Monthly Archives: May 2007

6 to 5 Against signing

May 31, 2007 11:49 am

Shocking news: I’m publicizing a book signing and for once it’s not one of my own. I’ve helped to bring in a very astute author on gaming, Burt Dragin, to read from his book Six to Five Against (which I’ve reviewed here) and talk about it. Here’s the press release:

WHAT: Burt Dragin, author of SIX TO FIVE AGAINST: A GAMBLER’S ODYSSEY will speak, answer questions, and sign copies of his biographical examination of gambling and problem gambling.

WHEN: Friday, June 22, from 4 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: UNLV Lied Library, Extended Study Lounge, first floor

DETAILS: Dragin will speak about his initial attractions to, and eventual absorption in, gambling. A journalism professor at Laney College in Oakland, Calif. and investigative journalist as well as a lifelong gambler, Dragin writes about gambling with a rare passion and understanding.

INTERVIEWS: In addition to the author, UNLV professors and gaming experts
Bo Bernhard, International Gaming Institute, and Dave Schwartz, Center for Gaming Research, will be available for interviews.

This event is co-sponsored by the University Libraries’ Center for Gaming Research and the International Gaming Institute.

Refreshments will be served.

Excerpt from Six to Five Against:
On our first Vegas family pilgrimage in 1950, we were ensconced at the Rancho Anita, a nondescript motel off The Strip…. We made our way to the newly minted Flamingo Hotel. The exterior a riot of neon; the garish façade had pink bubbles rising toward the desert sky. The scorching heat was dry and unforgiving. But inside the Flamingo it was air conditioned! The contrast worked its magic. Unbeknownst to me, a habit had taken root.

We’re paying for parking, too, so if you’re in Vegas that afternoon, it’d be a great place to stop by for an hour or so and hear some talk about gambling. You can also get a great book signed and meet the author. That’s a win/win/win in my book.

I hope to make this the first of a regular series, so if you are a gambling author or publicist for one and might be interested in an event in September, contact me.

Share|
Posted in what's new

Harrah’s Surfaces

May 30, 2007 12:01 pm

This fall Microsoft is going to apparently release a new device called Surface that will change computing. Interesting, but there’s a casino angle too. From MSNBC:

The radical new approach starts with the guts of the device itself. Under the impact-resistant plastic top skin on an otherwise nondescript table hide five infrared scanners, a projector and a wireless modem. The scanners recognize objects and shapes placed on the top and respond to them accordingly. For example, if the scanners recognize fingers, and the fingers have been placed in color circles that appear on the surface, the projector shows colored lines that follow the tracings and movements of your fingers. Meanwhile, an internal modem sends and receives signals from any electronic device placed on it. All of the hardware is run by a special version of Microsoft’s new operating system, Windows Vista.

To do things on Surface’s tabletop screen, you reach down, touch it and push it. To make the image you see on the screen bigger, spread your fingers. To make it smaller, squeeze your fingers together. To move something into the trash, push it into the trash with your hand. And it allows what Microsoft calls “Multi-Touch” and “Multi-User” interaction — namely, more than one person can interact with it at a time. Try that with your home computer.

One of the most revolutionary aspects of Surface, though, is its natural interaction with everyday objects and technologies. When you place your Wi-Fi-enabled digital camera on the table, for example, Surface “sees” the camera and does something extraordinary: It pulls your digital pictures and videos out onto the table for you to look at, move, edit or send. Images literally spill out in a pool of color.
…
The first place you’ll probably see Microsoft Surface is at one of its four inaugural retail partners, including T-Mobile USA, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Harrah’s Entertainment. At T-Mobile, for example, you will be able to place any of their phones on Surface. Surface will sense the presence of each individual phone and then project each phone’s features in front of you for you to consider. If you want to add a feature in the store, just “push” that feature “into” your phone with your finger.
Microsoft unveils revolutionary device – Today: Money – TODAYshow.com

So who’s the fourth retail partner?

The big question is, what will Harrah’s do with Surface? Will it be just a new interface for its Total Rewards kiosks? Will it be incorporated into the gaming floor? Everyone’s been pretty mum about regulatory approvals if it’s the latter, so that may take some time.

From the way it’s described, a Surface that’s working with an RFID reader could change several table games. Roulette, for example, could be much better managed–no worries about past-posting or sliding bets around, and no need for a dealer to compute payoffs in his or her head. You’d still need a dealer to sell chips, drop the ball, and pay off winning bets, but you’d cut down on disputes.

I’m very interested to see how this develops.

