As I promised on Friday, the Las Vegas Business Press ran an article today about the immiment demise of a Strip mainstray. Check out Strip Tease to learn more.

Don’t expect too many posts from me this week–I’m heading to the East Coast to do some research and meet with my editor at Gotham Books. Roll the Bones is almost out of my hands. I’ve finished selecting pictures (though I’m still looking for a photo of Nick the Greek Dandalos) and am just starting the Herculean task of adding descriptors to my endnotes–there won’t be any superscript references in the published version. After I’m done all that, I think I just have to correct any mistakes in the proofs. There’s probably a few things I’ve left out, though.

I’ve also got a tentative plan for my next academic book project, but I’m still working out some of the details. So it’s been a busy time here.

In Las Vegas, it’s New Years all right…Chinese New Year. I’ve often said that casinos are in the forefront of commerce-driven multi-culturalism, and this is yet another example: Strip resorts are proclaiming, at considerably expense, their jubilation at the advent of the Year of the Dog. From the LV Sun:

Marketing to Asian — particularly Chinese — gamblers is Management 101 for casino bosses. Just about anybody who works in a casino knows that many Chinese believe the color red and the number 8 are lucky and that the number 4 is unlucky.

Many Las Vegas Strip properties have decorated their lobbies and casinos with orange trees, red lanterns, gold coins and other Chinese symbols of luck and prosperity.

Caesars Palace’s top executive will be on hand Feb. 4 for a traditional “painting of the eye” lion ceremony in front of the property. The Venetian will host a dragon dance, complete with firecrackers and traditional music, in its casino on Saturday. At the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Chinese singer Paula Tsui will perform in Mandarin and Cantonese on Saturday and Sunday.

For non-Chinese, the public displays are an intriguing and colorful nod to an important ethnic group. For Las Vegas casinos, it’s a business imperative.

Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year, has grown from a small, private welcome for Asian high rollers to a more mainstream event for middle-income Chinese and Asian-Americans.

It now ranks as one of the biggest gambling events of the year for Las Vegas, vying for second place with the Super Bowl, behind New Year’s Eve, experts say. Hotels are expecting 100 percent occupancy this weekend in advance of the celebration, which begins Sunday and lasts for two weeks.

A Chinese propensity to gamble is a long-held truism in Las Vegas that has yet to be documented with any accuracy. But some say there is a cultural basis for gambling during Chinese New Year — a holiday that is inextricably tied to testing one’s luck.

If a person wins a wager, it could bring new luck for the rest of the year, or so the tradition goes. Losing a bet could rid the bettor of bad luck that’s accumulated over the past year.
Las Vegas SUN: Casinos open arms for Asians with open wallets

I like how winning a bet is good luck, but losing is good luck as well. It’s very optimistic.

The rest of the story is very good, so click on through.

Just so I’m not left out, I’d like to extend my warm wishes for a lucky and healthy New Year to everyone:

Here’s a hot tip: check out the “Strip Tease” column in Monday’s Business Press. There will be an item about the impending demise of a storied Strip resort.

According to the Detroit News, betting on the Super Bowl will be big business:

An estimated 60 million people will bet $6 billion on the Super Bowl this year.

But not a single wager will be made at a casino in Detroit or Windsor.

Sports betting is illegal in Michigan, while Casino Windsor isn’t licensed for it.

That’s not to say Metro Detroit residents won’t be betting on the game. They’ll just be doing so in ways that are somewhat less than legal.

People will illegally join betting pools in homes, offices or bars. They’ll break the law by betting with friends, neighbors and friendly neighborhood bookies.

The criminals aren’t limited to southeast Michigan. The Super Bowl is the high holy day of the $200 billion sports gambling industry, said experts and regulators.

Big Game, Big bets – 01/22/06 – The Detroit News

I got quoted in the story, but I’m not totally sure where the figure of $200 billion a year in illegal bets comes from. I get questions about how much money is bet illegally all the time, but don’t know of any real source for the numbers.

In other news, according to a recent report illegal slots cost Maryland $15 million a year. I’m going to try to get the report for the center, and when I do maybe I’ll have some more answers.

I haven’t posted this week because I’ve been consumed with two projects: the relaunch of gaming.unlv.edu and getting photos for Roll the Bones.

The web stuff is coming along, and I’m close to finding the final images for the book.

If you listened to Dave Berns interview me on KNPR, you heard my shocking revelation that I used to work as Mr. Peanut. Actually, it’s not that shocking, but “shocking revelation” sounds better than “talking about a past summer job.” So you can imagine my excitement at reading this article in the Atlantic City Press:
Mr. Peanut – and his signature snack – are making a comeback.

During the lean years of the Great Depression, a 5-cent bag of roasted peanuts was known as “The Nickel Lunch.”

In 2006, with Americans eating low-carb, high-protein foods, domestic peanut consumption has risen to all-time highs.

And in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Planters Peanuts, the promotional icon Mr. Peanut, born in 1916 and beckoning to Atlantic City Boardwalk visitors for generations, will make a permanent return to the Jersey Shore this summer – as a statue.

The top hat-doffing, spats-sporting, monocled legume will be enshrined in bronze in July at Kennedy Plaza near Boardwalk Hall, Planters officials said. It’s part of a year of celebrations for the company and its corporate dandy, including a nationwide tour in a bright yellow Nut-Mobile and an online contest to add a new accouterment – cuff links? a pocket watch? – to Mr. Peanut’s ensemble.

“There is a really deep connection to Atlantic City for both Planters and Mr. Peanut,” said Heath Osburn, senior brand manager for Planters. “You can’t help but find someone from the Northeast who … will tell you, ‘When we’d go down to the shore, we’d go to the Boardwalk and we’d always see Mr. Peanut.’”

That’s because for much of the 20th century – certainly in the pre-television era – the place to reach a mass audience of would-be consumers was in locales such as Manhattan’s Times Square and along the Boardwalk.

