The Sands casino hotel closed in Atlantic City about 5 weeks ago. What, you may wonder, happens to a company’s philanthropic projects when it folds? In this case, another casino steps in to pick up the slack. From the AC Press:

There was plenty to cheer about Tuesday afternoon as residents of the Eastern Pines Convalescent Center got together to celebrate the birthdays of those born in December.

Representatives of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa brought a large sheet cake that had been baked in the pastry shop and a check for $8,500 — enough to give each of the 165 residents $50 for holiday gifts.

The residents, wearing red Santa hats, sang Christmas songs as they ate the cake and ice cream. Even Gilligan the therapy dog wore a festive red sweater as he wandered the room in search of treats.

Just a few short months ago, the picture at Eastern Pines was much bleaker. The Sands Casino Hotel, which had adopted the nursing home as a community-service project for the past 10 years, had announced it was closing. And despite reaching out to several other gaming halls, the home on Vermont Avenue couldn’t find another sponsor.

The Borgata heard about the nursing home’s plight and decided to come to the rescue, said Auggie Cipollini, senior vice president and chief administrative officer. The Borgata Heart and Soul Foundation was looking for community projects to support, “and the best way to do it was to pick up where the Sands left off,” he said.
…
The Borgata wasn’t the only casino to come through in the Eastern Pines’ hour of need.

Representatives of the Tropicana Casino and Resort came to lunch last week and presented each resident with a holiday ornament, Administrator Jennifer Hess said.
The now-closed Sands was once the benefactor of the Eastern Pines nursing home in Atlantic City.

Back in the day, the Sands adopted Atlantic City High School. I don’t remember exactly what we got, but I do remember getting a nice rejection letter when I applied for a summer job at the casino after my freshman year in college. So much for being part of the family. I was better off waiting a two years and then applying for a high-profile job in security at the Taj. You know, I actually had to write an essay about why I wanted to be a security officer for Donald Trump to get that job. If I ever get the chance to do a collection of my assorted writings (i.e., my stuff for the LVBP, op-eds, and reviews), I’ll have to call up Trump human resources and get a copy of that. If memory serves, I think my main reason was to “help people.” If I had only known that I’d mostly be helping people find the three B’s–buffets, bathrooms, and buses.

___________________________________

Site note: Next week, I’ll be immersing myself in research on not one, but TWO book projects, so I will likely not be posting much. Enjoy the weekend, and have a Happy Life Day!

Russia’s casino industry has seen explosive growth in the past few years, but things are changing. From the Miami Herald:

Garish or goofy or grim, Russia’s casinos and slot-machine halls are some of the most vivid testimony to communism’s collapse.

But, under legislation approved Wednesday by Russia’s lower house of parliament, the $6 billion industry is to be driven out of Moscow, St. Petersburg and most of the rest of Russia.

Once the bill is signed into law, gamblers will have only until mid-2009 to lay their bets in Russia’s major cities. After that they’ll have to go to a remote part of Siberia or three other regions distant from Moscow.

”These are repressive measures — essentially they amount to a ban,” said Yevgeny Kovtun, vice president of the Association of Gambling Businesses, which unites about 30 gaming companies.

With the exception of a drab national lottery, Soviet citizens had no outlet for their speculative urges. That changed with the arrival of capitalism: Neon-decked casinos sprouted in big cities — the exterior of one in Moscow looks like a steamship — some offering prizes of luxury cars or $1 million in cash. Slot-machine halls have appeared throughout the country, sometimes even next to schools.

Russia’s oil-driven economic upswing of recent years sent new cash to the gaming tables. But a public backlash has grown.

”This is a business based on vice. It brings no good,” said Vladimir Medinsky, deputy chairman of the parliament committee that drafted the legislation.

”It hasn’t been banned altogether, because it is a natural vice and should therefore be controlled,” he told The Associated Press.

Industry players say that while limitations are needed, a complete ban except for the gaming zones is harsh and could kill the industry. The restrictions, they say, assume Russians will be ready to jump on a plane and fly to the taiga — the sub-Arctic forest region — to make a bet.

”In the U.S. people know about Las Vegas from childhood, but in Russia gambling tourism doesn’t exist,” Kovtun said. “Before, a person would pop into a casino or slot-machine hall between the metro and his house. Now . . . the gaming companies will have to entice him to the Pacific coast.”

The zones, which are currently infrastructure-free wilderness, are located in the Altai region in Siberia, the Pacific coast region of Primorsky, the Kaliningrad area along the Baltic coast and an area in Russia’s south between Rostov and Krasnodar.

MiamiHerald.com | 12/21/2006 | Russia freezes gambling, sends it to Siberia

So we’re going to see Las Vegas in the Altai? Stranger things have happened. It will all boil down to infrastructure and marketing.

It’s a bad day for Donald Trump and Penguins fans, but a good day for some others: the Pennsylvania Gaming Board has chosen the winners for the two-years slot license derby in that state. From the Inquirer:

South Philadelphia and the Fishtown area to the north will play host to the city’s two slots casinos.

Foxwoods Casino on Columbus Boulevard, and SugarHouse Casino near Fishtown and Northern Liberties, were approved for slots licenses this morning by the Pennsylvania Gaming Board.

The board’s decisions, in two separate votes, are considered likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

The ballots were cast just before 11:30 a.m. in a packed conference hall. The audience included Mayor Street.

Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia, a $560 million project in South Philadelphia, will be built on a 30-acre parcel off Columbus Boulevard, north of Home Depot and Target.

Developers say that by November 2008, they will have installed 3,000 slot machines, restaurants, shops, and a 2,000-seat entertainment complex. Investors include Quincy Jones, Comcast-Spectacor chairman Ed Snider, and 76ers president Billy King.

Sugarhouse Casino is a $550 million project on 22.6 acres on North Delaware Avenue at Shackamaxon Street. Plans call for 3,000 slot machines, restaurants, a plaza, and a pedestrian promenade. It would employ 1,090 people.

Investors include Chicago developer Neil Bluhm, lawyer Richard Sprague, former State Supreme Court Justice William L. Lamb, and auto sales magnate Robert M. Potamkin.

The board did not explain why they selected each applicant. A written explanation will be issued later.

The board was supposed to follow strict criteria when selecting the winners. Among them: whether applicants can maintain a successful, revenue-producing casino; how they would finance the casino; their history of promoting diversity; and their impact on the communities in which they plan to build.

The move puts casinos on the northern and southern ends of the city’s central waterfront.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 12/20/2006 | Foxwoods and SugarHouse Approved

In other news, Las Vegas Sands will build a standalone slots casino in Bethlehem, a city that has promoted itself as “Christmastown, USA,” or something along those lines. Is a Christmas-themed casino in the cards? All signs point to “no.” And Majestic Star’s Don Barden gets the Pittsburgh license, meaning that the Isle of Capri deal to build a new arena for the Penguins is moot. I can think of no better way to add insult to injury for Pens fans than for Barden to build an arena near Fitzgerald’s in downtown Las Vegas (which he also owns) and then lure the Penguins to Las Vegas. Seriously, though, I think that both the NHL and the franchise have a plan B, so the Pens won’t necessarily be turning up in Kansas City or Hamilton, Ontario any time soon.

I don’t know what a Sugarhouse is, but it sounds like a diabetic’s nightmare, or someplace near the Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe. Seriously, it sounds like something you’d find in Storybook Land. If you’re not familiar with the happiest place in Egg Harbor Township, or just want to hear the best creepy clown music ever, click the link. Of course, while I’m poking good-natured fun here, I’ll point out that it costs about $550 million more than anything I’ve ever built or named. I’m sure that they did all kinds of market studies before they came up with the name.

The reality of 6000 slot machines only 60 miles away might just make up some Atlantic City operators who’ve been dragging their feet. It’s time for the “Casino Capital of the East” to take a page from Las Vegas’s book and diversify into non-gaming tourism. The impact might have been mitiaged if Trump or Pinnacle had snared a Philadelphia license, but this looks serious. If you’re a glass half empty person, it’s a problem, but for the optimist, it’s an opportunity.

If a major casino lobbying group has its say, the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act will go into effect as it was passed. That’s the big news today–that the NRA (note: they don’t care about the 2nd amendment) is on the side of the anti-smokers. From the LVRJ:

As they head back into court today, supporters of the state’s new anti-smoking law have a surprising ally in their fight to uphold the law.

The Nevada Resort Association, the lobbying arm of the largest and most powerful casino companies, filed court papers Monday opposing the bar and tavern owners’ lawsuit that seeks to throw out the smoking ban.

Because the association had supported a less-restrictive anti-smoking law on the November ballot, the American Cancer Society’s Buffy Martin-Tarbox said she was “perplexed and shocked” at the association’s move. “Maybe they came to their senses,” she said.

Bill Bible, the resort association’s president, could not be reached for comment Monday, and the association’s lawyer, Todd Bice, declined to comment.

The association’s filing to intervene in the case came a day before supporters and opponents of the law were to make their arguments to District Judge Douglas Herndon.

According to the association’s filing, the group was prompted to join the court battle by a couple of the claims of the law’s opponents: that the law’s treatment of businesses with restricted and unrestricted gaming licenses is unconstitutional and that it is unclear whether the new smoking ban applies to hotel rooms.

reviewjournal.com — News – Casinos join smoking battle

Unlike the Harrah’s LBO, this story will immediately impact people who live, work, and play in Nevada. I half-expected the NRA to oppose the smoking ban out of principle–that it’s not the state’s business if private businesses choose to permit their patrons to smoke–but apparently that’s not the case.

It’s a great day if you own a lot of Harrah’s stock–especially if you bought it back in 1998, when it was trading at around $20 a share. The company has reportedly accepted a buyout offer. This breaking news comes from the IHT:

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest casino company, has agreed to a $90 per share buyout offer from two private equity groups, said a person with knowledge of the negotiations.

The agreement with Apollo Management Group and Texas Pacific Group came late last week but lawyers for both sides have been working out the details, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

An official announcement on the deal could come as early as Tuesday, the person said Monday.

The deal values Harrah’s at $16.7 billion (€12.75 billion).

Harrah’s said to accept $90 per share buyout by Apollo, Texas Pacific Group – Business – International Herald Tribune

I’ve heard that the new owners will keep the existing management team in place, but there’s no consensus over whether Harrah’s plans for the Center Strip will continue or are on hold. There’s solid reasons to go either way, and until there’s an official announcement, it’s anyone’s guess. If I were a betting man, I’d lay odds on the sale of the Rio and possibly Showboat (Atlantic City), if anything. I’d be astounded if anything from the Center Strip is sold.

