By LIZ BENSTON, Las Vegas Sun
High-tech slot machines bring competitors together
LAS VEGAS -- As steel girders and shimmering glass define the exterior of the rising CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip, slot machine engineers and computer techies behind the scene are trying to figure out how to wire the casino of the future.
Vegas hotel rates affected by economic slowdown
LAS VEGAS -- For all the highly technical and nuanced ways to identify economic slowdowns, in Las Vegas there's one simple way to take measure: room rates.
Casinos expect '21' will raise interest in blackjack
LAS VEGAS -- "Beat the Dealer" did it nearly a half century ago. So have other books and TV shows since. Now this week's release of "21" - a movie about a team of MIT students who used their blackjack card-counting strategies to win millions - once again might draw to Las Vegas countless wannabes convinced they can bring down the house.
Las Vegas confidential
LAS VEGAS -- A year ago in Paris, Wall Street Journal reporter Christine Binkley walked into an interview with the chief executive of luxury retailer Louis Vuitton expecting a detailed discussion of the brand's expansion into emerging markets such as Russia and China.
Space is no object for Las Vegas Sands
LAS VEGAS -- In New York, developers commonly shoehorn buildings into odd places, erecting them atop or in front of existing structures.Las Vegas is cultivating its own shoehorn specialist in Las Vegas Sands, which continues building its casino empire on the Strip even though it has only a few acres of land.
Seminole Tribe keeps low profile in Vegas
LAS VEGAS -- The Seminole Tribe, which operates seven casinos in Florida and purchased the Hard Rock restaurant chain in 2006 for nearly $1 billion, has become the envy of Las Vegas casino operators.
Smaller groups keep Vegas hotels filled
LAS VEGAS -- Etna Carr, who heads a private school in Richmond, Va., for emotionally disturbed children, is in dire need of a vacation.
Will economic woes hurt Vegas hotel plans?
LAS VEGAS -- Before the financial markets sputtered and the economy soured, the folks paid to promote Las Vegas boasted that within a few years, more than 40,000 new hotel rooms would sprout on the horizon.
Rethinking the ban on cell phones inside sports books
LAS VEGAS -- If you ever watch the end of a basketball game in a casino sports book in Nevada and want to call your buddy with the result, don't.At least not yet. State law has for a decade prohibited the use of cell-phone and other electronic devices inside sports books. The purpose is to prevent transmission of betting information across state lines.
Chinese tourists expected to increase in coming years
LAS VEGAS -- Chinese are destined to become, far and away, the dominant foreign tourists in Las Vegas, surpassing the number of visitors from any other country, based on estimates from the United Nations and elsewhere.