According to the Atlantic City Historical Museum, the seaside resort was home to Underwood’s “World’s Largest Typewriter,” a 12-foot tall rubber Goodyear tire, and thousands of light bulbs flashing out the good news about razor blades, corsets and cigarettes.

Planters was founded by Amedeo Obici, an Italian immigrant who sold peanuts from his uncle’s fruit stand in Wilkes Barre, Pa. In 1896, the 19-year-old entrepreneur built a crude peanut roaster, peddling his wares by horse and wagon. Within a decade he established the Planters Nut Company. His business kept growing, and in 1913 Obici built a mass processing plant in Suffolk, Va. Three years later the Mr. Peanut icon was born of a drawing a school child submitted to the company.

In 1930, the company opened a shop on the Atlantic City Boardwalk, with the aroma of freshly roasted nuts wafting in the sea breeze.

“That was a beautiful store,” recalled Herb Stern, vice chairman of the historical museum. “You could smell it on the Boardwalk a block away.

“Outside there was a man dressed up in the peanut costume,” Stern recalled. “He’d give out little samples. They were supposed to be for adults, but kids always snuck by. If you were lucky, you could sneak by two or three times.”

The store and Mr. Peanut flourished in Atlantic City even after the company sold off its other 100-plus shops across the nation, recalled Leo Yeager III, who worked in the store in front of the Steel Pier through the 1960s.

“It took up about half a block,” said Yeager, who now runs his own Boardwalk Peanuts in three local casinos, and on the Ocean City Boardwalk. “There were seven peanut roasters in the window. It was really unique because preparation was done right in front of the public.”

The final decades of the century were not as kind to Mr. Peanut, however. Heightened awareness of food allergies and fad diets banishing all but the lowest fat foods pushed nuts out of many Americans’ meals. The Atlantic City shop closed in the mid-1970s.

Now part of Chicago-based Kraft Food Inc., Planters is headquartered in East Hanover Township, Morris County.
Atlantic City icon Mr. Peanut returning to Shore
What the article doesn’t mention is that Leo Yeager revived Mr. Peanut in the early 1990s at his Tropicana store. I worked for Leo in that role for a memorable summer.

Probably the dumbest thing to happen to me was when a local reporter tried to interview me–in character. Of course, I didn’t have too much of an iidea of what Mr. Peanut’s backstory was–Leo just gave me the shell and white gloves and told me to buy black pants and shoes–so mostly I waved and twirled my cane. The reporter ended up making up a bunch of stuff, which I guess played better in print.

I never gave out samples, and my job was mostly to stand there, wave, vaguely gesture towards the store, pose for pictures, and try to avoid getting blasted in the package by rambunctious kids. Good training for my current job, I guess.

The LA Times’s John Glionna has a very good piece on Asian problem gambling. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon, and it looks like UCLA is doing some serious research into it.

Here’s a bit of the story from the LA Times (register to read the whole article):

Bill Lee’s father was sold as a boy to cover a gambling debt.

In the early 1900s, Lee’s grandfather lost a wager during a gambling binge in China. With no money to settle up, his only son had to go.

The failed bet unloosed a legacy of problem gambling for Lee’s family. His father became an obsessive gambler who never mentioned being raised by a man who won him in a card game. “I saw how gambling destroyed my dad,” Lee said. “Part of me also learned, ‘Oh, that’s how you deal with conflict; that’s how you escape.’ ”

…

Nobody really knows how deeply problem gambling reaches into Asian communities because Asians have not been broken out as a group in national or California studies on the issue.

But a 1999 poll in San Francisco’s Chinatown, commissioned by a social services agency, found that 70% of 1,808 respondents ranked gambling as their community’s No. 1 problem. In a follow-up poll, 21% of respondents considered themselves pathological gamblers and 16% more called themselves problem gamblers — rates significantly higher than in the overall population.

Current data suggest that 1.6% of Americans can be classified as pathological gamblers, a condition recognized as a psychiatric disorder. About 3% more are considered problem gamblers.

Gambling has become America’s adult pastime of choice. Each year, more money is spent in the nation’s $75-billion gaming industry than on movies, concerts, sporting events and amusement parks combined.

And nowhere is gambling on a bigger roll than in California, with nearly 60 Indian casinos, scores of card rooms, racetracks and Internet gambling sites as well as one of the nation’s most lucrative state lotteries. By 2010, annual gaming proceeds will top $10 billion dollars, carrying California past Nevada as the No. 1 gambling destination in the world, gaming experts say.

Asian gamblers play a key role in that success. Though few statistics on their contribution to the state’s gambling pot exist, some casinos and card rooms near Los Angeles and San Francisco estimate that Asians often account for 80% of their customers.

Gambling Seen as No-Win Situation for Some Asians – Los Angeles Times

It’s definitely interesting reading.

New Jersey recently banned smoking indoors–unless you’re in a casino. Proponents of the ban have said that it was a political move–they could not have gotten the measure passed with the combined clout of casinos, bars, and restaurants. So they picked off the bars and restaurants, and have now come for the casinos.

From Newsday:

The measure would expand the Smoke-Free Air Act that former Gov. Richard J. Codey signed into law Sunday, making New Jersey the 11th state to impose a smoking ban.

The law bars smoking from restaurants, bars and most indoor public buildings, but exempts gambling areas in Atlantic City casinos, tobacco retailers and cigar bars. It will take effect April 15.

The anti-smoking extension is the first bill to be sponsored by new Assemblyman Jim Whelan, an Atlantic City Democrat.

“It’s very simple. You treat everyone the same,” said Whelan, a former Atlantic City mayor. “We have a law right now that doesn’t treat everyone the same.”

Sen. Shirley Turner, a Democrat from Lawrence who is co-sponsoring the Senate bill, said, “it’s a horrible message to say it’s OK for casino moguls to poison the lungs of their workers with secondhand smoke because they have the political clout to buy a deadly exemption.”

Opponents of the new ban, including bar and restaurant owners, argued that allowing patrons to smoke in their establishments is crucial to business and that the exemption gives Atlantic City casinos an unfair advantage.

