Monthly Archives: December 2005

A whale passes

December 27, 2005 6:38 pm

Australian billionaire Kerry Packer died in his sleep yesterday. Here’s an article from the Courier-Mail:

ONE of the best gambling legends about Kerry Packer is of him facing off against a Texas oilman in Las Vegas.

The Texan, apparently angered by the noise Packer’s entourage was making at baccarat, boasted he was worth $US100 million ($A137 million).

“Toss you for it,” was Mr Packer’s reported reply.

The media magnate’s gambling exploits are hard to verify, but he admitted to enjoying a bet and was known for his hefty tips – $125,000 to a cocktail waitress to help pay off her mortgage.

Mr Packer was known as a hit-run “whale”, those big spenders who splurge millions quickly at casinos, who play baccarat and blackjack while also engineering some memorable plunges on horses.

“It’ll (his death) be huge news here because he was a high-roller,” said Jeffrey Compton, gaming analyst for Las Vegas-based Compton Dancer Consulting.

Mr Packer was almost a sign of success for casinos.

“If Kerry Packer visits your casino, you’re on the A-list,” Mr Compton said yesterday.

Mr Packer had stood out partly because his name was easily recognisable among the Asian high-rollers, Mr Compton said.

“I think he’ll be missed more for reputation,” Mr Compton said. “Nobody’s going to file for bankruptcy because Kerry Packer’s died.”

His legends had him squeezing some clubs when he was gambling.

A London club reportedly closed its doors in 1991 due to a lack cash after he won $600,000, but this was never confirmed.

At times he cleaned up, reportedly pocketing $7 million at the Las Vegas Hilton casino in November 1991 and then tipping the croupiers $66,000.

In 1997, at the same Las Vegas casino where the Texas oilman confrontation occurred, he reportedly won almost $26 million.

He apparently once cashed in 20 baccarat hands in a row at $US250,000 ($A330,000). One witness was quoted as saying Mr Packer quietly played and did not even touch the fruit nearby, but simply said “thank you” with each winning hand.

And there were losses – reportedly $60 million in one spree in Las Vegas while stuck there following the September 11 attacks.

Another unlucky streak was said to be almost $34 million in 2000 and sparking criticism of waste from then Labor frontbencher Mark Latham.

But Mr Packer dismissed the claimed amounts as “absolutely ludicrous”, saying he lost less than $10 million he donated to the Westmead Children’s Hospital.

“The truth of the matter is that I like to have a bet every now and again,” he told media. “If you go to a casino, you try to win money,” adding “you can lose it.”

There are reports he enjoyed visiting Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast in 1998 but did not make the journey north to Brisbane to the Treasury Casino.

While reportedly banned from Kirk Kerkorian’s MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, Mr Packer said in 2000 he believed he was welcome there.

He was also quoted as saying of losing: “I didn’t enjoy it. But those are the risks you take.”

Texan: I’m worth $100m
Packer: Toss you for it

I love that “toss you for it story.” I don’t know what impact this will have on Packer’s planned entry into the Macau market.

Any dealers/waitresses have any Kerry Packer stories to share?

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Posted in gambling & cultureTagged

Next to fall?

December 23, 2005 3:05 pm

If you’re curious about which Las Vegas casino will be getting the boot next, you can check Las Vegas Casino Deathwatch. Or, you could just throw the name of every structure over 20 years old into a hat and pick one. Or, you could read this aritcle from the LV Business Press:

Once Tamares Group clears title to the Hotel Nevada & Casino, the low-priced hotel may become history.

“It’s on a respirator. It is not long for the world,” says Frank Schreck, who is representing Tamares in litigation with Tamares’ former minority partner, Barrick Gaming. Schreck says the Nevada will probably be bulldozed into a parking lot.

Tamares picked up the Hotel Nevada for $7 million in October 2004, along with the Queen of Hearts motel, from previous owner Ann Meyers. During the mid-1990s, Meyers was frequently in trouble with the city of Las Vegas and gaming regulators, as the two small hotels were the cause of numerous police calls. In the May 2, 1996, Las Vegas Sun, Steve Sebelius reported that “The (Queen of Hearts) has frustrated police in the past due to frequent drug and prostitution arrests made there.” Following a December 1995 drive-by shooting, owner Meyers told Sebelius, “I don’t see any suspicious activity at all.”

