Steve Wynn spent millions of dollars creating the Bellagio fountains, an impressive spectable by any yardstick. Every day, thousands of onlookers thrill to the incongruity of dancing waters in the heart of the desert. It suggests that humans are capable of overcoming even the largest environmental hurdles. The next casino to open on the Strip […]
Diet Coke, Mentos, and the Bellagio fountain Read More »
haphazard worldThe The New York Times Magazine, on 6/11 at least, is all about money. You know, the folding green stuff. Jackson Lears has a piece about The American Way of Debt. Being the excellent historian he is, Lears dissects the anti-debt jeremiads and discovers that Americans have always been quick to going into hock: But
All-in debt and holdem hold ups Read More »
gambling & cultureWhen we look back at it, data mining might be the biggest transformation of gambling to take place in the 1990s. On one level, it’s about reducing the human factor–interaction between casino managers and players to determine the players’ comping levels–to a software program. On the other, it’s about the growing sophistication–and power–of computers. So
From Total Rewards to MySpace Read More »
gambling & cultureThink that a major hurricane will rain down death and destruction on the United States this year? Well, thanks to the Internet, you can now put some money on the proposition. This Knight Ridder story is all over the place, but I think the Sun Herald nailed the headline: While ever-diligent South Floridians stockpile hurricane
Betting on hurricanes Read More »
gambling & cultureProving that things that happen in other parts of the country also happen in Vegas, there’s talk of banning smoking indoors in Nevada. But in hotel rooms? From the LVRJ: Nevada voters could be asked in November whether they want to ban smoking in hotel and motel rooms, restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores and bars. A
No smoking in NV hotel rooms? Read More »
life in vegasI’m late in posting today because I spent much of the morning doing a stint on KNPR’s State of Nevada–check the link for the details–and recording a few commentaries that will air at a later date. One of them is an elaboration (no, it’s definitely not a rehash) of my thoughts on spelling bee betting,
From 06/06/06 to 10/05/06 Read More »
what's new, writingThere’s a movie called The Hoodlum Priest, but I don’t think it’s about the guy who runs this casino turned church. From the Fresno Bee: Vineyard Casino stirred great hopes of a tax windfall for Fowler when it opened 10 years ago in a big new building on a 13-acre property on the city’s south
The cardroom church Read More »
gambling & culture, haphazard worldPeople familiar with Vegas for jsut a few years should remember the Maxim. It was a small hotel and casino a few blocks uo Flamingo Road from the MGM Grand (the original) that borrowed much of the MGM’s mirrors and chrome 1970s design. It was never that successful, and was completely gutted before being reincarnated
“Maxim”um Vegas, again Read More »
life in vegasThe Las Vegas Marathon isn’t until December 10, but you can start training for it today by joining the Roadrunners Training Program. Actually, you could have started yesterday at 6 AM, when training officially kicked off with a 3-mile run. By December 10, doing 26.2 miles will seem like a piece of cake. Well, it
Road-running in Las Vegas Read More »
life in vegasFor a while now, I’ve been wondering if there’s a line on the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I’ve found watching the bee on ESPN strangely compelling, even though I don’t think Texas Hold’em, is in any danger. Well, someone is taking bets on the bee, but you can’t place wagers on individual students. From USA
Here are a few famous books about gambling that I happen to have on my bookshelves, translated into Japanese then retranslated into English: Strike the dealer Come having under the house The probability for me In world book of the largest blackjack Blackjack of dollar of 1000000 And here’s a classic from Robert F. Kennedy,
More translating fun Read More »
writingI’ve updated the pages for Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling to reflect the impending publication date, October 5, 2006, and added tons of information about the book, including an annotated table of contents. You can already pre-order on amazon.com, and I’ll add links to other online booksellers as they become available. In other
I was reading an interesting piece on the increasingly elaborate backyard pools of SoCal when I was struck by a reference to Las Vegas. From the LA Times: Today homeowners have moved well beyond the simple requirement of a hole in the ground. Instead, they crave Las Vegas-style amusements: remote-controlled flames, sound-activated dancing lights and
This is a story that makes you think. From WSB-TV, Atlanta: Worried about the safety of her family during a stormy Memorial Day trip to the beach, Clara Jean Brown stood in her kitchen and prayed for their safe return as a strong thunderstorm rumbled through Baldwin County, Alabama. But while she prayed, lightning suddenly
Good luck, bad luck, or divine design? Read More »
haphazard worldIt sounds like a drink you’d buy in a Asian-themed bar, but that might be the name of the Marina Bay casino/hotel/resort in Singapore, as Las Vegas Sands won the bid to build a casino in the Marina area. From Yahoo Finance: Singapore picked Las Vegas Sands Corp. to build and run what will be
I woke up pretty early this morning, so I took some time to put together the NINTH (I can’t believe it) page of the carpet gallery. Since I’m in Lake Tahoe at the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking, it’s no surprise that this gallery has images from Tahoe. Die is Cast casino carpet gallery
New carpet gallery Read More »
what's newThanks to Roger Gros of Global Gaming Business, I got to attend the opening of the MontBleu last night. Here’s a press release talking about it: MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa in Lake Tahoe celebrated its official debut on May 24, with the help of Howie Mandel, comedian and host of NBC’s hit game show
I’m still at the ICGRT, but this article seemed to strange not to post. From the LVRJ: On Saturday night, an unidentified object was sent hurtling through the roof at Steven Gleicher’s workplace. Was the football-sized object a meteor or perhaps something more common? Advertisement And perhaps just as puzzling: How could it rip through
I just finished presenting my paper “The Revolutionary Ridotto” at the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking, and I’ve got a little time to post an update. The conference is going very well–as always, I’m learning a great deal, and I’m sure everyone else is as well. For the carpet-curious, a late-night expedition last night
To hear this story tell it, the main point of the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking is to count cards. From the RGJ: Ever wonder how to develop a computer program that will earn you millions by predicting horse races in Hong Kong? What about simple card counting at blackjack? Curious how casino design
Conference in the news Read More »
gambling & culture