AC lawmaker moves to extend indoor smoking ban to casino floors — Newsday.com

Turner makes a good point, but the grammar police might argue that she is suggesting that the employees are the ones who have an exemption.

Poison might not be so far off the mark–there’s nothing like coming home after a tough shift and noting that your clothes are redolent with the odor of a known carcinogen.

I’ve been doing research in old copies of Fablulous Las Vegas, a weekly that touted the wonders of Vegas tourism back in the day. I stumbled across a crotchety editorial that bemoaned the do-gooders who had enacted a ban against smoking inside movie theaters. After all, smokers could sit still for three hours without lighting up, and taking a smoke break would cause them to miss the onscreen action.

It made me think, and I don’t think I can remember a time when people smoked in theaters. So I guess we got used to it.

On the other hand, even flying shrimp are apparently deadly, so where do you draw the line?

If you like, you can listen to me being interviewed by Dave Berns on KNPR’s State of Nevada. Just click the link and listen away. Doing the interview was a lot of fun.

Running a clandestine casino requires a lot of stealth–you need to get the word out, but not tip off the cops. You need to account for large amounts of people coming and going. You also, apparently, need to lock your door. From the AP:

Sheriff’s deputies found what appeared to be a small casino when they responded to a burglar alarm at the home of a former small town mayor who had served time in prison for an illegal gambling scheme, officials said.

The door was wide open when deputies arrived late Sunday at the upscale mountain home owned by Peter Werrlein, a former councilman and mayor in the city of Bell in suburban Los Angeles, said San Bernardino Sheriff’s Detective James Bergandahl.

Deputies entered the house and found a 1,200-square-foot room containing seven slot machines, a mini roulette wheel, mini craps table, blackjack and poker tables, buckets of coins and several poker chips, Bergandahl said. There also was a cashier’s cage and a posted “No Credit” sign.

“It looked like an illegal casino or gambling hall,” Bergandahl said.

Nobody was home and there was no sign of forced entry, he said, adding that authorities believe strong winds blew open the door.

SoCal authorities find apparent casino in home of former mayor

I think that Werrlein could argue it was his personal rec room “for entertainment only.” The “no credit” sign was just part of the ambiance.

Maybe I should call the local cops every time someone calls me and wants to buy casino carpet for their basement “play room.”

According to Star Trek, gambling will be a big part of the future. I’m a casual Star Trek fan at best, but I seem to remember that the senior officers in The Next Generation played poker together, and that the Ferengi guy on Deep Space Nine had a casino.

It looks like Trekkies will be able to digitally double down a lot sooner than the 25th century. At least that’s what I took away from this Business Press article by David McKee:

Local manufacturer Shuffle Master has inked a strategic alliance with Sona Mobile Holdings. Under the terms of the pact, Sona is to develop a wireless system for delivery of Shuffle Master game products.

The Shuffle Master/Sona products are intended for use within casino properties, thereby complying with Nevada’s recent legalization of on-site, portable gambling.

Shuffle Master markets a number of live table games in addition to a pair of electronic ones, Rapid Roulette and Table Master. Its core business centers on a variety of table-management tools, including shufflers, chip sorters, RFID-chip technology and drop boxes. Sona sells handheld devices — including a Star Trek communicator phone — that can be gaming-enabled, using wi-fi technology that the company says can be restricted to public areas, as determined by the casino.

Under the wireless-gambling regulations currently being finalized by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, on-site mobile gambling would be conducted only on machines owned and issued by the participating casinos, the target market for Sona and its new partner.

Las Vegas Business Press

Of course, I’m just connecting the dots there, but it makes sense: Sona makes Star Trek communicators, and they offer mobile gambling, so why not join the two.

Just think of the fun you could have narrating your gambling exploits in a Shatner-esque voice:

Captain’s log, stardate 89154.7010. I’ve gone all in with a pair of kings, and busted out when Lt. Sulu had pocket aces. It was a bad beat.

Note to trekkies: I know that 89154 probably isn’t a real star date–it’s just my work zip code, which was the first number I could think of.

…to go on the Strip? According to Liz Benston at the Sun, the Riviera might not be such a bad bet:

A group of experienced real estate developers has reached an agreement with the chief executive of the company that owns the Riviera to buy out his shares of stock in the casino’s parent company — a deal experts say will allow the group to eventually take over the company and redevelop the aging Las Vegas property.

Riviera Holdings Corp., which owns the Riviera on the Strip and the Riviera Black Hawk in Colorado, has been subject to numerous buyout offers and other redevelopment proposals over the years, none of which came to fruition.

Some experts say the purchase agreement is different than the past deals because it is led by a group capable of financing the purchase and redevelopment of a major Strip resort, whereas previous groups did not have the expertise or ability to finance a makeover that could cost more than a billion dollars. The deal was made public in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
…
The group purchasing Riviera shares includes Barry Sternlicht, the former chief executive of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Las Vegas real estate developer Brett Torino and Chicago real estate executive and casino investor Neil Bluhm. Torino and Bluhm declined to comment further on the agreement, and Sternlicht could not be reached for comment by press time.

Riviera officials, including Chief Executive Bill Westerman, also declined comment.
Las Vegas SUN: Rebirth of the Riviera?

Then again, you might want to look at the other end of the Strip. David McKee at the Business Press says the Klondike’s days are numbered:

For 45 years, the Klondike Hotel & Casino has stood at the southernmost edge of the Las Vegas Strip. But instead of embodying history it may soon be history.

Last September, the land under the Klondike was purchased by Royal Palm Las Vegas, a subsidiary of Boca Raton, Fla.-based condominium developer Royal Palm Communities. Royal Palm intends to build a condo-hotel casino resort of 1,000 to 1,600 units on the site and on land immediately to the north, adjacent to McCarran International Airport. Potential construction on those 10.6 acres is height-restricted at 20 to 25 stories and zoned for a maximum of 1,800 units, according to Royal Palm CEO Daniel Kodsi.

