I got this one while searching Pravda for Russian gambling news. It’s a keeper. From FunReports:

The police department of the Russian city of Ulyanovsk obtained information about an attack that a group of criminals was going to commit against a local business woman. The police decided to arrest the gangsters in the woman’s apartment, but the 27-year-old lady was supposed to be replaced with a completely different person of opposite sex.

A female police officer would not be good to suit the role of a stool pigeon: the criminals were too dangerous. A man dressed up as a woman was supposed to become the main hero of the risky story. Officer Igor Selendeyev, a fine shooter and a very good judo wrestler, was chosen for the unusual role. His colleagues borrowed makeup and a wig for the officer from a local theater. When other men in the department saw their pal dressed up as a woman with lipstick on, they could not stop laughing: Igor looked very pretty and even sexy.

Officer Igor Selendev had to shave his face three times in a row not to leave the slightest trace of stubble. The man put on a night gown to create the image of a relaxed housewife at night. There was a flak jacket underneath the gown, though.

The bandits knocked on the door at about midnight: “Open up, we got documents here to give you!” When the trans-officer opened the door, he saw two masked men: “Just one sound bitch and you will be dead. We need money.” The “frightened lady” begged the burglars not to kill her. The next instant the “lady” knocked one of the criminals down and made the other one kiss the floor too. The police hurried to help from another room of the flat, but the thieves were resting on the floor handcuffed and unconscious.

Police officer dresses as a sexy housewife to save woman from burglars

Now that’s good reporting. I just picture the “sexy housewife” shouting “Kiss the floor, scumbag,” and going all Fedor on him.

Pravda’s Fun Reports has some really interesting stuff. For example, did you know that:

The payment Nike gave to Michael Jordan exceeds the payments the company made to all of its workers in Malaysia.

35 percent of those who post marriage ads are already married.

Duck quacking produces no echo and nobody knows why.

The human body-build does not let us lick the elbow.

Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first American President who had all of the letters of the word “criminal” in his name. William Jefferson Clinton was the second.

US citizens eat 18 hectares of pizza every day.

Inquiring minds need to know that…

I don’t know of any American news agency that would use the term “fierce pet lover” in the same context as Pravda (you can Google that one if you’re curious), which makes the Russian website a necessary supplement to the usual news.

Well, that was little more than a fancy way to lead into this story from the LV Sun about a woman who used a stolen credit card to buy a lottery ticket–and is paying the price:

A Southern Oregon woman used a stolen credit card to buy a state lottery scratch-it ticket that was worth $1 million, police said.

Christina Goodenow, 38, of White City was lodged without bail in the Jackson County Jail on charges of theft, forgery, identity theft, credit card fraud, possession of methamphetamine, computer crime and a parole violation.

If convicted, Goodenow will not be able to collect the prize money because fraud was used to purchase the winning ticket, police said.

Oregon Lottery officials refused to discuss specifics of the case, citing the active investigation.

“I’ll be fascinated to see how this shakes out,” spokesman Chuck Baumann said. “In my 12 years with the Oregon Lottery, this is the first time I’ve encountered something like this.”

Goodenow purchased the winning ticket Oct. 9 in Central Point, using a credit card that belonged to her mother-in-law, Inez Cornett, who died more than a year ago, police said.

Goodenow made the trip Oct. 12 to Oregon Lottery headquarters in Salem to accept a check of $33,500. The $1 million grand prize is paid out over 20 years.

Medford police detectives began tracking Goodenow on Oct. 26 after learning that she had used the credit card to purchase items throughout the Rogue Valley, including the $1 million lottery ticket, said Lt. Tim George of the Medford Police Department.

A search warrant served at her home Thursday turned up some methamphetamine, but little money, George said.

“Our investigation is still trying to determine what happened to the $33,500,” George said.

Las Vegas SUN: Woman loses her million-dollar jackpot

Just deserts, I guess. I just want to know the logic that a person would employ to use a stolen credit card to buy a lottery ticket, which is sure to bring a lot of attention on the winner. I guess the meth connection explains it.

That $33,500 didn’t last long, did it?

My lecture at the architecture school as part of the Graduate Lecture Series went really well last night. I got a chance to get some feedback on my “4 stages of casino resort evolution” idea and got to talk a lot about casinos, particularly my experiences in security and surveillance.

When I saw this story about the use and abuse of surveillance cameras at Caesars AC, I knew I had to post it here. From the AC Press:

Gaming investigators say Theresa Magri was being stalked by video voyeurs in the early morning hours of October 2004 while she worked at the Toga Bar at Caesars Atlantic City.

Almost everywhere she went, the cameras followed her. Over and over, they zoomed in on her cleavage. The close-ups of her breasts were so extreme that it was easy to read the small nameplate pinned on Magri’s lapel.