Meyers’ optimism to the contrary, the Queen of Hearts had been the scene of 680 Metro visits over the preceding 24 months.
…
As for the refurbishment, it appears not to have materialized, judging from consumer comments found on the Internet. Remarks posted at Travel.Yahoo .com following the Barrick takeover complain of cockroaches, non-functioning air conditioning, rooms without phones and an inability to obtain refunds.

“When they got into this deal, they thought Barrick would be able to operate it profitably,” Schreck says of the shortlived downtown partnership. He adds with a chuckle, “And they were wrong.”

Curtains for downtown trouble spot?

Readers of this blog know that I like to give credit to writers take dull stories and, with a twist or two, make them funny. The latest on the list is the Business Press’s David McKee, who penned this gem.

McKee did a good job here because he used the tools at his disposal to cut through the bullshit. That’s the great thing about the Internet–so much info available–and he used it to determine that the Nevada Hotel is still a real dump, and that a parking lot will probably be an improvement.

But don’t take my word for it; check the travel.yahoo page for Nevada Hotel and Casino yourself.

It seems that the hotel has lost the “Fukville” trade, which I’m sure is a real blow to their marketing.

The only way McKee’s article might have been better is if it ran like this:

As for the refurbishment, it appears not to have materialized, as one guest from Fukville, PU maintains that the hotel “blows ass.”

I think you’ve got to take Fukville’s comment with a grain of salt. I understand the metaphoric indignity of having a dog take a dump in a hotel, but there are some real logistical problems invovled:
1. Finding a stray dog in the downtown area.
2. Somehow inducing him to come back to the room.
3. By a stroke of luck, the dog is not housebroken.
4. Waiting until the dog has to do his business, then coaxing him onto the bed.
I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m just saying I’m skeptical.

But it’s an effective image–I would hazard that no one who read that review will ever be a guest at the Nevada Hotel.

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Posted in life in vegasTagged

Super Mario Slots?

December 22, 2005 12:30 pm

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 the site of Mellon Arena is willing to put up $290 million to pay for a new, 18,000-seat home for the National Hockey League team.

The Penguins’ development, which would secure the team’s future in Pittsburgh, is contingent on winning a license for the city’s slot machine casino.

Besides construction of a casino and a replacement for the aging arena, oldest in the NHL, the development would include a mix of offices, residential units and retail space.

The Penguins will team with a yet-unidentified gambling operator and with Nationwide Realty Investors of Columbus, Ohio., to handle development.

As part of its application for the Pittsburgh slots license, the gaming operator intends to pledge the money to build a new arena. It also would finance construction of the casino for 3,000 slot machines, with room to expand to 5,000.

The Penguins will not be the applicant for the state license, nor will the team take any profits from the slots casino. Once a new arena is built, it plans to turn ownership over to the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority.

Penguins find arena funds

I think the team should go all out and have current players serving as casino hosts, welcoming players and the like.

As is usually the case, money trumps everything. If pro football didn’t have such lucrative TV revenues to fall back on, I’m sure that the NFL would be just as keen to use gambling to help pay for its stadiums.

There isn’t a word about connections between gambling and sports being inappropriate now, is there?

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Posted in news about gamblingTagged , , ,

Clooney “rambling” out?

December 21, 2005 6:00 pm

According to Entertainmentwise (not my first choice for breaking casino news, to be sure), George Clooney’s Las Ramblas project has been “scrapped.” What does that mean? You be the judge:

George Clooney’s plans to build a casino in Las Vegas have been totally scrapped.

The actor had planned on teaming up with Brad Pitt and Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s man) to spend £3billion on creating the uber flash casino complex.

However, the trio have failed to obtain planning permission and other buildings are now being built in the area.

Clooney had planned on opening a smart establishment after he was inspired by his involvement in the Las Vegas based film ‘Oceans 11’.

He said: “When I was filming ‘Ocean’s 11′ in Las Vegas, I met with Rande, who owns all these great bars, and we started talking about building a casino and how we would want to do it, which is to dress it up a bit – no shorts and tank tops after 6pm.”

“I grew up watching my aunt sing in Vegas and everyone used to put on a jacket to go to the casino. There was sort of a European flavour – I always felt like I missed out on that.”

Well, he will just have to think of another way to make loadsa money.

George Clooney Scraps Casino Plans

I’ve got three questions:
1. Is this a legit story? I never have full faith in a project until the doors open, but there are Las Ramblas (the resort in question) billboards all around town. I don’t see any other “buildings now being built” on the site, although it does look like there is some pre-construction grading, etc.

