Monthly Archives: July 2007

Get paid to study in Vegas

July 31, 2007 5:33 pm

This is probably the only positive expected value deal in Vegas: get paid $4000 to study gambling for a month. From H-Net:

What you get
• A $4,000 stipend to cover housing and expenses
• Desk space in the UNLV Special Collections Reading Room,
• Use of a laptop computer

What you give
• One month’s residency in Las Vegas
• A public lecture relating to your research near the end of your residency
• Ultimately, a publication (article, chapter or book) that showcases your research

Who’s eligible
Both faculty and graduate students are encouraged to apply. Applicants are expected to primarily represent the fields of history, English, sociology, criminal justice, and anthropology, though those from all disciplines with relevant research interests are encouraged to apply. Suggested fields of research include Las Vegas history, the history of gambling, and comparative studies of gambling in literature, history, and society.

View Job

I strongly encourage you to apply for this if you are eligible. We’ve got some great collections and it’d be wonderful to see them get some more use.

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Garden Grove casino?

July 30, 2007 1:47 pm

California Indian gaming is a $7 billion/year business already, but it would get substantially bigger, I think, if a casino popped up in the heart of Orange County. From the LA Times:

Even in a city that has entertained the most improbable of dreams, the latest plan to woo tourists and big bucks to Garden Grove is off the charts.

An Indian tribe has formally proposed building a Las Vegas-style casino complex just up the road from Disneyland in the latest and far and away most lavish plan for making Garden Grove a tourist destination.

The Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe’s proposal calls for two opulent casinos housing 7,500 slot machines, two upscale hotels, a 10,000-seat stadium and — the topper— a promise of a college scholarship for every high school graduate in Garden Grove.

The plan, submitted to the city this week, also promises $5.1 billion to the city over 30 years, payment of $100 million for infrastructure improvements within the city and nearly 10,000 permanent jobs.

“Everybody knows Disneyland is a huge tourist attraction and so are big Indian casinos,” said Jonathan Stein, who identifies himself as the CEO of the tribe. “Casinos just generate gobs and gobs of money, and everyone is going to benefit from this.”

But extravagant dreams have come in for hard landings before in this central Orange County city, which longs for identity and revenue but has grown weary of some of the dreamy pitches.

Tribe proposes Vegas-style casino in Garden Grove – Los Angeles Times

Seems like there are long, long odds on this actually happening, but it’s definitely something to think about.

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Peppermill topping off

July 27, 2007 11:44 am

First off, I’d like to apologize to all my readers for not posting yesterday. I was in Reno for spring training. If you haven’t heard about Michael Vick’s statement to the public, that won’t be funny at all, but trust me, it’s funny. At least to me.

I didn’t get a chance to visit my favorite casino when I was up there, but I’ll need to get over there soon to see the construction. From the RGJ:

The major components of the Peppermill Resort Spa Casino’s $350-$400 million expansion project, a 19-story hotel tower and adjacent convention center, should open on time in December, executives said Wednesday.

“In the convention business, that is a very busy month for us,” said Bill Hughes, director of marketing operations. “In fact, we are already booked in December in our new convention facility for special events.

“We are also taking reservations now for the tower. We are already renting the places so we have to get it done.”

Peppermill executives will celebrate the progress at 10 a.m. Friday with a topping-off ceremony, marking placement of the last piece of steel in the Tuscany Tower.

“What they do at a topping- off party is put a tree at the top of the building, so that is what we’ll be doing, said Kim Stoll, the Peppermill’s corporate director of advertising and publicity. “And then, we will take that tree at a later date and plant it on the property.

“So, it is a celebration for all of the people who have worked on the project, as a traditional milestone.”

RGJ.com: Peppermill celebrates new hotel tower

As long as they are adding to, and not changing, the look of the property, I’m fine with it. This is one of the few casinos that really feels fun inside to me. We’ve got a little taste of it down here in the Peppermill coffee shop, but there’s nothing like immersing yourself in thousands of square feet of dimmed lights, mirrors, and neon.