In this case, the alleged Peeping Toms were security workers who used their surveillance cameras to spy on Magri and other women at Caesars.

Giving an extraordinary behind-the-scenes glimpse of a casino’s security operations, investigators played about an hour of videotape Tuesday as they pressed their case against two former surveillance supervisors accused of leering at female employees and patrons.

“Women, almost universally … are being watched by men in the surveillance room,” said Anthony J. Zarrillo Jr., an assistant state attorney general who is prosecuting the case for the Division of Gaming Enforcement.

Investigators allege four members of the Caesars security staff trained their cameras on the breasts and buttocks of women while working the graveyard shift on Oct. 1-3, 2004. All four have since been fired.

Two of the fired workers, surveillance supervisors James Doherty and Robert Swan, are fighting the charges. They claim they were simply keeping tabs on the casino floor while overseeing the cameras in the super-secret surveillance room.

“He did not act in a voyeuristic way,” said Swan’s attorney, John M. Donnelly.

Derek G. Timms, Doherty’s attorney, argued that the tapes are “not as salacious” as investigators have alleged.

During a hearing Tuesday, investigators showed videotape shot by Doherty in the early morning hours of Oct. 2, 2004. Although other women were shown on the tapes, much of the footage was of Magri while she was working at the Toga Bar on Caesars’ casino floor.

One of the opening shots was of Magri’s nameplate, followed by repeated close-ups of her cleavage. The cameras followed her around the bar while she served drinks or chatted with co-workers.

Zarrillo alleged that Magri and other women were being stalked by “people who were voyeurs.”

Surveillance cameras – the so-called “eyes in the sky” – are installed in the ceilings of casinos to keep watch of the gaming floor and other sensitive areas of the building. They are supposed to be used to catch cheaters or detect other suspicious activity.

But investigators said Doherty and Swan abused their authority by focusing on women. Doherty allegedly shot 64 minutes’ worth of illicit tape and Swan 11 minutes.

Caesars agreed to pay a $185,000 fine in September to settle the case. Last December, Caesars was fined $80,000 for similar incidents involving two other surveillance employees who spied on women.

In the most recent case, Caesars fought to keep the tapes from being released. Casino Control Commissioner Michael A. Fedorko, who is serving as hearing officer, ruled that the tapes should be made public as part of the evidence.

Although investigators say female customers were also spied on, the case against Doherty and Swan principally involves three Caesars employees – Magri, Morgan Rosenlund and Roxanne McGonigal. All three women were either working at the Toga Bar or serving drinks on the casino floor when they were filmed.

The hearing for Doherty and Swan is scheduled to resume today with the showing of more surveillance tapes. It may take months before Fedorko makes a ruling and recommends his findings to the full five-member Casino Control Commission for a vote. Doherty and Swan could have their gaming licenses suspended or revoked if the commission finds them guilty.

Magri, who left her job at Caesars after the spying was discovered, is suing the casino for invasion of privacy. She said she has been traumatized by the incident. However, she argued that the tapes should be made public to expose the alleged misconduct of the surveillance employees.

“I want them to show the tapes,” Magri said in a brief interview Tuesday.

Rosenlund and McGonigal, who still work at Caesars, both declined comment.

Press of Atlantic City: Tapes show surveillance cameras zooming in on women

I get a lot of email from people I don’t know. Most of it is asking me for information, while some of it is just plain strange. I deem an elect number of emails worthy of along to you. You might remeber Absecon Al’s rants against Red Square at Tropicana AC (also here, with photos) . Al hasn’t been successful in his crusade, but he fought the good fight.

Anyway, today I got an email from Million Pixel Gamble. I still can’t decide whether this is an honest attempt to make gambling history, a clever scam, or just a bad idea. First, here’s the email:

Million Pixel Gamble is the creation of three twentysomething guys with a mission – to make a million dollars and then possibly blow it all on one roll of roulette.We are selling one million pixels for a dollar each. Once we reach one million pixels sold we will take the money generated by the sales and take it to the casino. It’s everyman’s dream, gamble like a millionaire on someone else’s dime.

The idea behind the Million Pixel Gamble is simple. We want to raise one million dollars so we can make one huge bet! That’s where you come in. You can purchase pixels on our website (minimum 100 pixels or $100) to display your company’s logo, image or text as a link to your website. Each purchase of 100 pixels buys you a box. As you can see we do not have one million boxes on our website; we have ten thousand boxes. Each box is 10 pixels x 10 pixels or 100 pixels. The reason you have to buy one box (100 pixels) is because any amount of pixels smaller than that is not visible to the users and therefore no one would see your ad. Your ad, placed within our boxes, is a hyperlink back to your website. So not only are people viewing your ad, but they can immediately jump to your company’s homepage.

