From this week’s Green Felt Journal: Last year, I wrote that locals gaming was on the rebound (“Locals Casinos Are Back in Business,” July 8). At the time, several indicators suggested it was in the midst of a resurgence after several rough years. Its revival has become even more apparent thanks to recent moves by […]
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Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I look at the numbers in this year’s LVCVA Visitor Profile Survey: The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority recently released its 2015 visitor profile study. This report, based on interviews with Vegas visitors, charts the behavioral and demographic shifts in the population of those who come to town.
LVCVA Visitor Study Reveals Who’s Really Coming to Town – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Vegas Seven, I wrote about one of my favorite places, the Vegas Roots Community Garden: Urban farming is on the rise across the country. School, community, backyard and even rooftop farms and gardens are becoming more prominent in American cities from New York to Los Angeles. Las Vegas has its own urban
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Vegas SevenMy latest Green Felt Journal is a brief look at a group that is proposing a revival of the fabled Moulin Rouge on Las Vegas’s Westside: That interest, though, never translated into meaningful action, which leads us to 2016. Scott Johnson, president of Moulin Rouge Holdings LLC, is committed to change on the Westside. His
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Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I consider the meaning of the 2015 Nevada casino numbers. How did the state’s gaming industry do last year? Overall, it was a year that showed the continuing transition in Nevada gaming. Read more: 2015 Casino Report Card – Vegas Seven It really was a continuation of 2014, with slight
2015 Casino Report Card – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I take a look at why you might be checking into Caesars properties at a kiosk, and what it means: Yet times have changed. If you are one of the 42 million plus who come to Las Vegas each year, you can’t help but be aware that the city
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Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I consider the changes that swept Las Vegas thanks to an arrival over Thanksgiving weekend, 1966. For the weekend, though, it was business as usual. That Friday, 5,000 doctors arrived for an American Medical Association convention. Don Rickles could be seen at the Sahara’s Casbar lounge. And a young
How Howard Hughes Changed Las Vegas Forever – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I talk about a truly amazing group that recently visited Las Vegas: The men gathered in this room, however, are extraordinary. They are members of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of the United States military. Read
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Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I consider what I found on the G2E expo floor: It was clear that the big question asked last year at the expo—how to appeal to a new generation of gamblers—has not been fully answered, but we got several tantalizing glimpses of the future. Old-School Is New Again at
Old-School Is New Again at the Global Gaming Expo – Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I talk about the latest inductees into the Gaming Hall of Fame: The American Gaming Association recently announced three new inductees entering the Gaming Hall of Fame this fall: bookmaking pioneer Victor Salerno, tribal gaming advocate Lynn Valbuena and longtime industry executive Larry Woolf. Let’s get to know the
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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 look at the resurgence of locals casinos in Las Vegas: Since the recession, the locals casino market has endured some tough times, but the 2015 numbers so far suggest those tough times might be over. In particular, North Las Vegas and Boulder Strip properties, after several rough years,
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authorIn this week’s Green Felt Journal, I share some insights from the latest Las Vegas Visitor Profile: Increasing international visitation has long been a goal of the LVCVA, and the numerous investments the agency has made toward that end continue to bear fruit. In 2007, 12 percent of visitors came from abroad; in real numbers,
Gambling Is No Longer Las Vegas’ Main Attraction | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenWhat makes a Vegas icon? That’s the question I asked and answered in this week’s Green Felt Journal: Late last month, the Clark County Commission awarded Caesars Entertainment’s High Roller observation wheel the inaugural Las Vegas Icon Award. The County Commission’s best intentions aside, Vegas icon-hood can’t be bestowed, like a key to the city.
The Making of a Vegas Icon | Vegas Seven Read More »
Vegas SevenIn 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 SevenMy latest Green Felt Journal talks about the history behind the federal tax on sports betting: Like so much else in the history of Nevada gaming, the tax is linked to the Kefauver Committee, the early 1950s U.S. Senate body that investigated organized crime throughout America. Chaired by maverick Tennessee Democrat Estes Kefauver, the committee
Why Congress Should Repeal a Federal Tax on Sports Betting | Vegas Seven Read More »
authorIn 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 feature in Vegas Seven is a lot of fun. A bunch of Seven writers contributed brief thoughts on what might have happened in things had turned out a little differently at various points in Las Vegas history. It’s alt-history for Vegas: So, in the interest of preserving our own sanity, we’re taking the
Stories Never Told, of a City That Never Was | 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’s Green Felt Journal, partially written in my head while hanging out at the Discovery Children’s Museum last week, is about the tug of war between locals and visitors in Las Vegas: Sometimes, it can seem that life in Southern Nevada is a big zero-sum game. With limited money to spend in both the
The Locals vs. Tourists Balancing Act | Vegas Seven Read More »
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