Share|
Posted in gambling & culture, news about gamblingTagged ,

Non-gaming at MGM Mirage

May 29, 2007 1:33 pm

There’s a nice interview in the LV Sun with Gamal Aziz of MGM Mirage:

The latest annual report for MGM Mirage forgoes descriptions of casino floors in favor of haute cuisine, stage performances and museum pieces.

And lest there be any remaining doubt about a new direction of the company, “Transformation” is printed boldly on the cover.

Such is one outcome of the company’s move to create a subsidiary that will focus on building luxury nongaming hotels worldwide, both on its own and through partnerships with casinos and non casino companies.

Today, the company is to announce the appointment of MGM Grand President Gamal Aziz to lead that subsidiary, MGM Mirage Hospitality LLC. Aziz will continue to oversee MGM Grand along with his new duties. Primary among them: hiring veterans of the hotel – versus gaming – industry.

Aziz, who spent 15 years with the Westin hotel chain before arriving in Las Vegas 11 years ago to assume a food and beverage position at Caesars Palace, has played a role in MGM Mirage’s desired transformation from gam ing giant to international hotel company.

Recruiting other executives from the hotel business, Aziz fostered a melting pot of ideas at MGM Grand that helped transform the casino’s Disneyland atmosphere into a less-themed luxury hotel befitting discriminating travelers.

What might seem like a sudden love affair with all things nongaming is instead a long-term business strategy driven by customer demand, Aziz said in an interview .

Is MGM Mirage’s changing focus from a gaming company to an international hotel brand a byproduct of growth or does it reflect a new business strategy?
Las Vegas SUN: Q+A: Gamal Aziz

Very interesting. It’s clear that MGM Mirage is doing the right thing by diversifying into non-gaming–though they have plenty of opportunities for casinos with recent proliferation, they have the opportunity with their well-placed Las Vegas flagships, to start many “brands” if they choose.

Share|
Posted in news about gamblingTagged , , ,

News alert: Canada radio

May 25, 2007 12:06 pm

I’m going to be on several Canadian radio stations–CBC affiliates I think–this afternoon, talking about a recent casino cheating case. These are the times (Pacific) and cities, with the names of the hosts, too.

12.50
HALIFAX
Carmen Klassen – Host

1.00
CALGARY
Jeff Collins – Host

1.10
TORONTO
Matt Galloway – Host

1.20
THUNDER BAY
Heather McLeod – Producer & Host

1.45
Yellowknife

2.00
WHITEHORSE
Russell Knutson – Host

2.20
WINDSOR
Barbara Peacock – Host

2.40
EDMONTON
Peter Brown – Host

2.50
WINNIPEG
Margaux Watt – Host

So if you’re up in Canada and want to spend 5 minutes listening to me talk about casino cheating, your wish might come true, depending on where you live.

Share|
Posted in what's newTagged , , ,

LV Marathon training starts

May 25, 2007 10:40 am

If you want to run the Las Vegas Marathon or Half-Marathon this year and are looking for a way to get in shape (long) before the December 2 race, you should wake up early this Sunday and head down to the 215 and Stephanie for the first Roadrunner’s training run. From their website:

Who: You and 500 of your best friends from southern Nevada
What: 2007 Las Vegas Roadrunners
Where: In the parking lot of the Stephanie Promenade, a strip shopping center on the northwest corner of Stephanie and American Pacific in Henderson
When: Sunday, May 27, 2007, 7:00 a.m.
Why: Because we can, we will and we do love to succeed

Las Vegas RoadRunners

I guarantee you’ll know at least one person there: I’ve helping to lead the 4:15 pace group. No, that doesn’t mean our average mile time is 4:15; it means that we’re shooting to finish the race in four hours and fifteen minutes. It’s a great way to get into or stay in shape, and there are pace groups for every speed level from six hours to 3:30. There’s a program for the half-marathon, too, which is a more manageable distance that anyone in reasonable health and without knee/foot/hip issues can do with a little preparation. It’s a great training program, and quite worth it.

Don’t let the fact that you’ve never run before hold you back. A few years ago I decided I wanted to run a marathon and, despite never having seriously run before, was able to do it. On race day you’ll get to run straight down the Las Vegas Strip, which is a great experience.

Share|
Posted in life in vegas, what's newTagged , , ,

Take a casino bed home!

May 23, 2007 2:37 pm

You’d think that a used bed would be about the last thing you’d want to buy from a failed casino, but you’d be wrong: Atlantic City’s erstwhile Sands has sold 950 of them. From the Press:

Every single bed — about 800 double beds and 150 king-size beds — from the Sands’ 500-room hotel tower has been sold since the doors were opened to the public May 3 to dispose of the building’s vast contents.

