What will it take?

Internet gambling is getting bigger and bigger. The NCAA, for example, has learned that, shockingly, people are using the phrase “March Madness” to promote betting on its championship tournament. And the organization is piping hot mad: it’s issued cease and desist orders. To protect Americans from online gambling, two Congressmen have re-introduced the Internet Gambling […]

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news about gambling

Illegal gambling and…parking?

I’m doing a quick hit today because I’ve been totally pre-occupied with getting http://gaming.unlv.edu ready for the big relaunch. But this story was hard to pass up. Check out the intro from the Philly Daily News: KNOW IT’S wrong, but I feel for the lunks who got busted for operating that illegal Port Richmond casino.

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news about gambling

Hedonism, liberalism, and casinos

I read an interesting article about the rise of Hamas to power and the dim prospects for the once-booming Jericho casino, and thought about writing an extended piece for the LVBP considering the idea that casinos need liberal democracy to survive (that’s a small “l” and small “d”–I don’t want this to degenerate into partisan

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gambling & culture

Strip primer

If you’re not intimately familiar with the Las Vegas Strip, it can be a confusing place. You might hear somewhere that the Venetian’s got a great buffet and spend your whole time in Vegas looking forward to eating there, only to be disappointed. Luckily for you, Jeff Simpson of the LV Sun has posted a

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life in vegas

Ironic and perplexing? You bet.

There are several things ironic and perplexing about the story I’m going to relate. Read it for yourself, from the Windsor Star: One Ontario government agency is giving a researcher $500,000 to study how casino design affects gambling. But another arm of the government — the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation — has forbidden her

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gambling & culture

The education of a super croupier

Great news for British proponents of gaming education yesterday, as the United Kingdom’s first school dedicated to teaching casino operations opened. From the BBC: The UK’s first gaming academy, to teach trainee croupiers the tricks of the trade, was officially opened in Lancashire on Wednesday. Blackpool and The Fylde College has built its own training

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gambling & culture

Gambling and the mob

One question I get a lot is, “When did the mob leave Las Vegas?” I usually answer that organized crime is present in every major American city (and probably every major city in the world), so it is still here. As I’ve said before, the idea of the mob “controlling” Las Vegas was and is

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news about gambling

But how’s the pension plan?

According to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Al Qaeda has better PR than the US. According to CNN’s American Morning, they’ve also got a decent policy on paid vacations for operatives. From CNN transcripts: O’BRIEN: It’s not your run-of-the-mill job offer. The salary is decent, the benefits surprisingly good. The only trouble is, from our perspective,

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haphazard world

Love and Pocket Aces

Marketing gambling is a fascinating profession: how do you convince people to spend time coming to a casino, real or virtual, when in all likelihood they will lose? I can’t tell you that, because I’m not a casino marketer. But I guess they are doing something right, as casino revenues continue to soar. Valentines Day,

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gambling & culture, haphazard world

Colorado gambling

There was an interesting piece in today’s Denver Post about the confused legal status of gambling in Colorado: Robert Brown, agent-in-charge of Gaming/Complex Crimes at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, wants to make sure Denverites do not develop an irrational fear regarding the “complex” laws governing gambling. In fact, Brown goes out of his way

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news about gambling

Blame Abramoff for Net ban failure?

Bob Goodlatte is at it again–he’s proposing an Internet gaming prohibition. And now he’s claiming that the only reason his bill didn’t pass in 2000 was opposition from disgraced lobbyist du jour Jack Abramoff. From Reuters: Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte will reintroduce a bill this week that would prohibit Internet gambling, a fast-growing industry valued

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gambling & culture

City Center East? More locals casinos West?

In a story from last week, MGM Mirage CEO Terry Lanni discussed his company’s City Center project in Las Vegas and the potential for a similar one in Atlantic City. From Reuters: “We would give consideration to a CityCenter East,” CEO Terry Lanni told Reuters in an interview. He said such an announcement could come

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atlantic city, life in vegas

The Great Gambler?

I know they say that “what happens here, stays here,’ but there’s been a disturbing tendency for “insiders” to leak information about the gambling habits of high-profile guests in Las Vegas over the past few years. The Rick Tocchet sports betting scandal hasn’t directly ensnared Wayne Gretzky, but reports of the hockey great’s gambling are

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gambling & culture, life in vegas

A casino school?

In Australia, I’ve been told, collections of gamblers are called schools–a “two-up school,” for example, is a bunch of people playing the classic Oz game. (If you’re from Australia, let me know if this is true). In America, there are dealer schools, and even degrees in casino management, but Donald Trump wants to take it

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news about gambling

Penalty box looming for Tocchet?

Yesterday, a piece I wrote on a “modest proposal” for legalizing sports betting ran in the LV Business Press. But today, sports betting is, of course, still illegal in most states. Former Flyers forward (and current Coyotes assistant coach) Rick Tocchet learned that the hard way: he’s been accused of promoting gambling, money laundering and

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gambling & culture

Super bets

The Super Bowl has come and gone, bringing jubilationt to the city of Pittsburgh, disappointment to the Pacific Northwest, and uneaten guacamole in refrigerators around the country. I suspect, but can’t confirm, that there is some sadness at sports books todays, as the favorite beat the spread. Prop bets are always an interesting part of

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gambling & culture, life in vegas