One question no one has asked yet (at least that I’m aware of) is what this means for the World Series of Poker. Everyone is assuming that the new Harrah’s will keep the poker tournament, but on the balance sheet it’s just another property that, for the right price, might be up for grabs. I haven’t even heard rumors about this so far, but you’ve got to admit that there is at least a possibility that this asset, which includes no real estate, could be sold if the company wants to concentrate on maximixing its Strip and near-Strip land holdings.

There was a good piece on the coming of slot casinos to Philadelphia in USA Today:

Visitors come here to see just one bell — the Liberty Bell. Soon they’ll be looking for a row of them — on a slot machine.

Pennsylvania’s 2-year-old state gaming board is to award licenses Wednesday for two slot machine casinos to be built here. That will make Philadelphia the largest city in the country with casinos and put legalized gaming within 2 miles of Independence Hall, where the founding fathers gambled their fortunes on revolution.

The arrival of slots parlors here is part of the spread of gambling through the mid-Atlantic. New Jersey, New York and Connecticut have casinos. Pennsylvania and Delaware have slots at racetracks, and Maryland’s incoming governor wants to do the same.

In Philadelphia, founded by Quakers whose religious beliefs prohibit gambling, slots casinos are facing a cold welcome from the neighbors.

In Pennsport, the riverfront neighborhood where Rene Goodwin lives in a 19th-century brick row house, the elevated bulk of Interstate 95 separates narrow residential streets from big-box stores and the city’s container port. One of the casinos is proposed for a vacant site next to Wal-Mart.

“It isn’t this hinterland,” says Goodwin, who leads Riverfront Communities United, a group of seven neighborhood associations. Pennsport would be overwhelmed by traffic and crime if the slots parlor is built two blocks away, she says. “It’s a real place, where people know each other. … Is it worth destroying one of the best neighborhoods in the city for a casino?”

Five proposals are competing for the two licenses. The developers include Donald Trump; the Pequot tribe, which runs Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut; and the owner of Philadelphia’s two daily newspapers. Four of the proposed slots parlors would be built along the Delaware River, and the fifth would be across town, closer to wealthy suburbs.

Philly to be largest gambling city – USATODAY.com

You’ve got to wonder what this will do to Atlantic City. Now, more than ever, is the time to broaden the appeal beyond slot machines. There’s been a great start with Borgata, but the ultimate fate of the city as destination may rest with the next generation of resorts–whatever replaces the Sands, and several other projects on the drawing board.

The Casino Windsor–which is about as perfect a name for a government-owned casino as I can imagine–will become Caesars Windsor in a little over a year. Read the details from the Free Press:

Hello Caesars Windsor.

The gambling palace announced today that it will change its name in early 2008, upping the ante in its ongoing battle against three competing casinos across the river in Detroit.

The name switchover will coincide with a number of other significant changes, including a new 22-story hotel and a 5,000-square-foot entertainment center.

The changes are being funded by the Ontario government, which owns the casino and hopes the moves will help it draw more American patrons, who sometimes are inclined to stay home and gamble in the U.S.

Casino Windsor has been struggling of late, thanks in part to a smoking ban and stiff competition from Detroit’s gambling halls, which themselves are undergoing improvements.

Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., which owns the Caesars name as well as an interest
in Casino Windsor, will manage the casino.

Casino Windsor to become Caesars Windsor in ‘08

It will be interesting to see what changes Harrah’s makes to the Casino in order to make it a Caesars, outside of the hotel expansion. I wonder whether the traditional profile centurion logo will be modified to make sure it has the requisite “Canadian content.” I’ve got a few vague ideas, but I’d like to hear from someone in Canada about this.

Do you want to know the future? Well, thanks to the Spectrum Gaming Group, you can–kind of. Actually, these are trends that are happening right now but will be important to the gaming industry’s growth in 2007. So it’s not crystal ball gazing, but reasoned analysis. From Spectrum Gaming Group:

Spectrum Gaming Group, a widely respected international gaming consultancy, has listed the 21 most important trends impacting the global casino industry in 2007.

This is the third year that Spectrum has compiled this list, which addresses ongoing changes in technology, demographics, politics and regulation to determine the most significant trends.

“Our task would be simpler if we expanded this list to 40 or more, as the casino industry grows more complex,” said Michael Pollock, Spectrum managing director. “Our disciplined approach requires us to identify the core trends, as well as those that are most likely to be meaningful over the next 12 months.”

The 2007 list includes the expanded partnership between gaming and retailing, and the expansion of the hub-and-spoke business model for casino operators.

New Jersey-based Spectrum (http://www.spectrumgaming.com) has experts stationed around the world, and tracks these and other trends in its award- winning newsletter, Gaming Industry Observer (http://www.gamingobserver.com).

The top 21 trends for 2007 are:

Acceptance of server-based gaming, and adoption of new technology in
spinning-reel slots to facilitate server-based gaming.

Adding table games to slots-only markets, leading to the “Spirograph”
effect, in which neighboring markets are forced to react by expanding
their offerings.

Communal gaming, in which multiple players can participate in the same
electronic game.

Continued conversion of racetracks to racinos.

Continued development of luxury housing, second-homes in combination
with, or adjacent to gaming properties.

Development of “hub-and-spoke” business model, with sister properties in
central, feeder markets.

Evolution of gaming companies into entertainment providers.