2. Does this mean that only Clooney is out, and the project is continuing, or that the entire resort is finished?

3. If the answer to either (1) or (2) is yes, why hasn’t anyone else reported this? Nothing in Review-Journal, Sun, AP, or Wall Street Journal. I find it hard to believe that a project of this magnitude could tank without a peep. Ivana made the local news just because her condo tower, which no one really expected to be built, is apparently not happening. This was a MAJOR development, so I find it hard to believe that its passing wouldn’t be newsworthy.

On the surface of it, I’m skeptical of the story. It doesn’t quote anything new (Clooney’s quote is a few months old), and speaks rather vaugely of “permissions,” like the guy is asking for a hall pass or doesn’t get to go on a field trip because his mom didn’t sign a release.

So, on one hand, maybe every journalist in Las Vegas did get scooped by EntertainmentWise–stranger things have happened.

This article is probably further proof that the instantaneous information of the Internet is on balance a good thing, but you definitely need to be skeptical.

Anyone have a clue about this?

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Posted in life in vegasTagged

Super warriors

December 20, 2005 12:58 pm

I am busy at work revising Roll the Bones and doing 1000 other things today, but nevertheless I found these stories compelling enough to share with you. The first shows that megalomania is alive and well. From Scotsman.com:

TURKMENISTAN’S president, Sapamurat Niyazov, has ordered construction of a university to be named after his book Rukhnama, which is held as a sacred text in the ex-Soviet republic.

The university will be completed in 2010 in the capital, Ashgabat.

In Rukhnama, meaning “the book of the soul”, the autocratic leader dispenses moral guidance for citizens of the Central Asian nation.

It is mandatory reading for every Turkmen in schools and workplaces.

Convicts must take an oath involving the book upon their release from prison.

University to take name of leader’s book

The second also comes from the former USSR, and deals with half-man/half-ape super soldiers. Also from the Scotsman:

THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents.

Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia’s top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.

According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: “I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat.”

In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a “living war machine”. The order came at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to industrialisation: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian society were being created.

Mr Ivanov’s experiments, unsurprisingly from what we now know, were a total failure. He returned to the Soviet Union, only to see experiments in Georgia to use monkey sperm in human volunteers similarly fail.

A final attempt to persuade a Cuban heiress to lend some of her monkeys for further experiments reached American ears, with the New York Times reporting on the story, and she dropped the idea amid the uproar.

Stalin’s half-man, half-ape super-warriors

I searched the New York Times archives and couldn’t find anything on this, so it may very well be bogus.

Too bad Stalin didn’t have more imagination–imagine what great soldiers human/tiger hybrids would be. There was a pretty cool minotaur in the Narnia movie, too, so I could see something like that working out pretty well. This was the kind of stuff that got Marlon Brando into trouble in The Island of Dr. Moreau, but I guess it’s a dream that dies hard.

Here’s some final words from Ed Wodd (spoken by Bela Lugosi) to mediate on, from Bride of the Monster:

“Home ? I have no home. Hunted ! Despised ! Living like an animal. The jungle is my home. Then I will show the world I can be its master. I will perfect my own race of people, a race of atomic supermen which will conquer the world.”

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Posted in haphazard world

On the air

December 19, 2005 12:03 pm

I don’t have much time to write a real post/commentary today (work on Roll the Bones and several other things is taking up all my time), but if you want to catch me on the radio, check out KWDN 720 AM at noon (Pacific time) today. I’ll be a guest on “Lunchtime with Ira,” broadcasting live from the Las Vegas Hilton.

I’ll be sharing the airwaves with host Ira David Sternberg, the legenday Johnny Mathis, magician Rick Thomas, and reporter/author George Knapp. It should be a lot of fun.

The show will be archived at www.lvhilton.com.

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Posted in life in vegasTagged

AI unleashed!

December 15, 2005 4:55 pm

When I worked at the Trump Taj Mahal, I saw many Philly and New York sports stars gambling and having fun, often within a few hours after games. Anyone who works in AC probably has stories to tell.

That’s why it’s strange that this made the paper. From the San Jose Mercury News:

On a late-night visit to the Trump Taj Mahal after the Sixers bested the Charlotte Bobcats Friday, sources say Iverson, after winning a hand at a three-card-stud poker table, was overpaid $10,000 in chips by a dealer.

When the dealer quickly realized the mistake and requested the chips back, Iverson, we’re told, refused to hand `em over and a head-turning argument between him and casino staff began.

The Taj on Wednesday declined to comment about the incident.

