Las Vegas Books

Jim Bickford's Las Vegas Dreams is a must-read for anyone wanting to know how Las Vegas, as well as the American dream, was built. This book contains story after story of how people we all know came from humble beginnings, overcoming obstacles to be leaders and legends in many walks of life. Entertaining, insightful and well researched, Las Vegas Dreams was a pleasure to read.

Mary Franks is on her honeymoon. The only thing that is not working is that she left her lying, cheating louse of a fiancé, before they got married. She was in the dress and ready to walk down the isle when she overhears that not only is he being unfaithful with one but two of her bridesmaids. So she takes off to Vegas on her own. While it sounded like a good idea when reality sets in she is not sure what she is going to do. But she runs into an old friend, her prom date in fact, at the baggage carousel. It appears that he only got better looking over the years.

When she offers to help him out of a rooming situation they strike up a new friendship. But, will it develop into more? In Mary's fantasies it definitely will but is Dan still the love'em and leave'em guy he was in High School?

Sometimes your High School fantasies don't even measure up to the real thing. This is the case in Las Vegas Honeymoon, when Mary and Dan finally get together. Ms. Drake does a wonderful job in setting the stage for these two old friends to meet again, and when they are both finally ready to deal with their emotions. The erotic scenes between the two are very hot and I loved the clothes shopping.

Tanya
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

being from vegas nothign catches my eye but i bought this as a what the heck purcahse and i actually learned some things. its a good guide for a great trip/vacation and its a little bit more than go to this casino blah blah ... i reccomend this so much i even boguht the little black book for my boyfriend

Arguably the second best in the series. The story is compelling and moves briskly, but doesn't meander nearly as much as some of the other books. the whole premise works a lot better than the third book as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Las Vegas With Love is a lavishly beautiful, full-color collection of 256 original watercolor paintings by artist Dorothy Rice. Ms. Rice has provided commentary notes on most of her paintings, which bring to life the vibrant energy of the Las Vegas area in an unforgettable impression. Her ever-so-slightly abstract, signature style is so unique that she is one of the only Americans ever invited to create a mural in Mexico, a nation well-known for its tradition of murals. Las Vegas With Love is an exemplary and highly recommended showcase of her work, as well as a wondrous artistic showcase featuring the best and most memorable facets of the amazing city Ms. Rice has wonderfully captured upon the canvas.

Lots of information written in an easy to read format. Organized, with a subject index, & a Gambling guide. Liked the recommendations.

i like to own this book for my future interior and exterior design.
------Kenny the designer

This is a really neat book. It has a little history and old photos in the beginning which is really great to see how the older casinos looked. The current photographs are really stunning and gives the feel of what the strip, downtown and surrounding areas really look like. A great book and a really good value for anyone who would like to know anything about Las Vegas - both in history and current pictures.

As a native Nevadan I look for books written about the cities of this state. I've read other books by Robert McCracken and can always depend on clear and concise information. A good read for anyone planning on visiting or just learning about Las Vegas.

If you've ever put a quarter in a slot machine, you might have wondered if the game is fixed or if you actually have a chance of winning. You know that the house always has an edge, but you assume you have a chance of winning, otherwise you wouldn't play, right?

In Nevada, where the economy depends on gambling, there are two regulatory agencies, the Gaming Control Board and the Gaming Commission. In general, the Commission licenses casinos and the Board enforces the laws regarding gambling. Together they have a responsibility to make sure the public has confidence in the gambling system.

Jeff Burbank used to be a business reporter for the Las Vegas Sun and then the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the two major newspapers in Nevada. He investigated the casino industry from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s. During that time there were a number of landmark cases that the Commission and the Board dealt with. In License to Steal, Burbank describes seven of the most controversial and entertaining cases.

One story tells of the casino owner who had a Nazi memorabilia collection that he liked to exhibit to a few hundred close friends from time to time. He'd throw a party, sometimes on Hitler's birthday, to show off the collection. The parties were held in his casino, but not in public view. Word got around (apparently the collection was really something) and the Commission wondered if it shouldn't do something, since one of their mandates is to ensure the licensees (casino owners and operators) don't do anything to give Nevada a bad reputation. It was a touchy problem: a lot of people were offended, but what about freedom of speech? And wasn't it somewhat hypocritical to censure someone for offensive behavior in Las Vegas, which has a bit of a reputation for bad taste? In the end, they fined the casino owner. Even in Las Vegas, there are limits to bad taste.

Another story explained how a slot machine manufacturer had programmed its machines to make it look as if losing spins had just missed being winners - "near misses." The owners claimed that the machine wheels would spin randomly, as they are supposed to, but that once the spin had randomly been determined to be a loser, the wheels would re-adjust to show a near miss. This made it more exciting for the player, who would play more. But the regulators thought it might compromise the appearance of randomness. They decided the near miss feature would not be allowed, but when the company appealed on the grounds that retrofitting thousands of machines would be too expensive, the Commission cut them some slack. They still went bankrupt.

Then there's the story about a Gaming Control Board employee who found a way to rig the slot machines he tested so they would pay off when a certain sequences of coins was fed into them. Burbank tells how the employee also learned how to predict keno draws, using a computer program, and was trying out the system in Atlantic City, when casino security became suspicious. This was different from the slots - he hadn't rigged the keno game, he was using an algorithm that found an element of non-randomness in the draws and exploited it. I'm not even sure that qualifies as cheating according to Commission rules, but it certainly does by casino rules. The casinos can make up their own rules and anything that gives a player an edge over the casino is considered by the casino to be cheating.

Once Atlantic City authorities notified Las Vegas authorities, the employee's boss at the Board examined the employee's office computer and examined the records of payoffs the machines he had tested and found he and his friends and relatives had been hitting regular jackpots on the machines. This caused a real public relations headache for the Commission and for the casinos. Just the fact that an employee of the commission had been rigging slots for several years was bad enough. But then ABC-TV reported that the employee claimed that commissioners had abruptly stopped an investigation into rigged machines, and that they knew that the jackpot for the Megabucks statewide progressive slots could be triggered from the central computer center, and that several other companies were programming the slots to display illegal near misses. These were claims that should have been investigated immediately and vigorously, if only to maintain the appearance of an honest system. But they weren't.

License to Steal is fun to read as a collection of eccentric character sketches and descriptions of clever scams. But it's also disturbing. The Commission and Board members are all political appointees and the casino owners contribute to most of the political candidates. So when you drop a quarter in the slot and pull the lever (or more likely slip a $20 into the currency scanner and press the button), are you playing a fair game? Or would you rather not know the answer to that question?