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AC casinos getting higher

July 25, 2007 3:43 pm

Now that Bader Field is closed, Atlantic City casinos can be built much higher. But will plans to make Pacific Avenue ever get off the ground? From the AC Press:

The Atlantic City of the future will include taller casinos, resort development on Atlantic Avenue and a one-way Pacific Avenue.

At least, those are some of the highlights of the new master plan that is expected next month, city Planning Director Bill Crane said.

At this point, the city and planners Karabashian Eddington Planning Group are working on the final details. The firm has worked on the plan since council approved its $300,000 contract in March 2005.

Partner Thomas Eddington did not return a call seeking comment.

Casino height restrictions are a holdover from Bader Field, which closed in September. Although the historic airport was too small for all but recreational prop planes, some of those planes on final approach flew through the Boardwalk casino zone; therefore, heights in the Boardwalk-front Resort Commercial Development zone were limited to 385 feet.

Crane said the new limits would be between 700 and 800 feet, or about double the old restrictions.

The first building to benefit will apparently be a planned condominium complex next to Boardwalk Hall on Florida Avenue.

At last week’s Planning Board meeting, SOSH Architects said the 43-story complex would rise about 630 feet. The city’s redevelopment plan for the site said the maximum height would be capped at 700 feet.

Others have already crashed through the ceiling.

In March, the city passed an ordinance that would set heights in the Southeast Inlet’s Revel Redevelopment Area at 800 feet.

Revel Entertainment is currently building a casino on land bounded by the Boardwalk and New Jersey, Oriental and Connecticut avenues. Morgan Stanley subsidiary Ventura AC LLC owns the land.

Casinos in the marina district have long had more generous height restrictions than Boardwalk-front buildings. The city passed an ordinance in March 2006 that lifted the maximum height to 560 feet. Both Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and Harrah’s Atlantic City are building towers there.
Plan has casinos going higher

I’m all for higher buildings, but making Pacific Avenue one-way is an awful idea. What they should do is widen it in places with cut-aways for jitney stops and the like. Making it one-way is just going to make traffic worse, and make getting to casinos even harder than it is.

I say, let’s wait another 100 years on Pacific Avenue, and if we even still have automobiles then, give it a fair hearing.

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WSOP 2007 rundown

July 24, 2007 12:30 pm

Was this year’s WSOP, held under the shadow of UIGEA (also known as the Internet gambling ban), a success? Look at some of the numbers from CardPlayer and judge for yourself:

The dust stirred up by the thousands of players who traipsed through the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino the last two months has cleared, and now it’s time to look at some of the figures that came out of the 38th World Series of Poker. With 55 events, the 2007 version was the most ambitious one yet, attracting more entrants than ever before.

The folks at the cashier’s booth greeted 54,281 entrants this year, which is 5,925 more than the 46 events last year drew. Despite this, there wasn’t much difference in the total prize pool. This year’s was $159,492,119; last year’s was $159,018,925.

Last year, each event averaged 1,051 players; this year, that average was 986.

As far as the numbers are concerned, the biggest difference between this year and last year was the number of entrants who played in the main event. The 2007 WSOP champion, Jerry Yang, was one of 6,358 players who vied for a share of what will be the largest live poker tournament prize pool of the year.

Poker News – World Series of Poker by the Numbers

So there were more events, with more overall participants, but each event had a smaller number of entrants.

If you can’t get enough of gambling-related numbers, check out the Gaming Abstract, which we’ve been updating. In that sense it’s the New and Improved Gaming Abstract.

Here’s one item of note: Nevada casinos made almost $161 million from poker last year.

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Slot Pong

July 23, 2007 12:40 pm

Most people are attracted to slots because there is no skill involved in playing them, so you can never feel stupid for making the wrong decision. But that might be changing soon–the skill part, not the feeling stupid part. From the LV Sun:

Pong, the game that turned pinball wizards into video-game junkies in the ’70s, is poised to make a comeback in casinos.

This time, it could help turn the video-game generation on to slot machines.

Las Vegas-based Bally Technologies is seeking approval for a Pong slot machine where a player’s video skill would help determine the payout.