But a top executive at another casino told us yesterday that if and when a gaming house makes a payout mistake, a player must give back any money that was not legitimately won by the bettor.

This is not the first time that Iverson, who often visits the Taj Mahal for late-night play, has made a scene in Atlantic City.

We reported in February 2004 that a pro-athlete who plays at the Wachovia Center had urinated in a trash can at Bally’s Park Place in full view of staff and patrons. The urinator, whom we didn’t name at the time, was Iverson, and he was told by the casino not to return.

KRT Wire | 12/14/2005 | Report: Iverson, casino staff clash over over-payment

In my tenure at the Taj, I recall a major NY sports figure being underpaid several thousand dollars by a cashier once. He didn’t notice, and the casino staff had to track him down to get him to take his money. So the pendulum swings both ways.

I’m surprised that AI was 86ed from Bally’s (allegedly) after publicly urinating. I’ve personally seen high rollers welcomed back after doing this, so I’m a little skeptical about that story.

If you were a big enough player, you could probably relieve yourself in the Bellagio fountain at the climax of the dancing fountains number and be happily asked to come back for a few more hands of baccarat. It’s amazing what money can do.

People say that the difference between being “crazy” and “eccentric” is an economic one: what might get a workign stiff sent to an asylum “for his own protection” is written off as a mere eccentricity in somelike, oh…Howard Hughes.

Here’s a soundbite along those same lines:

The biggest difference between “disorderly conduct” and “rowdy enthusiasm” in a casino is a $100,000 marker.

Seriously, things that would get the low-rolling casino patron asked to leave and maybe formally evicted might get a high roller politely asked to chill out in his suite for a while.

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Posted in atlantic cityTagged

The lottery of death!?!

December 14, 2005 11:22 am

Doing research for Roll the Bones, I’m increasingly coming to believe that gambling truly is everywhere in history. This excerpt from a Tarzan story, for example, references lots, card sharps, and a specific cheating technique, all in a few melodramatic paragraphs.

“It is the will of the majority,” announced Monsieur Thuran, “and now let us lose no time in drawing lots. It is as fair for one as for another. That three may live, one of us must die perhaps a few hours sooner than otherwise.”

Then he began his preparation for the lottery of death, while Jane Porter sat wide-eyed and horrified at thought of the thing that she was about to witness. Monsieur Thuran spread his coat upon the bottom of the boat, and then from a handful of money he selected six franc pieces. The other two men bent close above him as he inspected them. Finally he handed them all to Clayton.

“Look at them carefully,” he said. “The oldest date is eighteen-seventy-five, and there is only one of that year.”

Clayton and the sailor inspected each coin. To them there seemed not the slightest difference that could be detected other than the dates. They were quite satisfied. Had they known that Monsieur Thuran’s past experience as a card sharp had trained his sense of touch to so fine a point that he could almost differentiate between cards by the mere feel of them, they would scarcely have felt that the plan was so entirely fair. The 1875 piece was a hair thinner than the other coins, but neither Clayton nor Spider could have detected it without the aid of a micrometer.

“In what order shall we draw?” asked Monsieur Thuran, knowing from past experience that the majority of men always prefer last chance in a lottery where the single prize is some distasteful thing–there is always the chance and the hope that another will draw it first. Monsieur Thuran, for reasons of his own, preferred to draw first if the drawing should happen to require a second adventure beneath the coat.

And so when Spider elected to draw last he graciously offered to take the first chance himself. His hand was under the coat for but a moment, yet those quick, deft fingers had felt of each coin, and found and discarded the fatal piece. When he brought forth his hand it contained an 1888 franc piece. Then Clayton drew. Jane Porter leaned forward with a tense and horrified expression on her face as the hand of the man she was to marry groped about beneath the coat. Presently he withdrew it, a franc piece lying in the palm. For an instant he dared not look, but Monsieur Thuran, who had leaned nearer to see the date, exclaimed that he was safe.

Jane Porter sank weak and trembling against the side of the boat. She felt sick and dizzy. And now, if Spider should not draw the 1875 piece she must endure the whole horrid thing again.

The Return of Tarzan: Chapter 18 — The Lottery of Death

I have a challenge for all of you: provide a one-paragraph explanation of what precipitated the sortilege described here, and what happens next. Post it as a comment.

I’m getting back to work on my chapter about British imperialism and gambling.

