It’s Thursday, so you’ve got more Vegas Seven goodness to read. This week, my contribution is a look into the El Cortez’s Design-a-Suite-Downtown competition: Most casino executives view renovating hotel rooms as a necessary but disagreeable process. Room remodels are doubly expensive—they pull rooms out of the rental pool and incur labor and materials costs. […]
Creative El Cortez in Vegas Seven Read More »
news about gambling, writingMy interview with Steve Inskeep of KNPR’s Morning Edition has aired: Las Vegas just added a bit more bling to its famed Strip with the unveiling of a new marquee for The Cosmopolitan — a resort-casino opening at the end of the year. There already are questions about how the city will absorb another 3,000
Too many rooms? on NPR Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingI’ve updated the Nevada June revenue/handle analysis: >>>Nevada Gaming Statistics: June Comparison Statewide, Las Vegas Strip, Boulder Strip, and Washoe County figures for June, 2004-2010 read report (pdf) This time, I added a one-page “executive summary.” The summary’s necessary because I’ve realized that while the implications of the numbers in the tables seem perfectly obvious
Updated June Nevada gaming numbers analysis Read More »
news about gamblingThis week’s Las Vegas Business Press column takes a closer look at the game of baccarat, which is becoming more and more important on the Strip: At the level of the individual casino, there are even greater swings of fortune. Unlike Nevada, New Jersey discloses separate results for each of its casinos. This allows analysts
Bacc talk in LVBP, thoughts on empiricism Read More »
news about gambling, writingIt’s a happy day in UNLV gaming-land. An article I wrote a while back about how Las Vegas bounced back from the 1980s recession is out in Gaming Law Review and Economics: MOST WHO HAVE CONSIDERED Las Vegas history have concluded that not much happened in Las Vegas gaming between the openings of the original
The Burger King Revolution Read More »
news about gamblingJust to show you the kind of week I’m having, it’s Thursday and I’m just now getting around to posting a link to my bi-weekly LVBP column, which I should have done on Monday or Tuesday. I just got the beta version of the Macau gaming summary up, and I’ve jumped into a study of
Surprising AC slots in LVBP Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingIf you want, you can take a sneak peek at the latest jurisdictional gaming summary I’ve done at the Center for Gaming Research, Macau: http://gaming.unlv.edu/abstract/macau.html I’m still honing it, so any suggestions are appreciated.
Soft launch of new Macau page Read More »
news about gambling, what's newAnother week, another smug, alarmist anti-online gambling editorial, this time from the Christian Science Monitor: Fresh from fixing Wall Street’s casinolike ways in high finance, Congress begins work Tuesday on a bill to overturn a 2006 law banning Internet gambling in the US. The measure is being rushed through the House Financial Services Committee on
Another anti-gambling editorial Read More »
news about gamblingIt’s Thursday, so I’ve got another Green Felt Journal in Vegas Seven. This week, I take a look at the surprising success of hobby-related trade shows, with a focus on Creation Entertainment’s upcoming Star Trek Convention: Things haven’t looked good for business travel to Las Vegas for a few years. Since 2006, the city has
Trek to the Rescue in Vegas7 Read More »
life in vegas, news about gambling, writingNew Jersey governor Chris Christie’s Advisory Committee on New Jersey Gaming, Sports, and Entertainment has issued its report, which calls for a partial state takeover of Atlantic City. From the AC Press: But Atlantic city and state officials have naturally focused most on the governor’s plan to create a state-run portion of Atlantic City, in
NJ to take over AC casino district Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingThe 2010 issue of Casino Design, a supplement to Global Gaming Business, is out now. It’s filled with tons of great articles with many perspectives on how and why casinos look the way they do. I’d like to point you towards the cover story, a massive look at how CityCenter developed, from drawing board to
CityCenter’s history Read More »
life in vegas, news about gamblingIt’s Thursday, so you’ve got another Green Felt Journal column to read in Vegas Seven. This week, you can read my column on one of the first players to bust out in the main event; I wrote about my time at the tournament a few days ago, and here are the literary results: So what
Early WSOP bust-out in Vegas 7 Read More »
news about gambling, writingI get lots of questions from folks in the media about the use of scent in casinos. Apparently, after a month there wasn’t much question at the Palms, since the casino decided to stop using its air perfume. From the LV Sun: The Palms scent — teakwood, named after the Southeast Asian tropical hardwood —
Palms ditches scent Read More »
news about gamblingI tried to douse some of the anti-gambling rhetoric yesterday, so it’s only fitting that in this week’s LVBP column I give a little perspective on calls for gambling legalization to bridge budget gaps: The legalization or expansion of casino gaming is a hot topic in many states across the country. Like Nevada, many states
Gambling, legalization, and taxes in the LVBP Read More »
news about gamblingThis Patriot-Ledger editorial–from which I’ve excerpted a tiny slice–says a great deal about how public debates about casino gambling are structured. Why not use innuendo and guilt by association, if you can’t find numbers to back you up? If BP had come here peddling an offshore oil well, the company would have been hooted out
Anti-casino rhetoric Read More »
news about gamblingAh, that headline was inevitable, given the story, which I’m taking straight from the press release. It’s worth it: In honor of National Dog Day on Thursday, Aug. 26, Whiskey Pete’s Hotel & Casino invites guests to bring their pets on vacation where furry friends can stay and play for free in an affordable, comfortable
Whiskey Pete’s goes to the dogs Read More »
news about gamblingIf nothing else, this story was much easier to research than the one I wrote earlier this week (but won’t be out for another week or two). Instead of pouncing on players who’d just been eliminated from the main event early in level one, I got to sit down and chat with a guy who
First WSOP bracelets in Vegas Seven Read More »
news about gambling, writingThe May numbers have been released from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and while on the surface they seem to be not such bad news, they actually send a mixed message. Here are my thoughts, broken down by region. Statewide Across the state, the gaming industry continues to shrink–we’ve got about 2,500 fewer slots and
As those of you who follow my Twitter stream know, I spent a good chunk of yesterday down at the Rio, cruising around Day 1A of the World Series of Poker. Oskar Garcia has the action cover here. I thought I’d share a few of my thoughts. The story I was looking for at the
When MGM Mirage changed their name to MGM Resorts International, I wasn’t bowled over. “Resorts International” is forever linked in my mind to May 26, 1978, and a big red hotel on the Atlantic City Boardwalk (sure, it’s been painted white for 20 years or so, but in my mind Haddon Hall will always be
MGM name game in Vegas Seven Read More »
news about gambling, writing