This Forbes post explores the significance of 2018 for casinos in Las Vegas and elsewhere: There are certain years that, at the end of which, the world moves closer to the future than the past, years that mark major shifts in how we see the world, or a small part of it. It’s possible that […]
How 2018 Will Define The Future Of Las Vegas Casinos | Forbes Read More »
forbesMy latest for Forbes.com describes a very hectic night in Las Vegas: The Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas opened in December 2009, bringing a different kind of non-gaming luxury to the Strip. When it was sold earlier this year to Andrew and Peggy Cherng and Tiffany Lam, the property’s management shifted to Hilton, owners of the
Inside The Las Vegas Strip’s Overnight Ultra-Luxe Changeover | Forbes Read More »
forbesMy latest for Forbes looks at how the landscape of the North Strip is about to change: The three operators looking to turn the North Strip from afterthought to epicenter are fighting against history, but they have the potential to disrupt Las Vegas. Read it here: Getting Ready For The Las Vegas Raiders, The North
My latest for Forbes puts the recent Wall Street jitters into historical context: Las Vegas casino operators seemed to be cruising earlier this year, but the summer has turned into a bit of a bummer for them. Whether this is a temporary decline or the start of a bigger reshaping remains to be seen, but
Casinos Are Getting Nervous As Las Vegas Revenues Drop And Their Stocks Slump Read More »
forbesMy latest (and most viewed to date) for Forbes reveals what Wynn’s parking validation plan means for the future of paid parking: To say that visitors were outraged is putting it lightly. Prices in Las Vegas, especially on the Strip, are as high as they’ve ever been, and adding another charge on top of resort
Wynn’s Reversal On Paid Parking A Sign Of Las Vegas Future | Forbes Read More »
forbesMy first piece as a Forbes.com contributor takes a look at the April Nevada gaming numbers, and what they mean: The Gaming Revenue Report features numbers for all casinos in the state, broken down into 25 reporting areas, which sometimes overlap. For example, Clark County is a reporting area, but so is the Las Vegas
Why Las Vegas Casinos Had A Good April And What It Means | Forbes Read More »
forbes, writingI 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
The Las Vegas Strip of the Future – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I reflect back on EVO 2017, which I attended a while back: Which brings us to EVO 2017, which took place at the Mandalay Bay last month. EVO is short for the Evolution Championship Series, an annual tournament that seeks to crown the best players in several fighting video
Esports Draw an Audience – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenWho doesn’t like a circus? Besides the people who stopped going to circuses because they don’t like circuses? In my latest Green Felt Journal, I explore the links between the circus and Las Vegas entertainment: The latest incarnation of the circus to hit Las Vegas is Circus 1903, which will be performing at Paris Las
The Circus Is Coming Back to Town – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThe last of my trilogy of Tropicana birthday/anniversary pieces is this blog post from UNLV Special Collections that looks at a different era of the Strip mainstay that is celebrating its 60th: For research into the Tropicana, one of the best resources is the Tropicana Promotional and Publicity Material Collection, nine boxes of press clippings,
Visiting the Island at UNLV Special Collections Read More »
gambling & cultureIn this week’s Vegas Seven, I take a six-decade look back at the Tropicana, which celebrates its 60th birthday next week: However, a piece of paper police officers discovered in Costello’s pocket while he was at Roosevelt Hospital was more eloquent. “Gross casino wins as of 4-26-57,” it read. “$651,284. Casino wins less markers $434,595.00.
The Tiffany of the Strip – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenNot to fear. Yes, I talked about the past seven years of casinos in Vegas Seven this week. Yes, I began with a scenario from the book of Exodus. But no, I have not abandoned talking about gambling for a career in Biblical exegesis. This was just my way of trying to think more deeply
Seven Year Switch: How Las Vegas Hospitality Has Changed – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThis week in Vegas Seven, I took a different look at Howard Hughes in Las Vegas. The story has been told plenty of times by lots of other people and even me (I first wrote about Hughes in Las Vegas in my dissertation back in 1999) but with the 50th anniversary of his arrival, I
Howard Hughes: Neon Ozymandias in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Vegas Seven, I’ve got a cover feature on the 50 years of Caesars Palace: Caesars Palace has always been more than the sum of its parts. Yes, it’s just a place where people pay for rooms, eat dinner, watch shows and gamble. But there remains something compelling about the property. It may
A Look Back at Caesars Palace in Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Vegas Seven, I have a cover story on the frustrating summer of 1955–a year that has plenty to teach Las Vegas 2015: Lanza’s no-show aside, opening night at the New Frontier was regarded as a success. One of the Strip’s first resorts had reinvented itself for the Atomic Age, bigger and
The Long, Hot Summer of ’55 | Vegas Seven Read More »
life in vegas, Vegas Seven, writingIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I talk about why the fall in gaming revenue doesn’t matter as much as it would have a few years back: Once upon a time, an annual drop in Nevada’s gaming revenue was greeted with the same reaction of denial, fear and panic that might accompany the diagnosis of
Why Las Vegas’ Gaming Revenue Decrease Is Not a Bad Thing | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn my latest Green Felt Journal, I take a look at the Riviera’s place in history: If there were one property you could point to that has represented the evolution of our city’s casinos over the past 60 years, it would be the Riviera. So it’s only fitting that, in its final days, the hotel-casino
Riviera Going Out as It Came In: A Symbol of the Strip’s Future | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThis week’s Green Felt Journal dissects the reality behind the numbers in the Gaming Abstract: Each year, the Gaming Control Board releases a massive document that charts the performance of the state’s casinos for the previous fiscal year, broken down by geographic area and income. The release of the 2014 Nevada Gaming Abstract crystallizes the
Nongaming Activities Continue to Pay the Bills for Strip Casinos | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenThis week, I’ve got a cover story in Vegas Seven that traces the development of the precursor of today’s Strip retail boom, Hawaiian Marketplace: You’re walking south down las Vegas Boulevard, past a nondescript strip mall promising beer, wine and four-for-$9.99 T-shirts when you see it: the carved head of a bronze-helmeted warrior poking serenely
How the Sidewalk Took Over the Strip | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenHere is my final Green Felt Journal of 2013. It’s perhaps appropriate that it looks ahead to 2014: While 2013 was mostly a year of building and transition, Las Vegas should definitively enter the post-recession era in 2014. That won’t mean a return to pre-recession prosperity, but rather a shift in how casinos approach visitors.
The Action, for Resorts, Is on the Street | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas Seven