By LIZ BENSTON, Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS - While some industry observers point to recent increases in gambling revenue, tourism traffic and room rates as a sign that a recovery is under way, other analysts call such figures a temporary aberration and forecast earnings declines for most of the Strip's casinos next year.

LAS VEGAS - Baccarat -- the only Las Vegas game that is growing -- is attracting cash-rich Asians and leading to a spike in crime.

To fight back, casinos are improving security and profit -- adding pre-shuffled packs of cards, "smart shoes" that hold shuffled cards on a table game and playing cards embedded with radio-frequency identification chips.

LAS VEGAS - Several months ago, Internal Revenue Service agents who investigate financial crimes in Las Vegas began calling big casinos to set up meetings with their employees. The calls were friendly.

In fact, the IRS needed the casinos' help. The feds were asking floor workers to drop a dime and report suspicious people gambling with lots of money.

The gambling areas of casinos have long been advertisers' Holy Grail.

LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas casino operators are bracing for a difficult summer, as the desert heat keeps conventions away and hotels try to lure tourists with low rates already beaten down by the recession.

And yet, one of the world's biggest hedge fund firms has laid a $1 billion bet that three Las Vegas gaming giants, including the two that control most of the Strip, will recover.

LAS VEGAS - The greyhound racing industry is in such rapid decline that a growing number of dog-track owners are finding common ground with animal rights groups hoping to put live dog racing out of its misery.

LAS VEGAS - While the recession has slot players tightening their spending habits, Nevada casinos appear to be loosening up.

From 1995 through 2008, the percentage of wagers kept by Nevada slot machines crept up while the percentage paid out to players declined. Last year that trend was reversed, with slots paying back 93.9 percent of wagers versus 93.8 percent in 2008.

LAS VEGAS - All gamblers want to win. But there are different definitions of winning.

LAS VEGAS - If paper profits in the stock market fueled trips to Las Vegas during the bubble years, then the collapse of the market in the recession conversely may have hurt business at Strip hotels to a disproportionate degree.

LAS VEGAS - Experts who study gambling addiction remain a long way from knowing why people develop gambling problems.

But researchers now know what happens inside the brains of gambling addicts that fuels the addiction, and how best to help them.