Daily Archives: November 2, 2006

Win a signed book!

November 2, 2006 5:05 pm

If you’ve been a regular reader, you should know that my latest book Roll the Bones came out last month. It’s a comprehensive history for the general reader (in other words, not a “dry” (boring) academic monograph). It’s been getting some nice press–check out the Reviews page to see thumbs-up reviews from everyone from the Wall Street Journal to Card Player.

Good reviews are only part of the equation, though, and as a relatively unknown author I really need to get good word-of-mouth for this book. That’s why I’m opening up the first-ever Die Is Cast Book Contest. To win, follow three simple steps:

1. Buy a copy of Roll the Bones , or, if you really need the thirty bucks for something more important like medicine, food, or rent, borrow a copy.
2. Read the book, then post a review to amazon.com, bn.com, or any other online bookseller that posts customer reviews
3. Once the review is posted, send me an email with your name, where you bought the book, and where you heard about the contest, and I’ll enter you into the drawing to win a free autographed copy of my previous book, Cutting the Wire: Gambling Prohibition and the Internet.

On midnight, December 17, I will close the first stage of the contest and on Monday, December 19, I will announce the first winner(s) right here. I will determine the winner, appropriately enough, by assigning each contestant a number, then rolling the dice. When your number comes up, you win!

I will give away one book for every 50 entrants, so you’ve got at worst a 1/50 chance of coming out of this with a free, author-autographed copy of Cutting the Wire.

If you’ve already got a copy of Cutting the Wire, we’ll have to negotiate on an alternate prize, probably a signed Roll the Bones poster.

Small print: Only one review per person (no multiple sock puppet reviews). Please use your real name or an existing screen name when reviewing, so I can verify that the emailer is also the reviewer.

If you’ve already read Roll the Bones, go ahead and post your review today. If not, I strongly suggest getting your copy now–at 576 pages, it’s a long (but fun) read, and you want to get your review up before the 10th.

Finally, I’ve got a special deal for all the webmasters and bloggers out there: if the winning reader heard about the contest from your site or blog, you’ll get a special mention in a short essay in which I take a virtual walk through your site and draw on 7,000 years of gambling history to demonstrate that, for the moment, it is the culmination of our gambling heritage. It’ll be like the book’s last chapter, but instead of Wynn Las Vegas, your site or blog will be the star.

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Save the jitneys!

November 2, 2006 4:22 pm

Few people would be willing to turn down a free ride, particularly to a casino. But the Atlantic City Jitney Association is hoping that Harrah’s patrons will. At least that’s the story according to the AC Press:

The drivers of the resort’s 190 jitneys are taking their campaign against a new casino shuttle to the streets.

Literally.

The Atlantic City Jitney Association announced Tuesday it is placing posters on each bus saying, “Don’t let Harrah’s crush AC jitney transportation. Just say no to Harrah’s shuttle.” The yellow placards picture a huge gorilla sitting on top of a jitney.

The association has also printed 20,000 postcards that drivers will hand out for riders to sign.

At issue are the free shuttle buses Harrah’s Entertainment rolled out last month to ferry gamblers back and forth among the company’s four Atlantic City casinos. The ride is free to anyone who shows a Total Rewards players-club card.

Jitney drivers say their fare revenues have gone down 35 to 50 percent since the Harrah’s shuttles started running Oct. 16.

“We cannot and will not sit back and simply allow Harrah’s to put a 90-year-old Atlantic City tradition out of business,” association President Emmanuel “Manny” Mathioudakis said Tuesday in a released statement.

The 13-seat buses have been running in the resort since 1915. Drivers purchase a franchise, own and maintain their buses and keep the fares they collect.

The jitney drivers are also taking their message to the Internet, where their Web site, www.savethejitneys.com urges readers to boycott Harrah’s Entertainment casinos, refuse to ride the shuttle and send letters to Harrah’s executives and state and local legislators.

Jitneys launch ‘Just Say No’ campaign in Atlantic City

Jitneys are an Atlantic City institution that goes way back. I wrote an article that talks about their origins in Casino Connection. They are a vital part of the city’s unique character. Plus, it’s great trying to explain to outsiders (formerly known as shoobies) what the phrase, “I’ve got to go catch my jitney” means. Usually when I regale people with tales of the Jersey Shore, I quietly elide “jitney” to “bus,” because there’s nothing like breaking the narrative flow of a pointless story with a five-minute dissertation on the evolution of privately-owned public transportation in the World’s Playground.

Seriously, next time you’re in Atlantic City, you’ve got to ride a jitney, even if you’ve already got a car in town. I think, though, that most casino patrons will pick the free ride over a slice of Atlantic City heritage.

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