Fickle Gamblers

Kiss, Kiss, Bye - Bye

Gamblers are a fickle lot, not unlike other consumers. Many pine for the good old days even though others say the good old days are old, but were not as good as the legends purport. Stories abound of the relationship between gamblers and casino owners. One in particular tells of a high roller (they were not called whales in those days) who gambled away all his money. In those days there were no cell phones nor ATMs, which may have been a good thing for the habitual gambler. But, as the story goes, the casino owner put his arm around the shoulder of the drunken busted high roller, comped him dinner, and paid for his return airline ticket. Those little things endeared players to casinos just as surely as bonus points and free samples endear high spenders today to upscale stores today.

But make no mistake. If a shopper finds a better deal elsewhere s/he will scamper there faster than you can say, "customer loyalty." As corporate stores replaced mom and pop stores it became easier for individuals to shop elsewhere without feeling guilty. Ditto casinos. Just as Howard Hughes might have run the mob out of Las Vegas casinos, so have corporations run out the individual owner for the most part. That put the gambler one step farther away from the casino owner and customer loyalty took a hit.

Further encouraging the fickle gambler to take his business elsewhere was the opening of casino gambling in New Jersey. No longer was a four hour plane ride required to pull a handle or double down. The Las Vegas casinos moaned a bit but continued to reinvent themselves by offering other attractions and making the Vegas experience even grander. But another setback in the life occurred as Indian casinos began to compete for the gaming dollar. Still, shows and top name performers as well as new, even grander hotels, broader-based events, and conventions again reinvented the Vegas experience as visitor numbers continued to climb.

New Jersey didn't follow the Las Vegas model of continuous review and reinvention and as has Las Vegas and find themselves in the midst of a fall in gaming revenue. As betting and slot parlors open in New York and Pennsylvania, gamblers find it no longer necessary to fight the traffic to get to Atlantic City. Those staying away are some of New Jersey's best customers. The result is that for 10 of the last 11 months revenue has fallen.

Gaming has more competitors than ever. Internet gaming as well as some sort of games of chance available in 48 states offer plenty of choices. No longer are a handful of establishments the only games in town. A little blogging music maestro.... "Don't it make my brown eyes blue..."

Dr. Forgot

Leaded? Unleaded? Bull Chip

Gambling Can Be Hazardous

Anybody who has seen The Godfather or any of its 2,000 sequels, or anybody who has watched Tony Soprano knows what happens to guys who welsh on their gambling debts. Their lives become, well, hazardous. You know, a guy named Guido or Jelly, or Fatso, or some other musical sounding name either beats the poor sap to a pulp or worse. Those kinds of retributions, so we are told, only happen in the movies but now gamblers have one more thing to worry about - tainted chips.

Years ago some bright entrepreneur had a brilliant idea to make potato chips in Las Vegas and call them "Vegas Chips." They weren't bad as potato chips go but they must not have been that good either because the company went belly up. No horses head, no kiss on the cheek, just poor business practices. Still those aren't the chips that we refer to here. According to an Arizona reporter, there might be gold in them thar hills in Arizona and silver in Nevada mines, but dad gummit, there's lead in the gaming chips. And we're not just talking any old tiddly-wink chips here but the Paulson chips made by Gaming Partners International, the largest chip makers in the world. Their chips might not be as well known as those once made by Famous Amos, but they are used as a means of exchange in virtually every casino in Nevada and most outside the state, not to mention home games and others. Up to 20 million chips are minted each year according to the report.

Word has spread through the gossip channels faster than a 777 jackpot. Some dealers are reportedly terrified that they have been handling lead tainted chips for years. Could this be a plot to get the lead back to China by sending leaded chips to Asian casinos? Could it be the beginning of a new advertising plan by the group that brought us "What Happens in Las Vegas....?" How about "Better Red than Lead." Or could this be all just part of the plan to frighten American citizens take our minds off Iraq?

Yes, exposing the public to unhealthy levels of lead is serious, but we have seen so many Chicken Little "The Sky is Falling" instances that we can't help being a bit skeptical. Gaming Partners International denies that its products are unsafe and experts say the chances of being harmed by handling leaded chips is remote. Whether the response is the beginning of damage control or the real deal remains to be seen, but to some dealers and their union reps, company responses are going over like a lead balloon.

Just exactly what components are mixed to make the chips is as closely guarded secret as the Nieman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe. While most in the casino business admit to some lead in the chips, they say that the amount of lead in the secret ingredients has been reduced substantially. Still the two sides are like two chips passing in the night.

If you want to make a safe wager, bet on the fact that gaming will continue, chips will continue to be used, and some hillbilly in Mississippi will find a lawyer willing to sue the chip makers for millions. But I don't see this as a storyline for a Julia Roberts movie. Gaming Partners International will continue to be a blue chip stock, and the debate will cause no harm to the Chippendales. A little blogging music maestro... remember "Chip, chip chipping away?"

Dr. Forgot

Hit Me You Stupid Machine

No Aces Up Dealers Sleeves

Old timers like to reflect about how much better the "Good old days" were. You know, back in the days when men were men and women were glad of it. Those same good old days in Las Vegas, according to many old timers, were times when the mob ran the town. It was better then, a lot of them muse. The rules were clear and violation of those rules had consequences and no appeals. In those days casinos were owned by individuals, not corporations, and if you lost your wad, the kindly owner or pit boss would put his arm around your shoulder, comp you dinner, and pick up your tab for the ride home.

Dealers dealt from a single deck and shoes were on their feet, not on the table. And when they talked of gambling on machines, of course they meant slot machines. The town was smaller, friendlier, and everybody knew everybody. Nearly every old timer has a story of a personal contact, however brief, with Ole' Blue Eyes or Sammy, or Deano, or one of the entertainers. Many can remember when two hillbillys from West Virginia with no formal musical training played downtown stages as the Newton Brothers, Wayne and Jerry, and who knew that the guy who played the Last Frontier would one day be president of the USA?

But times change. Howard Hughes started the corporate revolution in the 1960s with the purchase of the Desert Inn followed by the purchase of five other properties on and off the Strip, as well as hundreds of thousands of acres of land that would one day become Summerlin. Hank Greenspun, a newspaper editor bought some land in a not-so-desirable location on the outskirts of town and his sharp son-in-law developed it into Green Valley. Steve Wynn bought the run down Golden Nugget, rehabilitated it, sold it and opened the Mirage, Billagio, and finally the Wynn Las Vegas.

As the town changed, so did gaming itself. Dealers began using shoes that contained multiple decks, making it more difficult for card counters, slot machines changed from reel-type to video and eventually stopped spitting out coins in favor of paper receipts, and gaming spread to other states. The internet spawned online gaming and the World Series of Poker became a television hit. Technology allows corporations to hire fewer people in favor of more machines. Machines are more efficient, dealing 40 hands per hour vs. a human dealer doing 25 hands per hour.

Electronic games require no tip to the dealer, deal faster, never take a sick day, don't sue the company, rarely insult the customer, and almost never make a mistake. Casinos in Las Vegas have been slow to change to electronic poker and other table games but they will be dragged kicking and screaming into the electronic age despite the unions and other Huddites who will try to block the way. One day the old timers will talk about the days when electronic games overtook the town. A little blogging music, maestro.... do you know the Platters version of "Remember When?'

Dr. Forgot