Growing acceptance of electronic table games that meet regulatory
standards in both slots-only and full-service markets.

Growing partnership between gaming, high-end retail – and the marriage
between retailing and casino loyalty programs.

Growth of conventions in destination markets.

Hotel-room growth, use as marketing tool, as well as branded non-casino
hotel development in non-gaming markets.

Increasing reliance by states on high-tax, franchise business model with
protected geographic areas.

International Game Technology’s “Guaranteed Play” for slot customers,
which guarantees players a minimum amount of time on slot machines for a
set price.

Next generation of Las Vegas casinos, creating full-service metropolitan
centers.

Opening of new Asian markets.

Outsourcing of food-and-beverage, partnership with signature restaurants

Private equity firms entering the gaming industry.

Reaching younger, more diverse demographics.

Remote, handheld gaming.

Tribal operators pursuing management contracts with other tribal casinos
and expanding into state-sanctioned gaming jurisdictions.

Widespread acceptance of RFID chip tracking and wager recognition in
table games.

Spectrum Gaming Group Identifies Casino Industry’s 21 Top Trends in 2007: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance

I think that some tech stuff–improvements to player tracking and electronic table games–will be more visible to players than server-based gaming. Like I said above, all of this stuff is going on now, so don’t expect people to think that you’re the reincarnation of Nostradamus if you delphically predict that the casinos of 2007 will embrace high-end retail, residential development, and convention travel. Still, this is a nice, quick summary of where the industry is headed, so (if you are the stock market type) adjust your investments before the market moves on it.

The biggest news today might be the lack of news about the Harrah’s Entertainment LBO. From the LVRJ:

A meeting that no one will confirm is taking place could determine the direction of the gaming industry’s largest casino operator.

Almost 10 weeks after two private equity groups bid more than $15 billion to take Harrah’s Entertainment private, the company’s board of directors is expected to meet today and evaluate all potential offers for the Las Vegas-based company that operates almost 40 casinos in 13 states.

The Wall Street Journal and other financial media outlets reported that Harrah’s board wanted all offers submitted by Tuesday.

Rival casino operator Penn National Gaming supposedly entered the fray for Harrah’s last month to try to trump the bid.

The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported Tuesday that Apollo Management of New York and Texas Pacific Group of Forth Worth, Texas, were raising the stakes. The two groups bid $81 a share for Las Vegas-based Harrah’s on Oct. 2 and reportedly upped the price to $83.50 a share about 10 days later. The groups are now expected to bid $87 a share for the company, which would value Harrah’s at close to $16 billion.

Management from Harrah’s, Penn National and the two private equity groups won’t discuss the matter on the record.
…
Adam Steinberg, gaming analyst for New York-based Morgan Joseph Co., thinks Penn National may be bidding to acquire several pieces of Harrah’s, possibly the Rio in Las Vegas and one of the company’s four Atlantic City casinos.

Penn National operates 16 casinos and race tracks in 12 states and Canada. Penn National’s market capitalization is $3.2 billion; Harrah’s market cap is $14.6 billion.

Steinberg said Penn National Chairman Peter Carlino has been quoted in recent interviews as saying that he would like to bring the company to Las Vegas and Atlantic City, two markets where Penn National does not operate a casino.

“There are too many overlaps with Harrah’s in different markets that makes it difficult to complete an overall purchase of the company,” said Steinberg, who closely follows Penn National. “There would be too many parts that would have to be sold off. It seems they’re looking at trying to get their hands on something.”
reviewjournal.com — Business – MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS: Harrah’s quiet about bids

Here’s my view, from the outside looking in: Harrah’s casinos’ value comes partially from their interlinked player loyalty program. The Rio is worth more hooked into that system right now than as a stand-alone.

Picking up a property like the Rio or Bally’s/Paris (the only things I imagine Harrah’s would even THINK about selling in Las Vegas) would make a lot of sense for company that already has a national network of casinos but no presence in Las Vegas–Penn, Ameristar, and Isle (in that order) fit the bill. If Donald Trump and Steve Wynn hadn’t buried the hatchet, and Trump was interested in getting into the LV market (and had the financing), this would have been a perfect opportunity for him–I can almost see the Rio with a giant red TRUMP sign splashed over the Voodoo Lounge (more importantly, I’m sure the Donald could see it).

I saw some speculation last week in Motley Fool about breaking up Harrah’s–even the core properties in Las Vegas–to turn a quick buck. Now, I know that they write brilliant book reviews, but the idea dismembering Harrah’s doesn’t make much sense in the long run.

Sure, if the world was going to end in three months, Harrah’s (or whoever ends up owning it) would benefit by selling off big chunks, or even all, of its Center Strip real estate at $35 million/acre or more. The company’s managers could throw a huge party with the proceeds–if they could find any takers.

But since HET has been working for years to carefully acquire land, why sell it now? It would make more sense to hold onto it for 10-15 years, until City Center (and whatever MGM Mirage has in the pipeline after that–remember, they’ve got plenty more un- and under-developed land (goodbye, Circus Circus RV park) and Echelon Place are built out and supply tightens. Meanwhile, the company could concentrate on its redevelopment plans in Biloxi and Atlantic City and its international expansions. By then, you might not be able to get that land for $50 million/acre.