Pixel marketing is the latest craze in internet advertising. Through pixel advertising you will see growth in your company’s site traffic. Pixel advertising is also an innovative and inexpensive way to market your company. For $100 you can buy advertising for your website that will last 10 years! Pixel advertising is a totally new and revolutionary form of advertising. By purchasing pixels now you ensure that you will be buying at one of the lowest prices on the web. Because this form of advertising is so new you will be able to become part of web history!

We do all the work for you by creating a website with buzz and a multitude of visitors. Consider us your taxi. You pay us to drive you to where you want to go. If you are looking to create traffic to your website, we can help. If you are looking to be a part of a cool new form of advertising, we can help. If you are just dying to see someone gamble one million dollars on a single spin of a roulette wheel, then buy a pixel box now. In exchange for your purchase of our pixel real esate you get to ride shotgun on the craziest ride ever developed for the web!

The Pixel Guys

Is this a scam? The “three twenty-somethings” behind it don’t identify themselves, which raises a BIG red flag. Coming from a security/surveillance background (and having done a lot of reading in the history of both gambling and con artistry), I’m generally suspicious of people who offer to make money by gambling.

But that’s the thing–they don’t offer people anything besides advertising space. They frankly admit this is a stupid idea, and that they may very well lose the money. If they win, they keep the money (minus taxes).

On the plus side, they referenced not only Napoleon Dynamite but also Passenger 57, which though not a gambling movie has perhaps the best single gambling one-liner ever uttered. There was absolutely nothing in the plot or previous conversation about roulette, but then Wesley Snipes unleashed an absolute gem. I wonder if it was ad-libbed?

There’s also the funniest admission ever from a prospective gambling scheme:

So hopefully now all we have to do is add the crystals and hope that www.millionpixelgamble.com doesn’t fry our balls.

There is a definite chance of that happening. Here’s why:

First, there is the issue of finding a casino that will take the bet. It’s not like you just walk into a casino and bet whatever you want. If that happened, there would be so much volatility in the bacc pit that casinos would be going under all the time. It still happens: even with betting limits, a lucky weekend for a real whale can really dent a casino’s bottom line. Some people on the site were suggesting that they play a number straight for the 35 to 1 payoff. There is no casino that I know that would allow that kind of bet. As businesses, they simply won’t expose themselves to that kind of loss.

Generally, if you want to bet a lot of money, casinos want you to do it over a long period. This lets the house edge kick in. “Spot play” really makes the bean counters nervous. If Benny Binion were still around, your max bet would be your first wager, but he’s not. It’s fitting that Harrah’s, one of the more risk-averse companies around, owns the Horseshoe name now. But there’s a reason for it: they know the business of smart gambling.

Second, if you wanted to have the best chance of winning, you would play craps or baccart, not roulette. American roulette has notoriously bad odds, with a 5.3% house edge. Craps (on the pass line), on the other hand, is 1.4%; play double odds, and you’re down to 0.6%, an almost even-money bet.

Third, the live web broadcast might violate both state and federal laws, and someone (not me) could argue that the whole scheme is a violation of the Wire Act: people are sending money across state lines and directing someone to place a wager for them.

We’ll have to see how this develops. I want to make it clear that I’m not endorsing this site–I don’t know these guys. I’m just sharing the information. As Aristotle said: “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

At any given moment, an uncountable number of new games are being proposed, developed, tested, and usually forgotten at casinos across the world. Since the disappearance of faro from Nevada gambling halls in the 1940s, many have come to challenge the Big Three–craps, blackjack, and roulette. By the 1980s, baccarat had emerged as a major game, but since then, there hasn’t been too much variation. While several new games have been added to “the table mix,” as casino ops people might say, none has nudged aside roulette for the coveted #4 position in the casino games hierarchy.

This is why many new games are just refinements of one or more of the Big Three. Craps, blackjack, and baccarat are the most amenable to retooling. So it’s no surprise that the Las Vegas Hilton is offering–I suppose as a 90-day field test–a new variation of craps:

Look for a new table game to arrive at the Las Vegas Hilton casino in the near future. “Fire Bet™” will be offered at craps tables, with the object for the shooter is to make as many “individual points” before he/she 7’s out. The term “individual point” means when the shooter successfully makes a point (4,5,6,8,9 or 10) that has not been previously made, it will count as one “individual point” made.

Will this one sink or swim? Get down to the Hilton in the next three months to find out.

