If you’ve been a regular reader, you should know that my latest book Roll the Bones came out last month. It’s a comprehensive history for the general reader (in other words, not a “dry” (boring) academic monograph). It’s been getting some nice press–check out the Reviews page to see thumbs-up reviews from everyone from the […]
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what's new, writingFew people would be willing to turn down a free ride, particularly to a casino. But the Atlantic City Jitney Association is hoping that Harrah’s patrons will. At least that’s the story according to the AC Press: The drivers of the resort’s 190 jitneys are taking their campaign against a new casino shuttle to the
As of today, the legendary Stardust is closed. After forty-eight years, the Las Vegas Strip is without one of its most storied names. But how do you close down a casino? The LV Sun tells us: Tony Taeubel, until recently the general manager of the Stardust, can reel off the names of many of the
MGM Mirage and UNLV have had a good relationship for years, so I wasn’t surprised by this news, from Yahoo! Finance: The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and the Invent the Future campaign leadership today announced the largest corporate scholarship donation ever received in the institution’s 49-year history. With a $1 million gift from
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life in vegasRemember when I said, in my analysis, that the Internet Gaming “ban” actually legalized Internet and wireless gaming inside Nevada? Well, take a look at the next big thing to hit poker, from Pokernews: A new wave of interactive gaming devices allowing casino patrons to play poker anywhere on a casino’s licensed property is on
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life in vegasFor those of you who live outside the Silver State, yes, today is a holiday. It’s Nevada Day. And yes, this is a real holiday. Seriously. Almost no one is working at UNLV today, and most state offices, schools, and even some businesses are closed. The parking lots, which are usually overstuffed (a sore point
I’m happier posting my reviews of other people’s books here (see the previous entry) than linking to reviews of my own work, but Tim Peters’ review of Roll the Bones at Card Player was so on-target that I can’t resist. Here’s a sample: To what seems to be the majority of today’s poker players –
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life in vegasGiles Slade. Made to Break: Technology and Obsolescence in America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. Giles Slade opens this monograph with a flurry of astounding facts: in 2004, 315 million working PCs were thrown out in North America alone, and in the following year over 100 million cell phones joined them on the trashheap. That’s
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book reviewsI just got an email press release from MGM Mirage with some new details about Project CityCenter’s residential component. First, there is a “residential gallery” open at Bellagio, which I think has been open for a while now (it was there about a month ago, at least). Second, there are details–and names–for all of the
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life in vegasAs of today, the South Coast has become the South Point. From the LVRJ: The corporate gaming world didn’t suit Michael Gaughan’s tastes. But this morning, he gets to be his own boss again. Gaughan, who built Coast Resorts into a locals’ casino giant before selling the business to Boyd Gaming Corp. for $1.3 billion
If you don’t see any posts for the next few days, I am probably sitting in a jury box in the Clark County Regional Justice Center. Yes, it’s my turn to do my civic duty–I need to call tonight to see if I report tomorrow. I think they should just have us spin a wheel
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life in vegas, what's newLook for a boom in electronic table games soon–IGT is now in the field, and we’ve seen what they’ve done in the slot zone for the past 20 years. From the LVRJ: Slot machine giant International Game Technology took the initial steps Monday to enter the electronic table game business with plans to develop blackjack
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gambling & cultureI’m not a big Stones fan, but I couldn’t resist the title. No, it’s not a typo: there really is such a thing as a baang, and baangs are big business in South Korea. From the Washington Post: When a South Korean police squad cracked down on illegal computer gambling, they did it by literally
You have hopefully noticed that I’ve made a few changes on the site, mostly cosmetic stuff, in my continuing mission to find a formula that is readable without being bland. The changes include a new page background (hit refresh if you still have the old one) and moving the random image to the sidebar (just
All you people who get really worked up over gambling online, click over to the article and bang your chest at the denoument. It’s from Yahoo!News: It was getting late on Oct. 12, the night before a sweeping anti-Internet gambling bill would be signed into law. Paul McGuire was at his computer, enjoying one last
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news about gamblingI discovered this book while looking at the Barnes and Noble page for Roll the Bones. Apparently, people who buy my book there also buy this one, along with histories of happiness and night-time. Being interested in Venice, I thought I’d give it a read, not really knowing what to expect. Author John Berendt doesn’t
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book reviewsThe Russian State Duma–their version of parliament–voted down a bill that would have created a new regulatory framework for Russian casinos. Existing regulation, it seems, is something of a slapdash affair. From RIA Novosti: The bill’s doom does not mean gamblers and casino proprietors have several more years to enjoy the absence of related legislation,
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news about gamblingHumans have been using money for 7000 years, maxiumum, but their brains have been evolving for far longer than that. So how do we handle money, biologically speaking? And how can this be connected to gambling? This article from MIT’s Technology Review says how: According to new research by Mauricio Delgado, a neuroscientist at Rutgers
Losing money hurts! Read More »
gambling & cultureAnother piece of the Strip’s past is gone forever…but was it a valuable piece of history, or just some landscaping that had outlived its usefulness? You be the judge, since this LVRJ article presents both views: Four of the five original statues that once stood in front of Circus Circus, Las Vegas icons photographed by
One man’s treasure… Read More »
life in vegasDo you want to know just what the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Funding Prohibition” is? I’ve printed out all 107 pages of the “Security and Accountability For Every Port Act of 2006,” AKA, the SAFE Port Act, and, skipping ahead to page 94, I’ll summarize the relevant bits for you. Section 801 of the SAFE Port
Internet Gambling Prohibition summarized Read More »
news about gambling