David G. Schwartz
Contributing Editor, Gaming & Hospitality
Contact: Email
Our Green Felt Journal columnist is an Atlantic City native who once worked in casino security and surveillance. He’s an expert on gambling and Las Vegas, past and present. He’s the director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV and has written several books on the history of gambling. (Visit dieiscast.com or follow him on Twitter @unlvgaming.)
Recent Articles
Buckle Up for the Polercoaster
June 18th, 2013
This morning, Las Vegas learned about the Polercoaster, a proposed $100 million thrill ride that merges an observation tower—like the one at the Stratosphere—with a roller coaster—like the one at New York-New York. It didn’t take five minutes for the hype machine to swing into berserker mode.
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Casino Concentration and the Logic of Empire
Consolidation looks like a bad move for operators, customers
June 11th, 2013
For the Las Vegas casino industry, the past decade has been defined by two things: consolidation and disaster. From 2000 to 2008, Las Vegas Strip casino operators acquired each other until two companies—today they are known as MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corporation—controlled nearly two-thirds of the Strip corridor casino market. The following three years is where the disaster, in the form of the recession, comes in.
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Investing in America
Foreign investors may lead charge in future of casino financing
May 28th, 2013
“Invest In Your American Dream,” reads the text next to a photo of the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign. The words are quickly replaced by “LAS VEGAS EB5 IMMIGRATION CENTER IS YOUR BEST CHOICE,” with a view of the Strip at night, followed by “THE OPPORTUNITY TO OBTAIN U.S. GREEN CARD,” against a pastiche of a billowing American flag with extra stars, the Statue of Liberty and the Capitol building.
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The History of Our Future
Or, how Macau became the Las Vegas of the 21st Century and is about to change Las Vegas forever
May 15th, 2013
Back in the early days—2006 or so—American executives signing on for tours of duty in Macau felt like they were stepping into the Wild West. Street violence had subsided since the island’s 1999 reversion to mainland control, but there was still a sense that this was a frontier, a place where anything could happen. And when strangers rode into town—often from the former frontier town of Las Vegas—they went where strangers always go first: the saloon. In this case, that meant the Embassy Bar at what was then the Mandarin Oriental hotel. It was an admittedly upscale saloon, but for an expat executive it was an oasis, a free-port, a place to make crucial first connections and ease into Chinese life. It offered just enough reassuring familiarity, and just enough tantalizing strangeness.
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Seven Questions for Linda Quinn, Discovery Children’s Museum CEO
The Discovery Children’s Museum boss on her career path, the rebirth of her facility and what our museum community is lacking
May 15th, 2013
As a onetime CPA, Linda Quinn certainly knows how to crunch numbers. But these days, when the Discovery Children’s Museum’s CEO cracks open the books, she probably has to crunch the numbers a few times, just to make sure they’re accurate. That’s because since moving from the city’s Cultural Corridor to its new digs in Symphony Park, the museum has been a huge hit—so much so that in the six weeks since the March 9 reopening, Quinn says the museum sold as many memberships as it had in the previous year. And over the eight days of spring break, the museum welcomed more guests than in any previous month. “We are seeing 4½ times more volume than at the old facility,” she says.
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One Game’s Wild Ride
Caribbean Stud's slow disappearance from casinos is nearly complete
May 8th, 2013
The gambling urge is pretty much universal and just about timeless. But the ways people gamble—those change quite a bit. For a while, faro was the Game That Won the West, surpassing all others in popularity. Then, fueled by the return of servicemen who’d played it during World War II, craps had its day, followed by the ascendance of blackjack after players learned they could “beat the dealer.”
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Boxing Still King of the Money Ring
May 1st, 2013
When undefeated WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. steps between the ropes on May 4 to take on challenger Robert Guerrero, it will be another in a long history of Las Vegas superfights. Just when boxing seems to be fading from the mainstream, it’s a reminder of its continuing importance here.
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Anatomy of a Nightclub
How the reborn Light is raising the stakes in a hypercompetitive business—and what that says about the future of Las Vegas nightlife
April 24th, 2013
When Light opened at Bellagio in December 2001, it pointed the way to the next wave of nightclub development in Las Vegas. It was the first casino nightclub designed around the then-novel concept of bottle service, and as the club’s success became apparent, it inspired more than its share of imitators.
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How to Get Spacey Without Going to Space
April 24th, 2013
You want to experience the feeling of spaceflight, but you don’t have the 200 grand to fork over to Sir Richard. What to do?
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Vegas to the Moon!
Does space tourism have a future in Las Vegas? Sir Richard Branson thinks it might
April 24th, 2013
Could Las Vegas become a launching pad for a new type of tourist—the kind who’s looking for a thrill ride that can’t be found behind the velvet rope?
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