I got a paper notice in campus mail today from Felicia Campbell:

Far West Popular Culture Association
Far West American Culture Association
Call for Papers

Eighteenth Annual Meeting

January 27 – 29, 2006

Las Vegas, Nevada

Sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

We cordially invite you to our Eighteenth Annual Meeting. Papers on all aspects of Popular and American Culture as well as readings by creative writers are welcome. Those interested in submitting proposals for either papers or readings or creating either conference sessions or Sunday round table discussions for either FWPCA OR FWACA should send abstracts of less than 100 words and titles by November 26 2005 to:
Felicia Florine Campbell
Department of English
University of Nevada, Las Vegas 89154-5011
702-895-3457 e-mail fcampbell@ccmail.nevada.edu
FAX 702-895-4801

The registration fee of $130.00 includes a light buffet at the opening reception, morning coffee and rolls, lunch on Saturday, a subscription to Popular Culture Review our refereed journal, plus additional conference events to be announced. Student registration of $45.00 includes all events scheduled on the program and 1 issue of PCR.

I’d really like to get a panel or roundtable together…maybe something on blogging Las Vegas, or some other aspect of Vegas/poker/gambling culture? The great thing about this conference is that you don’t have to show up armed with reams of academic research–it’s a lot more easy-going. Last year I presented on casino carpet, and I don’t think I was the weirdest one by a long shot (although the jury is probably still out).

If I can get two other bloggers interested in presenting, we have a panel. Three is even better, of course.

The positives:
1. It might be your last chance to stay at the Imperial Palace, whose days are numbered as surely as the Death Star.
2. You get to talk about Vegas culture
3. You can add an academic presentation to your CV
4. I may lead a post-session party at the Carousel Bar at Circus Circus.

I don’t think there are any negatives involved here. So email me, and let’s talk about getting a panel together. I’m going to be out the latter part of next week (at a conference in Portland), so now’s the time.

You can also download the registration form and learn more at: Far West Popular Culture Association

Do you know a slender guy or gal who
A) likes gambling
B) is devilishly inclined
C) likes lounge pants?

Well, this auction is just for you:

super comfortable Lounge Pants. 100 % cotton jersey knit fabric. Made in the USA. MSRP $24.99. Brand new, never worn, never washed. They have an elastic waist band and are printed all over with A pattern of eight-balls, skulls, 13’s, devil heads, and spades. All these are bordered with crossed swords, on a dark brown background. This is really a great looking print. Can be worn lounging around the house or also in public. (These pants do not have the fly opening.)
Nicely made and super comfortable!
eBay: LOUNGE PANTS / PAJAMA Las Vegas Casino CRAPS Dice Small (item 8345841261 end time Oct-26-05 15:01:33 PDT)

Wouldn’t this be the perfect gift for a religious conservative/anti-gambling activist? I mean, skulls, devils heads, 8-balls, and spades, all in one pant?

I’m just amazed that this print hasn’t become a casino carpet yet.

Is it just me, or did casino carpet designers get some serious inspiration from these fabrics?

Ugly Couch Home

You might have heard about Craig Biggio’s New Jersey-born wife chasing down a male fan who slapped her at game two of the Astros-White Sox World Series.

Anyway, Michelle Malkin had this to say:

Biggio told the Houston Chronicle that his wife is fine and quipped:

“You don’t slap a New Jersey girl and get away with it.”

That goes double for South Jersey girls.

DO NOT MESS WITH JERSEY GIRLS

As a South Jersey native, linking to that comment is obligatory. But as an objective journalist/historian/goofball with a website, I’ve got to be inclusive of all views, right?

Anyway, I thought this was as good a time as any to post this pic of a shirt that I don’t own, but would definitely wear, just to get some cheap heat next time I go home:

You can order the shirt and read more about it at Busted Tees.
Check out the photo gallery–I love photo 6, where the guy is at the party with two (presumably) Jersey girls.
If by chance anyone wants to dare me to wear that shirt, I’d take a medium in parkway green. I’m just saying.

This Thursday, 10/27, I’m giving a lecture on the evolution of casinos at the UNLV architecture school. Ordinarily, I don’t post info about guest lectures for academic audiences, but this one has such a cool flyer that I’ve got to:

If you are in Las Vegas and want to attend, please email me and I’ll see if the professor will allow visitors.

As I said in Cutting the Wire, online gambling will become unambiguously legal in the United States once we reach a certain tipping point: the need for state revenues will outweigh any lingering opposition to “expanded” gambling.

The Grand Forks Herald reports on a North Dakota legislator who sees the same thing:

A lawmaker who advocated making North Dakota the first state to license Internet poker companies has been in demand as a speaker on the issue, making trips to Las Vegas, Montreal and the Caribbean island of Antigua this year.

Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, and four other North Dakota legislators went to Antigua for four days earlier this month on what they described as an unofficial trade mission. Their trip was paid for by the Antiguan government, they said.

Antigua licenses Internet poker companies, and Antiguan government statements on the trip focused on North Dakota’s potential role in Internet gambling, including the possible use of the state-owned Bank of North Dakota to handle wagers.

In September, Kasper was a featured speaker at the Casino Affiliate Convention in Las Vegas, which focused on Internet marketing for the gambling industry.

