Gaming taverns in Vegas 7

 

It’s Thursday, so that means the latest Vegas Seven is hot off the presses–printing and digital. This week, I’ve got an article about gaming taverns–you know, those bars with slots in them that are ubiquitous in Las Vegas. Here’s the opening:

From Irish pubs to Mexican cantinas, it seems that every culture puts its own stamp on imbibing. The United States has generated its own share of distinctive drinking niches—tiki bars flowered in California before spreading across the country in the 1960s, and microbreweries have become almost ubiquitous.

Las Vegas has its own twist on the American watering hole—the gaming tavern. In addition to being popular places to drink, these establishments form a substantial part of the area’s gambling culture and gaming economy.

via Taverns maintain big role in gambling ecosystem | Vegas Seven.

So when people say that Las Vegas has no original culture, they’re wrong. We’re definitely got a culture. Now, it might not be one that you particularly like, but that’s another story.

While researching this story, I did some adding, dividing, and multiplying and learned the following useless factoid:

Clark County has about 1 slot machine for every 14 residents. About the same number of hotel rooms, too.

I thought it would put everything into perspective, and lo and behold it found its way into the closing paragraph.

Speaking of collateral benefits from my Vegas Seven writing, here’s one more:

In my Monday interview with Bill McBeath for the 3/25 Vegas Seven, he confirmed that Verizon cell service will be at 100% as of March 22.

So if you’re planning a trip on that date or after and use Verizon, don’t worry: everyone will be able to “hear you now.” Before then…follow Hunter’s advice and lean against the window, maybe.

This little tidbit was part of the interview for the magazine story, so it’s not on the UNLV Gaming Podcast that we recorded that same day.

Posted in business of gamblingon 03/11/2010 11:13 am by Dave

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5 Comments

  1. I don’t know whose in charge of that magazine, but they require you to free register for something to read the digital copy of the magazine. So I’ll just read the stories on their web site until that goes away.

    Seems counter-productive to them, since I’m not seeing all those ad spaces they sell in the magazine by reading stuff from their blogging engine.

  2. That Vegas 7 magazine has a good distribution system. I’ve seen their magazine many places lately. They even had a few copies in the radiology center where I took my mom today. It’s a classy magazine. I like the fact that they don’t have a ‘Letters to the Editor’ like another LV weekly does, where the editor offers his regular dose of snarkiness. So far, Vegas 7 seems ’snark free’ and that’s a definite plus.

    Yes. Las Vegas has plenty of mini-cultures in various bars around town. One that I like is called Ichabods near Flamingo and Pecos (I think?). It draws a good crowd of people who like ‘cocktail sounds’ provided nightly by their piano-player (Howie). Their square shaped bar is almost always active with gamblers. It’s the kind of place I’d imagine Sinatra would have went to after-hours.

    They serve excellent food & specials till 11pm and breakfast 24 hrs. I like their $10.95 Chicken Fried Steak best, but next time plan to try their huge plate of lamb chops.

    Closer to where I live is the crowed ‘Money Plays’ tavern, which has a great jukebox, polaroids on the wall of many winners who’ve hit $2,000-4,000. Plus they have a 24 hour Mexican restaurant semi-attached. Locals seem to love the place.

    A new place, down the road on Decatur, is called ‘TrainWrecks’. Before that it used to be called ‘The Emergency Room’. The new name is meant to attract a different crowd of people. I think it’s for Heavy Metal fans, biker-types and the fun and rowdy crowd.

    Whatever a person’s cultural make-up, they can find a suitable place for themselves in one of Vegas’ many different taverns.
    ===
    Here’s the TMI (too much info) part:
    Trannies have the Las Vegas Lounge and Macho-Gays have the Hawk Bar. Across the street is a bar for more effeminate cross-dressers. Liberace would have probably loved the place.

    When driving a cab I’d have to walk into a wide variety of ‘cultural taverns’ and ask “did someone call for a cab?”. Usually, after awhile the person that was waiting for the cab to arrive would meet potential-hook-up and wouldn’t admit they had just called for a cab to take them home.

    Many cabbie’s “bar-calls” end up being no-shows and cancellations.

  3. I’ve long wondered just how those bar/restaurants competed with casinos. The bars may have beer specials but the price of beer at the casino is always going to be less. The food at a casino may be more varied and plentiful, but I’ve wondered what motivates the customers to make choices.

    I’ve not yet read the article due to computer problems navigating those digital issues but will try to deal with it later. I think these bar/restaurants/slot-parlors may be the social scene for casino patrons/employees. More comfortable chairs, a nicer atmosphere, a few diversions for those who play slots… yet they survive in the outlying areas around casinos offering real gambling.

    Perhaps its the marketplace that determines what is real. Chop Suey is more American food than Chinese, Irish Pub Food in the USA is perhaps not authentic. These bar/restaurants exist elsewhere and they seem to be thriving in Las Vegas. People undoubtedly meet up with friends at the various casinos, particularly the locals casinos, but it seems some seek out a more subdued atmosphere than the large, impersonal casinos.

  4. My good friend from college Dave is the owner of The Inn Zone which is located at the corner of Desert Inn and Eastern. It has 15 machines in it and Dave has owned The Inn Zone since 1998. It’s amazing how much money some customers put in these machines but obviously they love to gamble. The customers who gamble there are mainly casino employees and construction workers.

  5. >customers who gamble there are mainly casino employees and construction workers
    I wonder. Some slots-only casinos exist and seem to specialize in extremely comfortable chairs
    Perhaps these Slot-Pubs provide an overall ambience rather than just upholstered seats?

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