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Betting Against Reality

``People come here to escape -- and everything inside the goliath resorts helps you do that. There's a smile on every employee's face, a drink at every command. You can even smoke.

``…During her opening-night concert this week in the new $95-million Colosseum theater, Celine Dion pretty much outlined the Vegas philosophy when she urged the audience to set aside their anxieties and just enjoy themselves during the show.

``That's the same spirit you find in the wing of Caesars devoted to sports betting. One wall is dominated by eight TV monitors, each as large as the screens in some movie multiplexes. Six screens are tuned to sporting events, including three racetracks around the country and a Dodger spring training game. Another screen is plugging the Dion show. The final is devoted to CNN's war coverage.

``The CNN screen isn't a concession to the war, a casino worker says. The hotel will show whatever they think people want.

``…Ann Watt, a DMV worker from Richmond, Va., is celebrating her 50th birthday and is trying to have a good time, but it is hard, she says, to shake off the anxiety of the war. She has an 18-year-old cousin in Kuwait and checks the news periodically. "He wanted to join the Marines instead of go to college, and we're all behind him and the troops," she says. "I just wish they come home soon."

``…There are some patriotic images around town. The huge Caesars message board on the Strip periodically declares "One nation under God" on a field of red, white and blue. Across the street at the smaller Barbary Coast casino, there is a "United we stand" sign that flashes several times a minute…"

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