In June, he attended the annual Global Interactive Gaming Summit & Expo in Montreal, a conference organized by the River City Group of St. Charles, Mo. River City’s chief executive officer, Sue Schneider, helped lobby for Kasper’s Internet poker measure during the 2005 Legislature.

Kasper believes state licensing of poker Web sites is a potentially lucrative source of money for the state treasury, and industry officials who favored his bill said they were eager for U.S. regulation.

“I am not putting away the idea of getting into Internet gaming licenses in North Dakota,” Kasper said. “The revenue we missed is too great to pass up.”

Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands have approved bills allowing for state licensing and regulation of Internet poker sites, but have been wary of following through because of U.S. Justice Department statements that Internet gambling is illegal in the United States.

Fargo legislator continues Internet poker push

Poker might be the foot in the door that online gambling needs. After all, it is chiefly player-to-player betting, with little exposure for the house (that’s the problem with government-sponsored sports betting).

To those who laugh at the idea of North Dakota blazing a trail into a new age of legal online poker, remember that once isolated Nevada was considered hopelessly backward for sanctioning–gasp–legal public casino gambling.

If you’ve been waiting to have a copy of Suburban Xanadu or Cutting the Wire autographed by the author, you are in luck. On Saturday, November 12, at 2 PM, I’ll be at the Reading Room in Mandalay Place, signing books.

I’m going to be giving a short talk, answering questions, and signing books–it should be a fun afternoon.

So if you’re a Las Vegas resident or just in town for the weekend, stop by the Reading Room and get some books signed.

Betting on sports can be far more remunerative for the player than most casino games. A simple look at the numbers proves it. Nevada casinos hold about 5% of sports bets, while they keep over 12% on virtually every casino game.

I’m going from memory here, so the math might be a little off, but the breakeven point for sports betting is a little over 52%. If you bet ten games and win six, you are a net winner. This isn’t easy, but it’s certainly possible.

Many players, though, want more of a thrill–why settle for a decent chance for an almost-even money payoff when you can risk a little to win a lot? Unfortunately, the odds are usually against them. From the LV Sun:

In the most recent 12-month period that included last year’s football season, gamblers in Nevada wagered about $60 million on parlay cards — those brightly colored betting tickets that casinos place not only in sports books but also in hotel lobbies and guest rooms. (Parlay cards require bettors to choose multiple games, usually three to 10, against the point spread. Every pick must be correct or the bet loses. The appeal of parlay cards is the opportunity to risk a small amount of money for a potentially big payoff.)

The casinos kept a large chunk of that money — more than $21 million, or 35 percent of the total amount wagered, according to the state Gaming Control Board.

By contrast, excluding parlay card wagering, casinos kept only about 5 1/2 percent of the money bet on football games, about 6 1/2 percent of the money bet on basketball and a little under 5 percent of the money bet on baseball.

No wonder they keep guest rooms stocked with parlay cards.

The popularity of parlay cards and tips on when to hold them and when to run

Basically, the payoff falls far short of the true odds, which is where the casinos make their money. But no matter how often people are told that parlay cards are a bad bet, they continue to lay money on them. It makes you wonder.

I saw this headline and immediately thought of Being There: al.com: Casino Night in garden will do local hearts good

The story is about a charity casino night in Alabama that seems all inclusive: from Al.com:

Be a little bit bad for a good cause next Friday. Casino Night in the Garden of Good and Evil will be an opportunity to try your luck at games of chance in the inviting setting of the Huntsville Botanical Garden Arbor.

The Madison County Medical Alliance is presenting the charity event. Enjoy an evening of roulette, black jack, craps and poker, raffles and auctions of fabulous prizes including Lasik surgery at Huntsville Center for Sight, a sunset cruise on a 60-foot yacht, two round-trip airline tickets, a Christmas breakfast, a handmade gemstone and pearl necklace and one week at The Royal Sands Villa in Cancun. But if you come only to eat Narvell Patton’s wonderful cooking, your evening will be well spent.

The MCMA will donate all proceeds to purchase automated external defibrillators to be placed throughout the city of Huntsville.

Casino Night in garden will do local hearts good

They’re just giving stuff away: cruises, necklaces, eye surgery. And it’s for a good cause, though I remember when one article talked about automated external defibrillators as one of the “comps” that casinos offer to lure in older patrons.

Blackjack, prize giveaways, and food? As Chance might have said, “the garden that I left was such a place.”

Thanks to this Being There page for the image.

When I tell Australian people my name, a lot of them say, “Cool.” I wondered why, until someone told me that there’s a famous Austrailian football (soccer) player named David Schwarz–just like me, but no T. It guess it’s like if someone from Australia was named “Roger Clements” and was talking to American baseball fans.