“Like anything else, progress takes its toll, my friend,” said Klondike owner John Woodrum, who has run the grind joint for decades. “You can only stand in the way of it so long and it rolls over you.”Woodrum hasn’t made any announcement yet. “When I have a fixed time that I’ll be leaving, then I’ll let everyone know. That could be as much as two years down the road.”

Klondike living on borrowed time

A trip down to the Klondike is worth it if you can get to talk with John Woodrum, who’s got more great stories about “old Vegas” than almost anyone I know.

In “related” news, a Business Press article on the Related Companies’ two big misses in Vegas contains an interesting note about condo pricing:

“We’re quoting $400 per square foot for condos based on the design and pricing from local subs,” said Dick Rizzo, chairman of Perini Building Co. “The general rule of thumb is that sale prices will have to be double that amount or more in order for the project to be profitable, which means prices of $800 to $1,200 per square foot.”

So a 700-sq. ft. 1-bedroom costs a cool $840,000. That’s a pretty small 1-bedroom, too. But it’s probably got a great view and is convenient to Strip traffic.

I’ve just posted a new book review:
Review of Peter Fenton, Eyeing the Flash
I also added some desktop wallpapers to gallery #6.

Enjoy.

Check out the Die is Cast casino carpet gallery for two new galleries: Indian casinos and riverboat casinos. Sure, they each only have two casinos, but both have a panoply of carpet designs. I also added some Lake Las Vegas carpets.

I had an interesting phone call yesterday that shows what a tremendous error in judgement I made in putting these galleries up in the first place. I check my voicemail and find a message from a guy named Steve who left his number and said he needed to talk to me and “You’ve got quite a website there.” I knew instinctively that it had to be a request to buy carpet, but I held out hope that maybe he wanted to hire me for an executive seminar or something.

So I take the time to call the guy back. I dial the number (to my dismay, it’s some kind of carpet dealership) and ask to speak to Steve. Steve gets on the line, and I say, “Hi, this is Dave Schwartz, returning your phone call.”

He gets really defensive and starts insisting that he never called me, or that I have the wrong number.

I point out that it was definitely his voice on my voicemail, leaving his number and his name, and he gets even more defensive, completely denying that he ever called, and basically treating me like I’m a telemarketer bothering him at home. He’s on the verge of actually screaming when I thank him for wasting my time and hang up.

All that said, I’m still glad I put up the casino carpet galleries, because most people definitely get a kick out of it.

It’s hard to explain exactly why I decided to do this in the first place–I just had a vague feeling that it might be funny.

I’ve gotten a few visitors emailing me carpet pictures, which is cool–I’m going to post a “guest” gallery with them soon. Unfortunately, I had all of my emailed-in pictures in a folder which has disappeared, so if you emailed me pictures in the past, send them again, with a note indicating how you’d like to be indentified and where the photo is from.

The World Series of Poker is getting bigger and bigger. With so much attention drawn to the tournament, you need someone to lay down the law. Hence, Harrah’s Entertainment has appointed a commissioner of the WSOP. From Yahoo:

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: HET – News) today announced that Jeffrey Pollack, vice president of sports and entertainment marketing for subsidiary Harrah’s Operating Company, Inc., is taking on the added role of commissioner of the World Series of Poker, subject to the receipt of any necessary regulatory approvals.

“The World Series of Poker is a unique event in the gaming and sports industries and, as such, requires special oversight and management,” said Ginny Shanks, Harrah’s senior vice president of brand management. “Designating Jeffrey as commissioner will further empower him to develop a strong sense of community among our players, tournament organizers, event staff, media partners, sponsors, licensees, and corporate management team.”

Pollack is the first commissioner in the tournament’s 36-year history.

Jeffrey Pollack Named Commissioner of World Series of Poker

It seems like a rather vague set of job responsibilities, but they could have a lot of fun with this.

I’m thinking that this should go in a whole WWE (WWF for you old-school die-hards) direction with this. Have him come out to main table in a blaze of pyro and announce, like Shawn Michaels, that there’s a new sheriff in town–wasn’t he commissioner for a while? Or it could be like Mick Foley–have him set up a makeshift office backstage and, during WSOP telecasts, spice up the poker-playing with comedic skits that introduce new players.

My whole reaction to the appointment of a commissioner probably says a lot about the influence of professional wrestling on pop culture. Anytime I see an “official contract signing,” I expect it to end with someone being laid out in the middle of the ring while the announcers mercilessly shill the pay-per-view. And, of course, anytime someone is given a birthday cake, the odds are that they will have it smashed in their face.

This whole commissioner thing could really work. But players should be on their guard if someone tries to give them a birthday cake.

Post-Katrina Biloxi will look very different from the city before August 29, 2005. There’s a good piece in the Sun-Herald about an amibitious proposal from Harrah’s and some unintended consequences of the burgeoning condo boom:

Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest gambling company, will invest more than $1 billion to build two casinos in Biloxi, said Mayor A.J. Holloway, who expects the city’s economy to be moving at “full speed in three years.”

Other casino companies and condominium developers are also approaching the city with waterfront projects, but so far no one has proposed any apartment complexes to house tourism workers. Inflated land prices, proposed elevation requirements for buildings and fragmented ownership of property are obstacles to the creation of new affordable housing, the mayor told the Sun Herald.

Harrah’s, which owns the Grand Casinos in Biloxi and Gulfport, plans to build two casinos in Biloxi: one on the north side of Beach Boulevard and one on the south side, Holloway said. The company, which last month announced it is pulling out of Gulfport, will rebrand the casinos with new names.
…
Biloxi, which was home to 13 casinos before Hurricane Katrina, could in five to 10 years have between 15 and 18 casinos, the mayor said.

“That’s going to be the tide that lifts all the boats in the city of Biloxi – the gambling industry,” Holloway said.

But the mayor worries that inflated property prices could hold back redevelopment in interior areas of the peninsula, including apartments and other affordable housing.

“Now, everybody thinks they have casino land,” Holloway said.

Condominium projects are being proposed in East Biloxi, on Back Bay along the Strip where mom-and-pop motels and souvenir shops operated before the hurricane, and downtown at the old Dees Chevrolet site.