“We’ve sold out of beds. But we still have plenty of other furniture left. The first floor of the casino looks like a furniture store,” said Carmen Gonzales, a spokeswoman for Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., the Las Vegas-based gaming company that plans to knock down and redevelop the Sands for a large new casino.

National Content Liquidators Inc. is overseeing the sale of hundreds of thousands of items from an inventory worth an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million. The sale is tentatively scheduled to end June 10, Gonzales said.

In addition to the beds, other prized items are the furnishings and decorations from the luxurious suites once occupied by well-heeled gamblers and the celebrities who performed in the Sands’ legendary Copa Room.

“The suites are decimated. The Hollywood Suite is gone,” Gonzales said of the ultra-exclusive penthouse hideout. “Pretty much everything is sold from the suites on the upper floors.”

The Sands essentially has been converted into a gigantic warehouse. Furniture, appliances, glasses, silverware, plates, pots, pans and much, much more are all up for public sale. The huge crowds that surged into the building on the first day have dwindled, but the sale is still attracting a few hundred people daily.

Sands liquidation sale has been a real sleeper

When the Trump World’s Fair/Regency/Atlantis/Playboy closed, I breezed through their auction. They had a few mattresses for sale, including one that looked like someone had done something indescribable on it. I’m talking Patrick Bateman territory here. That kind of put me off from even touching anything for sale, even though I thought it might be fun to buy a slot stool. Knowing what people have done on slot stools, I ultimately walked out empty-handed.

I’m hoping against hope that these beds were bought by other hotels and motels and that no one actually thoughts they were getting a great bed for their home here.

If I get to town in time, I might stop by and take some pictures and notes at the very least There’s probably a great story hidden somewhere in all the detritus of the old Sands.

If they ever do this at the Taj, I’m calling dibs on the ram’s head sculpture glued to the decorative table across from CF elevators. It’s a long story.

Share|
Posted in atlantic cityTagged

Kerkorian & MGM: big questions

May 22, 2007 2:12 pm

The huge news over the past 24 hours (as of 2 p.m.) is Kirk Kerkorian’s apparent big to buy the Bellagio and CityCenter from MGM Mirage. Here’s a NYT take:

What is Kirk Kerkorian up to now?

That is what industry observers, analysts and DealBook were left wondering after the 89-year-old billionaire financier said that his holding company, the Tracinda Corporation, intended to enter into negotiations with MGM Mirage to buy the Bellagio, the Las Vegas casino-hotel where Mr. Kerkorian stays when he’s in town, as well as the partly built CityCenter, another Las Vegas property that many consider the most expensive privately financed project in American history.

The New York Times described Mr. Kerkorian’s brief statement as “opaque”; The Los Angeles Times called his latest move “puzzling.” What made the move confusing was that, in a sense, Mr. Kerkorian is bidding to buy the two properties largely from himself. He is the majority stakeholder in MGM — which owns, in addition to the Bellagio and CityCenter, the MGM Grand, the Mirage, Luxor, Mandalay Bay and New York New York, all in Las Vegas, among other properties. The final price tag for the two properties, analysts said, could exceed $12 billion.

Harrah’s Entertainment and other casino operators have recently agreed to go private, so there is some momentum that Mr. Kerkorian could be hoping to build upon. “I don’t know what his motivation would be,” David Schwartz, director of Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas told The Los Angeles Times, “but it is part of a trend and so it does make a lot of sense in that respect.”

Kerkorians Vegas Moves Ignite Talk of MGM Deal

Look who got quoted in the last paragraph there. I also told the reporter that Kerkorian didn’t get to where he was by being a bad investor, which makes it clear that I’m not second-guessing Kirk there.

That being said, there are some big questions. First, is Kerkorian going to take these two “assets” private and sell off his MGM stock? That’s one scenario. Second, is this an opening gambit for the billionaire to take the whole company private? That makes more sense to me, but I’m not in the boardroom, so I can only speculate. Third, if the company is divided up, what happens to the management team? Would PCC & Bellagio be worth as much without Terry Lanni and Jim Murren? I don’t know, and I think that people throughout the industry are equally at a loss.

Share|
Posted in life in vegas, news about gamblingTagged ,

Taj best in AC?

May 21, 2007 11:04 am

Among Trump properties, it is–it’s about three times the casino as the Marina and Plaza. From the AC Press:

Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino or Trump Marina Hotel Casino, or both, probably would be demolished and redeveloped if the proposed sale of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc. is completed, they say.

“Most comments heard from other (casino) operators about the Plaza and the Marina are that they are attractive redevelopment opportunities. In other words, they are likely tear-downs and rebuilds, analyst Adam Steinberg of Morgan Joseph & Co. Inc. wrote in a note to investors.