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Posted in gambling & culture, writingTagged , , , ,

World’s best gaming conference

December 13, 2005 5:26 pm

I can say this without hesitation: if you want to present an academic paper on the gaming industry, the best conference for you is the International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking. It’s held every three years, and in May 2006 it will be in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Here’s some pertinent information:

Call for Papers

Calling on Leaders and representatives from commercial gaming industries, academia, research organizations, regulatory agencies, and the helping services—as well as gamblers and the general public. Since 1974 to present; these individuals have evaluated research, discuss new trends and technologies, and explored the changes and challenges created by the increased presence of commercial gaming to citizens throughout the world. You can be a part of this process in 2006 by submitting one or more papers for presentation at the 13th International Conference on Gambling and Risk-Taking. Submissions are invited in the general fields of gambling and risk-taking and may cover several areas.

View the PDF Call for Papers

If you are an established professor, graduate student, or even an intrepid undergrad, this is a great place to present your research. If you are in the industry, attending the conference will give you an excellent opportunity to see what’s happening on the cutting edge of academic research.

While I don’t have anything set in stone (I’m too overworked with editing Roll the Bones to put together an abstract) I can guarantee that I will be involved, hopefully presenting a paper on the history of casino skimming (I’m looking for a co-author with a background in accoutning/business) and moderating a panel. Remember, the last absolute lock prediction I made on the site, that I would not win the 2005 New Las Vegas Marathan, came true: I finished in 3:52:11 (I still am not tired of writing that), which was comfortably behind Stephen Kiogora’s 2:11:58 .

Seriously, if you are interested in attending the conference, go here. This was the first academic conference I ever attended (as a grad student in 1997, when it was held in Montreal), and you could argue that it helped me on my current career path. So I’ve got a definite soft spot for the conference, but even if I didn’t, it’s the best place to hear intelligent discussion of gaming issues.

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Posted in gambling & culture, what's newTagged , ,

Sin City, circa 1940

December 12, 2005 3:47 pm

The “Sin City” label is a pretty new (and, all things considered, pretty lame) tag for Las Vegas. In the 1940s and 1950s, several cities held claim to the title, including Phenix City, Alabama. Really. From the Shelbyville (TN) Times-Gazette:

Jack Culpepper’s first run-in with the steamier side of Phenix City life occurred in the 1930s, at the age of 11, while he was making money like many boys did in those days — delivering newspapers. He and his lifelong friend Joe Freeman would head across the river to Columbus, Ga., to pick up the papers for delivery in the wee hours of the morning.

It was a routine the pair would repeat for years: catching a midnight show at the movies, doing their delivery job and then in bed by 4 in the morning. This explains why a boy of that age would be in a sleazy honky-tonk at 3 a.m. on a Sunday.

“I was just a kid and they only messed with me that one time,” Jack said. He would cross the 14th Street bridge on his bicycle, which led into where most of the criminal activity was centered. While Joe attended to his deliveries across the street, Jack entered the Blue Bonnet Cafe and was only there to collect his two dimes for the papers when suddenly he heard. “Look, it’s a virgin, let’s get him!”

Someone grabbed him and thrust him into the lap of a woman who obviously made her living with her body.

“Scared the daylights out of me,” Jack remembered. Just as quickly, he heard “Leave him alone, he’s just a kid,” at which point other women of ill repute set upon the one who had grabbed Jack.

“I left a pile of ‘em in the floor … of women … working her over, I guess.”

But while it was the only time the criminal element would deliberately accost the young Jack, another early morning newspaper delivery at the age of 13 would leave quite an impression on him.

Entering the “Merry-Go-Round” to deliver his papers, Jack found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. Apparently, two drunken soldiers decided to reenact a scene that made the archer William Tell famous throughout the ages, except instead of using an apple and a bow and arrow, the pair chose a shot glass and a .45 automatic pistol.

However, the solider with the .45 shot a bit lower than he intended and Jack was splattered with brains, blood and pieces of skull from the unfortunate man with the shot glass on top of his head. “I didn’t witness it, I felt it!” Jack said. “Part of his head hit my shoulder!”

Shelbyville Times-Gazette: Story: Death, prostitution and the paper boy

Somebody pay that editor a bonus: “Death, Prostitution, and the Paper Boy” is the best headline I’ve seen in a while.

I never was a paper boy, but I tried playing that Paperboy video game a few times. I always crashed just trying to get down Easy Street…man was that game tough.

Anyway, it would have been a much cooler game if it had had things like the prostitute catfight and fatal head shooting as obstacles instead of dogs and break dancers.

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Posted in gambling & cultureTagged , , ,