The city is working to keep the shrimping industry from being displaced as seafood processors on Back Bay sell out to condominium developers.

Shrimpers, many of whom are Vietnamese, need a place to dock their boats and sell their catches.

“If they don’t have a place to dock, they’re not going to come back,” Holloway said. “I don’t want that to happen. The Vietnamese community is an important part of Biloxi.”

The Sun Herald | 01/10/2006 | Holloway eyes Biloxi’s future

Billions in new developments is great, but keeping the shirmpers is about more than cultural diversity: it’s about economic diversification. Destination gaming tourism is a tremendous growth engine, but with another 9/11 or similar interruption in air travel, you’ve got major problems.

One reason the Strip was able to weather 9/11 was because it has a pretty large foundation of drive-up tourists who fill the 2nd-tier hotels. So while Venetian was struggling to give suites away, Circus Circus wasn’t hurting that bad. Keeping the shrimpers in Biloxi makes it less of a one-horse town, which is a good thing in the long run.

Speaking of future development, Liz Benston has an article in today’s Sun about plans at the Tropicana:

Working with Tony Marnell’s Marnell Corrao Associates is the latest sign that Tropicana owner Aztar Corp. is closer to tearing down the aging property, which sits on a prized corner of the Las Vegas Strip across from Mandalay Bay, observers say. Marnell Corrao is still working on a final cost estimate for the project, according to informed sources. In addition to building two of the Strip’s highest-end properties, Marnell also developed and owned the Rio before selling it to Harrah’s Entertainment for $888 million in 1989.

Representatives for Aztar and Marnell Corrao declined comment.

The Tropicana’s room reservation department also has stopped accepting reservations beyond April 14 — another indicator that a major redevelopment is under consideration. Hotel properties don’t pass up future revenue without a good reason.

In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing last week, Aztar amended severance agreements with its top executives that will provide cash payments for all outstanding stock options — whether or not the options have vested — should the executives be terminated.

Tropicana’s owners take first steps toward redevelopment

So is there another implosion in the Strip’s future? Right now, the Trop is behind the Stardust and Frontier in line for destruction.

In other news, I’m pretty sure that I’m going to be on the 2nd hour of State of Nevada tomorrow on KNPR. I’m definitely going to be in the studio, but if you tune in and hear someone else being interviewed, it means that it’s happening on tape. There’s someone else listed as the live guest, but I might be the replacement. If it isn’t live, I’ll be sure to post an update.

There were a few stories about the teen gambling “epidemic” around the wires this morning. Here’s one of the better ones, from the Asbury Park Press:

It takes more than luck to win at Texas Hold ‘Em, Eric Rothman says, which is why the 18-year-old high school senior enjoys putting his poker-playing skills to the test.

For classmate Buzzy Adriatico, 17, poker’s appeal is “the adrenaline . . . of (having) a big hand.”

“Looking down at a good hand is a great feeling,” agrees Josh Morgan, 19, a University of Cincinnati student. “And winning money is good, too.”

Seven teenage friends gathered at Rothman’s Batavia, Ohio, home on a recent Sunday afternoon and plunked down $10 apiece to play the popular poker game.

Such scenes have become common around the country, including Monmouth and Ocean counties, and there are few regulations that prohibit such friendly games.

National studies show the number of young people gambling on poker and other card games has skyrocketed in recent years, but while poker is a harmless diversion for most teens, experts caution the risks of gambling addiction are being overlooked.

“Most people can drink and they don’t become alcoholics. Most people can gamble and they don’t become compulsive gamblers,” says Lori Rugle, a clinical psychologist and president of the Ohio Council on Problem Gambling.

“But for that small percentage, which is comparable to the percentage that develops serious drug problems — (gambling addiction) is a life-threatening disorder.” She says about one-fourth of people in compulsive-gambling treatment programs attempt suicide.

Michael R. Stone, executive director of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling, says studies have shown nearly 4 percent of teens are pathological, or compulsive, gamblers.

In any given week in this country, about 2.9 million people ages 14 to 22 are gambling on cards, and more than 80 percent are male, according to a report released this fall by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which has tracked teen gambling rates for several years.

The center’s recent survey of 900 young people found almost 42 percent of males say they gamble on cards at least once a month. That’s up 20 percent from summer 2004. (The survey’s margin of error was plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.)

APP.COM v4.0 – Gambling with your future | Asbury Park Press Online

I’m a little unsure about how you survey 900 teenagers and conclude that 2.9 million of them gamble, but there are definitely more kids gambling today. Will this end up in a backlash against gambling? Only time will tell.

I was down at the Boardwalk closing yesterday–it’s quite a thing to see a casino shut its doors. I’m going to be involved in an oral history program that will collect interviews from former employees, so if you know someone who used to work there, have them get in touch with me. I think there are some great stories there.

If you want to read my thoughts on 2005 in Vegas, check out my column in theLas Vegas Business Press:

Looking back, 2005 will be remembered as a transitional year for Las Vegas. It saw a legend return and the groundwork laid for a transformation on the Las Vegas Strip.
…
The most compelling personal story was likely “the Return of the King,” as Steve Wynn returned to the Strip with his $2.7 billion resort. The Mirage shifted the development of the Strip in 1989, emphasizing luxury at the expense of cheap food and rooms, and the Bellagio underlined the growing sophistication of the Strip, which now drew more worldly travelers who demanded excellence.

Wynn Las Vegas represents another step in Strip resort evolution: it is a place with more maturity and self-assurance. Spectacle — be it a pirate battle or faux architecture — has been replaced by experience. Wynn doesn’t try to lure guests in with flash; it assumes they are already coming, and seeks to give them a personally satisfying visit. He has taken the casino resort from the growth-spurt adolescence of the 1990s into a confident adulthood.

Steve Wynn isn’t alone — THEhotel at Mandalay Bay has a similar vibe — but gambling $2.7 billion on the concept and putting his name on the building made it clear that this would be his defining statement. Wynn invested his very legacy in the new resort, and history will likely vindicate him. Substance over style will be the wave of the future.

