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Gaming Chips: News Bites from Nevada

"The events of September 11 further impacted on consumer sentiment, reducing travel and tourism, and brought additional uncertainty to the business environment," Gucci Chief Executive Officer Domenico De Sole reportedly said.

Gucci has high-end outlets at Bellagio and The Forum Shops at Caesars.

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TRIVIA TIME: How many casinos are in the South Lake Tahoe market?

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SINGULAR PROBLEM: Hilton Hotels Chief Executive Officer Steve Bollenbach says the recession, not the Sept. 11 terror attacks, is now the No. 1 business challenge for the California-based hotel operator.

"We are where we would be in terms of our business ... in any recession," Bollenbach recently told Reuters.

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WARTIME FUN: Ferenc Szony, president of the Reno's Sands Regency, recently struck a boosterish tone when he told travel industry executives that the war on terrorism provides a positive opportunity for the state's casino industry.

"Nevada can be the USO of the nation, the USO of the world," Szony, a former longtime Hilton Hotels executive, said at the Governor's Conference on Travel & Tourism.

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LITTLE 10: The six Big 10 conference football teams scheduled to play in bowl games haven't inspired Las Vegas oddsmakers. All of the Midwest schools are underdogs.

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THE VISIT: Las Vegas visitors stayed an average of 3.7 nights last year while Laughlin tourists stayed 2.4 nights.

Ninety-eight percent of Laughlin's visitors arrive by car or bus; 54 percent of Las Vegas' travel comes by ground transport.

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FAST FACT: The king of hearts in a deck of playing cards originally represented Charlemagne; the king of diamonds was Julius Caesar; the king of clubs was Alexander the Great, and the king of spades was King David, according to the United States Playing Card Co.

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TRIVIA ANSWER: The South Lake Tahoe market's five casinos won $352.7 million from gamblers last year, or about 7 percent of the $4.8 billion won by Strip casinos.

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QUOTABLE: "If it's this bad for our workers, it's got to be really severe throughout the city." — Bobbette Bond, coordinator of the Culinary Workers Health Fund, speaking of the thousands of union and nonunion workers in the Las Vegas area who are about to lose their health coverage because of recent layoffs and schedule reductions.

Gaming Chips is compiled by the staff of lasvegas.com Gaming Wire.

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