My latest for Vegas Seven–some thoughts on the meaning of Pennsylvania’s expansion of gambling: There are two areas of interest for Las Vegans. The first is the expansion itself. In a sense, Pennsylvania’s push may be the final phase of the expansion of American gambling, which started with Nevada’s re-legalization of wide-open commercial gaming in […]
Pennsylvania gambling expands and other states will follow Read More »
Vegas SevenWhen it opened in 1952, the Sands casino was known as “A Place in the Sun,” and once it signed Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin as entertainers, it became the most popular casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Today, the Sands name lives on in Las Vegas Sands, Inc., the company that owns the Venetian, Palazzo, and Sands Expo Center on the Strip as well as casinos in Pennsylvania, Macau, and Singapore.
As a result, the Sands name is found in the world’s top three gambling markets—a fitting tribute to the place where Vegas got much of its magic back in the 1950s and 1960s.
You can read more about the Sands and other Las Vegas hotels in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.
Go here to read an excerpt from the book, or learn where to buy your copy.
A Place in the Sun Read More »
fromthebook, life in vegasMy piece in the Las Vegas Business Press about the beginning of the end in Atlantic City is out: Historians have taken the date 476 A.D. and the deposition of Romulus Augustus, the last Roman emperor, as the “official” date of the fall of the Roman Empire, even though at the time most Western Europeans
Fall of the Boardwalk Empire? Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingGreat news for Pennsylvanians who like to play table games, bad news for Atlantic City, as Pennsylvania has, to no one’s surprise, approved table gaming. Here’s the reaction from the AC Press: Pennsylvania’s slot parlors won’t stop at table games as they prepare to evolve into Atlantic City-style resort casinos in a fierce battle with
Atlantic City has some new competition, or at least a refurbished version of old competition. From the AC Press: While the atmosphere of the stylishly named Parx Casino may feature some European or Asian-inspired elegance, the crowd will have a distinctly Philly flavor. When this new $250 million slots parlor opens its doors Friday, it
Sunday afternoon in the Parx Read More »
atlantic city, news about gamblingI’ve finally gotten official word today: I’m moderating a panel at this year’s Global Gaming Expo. Here’s the session: Gaming Expansion: Push and Pull Factors in 2008 and Beyond Tuesday, November 11, 9:15 AM-10:15 AM In recent years, gaming expansion has been inconsistent, with dramatic victories in Pennsylvania and Kansas, partial success in Florida, and
Gaming Expansion at G2E Read More »
news about gamblingThere was a good piece on the coming of slot casinos to Philadelphia in USA Today: Visitors come here to see just one bell — the Liberty Bell. Soon they’ll be looking for a row of them — on a slot machine. Pennsylvania’s 2-year-old state gaming board is to award licenses Wednesday for two slot
Spinning reels in Philly Read More »
news about gamblingSlot machines are wonderful things, if only for their power to transform formerly obscure sites into hotly-debated centers of finance. Seriously. Five years ago, if you had said that the goings-on at a Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania racetrack were going to be front-page news anywhere, people would have said you were nuts. Well, thanks to the almighty
Big money at Pocono Downs Read More »
news about gamblingIn 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
If you live in Pittsburgh and want to keep the Penguins in town, your best hope might be a slot casino. Even though the team won’t directly run the proposed slot parlor, its profits may help pay for a new arena. From the Post-Gazette: The Pittsburgh Penguins’ partner in a proposed $1 billion development at
Super Mario Slots? Read More »
news about gamblingI’ve heard some bad metaphors before, but this one takes the cake: a “gambling expert” explains that in the bathtub that is Las Vegas, you can’t see the “dirt ring” left by gambling, but in Pennsylvania you will be able to see it. I wish this was a joke.
Beware the murky residue Read More »
news about gamblingYou’ve got to love an editor at the Las Vegas Sun making it sound like the Keystone State is banking on more people’s lives to be ruined by problem gambling: Pennsylvania plans for more gambling addicts.
Another great headline Read More »
news about gamblingBethlehem, Pennsylvania, has been calling itself “Christmas City” for a while now. Click the link to see why. Some there are up in arms about a plan to leave something new under the stocking…a slot parlor. From McCall.com: When some Lehigh Valley leaders began lining up behind a proposal to bring a slot machine parlor
Slots and Christmas don’t mix? Read More »
news about gamblingThere is an interesting article Forbes about the expansion of casino gaming: California is not the only state where gambling is on the ballot in November (indeed California alone has two initiatives), and it is not the only place where racetracks want to salvage their flagging business, which is based on one kind of gambling,
Philly Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron doesn’t think much of the recently-passed slot bill. From Philly.com (reg. required): The legalization of slot machines in Pennsylvania was sold to the public as a form of tax relief, although tax redistribution strikes me as a better term. Harrisburg will use part of the money deposited in the
Slots, urban design, and destination dreams Read More »
news about gamblingNo, Nintendo isn’t developing a platform slot machine/game (at least that I know of). Rather, Mario Lemieux and the Pittsburgh Penguins may soon own a slot machine license. From the Post-Gazette: Specifics have yet to be developed, but team officials hope to convince the new state Gaming Control Board that no licensee could contribute as
Super Mario slots? Read More »
news about gamblingNow that the governor has signed the slots bill, it looks like the machines are coming, paving the way for the creation of a massive slot industry in Pennsylvania. From ABCnews: Gov. Ed Rendell signed laws on Monday authorizing 61,000 slot machines in Pennsylvania more than any other state except Nevada and using most of