Wynn’s vision is borne out by the cresting wave of condominium development that will wash over the Strip in the next few years. With condo-hotel projects like MGM’s Residences, visitors can literally own a piece of the action, putting their units in rental pools. Luxury residential condos, from Panorama Towers to a cluster of developments along the South Strip, will let people live high-roller lifestyles all year round.

MGM Mirage’s City Center will likely take this concept to the next level, blurring the line between the Strip as a vacation spot and the Strip as home.

The lesson to be learned from 2005 seems to be this: visitors to Las Vegas are demanding excellence over the exotic. Smart operators will see this trend and cater to it.

If they are successful, the Strip might see the same sort of growth in the next 50 years as it has in the past half-century. But that will be something for future historians to judge.

Wynn’s return a defining moment for Strip

I got all historical in the rest of the article, talking about lessons to be learned from 1955.

With the whole “Sin City” marketing strategy, it feels like a lot of Las Vegans think that they invented hedonism. I mean, people have been getting plastered and doing stupid things for millennia. I guess the genius of Las Vegas is that its promoters have boiled this down to a soundbite.

Doing research for Roll the Bones, I happened across several “Vegas stories” of wild excess that happened centuries before there was a Vegas.

Submitted for your approval, one William Byrd II. A prosperous Virginia planter, he kept details of his life in a “Secret Diary.” Much of it is pretty monotonous–he starts most days by eating boiled milk and reading in Greek and Hebrew–but one day ended in shame.

From the Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, November 23, 1711:

I rose about 7 o’clock and read a chapter in Hebrew and some Greek in Homer. I said my prayers and ate boiled milk for breakfast. Several gentlemen came to my lodgings. About 10 o’clock I went to the capitol where I danced my dance and then wrote in my journal. It was very cold this morning. About 11 o’clock I went to the coffeehouse where the Governor also came and from thence we went to the capitol and read the bill concerning ports the first time. We stayed till 3 o’clock and then went to dinner to Marot’s but could get none there and therefore Colonel Lewis and I dined with Colonel Duke and I ate broiled chicken for dinner. After dinner we went to Colonel Carter’s room where we had a bowl of punch of French brandy and oranges. We talked very lewdly and were almost drunk and in that condition we went to the coffeehouse and played at dice and I lost 12 pounds. We stayed at the coffeehouse until almost 4 o’clock in the morning talking with Major Harrison. Then I went to my lodging, where I committed uncleanliness, for which I humbly beg God Almighty’s pardon.

The next morning, Byrd woke around 8. Colonel Carter “and several others” came to his room “to laugh at me for my disorder last night.” Byrd made a solemn vow never to lose more than 50 schillings while gaming–less than a week later he broke it. He turned in a 5 o’clock, wrote a few letters, then went to sleep, possibly still hung over. He closes that day’s entry with “I said my prayers and has good health, good thoughts, and good humor, thank God Almighty.”

Byrd basically did everything that people do on their Vegas vacations today: he hung out with friends, got drunk, gambled, and committed a tantalizingly vague act of uncleanliness. Unlike most contemporary hedonists, though, he felt bad about his night of excess.

I thought this was kind of funny (especially the part about dancing his dance), but also poingant. Byrd really felt bad about whatever he did. It makes me wonder what our descendants will think of us when they excavate a crate filled with “Vegas stories” commercials and reality TV episodes.

Men’s Fitness magazine did some kind of poll to determine what the fittest and fattest cities in America are. Because you’ve probably got a pretty much uniform distribution of physically fit and unfit people around the country, this seems like a fool’s errand to me, but it made headlines. From MSNBC, but it’s everywhere:

When an annual survey named Baltimore the fittest city in America, many Charm City residents had the same response: You gotta be kidding.

Sure, people here are known for eating lots of seafood, but are crab cakes and deep-fried lake trout the staples of a healthy diet?

“I think it’s probably the most mis-fit city in America,” said Charisse Bailey as she dug into a typical Baltimore lunch: fried red snapper on thick white bread, with a side of french fries and a beer.

America’s fittest city is…Baltimore?

The big local news here is that Las Vegas nearly triumphed in the struggle to become America’s fattest city this year, losing to Chicago. Here are the lists:

The fittest and fattest cities in America in the annual survey by Men’s Fitness magazine, with cities in order of ranking, and 2005 rankings in parentheses. An asterisk (*) denotes that last year’s ranking was on the opposite list:

Fittest:
1. Baltimore (25*)
2. Honolulu (2)
3. Virginia Beach, Va. (12)
4. Tucson, Ariz. (8)
5. Milwaukee (15)
6. Colorado Springs, Colo. (3)
7. San Francisco (4)
8. Seattle (1)
9. Louisville-Jefferson, Ky. (not ranked)
10. Boston (11)
11. Sacramento, Calif. (7)
12. Nashville-Davidson, Tenn. (25)
13. Albuquerque (10)
14. Tulsa, Okla. (22*)
15. Phoenix (12*)
16. Atlanta (23*)
17. Portland, Ore. (6)
18. Washington (23)
19. Oakland, Calif. (20)
20. Denver (5)
21. Minneapolis (13)
22. Arlington, Texas (22)
23. Austin, Texas (19)
24. Jacksonville, Fla. (18)
25. Omaha, Neb. (16)

Fattest:
1. Chicago (5)
2. Las Vegas (9)
3. Los Angeles (21*)
4. Dallas (6)
5. Houston (1)
6. Memphis, Tenn. (4)
7. Long Beach, Calif. (20)
8. El Paso, Texas (11)
9. Kansas City, Mo. (18)
10. Mesa, Ariz. (15)
11. Indianapolis (13)
12. San Antonio (10)
13. Fort Worth, Texas (14)
14. Miami (19)
15. Detroit (3)
16. Columbus, Ohio (16)
17. Oklahoma City (21)
18. Cleveland (24*)
19. Wichita, Kan. (17)
20. Charlotte, N.C. (24)
21. San Diego (9*)
22. Fresno, Calif. (14*)
23. Philadelphia (2)
24. San Jose, Calif. (17*)
25. New York (8)

Apparently, empty calories, lack of physical exercise, and extra pounds really do stay in Vegas.

