Opinion
The Latest Thought
The Art of Knowing Joyce
Two generations, after-school lessons and a life-changing teacher
May 14th, 2013
Many people—outsiders and locals alike—make fun of Las Vegas for being slow, obscure and devoid of culture. If you agree, you never met Joyce Straus. We recently lost a huge piece of our city and our lives when she died at age 77. The people who loved Joyce knew it was coming. So we prayed and hoped, but we knew cancer can get the best of the best among us. This time it did. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
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.” Read more »
Green Felt Journal
MGM's Park, and Competition With Linq, Will Be Good for Vegas
April 18th, 2013
MGM Resorts released the official announcement this morning about its latest Las Vegas Strip project, The Park. The big question is, “What’s this mean for Vegas?” Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Will Video Games Go Vegas?
As slots are losing the youth market, gaming plans its next move
April 17th, 2013
“Gambling,” said John Acres at last year’s Global Gaming Expo, “is dead.” For support, the man who has been in the casino business for more than 30 years and invented the modern players-club card cited the plummeting appeal of spinning-reel machines for just about everyone under 40. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Slot Revenues Fall, High-End Play Rises
February numbers show Vegas casinos’ increasing reliance on big players, especially those from Asia
April 10th, 2013
The numbers are in, and Nevada casinos had a good February overall, with the uneven results demonstrating a great deal about where gambling in the state is right now, and where it might be headed. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
The British Are Coming!
The United Kingdom has developed into a major Vegas feeder market
April 3rd, 2013
The two biggest demographics in Las Vegas these days seem to be nightclubbers and international visitors. As a bit of anecdotal evidence of the trend, the casinos in development that have stoked the imagination plan to cater either to the former (SLS, Gansevoort) or the latter (Resorts World). So when you get the two together—international visitors who like to party—you know you’re talking gold mine. Read more »
At the Ballpark, Live for Today
The beautiful uselessness of baseball in the present tense
March 27th, 2013
To invoke the romance of baseball, in the fashion of George Will or Ken Burns, is hopelessly unfashionable. This I will not blame on sabermetrics—the applied science of baseball statistics that Michael Lewis’ 2004 book Moneyball cast as the brainy yin to the blockheaded yang of baseball traditionalism. As any baseball fan knows, the numbers are an indispensable part of the romance. Read more »
It's All Our Fault
March 26th, 2013
It’s popular to blame the Legislature for Nevada’s problems, or—and here I’m comfortably onboard the bandwagon—to blame the dilettante, term-limited, every-other-year nature of our Legislature. But when you stop to think about it, most of what we dislike about the institution can be traced straight back to ourselves. Here’s a starter list. Read more »
Vegas Looks Good Next to Atlantic City
March 22nd, 2013
Here in Vegas, we think we’ve got it bad. Total gaming win is still off its 2007 high, spending per visitor is down, and, with many companies overburdened with debt, the future is uncertain. But compared to Atlantic City, we are Macau. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
With Resorts World, Macau Comes to Vegas
March 19th, 2013
When Resorts World Las Vegas rises from the abandoned husk of Echelon Place on the north Strip, it will be very different from what Echelon would have been. And the differences tell us a lot about where Las Vegas has gone in the six years since the property’s 2007 groundbreaking. Read more »