Analysts Joel H. Simkins of Prudential Equity Group and George L. Smith III of Davenport & Co. also said in investment notes that the aging Plaza and Marina might be razed to make room for new casinos by a new owner.

The flagship Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, by far the most prized casino in the portfolio, is the only Trump property sure to remain standing, analysts believe. The Taj Mahal’s strategic location, brand appeal and excess land for expansion all but ensure that the Trump moniker will loom large over the gaming resort — even if a new owner is calling the shots.

Trump Entertainment, the public company that operates the three casinos, announced Thursday evening in a brief statement that it has received preliminary offers from potential buyers.

“There can be no assurance that any of these indications of interest will result in a sale of the company or any other transactions, Trump Entertainment cautioned.

Trump did not disclose the names of potential suitors or a possible sale price. Speculation has focused on private equity companies or real estate firms looking to get in on the casino game. Casino operators Ameristar Casinos Inc., Penn National Gaming Inc., Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., Boyd Gaming Corp. and Las Vegas gaming mogul Steve Wynn also have been mentioned as possibilities.
…
Theoretically, one buyer could swoop in and acquire the entire company and then break it up into pieces. In March, Simkins set a price range for each Trump casino based on projected gross operating profits for 2008. The “most likely value for the Taj Mahal is $1.3 billion. Trump Marina might command $470.5 million and Trump Plaza’s sale price could be around $440.7 million, according to Simkins’ estimates.
If Trump sells out, Taj likely to stand

You know, I haven’t seen anything happen on the former Playboy site, so maybe someone would be interested in buying the Plaza and that site and creating a large mixed-use project with Boardwalk (nee Convention) Hall as the centerpiece.

Something could definitely be done with the Marina, particularly if the adjacent site that was once going to be the home of the MGM Grand Atlantic City is finally developed. It’s good to hear that the Taj will be around for a while, though. Next time I’m in town I’m going to stop by and take a look at the construction and maybe drop off some tuna for the cats for old time’s sake.

That being said, I don’t think that the Taj is going to make this honor–”least likely to be demolished of Trump’s struggling Atlantic City casinos”–a big part of its marketing any time soon.

Share|
Posted in atlantic city, news about gamblingTagged ,

70s slots with music to match

May 18, 2007 12:35 pm

The host of this clip, Arthur Thomas, emailed it to me, saying that his grandkids had persuaded him to upload it to YouTube so that he could “be a cool dude.” I think he succeeded:


YouTube – 1978 BEARDEBEAR Music Cool Slot Machines Secret Video

The music starts out very Mitchell-esque, then quiets down a bit. Hard to believe this was almost 20 years ago.

Share|
Posted in gambling & cultureTagged , , ,

Instant racing or slots in disguise?

May 17, 2007 12:46 pm

Instant racing’s been around since 2000, but it’s become a hot topic recently. With some states holding the line against slot machines, could these terminals allow tracks to become backdoor racinos? From the AP:

A bill in the state Legislature that would allow Ohio’s seven horse tracks to install machines that take bets on horse races that have already been run is key to saving the industry, supporters say.

Examples can be found in other states, one track owner in Arkansas said. Louis A. Cella’s family helped to build Oaklawn, a racetrack in Hot Springs, Ark., more than 100 years ago.

“In the 1990s, our business started tanking,” he said. “We had to come up with something or close. … It was that dire.”

So in 2000, he brought in instant racing terminals, which look like slot machines, and gamblers bet on races that already had been run. The track is making millions of dollars on them, track officials said.

…

Rob Walgate, vice president of the Ohio Roundtable, a conservative-leaning group that has opposed previous slots proposals, said instant racing is someone betting against a machine and that makes it an odds-based system that’s not allowed without amending the Ohio Constitution.

“Very little information is provided up front,” he said. “It’s not skill-based at all.”

The machines have a library of about 100,000 races, give gamblers the winning percentages of jockeys, trainers and horses. But the dates and sites of the races and the names of the horses remain hidden.

Players spend a quarter or $1, pick horses to win and then watch a video of the race. The amount won depends on the number of other bettors. It gives bettors something do between live races.

Backers of instant racing say it’s key to horse racing’s future

Is it a slot or isn’t it? On one hand, the player is getting paid out of a pool, not at fixed odds. I’d be interested in seeing just how much skill is involved with picking an instant racing winner as opposed to doing so with an actual horse race, either in perrson or via simulcast. Does keeping the jockeys and horses anonymous make it a total crapshoot? I’d tend to think not, but I haven’t seen this demonstrated.

Share|
Posted in news about gamblingTagged , , , ,