Would shedding the Rio make sense? Maybe–though you’d have to find a new home for the World Series of Poker, and any HET upper management who are Prince fans would be out of luck. But Rio also has a lot of real estate around it. If you look at an aerial map, you can see that, if they could tunnel under the railroad tracks and I-15, Harrah’s owns an almost-contiguous landmass that starts on Koval Ave, crosses the Strip and Caesars Palace, and continues out to Valley View and Twain. Sure, much of it is surface parking now, but I think that 10 years from now, even this area would be a prime spot for an “urban village” development with high-rise condos, retail, and possibly office buildings.

Would it make sense for the company to sell off properties in other jurisdictions? Dumping Bally’s Atlantic City would rid the company of most of its center-Boardwalk real estate, and would probably diminish the utlity of all that high-end retail on The Pier at Caesars. The Showboat would make more sense.

In short, there’s a quick buck to be made in selling off nearly any part of Harrah’s, but little long-term rationale for most of it. I’m sure the goose makes a pretty tasty entree, after all, but its the golden eggs that you really want.

No big news today, besides the big fire on Tropicana that seems to be under control (my office window has an unobstructed view), so here’s another marathon story from the LV Sun:

It was 6:15 a.m. Sunday, and by then the New Las Vegas Marathon, which is actually the semi-new Las Vegas Marathon, considering this is the second year it has operated under new ownership, was under way.

You wouldn’t have know it from my vantage point at the intersection of Fourth Street and Gass Ave. Morning had not quite broken but it was so eerily quiet, you would have sworn it needed fixing.

Everywhere you turned there were sawhorses and reams of that yellow crime-scene tape that blocked traffic from getting through and clogged the main arteries of downtown like bad cholesterol.

Somewhere, somebody was making donuts. But not downtown.

The misty, dark gray of dawn simply would not go away. It was as if the sun forgot to set its alarm. I immediately thought of that Seinfeld episode where Jean-Paul, Elaine’s friend from Trinidad and Tobago, oversleeps and misses the start of the New York Marathon.

It was getting colder by the minute as a stiff breeze began to blow. Then off the in the distance, in the shadow of the Stratosphere, I could see red beacons cutting through the murky light.

It was the cops, followed by several vans and SUVs carrying the media freeloaders. About 30 seconds later, the low hum of their engines was followed by the shuffling feet of a single runner lightly scraping along the pavement.

Las Vegas SUN: Ron Kantowski takes an early morning walk as others run through the streets of Las Vegas – with at least one couple stopping to get married

I just thought of another gimmick run: let’s get together a group of bloggers, carry a lightweight laptop, and blog along the way. There should be enough wireless hotspots to blog at least every four miles. It’ll make for interesting reading.

Speaking of interesting reading, the publicity effort for Roll the Bones has reached a new phase: direct marketing. Sitting at the Bellagio Buffet counter today, I got into a discussion with a few poker players about the Harrah’s LBO. Usually when I’m out in casinos in keep a low profile; I only rarely (well, make that never) start passing out Roll the Bones postcards. After they asked me what I did, and why I knew so much about the gaming industry, I told them about the book, and they said they’d buy a copy. Nice guys.

So maybe doing book signings in casinos wasn’t the best strategy–perhaps I should ask the publisher to fund a tour of casino buffets, where I personally sweet talk patrons into buying copies of my book.

Seriously, this got me thinking that there are a whole lot of casino players who might be interested in a reading/signing event tailored to them. So if you work in casino marketing, and want a different kind of event for your players, contact me.

The New Las Vegas Marathon went off yesterday, and it was quite an experience. From the LVRJ:

The gang of a couple dozen Elvises hit mile five, and a few of them decided to hydrate — with cold cans of beer that they had gamely pushed along in a stroller.

“It’s light beer,” said 57-year-old Jeff Padilla of Newport Beach, Calif., as he adjusted his wig and genuine 1970s polyester jumpsuit.

About 16,000 runners participated in the New Las Vegas Marathon on Sunday, most without beer, but all determined. It was the second year the race ran on a new course that started and finished on the Strip.

Pre-dawn fireworks, sideline performers such as Blue Man Group and 28 couples stopping at a quickie-wedding chapel during the race were all meant to put the Las Vegas stamp on the huffing herd of humanity.

“Running on Las Vegas Boulevard dressed as Elvis? Nothing’s better,” said Padilla, who said he has run in more than 140 marathons, many times dressed as Elvis.

Jason Thomas, who had just wed Kim Engle at A Special Memory Wedding Chapel, said “Where else in the world can you do this?”

But for a select group of elite runners, this was about more than personal accomplishment, getting married or showing off sideburns.

Kenyan Joseph Kahugu won the men’s field in 2 hours, 16 minutes, 19 seconds.

The women’s winner was another Kenyan, Jemima Jelagat, in 2:35:13.

reviewjournal.com — News – NEW LAS VEGAS MARATHON: Vegas kitsch flavors race

The wind made it a very tough day, but it was really a fun race for me, mostly I got to run it with my wife Suni, something I didn’t get to do last year. So even though my time was not a personal best, I don’t think that matters when you cross the finish line together with someone you care deeply for.