It may be coincidence, but he’s in the news for gambling. From the Courier-Mail:

FORMER AFL footballer David Schwarz has two people to thank for rescuing him from a destructive gambling habit – his fiancee and his accountant.

Schwarz, 33, a former Melbourne Demons vice-captain and 173-game veteran who retired from the game in 2002, said he lost $500,000 in a year at his gambling peak, and turned over $100,000 in bets in one day.

His gambling problem began at his local TAB at the age of 14 and ended in March this year.

Speaking at the Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) congress in Melbourne today, Schwarz backed the extension of a joint program between CPA Victoria and the Victorian Government to tackle problem gambling in the workplace.

The crunch for Schwarz came two years ago when his fiancee, Karen Tanner, opened a box containing 2200 unopened letters – unpaid bills, fines and GST slips.

They argued and Schwarz had to choose between his fiancee and gambling.

“I had to make a decision and the punt was the thing that I decided to let go,” he said.

The Courier-Mail: Ex-footballer backs gambling scheme [20oct05]

I got to thinking that this might be some sort of cosmic balance thing–if there’s a guy named David Schwartz who never gambles, there is someone with a similar name who gambles too much on the other side of the world. Like a parallel universe or something.

Anyway, good luck to Mr. Schwarz with keeping his gambling problems at bay.

What do you get a millionaire US Senator who’s already got everything? How about a Powerball ticket? As the jackpot climbed to nearly $350 million, New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg was intriuged and bought a ticket. Proving that fortune favors the curious, he won a cool $853, 492. From CBS4 Boston:

On a whim, U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg pulled into a gas station in Washington this week and bought $20 worth of Powerball tickets. As he was leaving, a clerk ran after him because he had left one of the tickets behind.

“She was a very pleasant young woman; she might have kept it and for all I know it might have been the winning ticket,” he said in a telephone news conference.

Gregg collected a check for $853,492 from the Powerball Lottery on Thursday.

According to his latest financial disclosure form, Gregg has between $1.5 million and $6.2 million in stocks and other major investments.

What will he do with the lottery money?

“Whatever my wife tells me what to do with it?” he joked, saying he would turn the winnings over to the Hugh Gregg Foundation, which supports New Hampshire charities and is named after Gregg’s late father, a former governor of New Hampshire.

Gregg said he didn’t play any particular numbers and allowed the lottery ticket machine to select them at random. He said he checked the tickets Thursday and told his wife, Kathy, that he had won some money.

“She said, ‘Are you sure you read the numbers correctly?’ because I tend to be a little dyslexic, I tend to transpose numbers,” he said.

He said he doesn’t buy lottery tickets often but was intrigued by the publicity of the jackpot rising to about $350 million.

“Every American believes in good fortune and good luck and I’m no different than anyone else,” he said.

A Powerball ticket worth $340 million was sold in Jacksonville, Ore. No one has stepped forward yet to claim the largest jackpot in the game’s history and the second-biggest in U.S. history.

Gregg’s ticket was one of 47 regular tickets and two with the Power Play option that matched the first five numbers but not the Powerball. The winning numbers drawn Wednesday evening were 7, 21, 43, 44, 49 and 29. The lump sum option would be worth $110 million after taxes.

CBS4 Boston: NH Sen. Judd Gregg Wins Powerball Cash

What I want to know is this: isn’t it false advertising for Powerball to claim that it’s a $340 million jackpot when the lump sum payout after taxes is about one-third of that?

Sure, $110 million is more money than most people could figure out how to spend, but still, it seems misleading.

Personally, I don’t see why people get so much more interested by these mega-payouts. A $10 million jackpot is going to change your life just as much as a $110 million one. The more rational consumer would want to participate in a lottery with 11 chances at $10 million rather than one chance at $110 million.

But, people just see the big numbers, so, without reading the fine print, they burn $50 in lottery tickets hoping to win “$340 million.” What gets me is when these same people get indignant about those who choose to put that $50 on the pass line of a craps game.

Which is the better bet? Let’s see…

The odds of winning Powerball (thanks, Durango Bill) are 1 in 146 million, or .00000000684425.

The odds of winning your pass line bet are a little less than 1 in 2, or 48.6%.

The payout is much less, but you’re much more likely to walk away the victor. Add in the complimentary drinks and RFB (if you play enough), and you might even end up ahead.

Of course, there are only two ways to guarantee you don’t lose while gambling: you can cheat, which will probably land you in jail, or you can just not play.

Closing it out, here’s an interesting observation from Durango Bill:

Government statistics show there are about 1.7 automobile caused fatalities for every 100,000,000 vehicle-miles. If you drive one mile to the store to buy your lottery ticket and then return home, you have driven two miles. Thus the probability that you will join this statistical group is 2 x 1.7 / 100,000,000 = 0.000000034. This can also be stated as “One in 29,411,765-“. Thus, if you drive to the store to buy your Powerball ticket, your chance of being killed (or killing someone else) is about 5 times greater than the chance that you will win the Powerball Jackpot.

