Green Felt Journal
Green Felt Journal
The Gaughan Also Rises
April 5th, 2012
This week, a reunion of sorts took place in Summerlin, as the JW Marriott Resort & Spa and the Rampart casino, which had operated as separate units for a decade, were consolidated under the new ownership of Hilfreich Stiftung, a Liechtenstein-based foundation. Overseeing the transition and helming the new, combined operation is Michael Gaughan Jr., a third-generation casino executive who’s seen plenty of changes in his hometown, and who is now helping to write the next chapter for one of its most idiosyncratic casinos. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
The Palms’ Big Break
March 22nd, 2012
The casino has had a decadelong relationship with MTV. When George Maloof invited MTV to film the 12th season of The Real World at the Palms in 2002, it put the new resort on the map, changed the public perception of Las Vegas and opened the city up to a different generation. And in 2007, the Palms hosted the network’s annual Video Music Awards. So the spring-break partnership fits the well-tested marketing strategies of both the network and the hotel. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Protecting the Game
March 8th, 2012
They’re not besieged by outlaws with guns and masks, but they are facing a threat that’s no less daunting. Cheaters are working their craft at the blackjack tables. Cashiers are pocketing money that should be making its way to the register. Counterfeiters are passing bogus bills and casino chips. That’s why casino surveillance and security is such a big deal. And from Feb. 27-29, the global casino surveillance community turned its eye on the M Resort, which hosted the seventh annual World Game Protection Conference. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Mob Neighbors
February 23rd, 2012
If the Mob Museum proves to be a draw, expect the casinos of Fremont Street to play up this part of their history. It wouldn’t be the first time downtown has changed to meet the times, though this time it might be looking to the past to get to the future. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Earning a Place at the Table
February 9th, 2012
In a fluorescent-lit training room at the M Resort, class is starting. It’s not your usual HR-mandated training session on blood-borne pathogens or reimbursement protocols. Instead, this is Change Your Life 101, taught by table games supervisor Timothy Eastep. A selected handful of M employees are learning to deal blackjack. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
The Rise of Chinese New Year
January 26th, 2012
Strip casinos have been marking Chinese New Year since the 1970s, but it really took off with the explosion of high-end Asian baccarat play in the past few years. For Las Vegas, the winter/spring season doesn’t correspond to months on the calendar but to events in the city’s arenas, casinos and convention halls—from NFR to New Year’s Eve to CES to Chinese New Year to the Super Bowl to March Madness. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Reinventing the Party Machine
December 22nd, 2011
Richard Wilk, vice president of nightlife marketing and operations at the Tropicana, is opening a new club, RPM, in the space vacated by the one-season-and-done Club Nikki, part of the busted Tropicana/Nikki Beach experiment. “The approach was not right there,” he says. “They had the idea that ‘If you build it they will come.’ But Vegas is a different animal—what works in Miami or Cancun won’t work here. You have to create something people will be thinking about when they go back home, that they’ll be dying to come back for.” Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Our Annual Cowboy Makeover
December 8th, 2011
There is one event that thaws the December chill, National Finals Rodeo, which continues through Dec. 10 at the Thomas & Mack Center. Since 1985, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s big championship has been a major draw, with more than 170,000 spectators over the event’s 10-day span. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Rounders’ Rules
November 24th, 2011
Poker can be a heartless game, but it’s never a lawless one. With so much riding on each turn of the card, rules are important. Unless everyone’s playing by the same book, even a friendly game can dissolve into accusations of cheating and mutual recriminations, to say nothing of high-stakes tournaments. Unfortunately, there’s no single agreed-upon set of rules for playing the game. That can make for some challenges, particularly in a place like Las Vegas, where players from all around the world come to test their luck. Read more »
Green Felt Journal
Nights in White Linen
November 10th, 2011
With about 250,000 hotel and motel beds, Las Vegas has a lot of dirty laundry. And it’s vitally important to the city’s success as a tourist destination—not to mention the public health—that all those bedsheets, bathrobes and terrycloth towels get immaculately cleaned, every time. Read more »
