Back in town

Yes, I'm back at the office at last. I actually got in yesterday but had about 500 things to do ASAP, so posting had to be last on the list. It looks like a lot of stuff happened--the Binion's closure and sale is the big news, but there are some interesting smaller stories floating around. I'll try to do a round up today and then begin posting new material tomorrow.
As far as DC goes, I had an incredibly productive week, visiting not one but three repositories, including the Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Adminstration, and the National Criminal Justice Reference Service library. Everyone was very helpful, to say the least. If you happen to be in DC and are looking for a place to have dinner or just congregate at the bar, definitely put Cafe Milano in Georgetown on your list. Excellent food, great service, and definitely a hot spot with lots of glamorous and important people. At least they looked glamorous and important to me. After a day spent poring over Congressional hearings from eighty years ago, I guess anyone looks sophisticated.

The other thing about DC was that it was very cold, at least for someone who's gotten used to the Vegas climate. I know the federal government is trying to save money, but would it kill them to push the thermostat in the LC up a little?

Something that was cool was that you have to check your jacket and other stuff in the LC, but not at a coat check; instead, you go to the "researcher's cloakroom." I wonder, when was the last time anyone wore a cloak into the library? I was expecting to run into Gandalf or something. Maybe cloaks have made a comeback and I'm the last to know.

Anyway, the big story was the Binion's closure and acquistion by Harrah's. Again, they're talking about just acquiring the brand. What is so toxic about the casino itself, and so magical about the name, that they don't want to actually run the casino that has the name "Binion's Horseshoe?"

Read about it in the LV Sun.
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Super snubbed, again

Once more, there will be no Las Vegas commercials run during the Superbowl, reportedly because the league feels the spots promote gambling. Ironic, given that the Superbowl is the nation's biggest betting event (allegedly). So the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will take up a kind of guerilla advertsiing, filling the airwaves with ads suggesting that Las Vegas is more exciting than Houston, the home of this year's big game. From the LV Sun:

Beginning today and running through Jan. 31, the day before the game, the LVCVA will run a 30-second spot inviting guests to the city, telling viewers Las Vegas will be more exciting than the host city.

The ad is simple and was inexpensive to make. And, it's not a "Vegas Stories" style of ad.

"It cost maybe $5,000 to produce because we used some footage that had already been shot and it was easy to put together," said Randy Snow, R&R's creative consultant on the LVCVA account. "It only took us about a day to put it together at Century Productions."

The visual is night shot of the Las Vegas Strip from a helicopter, looking south from above Spring Mountain Road. The audio is football crowd noise. And the text message across the bottom of the screen reads, "It's the biggest game of the year. ... Hundreds of thousands of fans ... are on the edge of their seats ... living and dying with every play ... going nuts on ever snap. ... If only it was this exciting ... at the game in Houston." The ad ends with the "Only Vegas" logo and a final "Join us February 1" message at the conclusion.
FULL STORY

Am I the only person who gets really annoyed that no one but the NFL can say "Superbowl" in commercials? There's only so much "the big game in January in Houston" that I can take. How come they don't do a story about that on Cold Pizza?
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Detroit: impressive casino profits

Working an ICP reference into the blog, something I never thought I'd do, kind of works for me today. Anyway, analysts say that Detroit's casinos have produced beyond expectations: From the Detroit Free Press:

The casinos have done better than experts predicted when the first one opened in 1999, and in the past five years, they've taken in an eye-popping $4.2 billion.

Last year, despite news of job cuts and a sluggish economic recovery, the casinos' revenues rose half a percent to $1.130 billion, up from $1.125 billion in 2002. The 2003 figures are preliminary.

"It's been a spectacular rise, one of the few things that actually increased in Detroit," said Comerica bank economist David Littman, who tracks several indexes of economic activity in Detroit and statewide. "Casinos have been a boost for an otherwise poor-revenue situation. The casino industry is exactly what the doctor ordered for Detroit."

FULL STORY

All this has not really hurt Michigan's 17 Indian casinos, showing that the area might not have reached the saturation point yet.
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posted by Dave at 8:45 AM