I don’t run marathons because I’m a born runner–far from it. I didn’t start running at all until a few years ago, and ran my first marathon in 2003. It’s not easy, but it is a lot of fun. The training is tough, but not impossible for someone of average physical fitness. You might think that running every Sunday morning at 6am is a real drag, but, in the end, it’s worth it. Running with the Roadrunners training group for the past 28 weeks has been great, so great in fact that I’d like to make a shameless plug:

If you live in Las Vegas, and want a real challenge, sign up for next year’s marathon and run it with the Roadrunners. The training program that Tim Kelly runs builds up runners over about 6 months, so that even if you’ve never ran more than a mile at a time, you’ll be ready for the marathon by December. On our first run, we run 3 miles, so if you can get yourself into good enough shape to run–or walk–3 miles by June, you should really consider it. I’m not saying that you’ll become a running convert, although you may. But running a marathon is one of those “do once before you die” things that, even though it seems impossible, isn’t out of reach, as long as you don’t have any major physical problems. If you walked the course at a fairly slow 3 mph, you’d finish in under 9 hours. If you’re a first-time runner who can dedicate themself to serious training, you should be able to finish under 5 hours, which is totally respectable.

The best thing about running a marathon is that you can dress up in any strange way you want, and people will be in awe of you. In my first marathon, I got passed by people dressed as fruit–guys (or girls) in giant, head-to-toe, orange, apple, and strawberry costumes. This time, I passed a penguin, and a few Elvises–and quite a few Elvis’s passed me (for the first couple miles, our Roadrunner group was directly in front of a huge contingent of Elvises that kept breaking out in song). So if you’ve ever had the urge to dress as Elvis, Benjamin Franklin, or anyone else in public but are too inhibited, this gives you the perfect excuse. My only caveat is that you should do it for charity–people often as “What are you running for?” and it sounds much better to say “I’m running for a cure!” than, “Um, because I want to.”

Bringing this back around to Las Vegas and gambling, it would be great to have a group of people dress as classic Las Vegas Strip casino signs and run to raise money for the Neon Museum. Seriously, someone with the museum should look into this–I can just imagine Aladdin’s lamp and the Dunes sign jockeying for position in the homestretch.

I don’t have much time today–I’m off to Mandalay Bay for the LV Marathon expo–but this is newsworthy:

Singapore awarded its second casino resort contract Friday to Genting International, whose proposal of a venture worth 5.2 billion Singapore dollars is intended to lure thousands of visitors with a Universal Studios theme park and a huge outdoor marine park.

Genting, which runs two casinos in Malaysia, had joined with Star Cruises in its bid against the Las Vegas-based Eighth Wonder and Kerzner International to build and operate the resort. The project is scheduled to open in 2010 on a site of 49 hectares, or 121 acres, on Sentosa Island.

Singapore’s deputy prime minister, S. Jayakumar, said at a news conference that Genting had provided “the most compelling proposal over all that best meets our economic and tourism objectives.”

He added, “We wanted a large-scale family-oriented resort that would draw a large number of new visitors to Singapore.”

Genting wins Singapore casino license – Business – International Herald Tribune

This is a big story–the Seminole Tribe has bought Hard Rock (but not the Vegas casino). From the AP:

The Seminole Tribe of Florida said Thursday it was buying the famed Hard Rock business, including its casinos, restaurants, hotels and huge collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, in a groundbreaking $965 million deal with a British company.

The deal with London-based Rank Group PLC is believed to be an American Indian tribe’s first purchase of a major international corporation of its size, the Seminoles said. It includes 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues and stakes in three unbranded hotels.

The Seminoles were the first U.S. tribe to get into the gambling business in 1979. More recently, they had partnered with Hard Rock in successful hotel, gambling and entertainment complexes in Tampa and Hollywood in tourist-friendly Florida. They now have the ability to expand their gaming interests nationally by partnering with a well-known brand, experts said.

The tribe also will acquire what is said to be the world’s largest collection of rock memorabilia, some 70,000 pieces including Jimi Hendrix’s Flying V guitar, one of Madonna’s bustiers, a pair of Elton John’s high-heeled shoes and guitars formerly owned by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Chuck Berry.

The deal does not include Hard Rock’s Las Vegas casino, however, which is owned by Morgans Hotel Group, or Morgans’ rights to Hard Rock intellectual property in Australia, Brazil, Israel, Venezuela and many areas of the United States west of the Mississippi River, a Morgans official said.

Rank said the sale freed it to concentrate on gambling. It retained the Hard Rock Casino in London and plans to change it to the Rank Gaming brand.

AP Wire | 12/07/2006 | Seminole Tribe of Fla. buying Hard Rock

As usual, when asked to comment, I said something that almost, but not entirely, made sense:
David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at University of Nevada Las Vegas, said the Seminoles likely made the deal with gambling expansion at the top of their priorities.

“I don’t think that they bought this because they only want to go into the restaurant industry,” Schwartz said. “I don’t think they want to only serve boneless buffalo wings.

That’s me speaking from experience–the boneless buffalo wings are my favorite item on the Hard Rock Cafe menu. Come to think of it, I haven’t had lunch yet, and the Hard Rock is only about 1/4 mile away. And we do get a UNLV discount there.

If I was a more analytical guy, I could try to play my comment off as superbly astute–after all, casino gaming has been called “the new buffalo,” so there’s a connection with buffalo wings…kind of.

Decades from now, future historians trawling through the news archives may find that article and wonder what boneless buffalo wings were–I like thinking that I’ll make someone very satisfied when, after some more research, they find out. I’m thinking about that because I’ve been looking at some news clippings from the first decade of the 20th century, and it’s almost in a foreign language. The mayor of Atlantic City, for example, led public campaigns against, among other things, roystering, spooning, and horseplay. I doubt whether any newspaper has mentioned “horseplay” or “roystering” for a long, long time. As for spooning…it didn’t mean then what it means now. At least I don’t think so–if it did, there were really some strange things going on back then, because the mayor personally arrested three people for spooning.

