casinos

Marty Byrde, King Dice, and gaming’s enduring image problem – CDC Gaming Reports

For my latest commentary, I started thinking about how two recent bits of pop culture reflect on casinos. The answer: not well: The casino gaming industry is in a funny place. For those of us inside the bubble, it’s a business brimming with regulations, compliance, and integrity. For those outside it, though, casinos are still, […]

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CDC Gaming

An important anniversary for Las Vegas gaming – CDC Gaming Reports

I’ve got another commentary up today, marking another important milestone: Today, we mark another milestone of Nevada gaming history, one that reminds us how far the state and the industry have come, and how far both still have to go. On March 26, 1960, Governor Grant Sawyer, Las Vegas NAACP President Dr. James McMillan, Las

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CDC Gaming

Twin River Worldwide Stepping It Up – Comped Travel

My latest for Comped Travel is a deeper look at a Twin River Holdings, which just bought three casinos: The move boosts the Providence-based company’s holdings and gives it a presence in three major casino markets. From Eldorado TRWH bought the MontBleu Resort, Casino, and Spa in Lake Tahoe and the Eldorado Resort Casino in

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compedtravel

Why change in the gaming industry should never surprise anyone – CDC Gaming Reports

I’m getting back into short-form writing! Here’s a quick commentary I wrote about the nature of change in the casino business for CDC Gaming Reports: There has been a great deal of change in the news lately for the gaming world. After more than a decade as head of MGM Resorts, Jim Murren is stepping

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CDC Gaming

Look Beyond Las Vegas To See Casino Gaming’s Large Local Impact | Forbes

My latest for Forbes.com considers the ultimate impact of casino gaming: Even though Nevada lost its monopoly on casino gaming in 1976, many Americans still think of the national casino gaming industry as being mostly in—and benefiting—Las Vegas. But most of the $72 billion or so tribal and commercial casinos make each year comes from

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forbes

How Las Vegas Casinos Are Getting More With Fewer Employees | Forbes

My latest from Forbes.com looks at trends in casino employment: Las Vegas casinos, like any hospitality business, owe everything to their employees. After all, they are the ones that provide the hospitality that guests are paying for, the link between the product and the people who buy it. And those employees are more valuable than

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forbes

The Las Vegas Strip of the Future – Vegas Seven

I have a big feature in this week’s Vegas Seven: The Las Vegas Strip of the Future. Fittingly, I approached the future by taking in the past: Looking at how the Las Vegas Strip has evolved over the past 60 years can give us an idea of where it is headed. We’ll survey what’s popular

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Vegas Seven

Why Las Vegas Casinos Need Better Infrastructure – Vegas Seven

In the latest Green Felt Journal, I talk about the importance of casino infrastructure: It’s not as sexy as a new restaurant opening or a big winner in a sports betting contest, but infrastructure—all the stuff that needs to work for any large building to operate—has been in the news quite a bit lately for

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Vegas Seven

Will Expansion Mean Contraction? | Global Gaming Business Magazine

In this month’s Global Gaming Business, I take a look at what impact the expansion of casino gaming has had on mature jurisdictions: But since then, further expansion has put pressure on “mature” gaming markets like Atlantic City, Mississippi and Delaware, which have seen revenues decline. This raises the question of whether further expansion will

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news about gambling

Crime and Perception | Vegas Seven

In today’s Green Felt Journal, I take on a subject that some in the industry don’t like discussing–whether high-profile crimes mean the Strip is less safe than it should be: When tragedy strikes, police and tourism officials are usually quick to stress that these are random events in an otherwise safe city. They point to

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Vegas Seven

Author David G. Schwartz summarizes chapter 13, “The…

Author David G. Schwartz summarizes chapter 13, “The Burger King Revolution: Las Vegas bounces back for the first time,” of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling (Casino Edition).

If you don’t see a video above, go here: http://youtu.be/SlyHlAfgxqM

This chapter covers the changes that tranformed Las Vegas in the 1980s. First, it deals with the forces that led to the mob’s decline and eventual exit from the ownership of casinos in Las Vegas. Then, it discusses the trends that led to a crisis for Las Vegas in the early 1980s, and how Las Vegas rebounded by remaking itself to appeal to mass-market and family vacationers.

Some casinos discussed include the Stardust, Riviera, Circus Circus, and Tropicana.

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life in vegas, video

The History of Our Future | Vegas Seven

I’ve been wanting to write more about Macau, which is such a huge gambling story, for a while, and when given a feature slot for Vegas Seven, jumped on the chance to talk about Macau’s impact on Las Vegas. The result is this week’s cover story: Back in the early days—2006 or so—American executives signing

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Vegas Seven

South Dakota antes up

In 1988, South Dakota voters authorized gambling in Deadwood. Originally, the stakes were limited to $5, with mandates on maximum casino size and requirements that casino owners be “bona fide” South Dakota residents keeping major Las Vegas-based operators out of the market.

You can read more about the proliferation of casinos across the U.S. in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling

Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.

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fromthebook

Casinos in Canada

Casinos evolved quite differently in Canada from the United States, following a mix of the European statist model and the U.S. free enterprise one. Most casinos in Canada are owned by either a provincial government or run for charitable organizations.

Most of the charitable casinos are in Western Canada. The first provincially-owned casino in Eastern Canada, Quebec’s Casino de Montreal, opened in 1993, followed the following year by Ontario’s Casino Windsor, right across the border from downtown Detroit.

There is much more interesting material about casinos in Canada and everywhere else in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling

Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.

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canada, fromthebook

Me @ G2E: Social media insights

A little while ago I received an invitation to participate in G2E‘s conference track. Here are the details: 9:15AM – 10:15AM (Wednesday, October 05, 2011) Social Media Insights, Part III: ROI Although it officially costs nothing to tweet, the hard costs associated with staffing and content development are undeniable. This session will examine how casinos

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news about gambling

Inside the NJ casino overhaul

As promised, I’ve taken a deeper look at the recent casino regulatory overhaul that passed the New Jersey legislature. My comments are based on version of the bill that was current as of 1/10/11. You can find it right here. First of all, the bill codifies into law the current existential angst the industry is

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atlantic city, news about gambling

G2E evolves in the Las Vegas Business Press

In this week’s Las Vegas Business Press, I offer a long view of the Global Gaming Expo: The conference panels are finished though they have been recorded for posterity, and the last of the exhibit booths have been disassembled at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It is an appropriate time to consider how the industry

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Las Vegas Business Press, news about gambling, writing