Have you ever wanted to check out the pope’s wheels? Here’s your chance, thanks to a hot tip from the Las Vegas Hilton:

Kruse International will auction Pope John Paul II’s personal vehicle, a 1975 Ford Escort GL, at the 32nd Annual Las Vegas Fall Auction at the Las Vegas Hilton (October 28&29). He is believed to be the only Pope who had a personal vehicle during his papacy. He also sold the car during his papacy.

So if you haven’t been able to track down the phaeton of Sixtus V, this might be the best chance for you to own a genuine papal vehicle.

This will probably be the most expensive ‘75 Ford Escort in history. I wonder if it has an 8-track player and, if so, the pope left any cassettes in the car?

Often, when I am giving a public lecture or statement, I say that the federal government has endorsed casino gaming. Some people just nod, while others look confused or even contemptuous. “What do you mean?” they ask.

The first example I cite is Indian gaming: each of the three branches of the federal government has endorsed casino gaming on Indian reservations as an effective tool for economic development.

The second, not so widely known, example is military slot machines. The military has about 4150 machines on bases oversees, and they make about $120 million a year.

For those of you keeping score at home, that’s a win per machine per day of about $79. To put it in perspective, slots on the Strip make about $120 a day, while those in Atlantic City make about $200.

Looking at this only from the bottom line, I’d guess that if Peter Issacs (who is in charge of most military slots) was a VP of slot gaming at a US casino, he would have been fired long ago. Sorry, Pete, but business is business.

I bring all of this up because there is an article in the New York Times which tries to parlay the rather unexceptional nature of miltiary slots into a pathological gambling epidemic among the military.

Military gambling is a big business. About $2 billion flows through military-owned slot machines at officers’ clubs, activities centers and bowling alleys on overseas bases each year. Most flows back out as jackpots, but 6 percent remains with the house, about the same ratio as in Las Vegas.

Each year, the armed forces take in more than $120 million from on-base slot machines and $7 million from Army bingo games at home. These funds help pay for recreational programs for the troops.

But even military researchers have acknowledged that the armed forces are heavily populated by people who, like Aaron Walsh, may be especially vulnerable to gambling addiction: athletic, risk-taking young people who are experiencing severe stress and anxiety.

“And wartime is an environment that is probably creating more vulnerability than usual,” said Christine Reilly, executive director of the gambling addiction research institute at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching institution for the Harvard Medical School.

More than four years ago, Congress ordered the Pentagon to study how on-base slot machines were affecting military families. The Pentagon initially hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to do the study, but it ended the contract after a few months and completed the study itself.

The final report provided no new data about the rate of problem gambling. But it did caution Congress that the military could not maintain many popular programs, like golf courses and family activity centers, “without slot machine revenue or a significant new source of cash.”

One consultant who worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers was Rachel Volberg, a medical sociologist who runs Gemini Resources, which measures gambling rates around the world. “We met a great deal of defensiveness, both in Washington and on base,” she said. “Everyone was very concerned that those revenues might go away.”

She added: “Only the chaplains took this really seriously. They told us that one out of three people who come to them for counseling have a problem with gambling, but can’t tell anyone because they will be dishonorably discharged.”

Slot machines are “a very profitable operation,” said Peter Isaacs, the chief operating officer of the Army’s Community and Family Support Center, which runs the largest slot machine program. “But we do not operate them strictly to extract profit. Our soldiers have told us they want access to the same games and gambling opportunities available to the civilians they are defending.”

The military is “very passive in our advertising, and we have low maximum jackpots,” Mr. Isaacs continued. “We don’t want to encourage people to blow the rent money chasing a $1 million payout.” He added, “The vast majority of the troops use the machines responsibly.”
Temptation to Gamble Is Near for Troops Overseas – New York Times

While pathological gambling is a legitimate problem, I think the numbers back up Issacs. The win per machine per day numbers back up his claim that machines aren’t run just for profit. Like I said before, a slot manager who showed that kind of revenue in virtually any legal American casino jurisdiction would be out of a job before the finished counting the drop.

The issue of servicepeople suffering from gambling problems points back to the general question of whether it is ethical to restrict the availability of legal gambling–something that the vast majority of the population has no problem with–because of concerns of a small minority. Since this is a question that’s hardly been answered for society at large, it’s no surprise that there’s no easy answer within the military.

According to one Malaysian parliamentarian, gambling leads to superstition. From The Star:

-In the kampung, when people want to win numbers games, they go to see the bomoh and even make offerings to trees so that their numbers will come up winners.

