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New casinos either out-performed their competitors or they
perished. So began the snowball effect that has led to today’s
mega resorts.
Today, Las Vegas is home to 13 of the 20 largest resort hotels
in the world, including the largest in the U.S., the 5,005
room, 114-acre, $1 billion MGM Grand.
It is estimated that the city’s population is increasing
by 60,000 per year, or 5,000 each month. This is believable
considering the city’s population increased by 83% between
1990 and 2000.
*Fremont’s name is well known in Las Vegas, even today:
the Fremont Hotel and Casino and Fremont Street, both located
downtown, are named for him.
**The Plaza Hotel, located on Fremont and Main Streets, is
on the site of the original rail depot, which is still operational
today. It is the only railroad depot in the world inside of
a hotel/casino.
Sources: http://www.lvol.com/lvoleg/hist
/lvhist.html,
http://www.lasvegasnevada.go
v, http://www.carpenoctem.tv,
http://www.homesteadmuseu
m.org/family/mapost.htm.
Fremont Street, 1947
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HOUSE ODDS
As
everyone who has gambled knows, each casino has a built-in
advantage known as the "house odds." Strictly speaking,
it is the margin of "victory" the house will have over
a player over an extended period of time. The smaller
the number, the better your odds of winning. Here are
the house odds for some popular casino games:
Blackjack, single deck |
0.20% |
| Blackjack, double deck |
0.35% |
| Blackjack, four decks |
0.51% |
| Craps (pass line) |
1.41% |
| Craps (pass line, 5X odds) |
0.32% |
| Craps (pass line, 10X odds) |
0.18% |
| Keno |
27.0% |
| Let It Ride |
3.51% |
| Pai Gow Poker |
2.50% |
| Roulette
(single ‘0’ table) |
2.70% |
| Roulette
(double ‘0’ table) |
5.26% |
| Slot
Machines (5¢) |
15.2% |
| Slot
Machines (25¢) |
10.2% |
| Slot Machines ($1) |
8.10% |
| Spanish 21 |
0.82% |
| Video Poker |
5.00% |
In
single deck blackjack, for example, the house will win
50.2% of the time. Your best odds are therefore with
single deck blackjack and craps, where the casino lets
you back up your bets.
Source: http://www.onlinecasinoreports.com.
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LITERARY
GENIUS
This
week’s selection required me to do a great deal of online
research to ensure that it dealt with themes that are in line
with this issue’s motif. It is one of my favorite poems,
since it employs brilliant diction and rhyme, and tackles
complex subjects. The poem is difficult to understand with
just one read, so I highly recommend going to SparkNotes (www.sparknotes.com/poetry/coleridge)
for a synopsis. However, in a nutshell, here is the path this
week’s selection follows:
Three men are on their way to a wedding when they are detained
by a grizzled old sailor—the ancient mariner. He tells
one of them the story of his journey from the south, where
the weather was cold, out into the open sea towards the equator.
While the mariner’s ship was caught in frigid arctic
waters, a great albatross appeared, and the ice cracked and
split. The ship was propelled by a wind from the south, and
the sailors thus considered the bird a good omen.
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