In all honesty, this poll is probably as valid as the one a few years ago that declared Las Vegas one of the nation’s most literature-friendly cities. The rationale was that we have so many bookstores–apparently it didn’t matter that they were adult bookstores.

Check back Monday for more news you need. I’ve got a great post planned about a mysteriously sacreligious night of drunken debauchery that took place 300 years ago. I would have run it today, but I think this story should stand on its own.

A days ago, Richard Velota of the LV Sun wrote an article about the future of the casino floor. It got picked up in a few other periodicals, and presents a really good view of the state of the art of server-based slots, which is where the industry is heading. From the LV Sun:

Some day gamblers will be able to stride up to a slot machine, insert their slot club cards and be offered a list of their favorite games at the exact denominations they like to play.

And if it’s the player’s birthday, the machine may automatically print out a voucher for a free meal at one of the casino’s restaurants.

Welcome to the world of server-based casino games. Experts say they have the potential of being the next big advancement in industry technology, an innovation that could increase the appeal of slot machines the way ticket in, ticket out technology has.

Industry professionals got their first look at the technology at this year’s Global Gaming Expo in September. Regulators are slowly advancing the rules and technical standards to equipment manufacturers and casino operators so that field trials can begin next year.

The top Nevada players in server-based games — Reno-based slot machine behemoth International Game Technology and Las Vegas rival Alliance Gaming Inc. — are excited to bring the technology to the market, but aren’t talking much about how it will change a slot player’s experience. They don’t want to tip their competitive hands.

In the early stages, the focus will be on how the technology can make a slot floor more profitable for operators.

“Today, if I have a slot floor with 2,000 machines and I want to make changes, I’d have to go to each and every one of them, open them up and change out the components,” IGT spokesman Ed Rogich said. “Not only does that take a lot of time, but the machines are down for that period of time.”

Rogich said that type of transformation is particularly cumbersome for software changes involving currency modifications because every machine has to be altered to recognize the new bills produced by the U.S. Treasury.

But with server-based games, every machine is electronically linked to a central computer file server and changes can be made in the time it takes for a software download. With the large bandwidth most slot systems use, changes can be made almost instantaneously.

Bob Luciano, Alliance Gaming’s chief technology officer, demonstrated the capability of one of its system by changing games and denominations on 10 slots linked in a showroom. The modification involved a few computer mouse clicks and took just seconds.

New technology promises gambling as you like it

As always, this innovation translates into lower labor costs. Changing out slots isn’t just time-consuming–it requires people to physically move the slots. While you might be losing $150 or so by having the machine down, you’re out a few hundred dollars more for salary, etc.

But “lower labor costs” is, for some, a pleasant way to say, “you’re out of a job.”

I think that this would be an even better innovation if they could give the server a voice and personality, like the HAL 9000. I see some real possibilities there. Can you imagine the trouble that a sentient computer that controlled slots can get in to? I’m thinking about Mike in Heinlein’s The Moon is a Harsh Mistress here. Could be interesting.

So if you are a slot tech, start brushing up on software–someone’s going to have to be on hand to fix the system if it crashes. You might as well get a piece of those casino profits.

That’s probably just the first time I’ll use some permutation of that phrase over the next five years, because Boyd Gaming announced this morning that it is closing the Stardust to make way for Echelon Place. Because I’m such a “gaming industry insider,” I arrived at the office and found a copy of the press release sitting in my email inbox. Here it is:

Boyd Gaming Corporation today announced that it will develop a multi-faceted, world-class resort complex on its 63-acre site on the Las Vegas Strip. The development, scheduled to open in early 2010, is expected to be among the most significant projects in Las Vegas’ ongoing evolution, which continues to transform the city into one of the leading resort destinations in the world. The Company expects that the development will be a significant leader in Las Vegas’ key growth centers of casino gaming, luxury hospitality including world-class dining and nightlife experiences, shopping, meetings and conventions, and entertainment.

The $4.0 billion development, to be named Echelon Place, will combine the $2.9 billion wholly-owned Echelon Resort with hotel and retail joint ventures between the Company and key strategic partners. The wholly-owned Echelon Resort will be operated principally by the Company, but include operating arrangements with leaders in the hotel, restaurant, nightlife and entertainment industries who will bring unique brands and industry-leading reputations and relationships to the project.

The development master plan, Echelon Place, is expected to be fully developed in one phase and integrate several elements:

* Four distinctive hotels featuring 5,300 guest rooms and suites

-Echelon Resort

The Company will own and operate the 3,300-room Echelon Resort, encompassing two upscale hotels, a 2,600-room Resort Tower and a 700-room Suite Tower, each containing its own luxurious spa. Both hotels will connect directly to Echelon’s extensive public areas containing a 140,000 square foot casino, 25 restaurants and bars, and lushly landscaped pool and garden areas. Echelon will be a contemporary and upscale resort, complemented by extensive, high quality and innovative business and meeting facilities. Echelon will include an expansive 4,000-seat theater with a large stage and stadium seating designed to accommodate major concerts and production shows. In addition, a more intimate 1,500-seat theater will house smaller shows and touring acts.

-Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas

The Company announced it has entered into a management agreement with Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, to include a Shangri-La Hotel within Echelon Place. Synonymous in Asia with luxurious and comfortable hotel accommodations, fine food and caring service, the distinct nature of each Shangri-La upscale property demonstrates an exclusive charm and personality that large chains cannot approximate. The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas, which will be owned by the Company and operated by Shangri-La, will include 400 guest rooms and suites, a 20,000 square foot CHI spa, well appointed premium meeting space and two restaurants. Shangri-La will have its own porte cochere and lobby.