-All this shows that gambling can make people carry out deviationist practices,” said Datuk Badruddin Amiruldin (BN Jerai) who queried whether Malaysia, as an Islamic country, should continue to enourage gambling.

Finance Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Hilmi Yahaya in reply said he was amazed that Badruddin was an expert on these matters.

He said gambling was a matter of individual choice.
Gambling can lead to superstition, says MP

I think both men are right–gambling is a matter of personal choice, but throughout history gamblers have been supremely superstitious.

Gambling has always been a way of dealing with the unknown, just like superstition.

In other news, the Powerball lottery here in the US is up to a whopping $340 million. Do you think anyone’s rubbing their lucky rabbit’s feet?

Is this a case of casinos imitating life? It’s spooky: Harrah’s Entertainment has closed the Bourbon Street casinos two weeks early because of a water main break. From the LVRJ:

The off-Strip Bourbon Street Casino, bought by Harrah’s Entertainment this summer for future development, closed Monday two weeks ahead of schedule.

Harrah’s, which bought eight acres in adjoining land parcels along with the Bourbon Street, had previously announced the casino would close Oct. 31.

An employee answering phones Monday at the Bourbon Street said the casino had been closed and efforts were being made to move hotel guests to other properties.

A spokesman for Harrah’s said the casino closed at 10 a.m. because of a water main break and the company was concerned about the structural integrity of the building.

The Bourbon Street, at the corner of Flamingo Road and Audrie Street across from Harrah’s-owned Bally’s, had 100 slot machines managed by United Coin Machine, a slot-route operator. The property employed 110 workers.

Bourbon Street Casino closed early by Harrah’s

So, less than two months after the real New Orleans is evacuated because of flooding, the Bourbon Street casino is closed because of…flooding. This is one of those stranger than fiction moments.

The past two days have been a deluge here in Vegas. I’d say that 1, maybe even 2 inches of rain have fallen over the last two days. Yes, I’m being sarcastic.

But today is also a day of new beginnings. Two casinos way down south on Las Vegas Boulevard are being planned. From the LV Sun:

Six miles south of the Strip on Las Vegas Boulevard, two relative newcomers to the gaming business are betting big on resorts that aim to create an alternative for tourists.

Anthony Marnell III last week received preliminary approvals to build the M Resort, a $1.8 billion mixed-use casino, resort and commercial center on 79 acres at the southeast corner of St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard.

Marnell, who founded a software company called Tririga, is president and chief executive of M Resort. He will continue to run the software company.

Marnell is the son of prominent casino developer and builder Anthony Marnell II, better known as Tony Marnell. Tony Marnell’s firm, Marnell Corrao Associates, will design and build the M Resort.

The firm built Wynn Las Vegas and Bellagio. Tony Marnell also built and operated the Rio before selling it to Harrah’s for $888 million in 1999.

Across the boulevard from Anthony Marnell’s project, Olympia Gaming received approval from the Clark County Commission earlier this month to build the Southern Highlands Resort. The previously announced resort, part of another mixed-use development to take shape on about 100 acres, would ultimately cost more than $2 billion.

Olympia Gaming founder Garry Goett, developer of the nearby Southern Highlands master-planned community, also owns the Casino Fandango in Carson City.

Both resorts, conceived and developed independent of one another, are expected to begin construction next year for planned openings in 2008.

Both developers say their projects will ultimately benefit from having competition nearby, creating an eye-catching resort district that will lure people driving into Las Vegas from California as well as locals and tourists from further away.

Two new resorts will give Henderson piece of the Strip

Maybe the M will start a new trend in casino names: letters. I can see that being problematic, though, because you can’t trademark a letter. Couldn’t anyone open a related business and ride the coattails of the M?

Here’s some details:

Initial M Resort plans call for a 135,000-square-foot casino, 600,000 square feet of retail and other mixed-use space, a roughly 100,000-square-foot convention area and 1,000 hotel rooms.

Across the boulevard, the first phase of the $750 million Southern Highlands would include 600 hotel rooms, a convention area, more than a dozen restaurants, an entertainment venue, retail shops and several acres of pools and gardens including a lazy river.

“It’s not going to be a pretentious project,” said Olympia Gaming Chief Marketing Officer DC Graham, a former marketing executive for the Venetian. “We want to build a place that’s approachable. It needs to be very comfortable and a place that locals want to come to … with blue jeans and a baseball cap.”

I’ve got a question: what exactly is a “lazy river?”

I know there’s a old song titled “Lazy River” (“Up a lazy river by the old mill stream/That lazy, hazy river where we both can dream’”, but I don’t think I could tell just by a cursory glance if a river was lazy or hard-working.

It’s probably something really common, though, and I just haven’t heard about it because I’m not that well-traveled. Judging from the context, though, a lazy river is approachable and unpretentious.