified as an impulse control disorder, and it looks like it may have company. An Iowa State study says that many children suffer from addictive video gaming. From USA Today: Nearly one in 10 children and teens who play video games show behavioral signs that may indicate addiction, a new study reports.
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gambling & cultureLauren Goldstein Crowe and Sagra Maceira De Rosen. The Towering World of Jimmy Choo: A Glamorous Story of Power, Profits, and the Pursuit of the Perfect Shoe. New York: Bloomsbury, 2009. 215 pages. This is probably not the best book to read after American Rust. The transition from the gritty, downbeat novel to this superficial
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book reviewsCops in Royal Oak, Michigan, have gotten their digs renovated–thanks to bookies. From the Chicago Tribune: The second floor of the citys police station has a new look thanks to money seized a decade ago from a sports gambling operation. The department put up almost $34,000 for the $52,000 renovation completed Wednesday, most of it
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gambling & culturePhilipp Meyer. American Rust. New York: Spiegel and Grau, 2009. 343. This powerful novel is a case study in character development. Each chapter focuses on a single character. While the narrative remains in the 3rd person, the reader primarily sees the world through that character’s eyes for a few pages. This is an effective technique
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book reviewsI did a short radio interview with 94.9 in San Diego about, of all things, casinos and smells. Here’s a description and a link to the audio: After reading an article in the Union-Tribune about new scents (that’s right, smells) being installed in a local casino to entice gamblers to stay and play longer, Hansen
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what's newI’ve got a new Las Vegas Business Press article up. I got the idea after coming across the quotation that I mention in Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom: In the past 10 years, the national casino industry has become progressively more concentrated. Through buyouts, mergers, and acquisitions, effective control of the gambling business has been
LVBP column on the Strip and monopoly Read More »
news about gamblingI’m in the middle of the website update, and in answering a question about the Flamingo I found out that they have a restaurant named “Voga.” It’s the ultimate evolution of taste, according to the folks who wrote the copy for the website. It’s apparently the name of an Italian wine, but it makes me
We’ve got two great talks scheduled for the Center for Gaming Research later this month. The first, “Commercialization, Crime, and Casinos: Legacies of 18th Century Gambling,” is by Dr. Nicholas Tosney, our April visiting fellow and a really cool guy to boot. You can see the flyer here. Dr. Tosney is speaking in Special Collections
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what's newThe February gaming revenue numbers are in for Nevada, and the news is not good. From the LVRJ: Casino revenue statewide continued a 14-month downward spiral in February. But there was one bright spot in the avalanche of negative numbers — gaming tax collections increased for the first time in seven months. Throughout Nevada, gaming
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news about gamblingHaving picked up this personality study from Marginal Revolution, I followed it through to a handy interactive map that will help me share with you the aggregate personality of Nevadans. The United States of Mind – WSJ.com. Here is where Nevada ranks: Extraversion: 37 Agreeableness: 48 Conscientiousness: 24 Neuroticism:42 Openness:9 So your typical Nevadan is
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life in vegasGaming law expert I. Nelson Rose apparently got misquoted in the LV Sun yesterday, so he sent out an unmediated version of his comments on the Las Vegas economy, which I posted to the UNLV Gaming Reading Room: Economic depressions have immediate impacts on gaming law. I have had more than one large U.S. investor
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news about gamblingNo one ever said that Atlantic City was recession-proof, and now we have the numbers to back it up. Revenues fell 7.1% in 2008, with profits down by 25%. From the AC Press: The casinos can still make money, but the industry is far from recession-proof. While gross operating profits fell significantly in 2008 and
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atlantic city, news about gamblingThe NCAA believes that legal betting on college games is antithetical to the purity of its student athletes, yet allows colleges to accept advertising money from casinos. Hypocrisy? You be the judge. From USA Today: From the $591 million in TV and marketing revenue generated this season to the masses awaiting Saturdays semifinals and Mondays
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news about gamblingI really said this on a recent Vegas Gang podcast, and taken out of context the quote looks almost, but not quite, pithy. But if you look at the entire transcribed section of the quote on the Poker Grump’s blog, you can see just how un-pithy I can sound: I mean, yknow, Ive seen people
Apparently Atlantic City poker players aren’t quite ready for poker to evolve. Trump Plaza has pulled its electronic poker tables, along with most of its East Tower casino. From the AC Press: They were fast, mistake-proof and didn’t need to be tipped. But they had no personality. So now they’re gone. Atlantic City’s experiment with
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atlantic city, news about gamblingScott Hilburn. The Argyle Sweater: A Cartoon Collection. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 2009. 128 pages. This is another book I got through the Amazon Vine program, so it has nothing to do with gambling. I just thought it would be a fun read. This cartoon collection from Scott Hilburn is very much in the same
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book reviewsI’m going to be mostly out of the office on an extended project for the next week or so, so you probably won’t be seeing too many posts here. If you’re trying to get in touch with me, email is the best option, though even that’s going to be spotty for a while.
Gambling is down almost everywhere in the US, but it’s roaring ahead in Albania. From AFP: Albanians spent more than 100 million dollars on gambling last year, an increase of almost 70 percent on the year in one of Europes poorest countries, the tax office said Thursday. "During 2008, Albanians spent more than 100 million
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news about gamblingIn 1969, Florida-based fast-food chain Lum’s bought Caesars Palace. Lum’s was best known for their hot dogs and beer, but the company owned a slew of businesses, including the Abner’s family fast food chain (which didn’t serve beer), Dirr’s processed meats, and Eagle Army-Navy stores. One of the top items on Lum’s menu was the
Joshua Gans. Parentonomics: An Economist Dad Looks at Parenting. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2009. 240 pages. If there are two things that there is no shortage of opinions on, it’s parenting and economics. Yet books about both continue to be popular. So when one combines both topics, it’s of definite interest, at least to parents.
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