I recently recorded an interview with Dr. Alvin Augustus Jones, whose radio show is billed as “”Where World Leaders And Thinkers Come To Chat.”

It was one of my best interviews yet–Dr. Jones asked some excellent questions that not only let me talk about the book, but made me think about gambling, history, and politics in new ways.

Like most pleasant chats, it felt like it lasted about 5 minutes, but I think it ran closer to 30. You can listen to the interview right here:

Roll the Bones interview on the Dr. Alvin Augustus Jones Show

Important note: I think you’ve got to be running Internet Explorer to correctly open the interview–I tried it with Firefox and Navigator first, and only got it to work with IE. If you’re running the latest version of Firefox (according to my web stats, most of my readers are using Firefox), just click on the “View this page in IE” button after you follow the link above.

We cover some interesting areas, including the last chapter (the tour of Wynn) and the difference between government-sponsored and private-industry gambling.

Looking at his main page, it’s clear that Dr. Jones has had a number of distinguished guests. Speaking with him, I can see why–he’s an unusually perceptive interviewer who asks questions that build a real conversation between the host and the guest. For an author looking to explain his book to the public, it’s an ideal talk to have.

And if you happen to be a radio or TV host or producer yourself and have some air time to fill, please contact me about appearing on your show. With the Roll the Bones media tour kicking into high gear, I am making an extra effort to make myself available. Whether this means doing a phone interview at 6:15 AM or driving across the Strip to CoverEdge for a remote TV interview, I’m ready to talk about the book.

The other night, Suni and I watched a movie that neither of us had heard about called Love, Ludlow. It was between that and a few other things Tivo had decided we might like, and based on the description, we decided to give it a shot:

Myra Smuldanski has done the unthinkable. After years of shunning men she accepts a date with Reginald Baron, an account executive at the office where she temps. The only man in her life up to this point has been Ludlow, Myra’s bi-polar younger brother who aspires to be the next Jackson Pollack. Lud is not to happy with the new man in Myra’s life and tries his best to destroy any budding relationship between her and Reg. Myra finds herself torn between her role as her brothers caretaker and the possibility of finding someone who wants to take care of her.

Actually, that’s the “plot synopsis” from amazon. The actual Tivo blurb was much more telegraphic, cramming the same basic idea into one sentence.

Love, Ludlow is a great movie that is, at first glance, little more than a quirky, funny romantic comedy. There’s nothing mindshakingly original about the premise of boy meets girl, but Reggie’s awkward courtship of Myra is so over-the-top that it’s quite fresh. Cinematic romance usually has a fairly predictable arc, but I never felt like I knew what was coming next with this movie.

Myra’s character, I think, really anchored the film, and it was because of the strong performance by Alicia Goranson. Myra is an almost impossibly caustic office temp, and I think that a lesser actress might have me wondering how someone with such a firey disposition could work in a field that requires a modicum of working well with others. But Goranson plays Myra with such authority that it just seems natural,

Similarly, the shy, awkward Reggie (David Eigenberg) might have been played as a shallow caricature of a socially-inept dweeb, but Eigenberg creditably shows him to be an earnest, caring, somewhat confused guy trying his best to win what might be the girl of his dreams.

The movie starts with Reggie being smitten with Myra, and Myra’s gradual opening to the possibility of dating him. Myra’s brother Ludlow is the big complication. He seems to spend most of his time in he and Myra’s tiny apartment writing elaborate fairwell notes and fingerpainting.

According to the movie’s description, Ludlow is bipolar. I’m no diagonstician, but he seemed a bit more autistic to me–his moods seemed fairly even, but he had definite problems interfacing with the rest of the world and accepting a break in his routine. I thought that the uncertainty about Ludlow’s precise problem strengthened the movie–it makes sense that, given the family’s situation, they aren’t going to be taking him for a battery of psychiatric exams, and they probably wouldn’t have a real diagnosis. Myra would just know, as she knows in the movie, that there is something wrong with her brother, and that it is her job to take care of him.

And this is the heart of the movie. We see that Myra, with her abraisive exterior, is hiding a terrible secret–that she really is a loving, caring, and dedicated person. She hasn’t dated much not because she can’t stand other people, but because she knows that no one will accept both her and Ludlow.

There’s another piece of good ambiguity in Myra and Ludlow’s mother. In the movie’s narrative, she died five years earlier, leaving Myra to care for Lud. But a few comments raise the possibility that she committed suicide. It’s not hard to imagine that their mother, unable to cope with Ludlow’s demands, simply had too much. It only makes Myra’s burden in caring for her brother that much heavier–knowing that her own mother couldn’t handle it, how does Myra keep going? The apartment’s cramped confines really communicate the claustrophobia that Myra must be feeling, trapped by her obligations to her brother, but unable to abandon him.

This is a totally “New York” movie–it seems like the sort of thing that Woody Allen might be doing if he were making his first film now. It perfectly captures the energy–and the conceits–of the city. For example, Reggie mentions that, for him, back home is “the Midwest.” Only a New Yorker would blur everything west of the Hudson in such a way that a character not from the tri-state region would be so vague about their home. That’s hardly a criticism–I think it’s just another thing that makes the movie ring so true.

