In this video, I talk about my plan to summarize the book in a few short videos and discuss the prologue and first chapter.
Archive for the writing Category
In this video, I talk about my plan to summarize the book in a few short videos and discuss the prologue and first chapter.
In this video, I talk about my plan to summarize the book in a few short videos and discuss the prologue and first chapter.
In this week’s Vegas Seven, I consider the bigger impact of the attention focused on problem gambling due to the case of Maureen O’Connor:
The recent revelation that former San Diego Mayor Maureen O’Connor had reportedly embezzled more than $2 million from a charitable foundation to feed her gambling addiction has focused attention on pathological gambling.
via Defining a Dark Allure | Vegas Seven.
I’ve also got a wrap-up of the 2012 Nevada gaming revenue picture, which highlights a few of the big trends.
And if you want to get really creative, try to guess which of the Great Nights Out I anonymously contributed. Fun story.
This is one of the most emotionally-difficult pieces I’ve had to write for Vegas Seven–a look at the career and legacy of my friend and mentor Bill Eadington, who passed away last week:
Within five years of his 1969 arrival at the University of Nevada, Reno as an assistant professor, Eadington had made the case for gaming as the subject of serious academic inquiry. In 1974, he organized the first meeting of what is now the International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking at the Sahara in Las Vegas, threading a narrow path between academics who scoffed at the idea of learning anything from studying how people gamble and casino professionals who mocked the notion of reedy academics passing judgment on their methods.
I’ve been working on the program for the 15th International Conference this week, and I can definitely say that Bill’s spirit will be with all of us.
Lots of people have heard of San Francisco mechanic Charles Fey’s Liberty Bell, which was the first auto-pay reel slot to gain popularity. He unveiled it in 1899.
Fewer people know that the first coin-operated slot machine, a device that flipped through five decks of cards, with winners paid off in kind (not in cash) for “winning” hands.
It was an early, analog video poker machine. And it was invented in 1891, 8 years before Fey’s Liberty Bell, in Brooklyn, New York.
That’s just one of the many fascinating things you’ll read about in Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.
Interview about RTB at Betfair:
In this interview with Betfair’s Short-Stacked Shamus (whose great blog you can read here), I talk a little about where Roll the Bones came from, and current events in poker.
http://betting.betfair.com/poker/news/the-betfair-poker-interview-david-g-schwartz-080213-77.html