-Delano Hotel and Mondrian Hotel

The Company has entered into a 50/50 joint venture agreement with the Morgans Hotel Group, an innovator and continuing leader in the lifestyle/boutique hotel sector, for the development of two signature hotels within Echelon Place, Delano and Mondrian, at a cost of approximately

$700 million. During the first half of 2007, the Company will contribute

6.5 acres of land and Morgans Hotel Group, which will manage both hotels, will contribute $97.5 million in cash to the venture, and the venture will arrange non-recourse project financing to develop the properties.

Delano in South Beach Miami has been an international destination for glamour, entertainment, and sophisticated nightlife for over a decade, and played a catalyzing role in the revival of South Beach. Delano Hotel Las Vegas will include 600 guest rooms and suites, a destination nightclub, lobby bar and Asia de Cuba restaurant. It will also feature an Agua Spa with fitness center, private pool and recreation area, and a separate porte cochere and lobby.

Today, Mondrian’s elegant urban resort is a Hollywood haven for both business and nightlife. Mondrian Hotel Las Vegas, accommodating equally the refined business traveler and the leisure escapee, will include 1,000 guest rooms and suites, a distinctive bar and restaurant, meeting and conference space, private pool and recreation area with Skybar, and a separate porte cochere and lobby.

* Las Vegas ExpoCenter

The Company will develop, own, and operate the Las Vegas ExpoCenter at Echelon Place to meet the growing demand for convention and exhibition space integrated into large luxury resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. Las Vegas ExpoCenter will feature 650,000 square feet of exhibition and pre-function space and 175,000 square feet of meeting and conference space. Combined with the meeting space within Echelon Resort, the total meeting and exhibition space at Echelon Place is expected to exceed one million square feet, highlighted by over 200 meeting rooms.

* Retail Promenade

The Company is in discussions with potential strategic partners for a 50/50 joint venture development of a retail promenade at Echelon Place. Plans call for over 350,000 square feet of unique shopping, including a mix of luxury, affordable luxury and bridge retailers, as well as a variety of dining, nightlife, and cultural experiences.

* Other Master Plan Elements

Echelon Place is master-planned and designed to optimize access and parking. Entry into Echelon Place will be from three of the four sides of the property. Valet parking and parking structures will be located conveniently to all major components of Echelon Place and will provide covered parking for nearly 8,000 cars. In addition, the master plan includes a three-acre parcel reserved for future development.

Development Team

The Company announced that Bob Boughner will leave his position at Borgata in Atlantic City and return to Las Vegas to lead the development of Echelon Place as President and Chief Executive Officer of Echelon Resorts.

William S. Boyd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Boyd Gaming, commented, “We are very pleased to have Bob return to reprise our success at Borgata and lead the development of Echelon Place. From concept to design to construction to opening to operating, Bob’s outstanding performance at Borgata, one of our industry’s finest success stories, is widely acclaimed. In my opinion, there is nobody better for this job.”

Joining Bob Boughner from Borgata will be Kevin Sullivan, who after having managed several key development and administrative areas at Borgata, will serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for Echelon Resorts. Many of the design and construction firms involved in the development of Borgata are expected to play major roles in the Echelon Place development, including Tishman Construction Corporation, who will serve as construction manager.

Bob Boughner commented, “True to the evolution of Las Vegas as a world class destination, Echelon Place will integrate a compelling collection of brands and environments in a single and auspicious development. We are assembling an internationally distinguished group of strategic partners in the hotel, restaurant, retail, entertainment and nightlife arenas to complement our Company’s own skills and resources. We will draw upon our highly successful Borgata experience and are committed to developing a resort destination that can be counted among the best Las Vegas has seen.”

The Company also announced that, subject to regulatory approval, Larry Mullin has been promoted to President and Chief Operating Officer of Borgata and will be responsible for all day-to-day operations of the property. Bob Boughner continued, “Larry Mullin has had a distinguished 20 year career in the gaming industry and has played a vital role in the success of Borgata. We are extremely confident in his abilities.” Bob Boughner will continue to oversee Borgata’s public space expansion project that is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2006.

The Company’s 63-acre Las Vegas site is currently occupied by the Stardust Hotel and Casino. The Company expects to operate the Stardust through 2006 as it advances the Echelon Place planning, design and permitting process. In connection with the announced intention to discontinue operations at the Stardust, the Company will record an impairment charge in the first quarter of 2006 in the approximate range of $50 million to $60 million pre-tax.

For additional information and to follow the progress of the development of Echelon Place, the Company today launched the Echelon Place website, located at www.echelonresort.com.

Here are my initial thoughts:

- This is a very smart, well-planned move. Boyd has known that they would redevelop the Stardust site for years. The wrong way would have been to build a $200 million luxury suite tower just tacked on to the existing casino, then add different atttractions piecemeal, and remodel the existing property on the fly. But because Boyd is getting a nice income from the Borgata, they can afford to take the Stardust offline for three years while Echelon is being developed. There won’t be any condos, which is smart because the luxury condo market at that end of the Strip will likely be saturated anyway, particularly if Wynn eventually uses some or all of the golf course to develop condos.

- Boyd is using a very experienced management team: Bob Boughner worked wonders with the Borgata in Atlantic City, which is doing for that city what Mirage did for Vegas in 1989. The Borgata is simply outstanding–I’ve toured the property and regularly spend soem time there while I’m in Atlantic City, and people here should be very excited about seeing a resort of that caliber on the Strip. It’s that good.

- I like the fact that the project includes several distinct hotels. I think it will have a more urban feel than a big, super-sized resort, which is the direction the Strip is heading towards.

- Yes, it’s sad to see the Stardust go away, but, in 2006, would rather stay at the Dunes or the Bellagio? I’m as broken-up as anyone about seeing the Boardwalk close–it’s long been a favorite of mine–but the Strip is in the business of hospitality, preserving old hotel.

- That said, it would be nice if they had a few nods to the Stardust. I think that a rotating lounge called the Stardust room would be pretty swanky. I’d hang out there, at least. Then again, I sometimes hang out in the Carousel Bar at Circus Circus. Just as long as its not an “ultra lounge” or “meta lounge.”

This is going to be a fantastic development to watch, and as sure a bet as any on the Strip.