I’ve done a lot of thinking about this movie since I’ve seen it, and I think it really is very profound. To me, Ludlow represents the baggage that people bring to any relationship. It could be, as it is in this movie, a sibling or parent that one has to care for. It could be a sheltered past, an abusive childhood, a bad set of friends, or just the legacy of unfortunate choices made years ago. It could be memories–it could be anxieties about the future. Whatever it is, it prevents us from letting other people into our lives. It’s probably true that everyone has their Ludlow, and there’s a moment in every relationship when we introduce the other person to our Ludlow and hope for the best.

So Love, Ludlow is really more than just a romantic comedy about an unlikely couple. On a deeper level, it’s really about something that anyone can identify with–revealing part of yourself, and your life, to someone you want to care deeply about. Like the best art, it takes something small and local–in this case, a budding relationship between a New York temp and account executive–and makes it resonate in a way that is truly universal.

I recommend it highly for anyone in a relationship–I can see that it would be a fun date movie (and a real ice-breaker for a first date) but also something that longtime couples can get something out of.

Pachinko is a major Japanese industry, earning about $300 billion a year–about six times what all American casinos make. But, despite hard proof to the contrary, some are limiting their play, fearful that some pachinko profits end up in the coffers of North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Il. From the Mainichi Daily News:

Gambling at pachinko was a lot more fun for Reiko Kuzuhara before she started wondering whether maybe — just maybe — her losses were helping North Korea build nuclear weapons.

Pachinko, a form of pinball deeply loved in Japan, is an industry run by ethnic Koreans, and experts have long believed that the revenues are a vital source of hard currency for the impoverished regime in Pyongyang.

Now, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s nuclear weapons program gathers pace, Japan’s attitude is hardening, and that includes shutting out the ferry on which the gambling money is believed to be hand-carried from Japan to North Korea.

“I really don’t like that the money I spend could be helping them with those sorts of things,” said Kuzuhara, 55, who works in the printing industry and was interviewed on a Tokyo street near several pachinko parlors. “It’s making me think twice and cut back on how often I play.”

The pachinko connection is facing increased scrutiny as tensions rise following North Korea’s ballistic missile tests in July and its first test of a nuclear device on Oct. 9.

Pachinko is an upright pinball game played at tens of thousands of brightly lit parlors across the country. Success is measured in little steel payoff balls, which can be exchanged for cash or other prizes.

The machines are believed to rake in more than 27 trillion yen a year, some of which finds its way to North Korea. Official figures put the sum of remittances to North Korea from sources in Japan at 3 billion yen in fiscal 2005, more than 90 percent of which was hand-delivered.

But the bookkeeping is murky and some think the real sum could be as high as to 10 billion yen. No one knows how much of it derives directly from pachinko and how much from another major source of income for North Korea in Japan — imported methamphetamines.

“It’s very difficult to say how much cash is actually going from Japan to the North,” said Toshio Miyatsuka, a specialist on North Korea at Yamanashi Gakuin University in central Japan who has written a book about the pachinko industry.

NKorean nuke test and Japanese gambling habits intersect at pachinko – MSN-Mainichi Daily News

This reminds me of the confusion and outrage that followed the Kefauver Committee hearings in 1950–people were amazed that profits from illegal slot machines and horse rooms ended up in the hands of organized crime.

It will be interesting to see whether these seemingly-external geopolitical developments affect the domestic Japanese gaming industry. Will this give the push for full-blown casinos impetus? It’s a possibility.

Yesteday, Iowa governor Tom Vlisack announced his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Anyone who was reading back in my Casino [ptz] days then will remember the controversy that Vilsack’s wife unleashed when she accused South Jerseyeans of talking like fish:

“The only way I can speak like residents of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania is to let my jaw drop an inch and talk with my lips in an `O’ like a fish. I’d rather learn to speak Polish.”
Don’t youse knock NJ

Sure, she said that 12 years ago, but it’s still funny. I’m not saying she’s wrong–I know exactly the accent she’s talking about. I’m just saying that it’s funny that someone in public life was so exasperated by the characteristic speech patterns of a region that she made an issue of it.

It’s also amusing that she was careful to exclude western PA, but lumped all of New Jersey into the Philly accent area of influence. As the informative Wikipedia article Philadelphia Accent notes, this is a mistake–it is only us South Jerseyans who talk like fish (i.e., front some of their vowels, as a linguist might say). If you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch The Wire–anyone who talks “Baltimorese” sounds, to me, like home (it’s always great to hear Lt. Mello, the real-life Jay Landsman, talk).

I’m surprised that Michelle Malkin hasn’t mentioned fishtalk-gate, at least in passing–she went to Holy Spirit High School, which is in beautiful Absecon, NJ (right in the heart of fish-talking South Jersey). Funny note: Spirit is the traditional rival of Atlantic City High School, my alma mater, which I attended at about the same time (she might have been a senior when I was a freshman).

While I’m reliving the past, let me say that I always considered ACHS the better school, but take a look at their Wikipedia pages:

Holy Spirit High School: detailed information about the school’s legacy of academic and athletic excellence, a list of notable alums

Atlantic City High School: a note that the school exists

And not even anything about the Old High School. I’m just added a link that to that Casino Connection article, so maybe that’ll help people expand the entry a little. I know we’ve got to have some famous alumni.