Gaming Gurus: Strategy Expert Article Archive - Page 658

Gaming Industry Continues to Proactively Address Problem Gambling

A very familiar face in television advertisements the past few weeks has been Harrah's CEO Gary Loveman. The ads explain the importance of responsible gaming and give guidance on how to seek help, if needed. Harrah's has a long history as a pioneer with regard to the issue of problem gambling...read more

Bits and Pieces from Indian Country - November 2005

September was a good month for the states that were hoping to get more from Indian gaming but not necessarily a good month for the tribes. Individual states seem to be gaining more control over Indian gaming, and if not the ability to tax casino revenues, something very much like it...read more

Quicktakes: The month's trends at a glance - November 2005

Gaming results in September are still showing growth, (except Nevada, which is always a month behind the rest of the country in reporting), and if, of course, one excludes Mississippi and Louisiana. Neither of those states is likely to show year-on-year growth before next September...read more

Bits and Pieces from Indian Country - October 2005

Indian gaming is challenging. Regardless of whom you are or what you think is true about Indian gaming, there is a state or a time when it is not true. The governor of California is negotiating new compacts; he hopes to place more restrictions on the tribes and to gain more revenue for the state...read more

Quicktakes: The month's trends at a glance - October 2005

The entire economy in some ways reflects the hurricanes on the Gulf Coast. Gas prices in particular continue to climb; consumer confidence and new home sales are down, though previously owned home sales continue to increase. And Wall Street, dear old Wall Street, has been hit daily with bad news...read more

Bits and Pieces from Indian Country - September 2005

The continuing story of Indian country for this year and maybe next is the "off reservation" debate. Is it possible within the limits of the National Indian Gaming Regulatory Act for an Indian tribe to open and operate a casino on land not part of or contiguous to its federally recognized tribal trust land? The simple answer is no; the land on which an Indian tribe operates a casino under the NIGRA must be part of the tribe's reservation (trust land)...read more

Quicktakes: The month's trends at a glance - September 2005

Sometimes it seems the journalists take pleasure in giving bad news: gas prices, inflation, weather, or gloomy event or trend. They tell a story almost gleefully and in a disassociated manner, telling the rest of us the pain and misery we will suffer, leaving us feeling that the journalists must live somewhere far away that is safe from our troubles...read more

Expert Gives His Take on Smart Slot Play

John Robison, author of The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots (Huntington Press) and a recognized slot authority whose articles appear weekly online at www.rgtonline.com and www.casinocity.com, makes it his business to know everything there is to know about slot machines. The Thrifty Gambler caught up with John and had an opportunity to pose some of the questions that readers of this column frequently ask: The Thrifty Gambler: If you are a frequent visitor to a particular casino, is it possible to observe which machines seem to hit all the time and which don't and make use of this information to your benefit? John Robison: There really is no correlation between hit frequency and long term payback...read more

Heard It On The River

Here we are at the beginning of 2006 and let's hope it will bring more blessings than bashings like disaster-laden 2005. Last year concluded with a very busy holiday season at Mississippi's casino and being an eternal optimist, I look for a better year for the industry in general. As we have found out this past year, however, natural disasters happen with a swiftness and savagery that we all find unsettling and media seers and other experts in our midst seem to revel in seeing worse hurricanes and even a massive earthquake for the Mid-South...read more

The MIT Blackjack Team

Nothing fires up a gambler's imagination like the possibility of beating the house at its own game. Beating the house at its own game, of course, is just what a team of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology did in the 1990s, counting cards at blackjack and earning millions along the way...read more