“Ever since we showed it a couple of years ago, there’s been a great deal of interest,” said David Schultz, director of video games for Bally, which has show n the game at trade shows.

Pong and the twist of a payout based on player s’ skills were debated last week by the state Gaming Control Board. The panel said slot machines must have an element of randomness in their base game but noted that Pong’s skill element comes into play only in the bonus round – something not covered by regulations. So, the three-member panel recommended approval and sent Pong to the Nevada Gaming Commission, which has to sign off on the concept before it could be played in a casino.

If the commission approves skill-based gaming , Schultz said, it could open the door to other skill-based games that could be popular with a new breed of casino gambler – Generation X’ers who grew up with video-game consoles in their laps.

But Pong is expected to be popular with Baby Boomers who make up the core demographic in most casinos and who will view the game with nostalgia.
Las Vegas SUN: Slot players might get new crack at an old video game

Skill-based slots might be the most important game development since wide area progressives, because they could revolutionize how people play. I think that most people who spend 4 hours a day playing video games are turned off to slots because they are so mindless. Adding skill elements, even if its just something as basic as hand-eye coordination, could make a difference.

In general, I see a bigger convergence between table games, including ones that require skill, and slots, and between slots and other media, including TV and video games.
Definite points for referencing Pinball Wizard in the opening there.

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NBA ref gambling scandal

July 20, 2007 12:43 pm

This might put the kabosh on plans to bring an NBA franchise to Las Vegas…or not. An NBA ref has reportedly used his position to influence the outcome of games he had action on. From UPI:

An NBA referee is reportedly under investigation by U.S. authorities for allegedly fixing games over the past two seasons, the New York Post said Friday.

The newspaper’s report said the National Basketball Association was aware of the investigation but had been requested by the FBI not to comment.

The investigation allegedly involved members of New York’s organized crime community to whom the unidentified referee owed money because of a gambling problem. The Post said the referee allegedly made calls to affect the outcome of games he was betting on. The number of affected games was said to be “in the double digits.”

The FBI’s yearlong investigation was concluding and arrests were expected soon, the report said.
United Press International – NewsTrack – Sports – Report: NBA ref probed for gambling

That’s about the biggest crime you can pull in sports today–fixing games damages the credibility of the league itself.

That being said, it doesn’t look like this case has anything to do with legal sports betting. If the ref was in debt to New York’s “organized crime community” (what a euphemism!), he was probably betting with an illegal bookie to start with.

Still, it’s a bad way for the words “NBA” and “gambling” to be seen in the same sentence. I’m not sure this will hurt Mayor Goodman’s efforts to bring a team here, but it certainly won’t help.

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Electronic talking table games for AC

July 19, 2007 2:15 pm

Moving to stem a decline in business following the advent of Pennsylvania slot parlors, Atlantic City casino regulators are allowing casinos test out electronic table games. From the AC Press:

New Jersey gaming regulators Wednesday approved a new form of electronic gambling to help Atlantic City’s casinos counter extra competition from slot parlors in surrounding states.

The new regulations allow for live testing of electronic versions of poker and roulette, a key step before the games are introduced to gamblers in the casino hotels.

Although the regulations have been given preliminary approval by the state Casino Control Commission, it is not yet known when live testing will begin and which casinos will offer the electronic table games.

Regulators noted that electronic games will broaden Atlantic City’s appeal to gamblers at a time when slot parlors in Pennsylvania and Delaware continue to steal customers from the resort’s $5.2 billion gambling industry.

“I think it adds a new element to the Atlantic City market and is particularly important because Pennsylvania and Delaware have them,” Casino Control Commission Chair Linda M. Kassekert said of the growing popularity of electronic games.

Three of Pennsylvania’s five slot parlors offer electronic blackjack games that mimic the live version of blackjack in Atlantic City. Life-like video “dealers” in the electronic games perform the same functions as their human counterparts in live blackjack.

In Delaware, gamblers can play electronic versions of blackjack, poker, baccarat and Let It Ride.

Currently, casino gambling in Pennsylvania and Delaware is limited to slot machines. The electronic table games technically are modified slot machines whose computer software has been programmed to comply with the slots-only laws in those states.

Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman for the Casino Control Commission, said the electronic poker and roulette games planned for Atlantic City are totally different than what is offered in Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Up to this point, Atlantic City’s games have only been tested in a laboratory operated by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. The commission’s approval of the new regulations sets the stage for full-fledged testing on the casino floor.

In electronic poker, gamblers sit at a poker table, but their cards appear on a video screen instead of being dealt to them by a live dealer. The electronic version of roulette features a real roulette table and human dealers, but the wagering and payouts are done electronically, Heneghan said.
Electronic table games coming to Atlantic City

These video/live hybrids are becoming more common in casinos everywhere, so it isn’t shocking to see them coming to Atlantic City, though as usual it’s a little later than elsewhere. As people get more used to electronic interfaces everywhere, they will want to gamble with them.

Plus the roulette version lets you run one game with a large number of bettors and one dealer, with no worrying about past-posting or other funny business. I think that casinos will still keep traditional tables, but you’ll see more of the electronic version over time.

I wonder how advantage players like electronic blackjack–does it help them fly under the radar, or can their patterns be tracked easier?

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Yang is WSOP champ 2007

July 18, 2007 1:38 pm

In what has become almost routine, an amateur with only a few years experience won poker’s top prize, the WSOP’s No-Limit Texas Holdem event. From the AP via the LV Sun:

Jerry Yang, a 39-year-old psychologist and social worker from Temecula, Calif., won the $10,000 buy-in main event of the World Series of Poker and its $8.25 million top prize.

Yang, who said he uses his professional training and reads of players as a weapon, vaulted quickly from eighth to the chip lead soon after final table play began shortly after noon Tuesday.

Nearly 16 hours later, just before 4 a.m. Wednesday, a devout Yang made a straight on the river when his pocket eights looked beat versus a pair of queens, giving him the win.

“I’ve seen the miracles of God with my own eyes,” said the married father of six. “I did a lot of bluffing also.”

Yang not only made it through a field of 6,358 players that began play July 6, he knocked out seven of his eight final table opponents single-handedly, reminiscent of last year’s final table when Jamie Gold ran over his opponents.

The main difference, Yang did it from the back of the pack.

A Hmong person who grew up poor in Laos and escaped as a refugee to the United States when he was 13, Yang said he would donate 10 percent of his winnings to charity, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Feed the Children, and the Ronald McDonald House.

“I know what it’s like to be poor,” he said.
Las Vegas SUN: California psychologist wins World Series of Poker in Las Vegas

Congratulations to Yang. The way things have been going, it will be a big deal the next time a pro wins the big event.

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New Frontier closed

July 16, 2007 3:25 pm

Frederick Jackson Turner might have liked that headline. In any event, the New Frontier has closed. From the LVRJ:

Amid tears and hugs, the New Frontier closed its doors for good at 12:01 a.m. today.

“I hate to say bye but I must say bye,” said Helen Madison, a casino porter for 34 years, with tears in her eyes.

The hotel estimated that 3,000 people were on the property at 11 p.m. Sunday, an hour before it was to close.

Approximately 1,000 continued to mingle at 12:01 a.m. today, when an alarm sounded signaling the end of the Frontier.

Earlier, longtime employees and customers, mixed with curious onlookers, shared the final minutes as another old Strip property shut its doors to make way for another multibillion-dollar development.

…

The 105-room Hotel Last Frontier opened in 1942, the second hotel-casino on the now famous Strip.

The property grew under various ownerships, most notably Howard Hughes who bought it in 1967 for $14 million.

The latest owner, Kansas-based businessman Phil Ruffin, sold the 34.5-acre property in May for $1.2 billion to New York-based El-Ad Group.

The development group, which is controlled by Israeli billionaire Yitzhak Tshuva, plans to spend $5 billion to construct a mixed-use development modeled after New York’s Plaza Hotel.
ReviewJournal.com – News – LAS VEGAS PIONEER: Frontier’s days end

Even though this is an older casino than the Stardust, this isn’t as big a news story locally. I wonder why?

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