Chuckmonster over at ACTripping was kind enough to post an extended rant, followed by pictures that I took of Atlantic City. If I was allowed to do a stream-of-consciousness lecture with Powerpoint, it would look something like this. Check it out, from ACTripping: Since Ive been in Las Vegas, Ive made it back to AC […]
Updating Atlantic City Read More »
atlantic cityWe’re having a great talk next Thursday night down at the library. It’s been on the gaming.unlv.edu schedule for a while, but I thought it would be nice to offer a friendly reminder: "There Were Few Solid Facts to Get in the Way": Popular Perceptions of Bugsy Siegel as Founding Father of Las Vegas A
Bugsy unearthed at UNLV! Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingI’ve got a pretty long review of Des Wilson’s Ghosts at the Table in the current issue of The American Interest. In the review, I go from talking about the book to discussing the place of poker in global culture. Here’s a sample: Poker is the quintessential American game. As with jazz or capitalism It’s
Review in The American Interest Read More »
book reviews, writingI’ve been watching reruns of Classic Trek lately (that’s Star Trek: The Original Series for purists, or The One With Kirk and Spock for those with a non-geek awareness of the show), and it gave me an idea: what if the new wave of Las Vegas casinos and condos is Star Trek: The Next Generation
To boldly go where no analogy has gone before Read More »
news about gamblingIt’s hard to believe, but the Bellagio is a decade old. Ten years ago today, Steve Wynn taught the fountains to play…metaphorically, I guess. That’s right, on October 15, 1998, the Bellagio opened its doors. Here’s a reminder from the October 15, 1998 LV Sun: And so it begins: the latest, the greatest — and
Happy birthday Bellagio Read More »
news about gamblingThis stuff just writes itself. The Atlantic City one-week smoking ban-ban, which I derided as a hallmark of small-town politics, is going to get longer–because a councilman is on vacation. From the http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/186/story/284950.html: A City Council member's vacation cruise will extend a casino smoking ban for an extra five days to at least 12 days.
More small-town fun Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingI found this draft that I forgot to post last week, and thought it might be topical. Enjoy. Trop wants to make a comeback in Atlantic City. It’s kind of like asking the girl who dumped you at homecoming to go to the prom. From Newsday: Tropicana Entertainment LLC, whose corporate affiliates were stripped of
Like me, you’ve probably got town hall fatigue from this grueling election season. But here is a town hall-type meeting you might want to attend: A panel discussion on the ins and outs of the gambling industry will be held October 14, from 10 a.m. to noon, at UNLVs Paradise Campus. Admission is free. Mark
State of the state of gambling Read More »
news about gamblingHere is a classic “only in Atlantic City” story: the city’s casinos must ban smoking for a week because it will take that long for the city council to vote on delaying the ban for a year. Huh? From the AC Press: On Wednesday, Atlantic City is supposed to become the largest casino market in
HUGE publishing news: Roll the Bones is going to be translated into Polish very soon. I’ve been told that the agreement has been signed, and that after I write a brief introduction they will be good to go. This is tremendously good news for all of the Roll the Bones fans in Poland, who can
It’s been a busy week so far–I gave a talk at the Liberty Fund in Indianapolis yesterday and learned from afar that the Plaza v. Plaza verdict had come down. I’ll have more to say about that on the next Vegas Gang podcast, which should be fun. With all of my travel yesterday I got
Book Review: American Lightning Read More »
book reviewsThe official investigation might have given the Donaghy affair the all-clear, but the numbers seem to tell another story. From Jeff Haney at the LV Sun: Throughout the saga of disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy, Las Vegas sports betting analyst R.J. Bell has done a thorough job of examining the scandal from a point-spread perspective.
Stats tell a different story Read More »
news about gamblingI’m on another book review kick, thanks in part to Amazon’s Vine program–they send me books to read, and I get to review them. Looking at the selection, I’ve got to say that Theodore Sturgeon probably had it right–there weren’t that many that I’d want to read. But I picked a few of the more
Book review: Twisted Head Read More »
book reviewsJeff Haney over at the LV Sun’s had a bad run with Vegas sports books recently. In his latest column, he comes just short of calling for an immediate ban on all sports betting. Here’s the apex of the piece: My opinion of elected public officials places them slightly below Saturday morning scamdicapper slime on
Sporrts betting rampage Read More »
news about gamblingRight now, Missouri won’t let you lose more than $500 in its casinos in any single two-hour period, and you’ve got to swipe your player card to get “on board.” But that might change this election year, according to Forbes: Supporters say it doesn’t matter that the gambling industry wrote and bankrolled the promotion of
MO to lose loss limits? Read More »
news about gamblingI really think that they get Las Vegas street names by randomly picking words out of a dictionary without checking to read the definition. Why else is there really a “Bombastic Court” on the west side? View Larger Map Would you want to live at an address that proclaimed you to be “marked by or
When the Trop AC first went on sale (it seems like a decade ago), a newspaper reporter asked me how much I thought it would get. I considered the Sands’ recent selling price and made a quick mental tally of the Trop’s relative size. “$650 million, ” I replied. “Maybe $700 million. The next day,
What’s Trop worth? Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingInteresting piece in the LA Times today about yet another one-day casino: Las Vegas casino openings typically demand red carpets, cocktail parties, celebrity guest lists and fireworks. But not so at the Queen of Hearts — it's a one-day casino. This spartan, eight-hour event is everything the Strip is not: small, unpretentious and quiet, with
With the on-going economic tough times, some casinos have tightened up their slot machines. Some have clamped down on comps. Others have fired people, while even more have just plain gotten cheap. But they still lead their customers to believe that their stays will be grandiose: patrons are promised world class dining, service, and entertainment.
Low expectations are funny Read More »
news about gamblingI signed up for a Total Rewards card a while ago to get on the mailing list. Theoretically, I should be collecting promotional materials from all casinos down at the Center for Gaming Research. But because most casino people I talk to consider preserving their history only marginally less important than alphabetizing their recyclables, I’m
Harrah’s total email fun Read More »
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