For those of you who are curious, my session this morning at G2E on the Wire Act was, I think, a real success. Bob Blumenfeld gave a great summary of the US/Antigua WTO case and Bill White from Global Cyber discussed the possibilities of intra-state legal Internet gaming. All in all, an interesting session. I […]
As the Las Vegas Review Journal will tell you, the Global Gaming Expo has arrived. I was down there yesterday–working on a Sunday again–to drop off some materials for the big centennial of Las Vegas gaming exhibit, and the place was already buzzing. I’m expecting to be down there most of this week, so chances
I know people say that the casino industry is recession-proof, but this might be taking this too far. Steve Lopez of the LA Times has a great story about someone gambling in Lake Charles, Louisiana, even though his New Orleans-area home is still underwater. Evidence, perhaps, that the human urge to gamble is almost as
Gambling after Katrina Read More »
gambling & cultureOne of the things that’s been taking up my time in recent weeks has been creating “A Centennial Celebration of Gaming in Las Vegas,” an exhibit that will run at this year’s Global Gaming Expo. Curious?
Centennial Gaming History Read More »
gambling & culture, life in vegasYesterday, I wrote up a story about a wealthy Singapore family who sent their teenage son to a casino management seminar to learn about the business of gambling. Today, we’ve got something from the other end of the socio-economic spectrum: South African school children who gamble so that their families can eat.
Kids gambling are breadwinners? Read More »
gambling & cultureLet’s say you’ve got a 17 year-old who’s gambling a bit more than he should. Would you tell him to stop gambling immediately? Offer to bank him in exchange for a cut of the profits? Well, two Singapore parents decided the best solution to their son’s gambling “problem” was to send him to a casino
Teenage gambling expert Read More »
gambling & cultureWhen I saw this news, I groaned inwardly…ESPN is showing even more televised poker next year. I know this gem of knowledge because I got the press release straight from Harrah’s, along with a 2005-6 poker season schedule. Yeah, I just typed “2005-6 poker season” with a straight face.
Doing research for Roll the Bones, I became more convinced than ever that gambling is pretty close to a human universal. I don’t just mean playing slots or picking the Eagles to cover–I’m talking about the more general sense of gambling as risk-taking. Come to find out that it’s not just humans who like to
Primates double down? Read More »
gambling & cultureAcademic centers dealing with gambling have rather prosaic names: Reno has Bill Eadington’s excellent Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming; a consortium of Canadian universities has the Alberta Gaming Research Institute; and of course there is my own Center for Gaming Research. Not too flashy, but you get the picture: people studying
A center I’d like to visit Read More »
gambling & cultureWhile I was writing Roll the Bones, I thought sometimes that maybe there was a good reason that no one had yet written a thorough history of world gambling–because there isn’t any interest in reading it. But I find that I’m wrong: there is already such a book out there. There’s just one problem: to
Gambling history…for the ignorant Read More »
gambling & cultureThe Connecticut attorney general recently asked Foxwoods casino to shut down a gambling game with an online component, charging that it is online gambling. But is it really?
Is this net gambling? Read More »
gambling & cultureThe UK Casino times has a list of Great Gambling Quotations that literary-minded gamblers might find inspiring. It draws on everyone from Harvey Keitel to Jean Cocteau, and is nothing if not catholic in its reach.
The Wisconsin State Journal has an interesting piece about playing poker online for a living. This is a growing phenomenon. But is wearing your own personalized loungewear a job requirement?
Online for a living Read More »
gambling & cultureThink someone who won a million-dollar slot jackpot is rolling in dough? Well, owning the casino is even more profitable. Forbes has an interesting slideshow with the the richest gambling magnates in the world.
Hitting the jackpot Read More »
gambling & cultureI’ve recently suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that gambling may be the answer to everything. Apparently some people really think that betting patterns can help predict the destructive swath of hurricanes. Really.
Betting on hurricanes? Read More »
gambling & cultureYesterday, I suggested that gambling may be able to predict the future…as long as the future’s already been written in a book and people are able to bet on it. This site has yet another example of gambling gone wild: Stuff On My Cat � Smokey has a bit of an issue Just when you
The latest Harry Potter book sold something like 7 million copies on its first day, as readers were eager to find out which “major character” dies or something like that. I haven’t read the books, so I’m not sure what that’s all about, but here’s an interesting story: two months ago, newspaper reports gave away
Harry Potter spoiled…thanks to gambling Read More »
gambling & cultureSince 2002, Russia has become a truly casino nation. Moscow alone, which had 30 casinos in 2002, has almost double that number today. But many American visitors would be a bit surprised by what they found behind the doors of a Moscow gambling house: Victorian decor…and arm wrestling?
According to the LVRJ, ‘Life goes on’ in Las Vegas after the London terrorist attack. Events like that show how trivial much of the “news” is, particularly the sort of thing covered on this site. Still, if you are interested in the world of gambling as seen from Las Vegas, there are several stories out
The Party Gaming stock offering has been big news lately. There’s a profile of the company’s chief owner Ruth Parasol, for example, that makes interesting reading. But what about the people who actually run the site?