I haven’t done a round up in a while because there hasn’t been much news that I haven’t had time to touch on. In the past couple of weeks that has changed. Here are a slew of stories from Atlantic City to Las Vegas and a little in between.
MGM Mirage and Sands reported earnings this week. The Las Vegas Sun says things may be improving for casinos in Las Vegas.
When reporting earnings, MGM Mirage lessened the value of their land in Atlantic City.
A Federal judge looks at two plans for Trump Casinos in Atlantic City.
Evidently the Eden Bar at Harrah’s is the best bar to find “cougars.”
Philly.com looks at the Pennsylvania casinos. I’m told table games are coming in August.
Hawaiian Tropic Zone at Planet Hollywood is closing.
The Pussycat Dolls Lounge at Caesars Palace is closing. I did find out that it’s moving to Paris. Props to Five Hundy By Midnight.
I haven’t been to Luxor in a while. Evidently, it’s been remodeled and is underwhelming.
Stiffs and Georges has jumped in front of the rest as my regularly updated go-to blog. Short, quick, accurate casino & gambling news from across the US.
On my flight home from Las Vegas I caught some kind of virus. It’s had me out of commission for the week, but that will change. I added a flickr gallery with pictures from the trip. Enjoy the pictures for the time being. I’ll be writing up reviews over the next few weeks.
I’m unhappy to report that the LA Times is closing up shop on their Las Vegas blog “Movable Buffet.” “Movable Buffet” was one of the first Las Vegas blogs that I read and I’ll miss it. Having the LA Times name attached seemed to give the blog a little more mainstream credibility than some of the other blogs that I read.
The final blog is below. Please check out the site to access their archives.
In a very Vegas way, I got lucky.
In October 2005, I was hired by L.A. Times editors who had found my Vegas writing online. I became one of the first bloggers in the history of the L.A. Times. Vegas was booming in those years, and tourists from California were pouring into town, many buying investment homes. The idea of a blog that documented daily the happenings and entertainments that drew so many to Vegas made sense on a lot of levels. Obviously, much has changed since then, and I am sad to report the Movable Buffet blog is being discontinued.
The Vegas news and events that were covered here you will now find covered by other L.A. Times blogs in entertainment and travel. For those of you who enjoy my Vegas coverage for the Los Angeles Times, my print column continues to run in Sunday Calendar (along with photos from Sarah Gerke). I also hope to blog about Vegas again soon, and so please keep an eye out.
I have to thank Sarah, the Buffet’s loyal photographer, above all others. She was on board with this blog from Day 1. She shot Vegas out of pure joy. Thank you, Sarah. Your photos, as so many readers have commented, have always been incredible. I also need to thank the fantastic staff of the L.A. Times, who for four straight years has hosted this blog, edited its entries and made suggestions that have made me a better writer, reporter and even person.
But most of all, I want to thank those of you who have read me daily or even once. I hope I wrote something you enjoyed. I am very grateful to all. Thank you. Be well.
Sorry for the strange looking gaps and holes on ECG for the past week. I updated the blog software (wordpress 2.8.5) last week which coincided with google ads disappearing and a new Twitter widget. Something seems to have gone haywire. I’m slowly fixing things, but won’t be able to finish until the weekend.
Thanks for your patience while I try to figure things out here. If you are smart and have advice please feel free to email me at eastcoastgambler (@) gmail (dot) com.
I will have a slew of link updates coming in the next few weeks and, hopefully, will have casino tweets all done.
I’m leaving after work today for a short weekend away in Atlantic City. For a change I’ve left the plans to other people. I don’t like doing this, but needed to for this trip. As usual, I’ll be grabbing pictures and tweeting throughout the trip so if you’d like a look at the trip while it happens follow me on twitter.
Depending on what my actual plans are I’ll be using the wordpress app on my iPhone to keep notes so ECG may be update while I’m away. In the meantime here’s Helmet’s video of “In The Meantime.”
It was a slow week by comparison to the previous few weeks, but I was able to spend some time to make a few updates to ECG that I just haven’t had the time to.
I spent the past few days updating ECG. Hopefully some of the additions will make for a more fun and interactive site. I also updated some information to have more complete information. Always feel free to email [eastcoastgambler (at) gmail (dot) com] or tweet me if there’s something you think would make a cool addition to the site or if there’s something I just missed. Here are some of the updates:
Added a “re-tweet” button to make sharing the posts easier. Just click the button and a post will go to your twitter. You can find this at the top right of each blog post.
Added a “share on facebook” feature. Like the “re-tweet” button this will add a post right to your facebook account. You can find this at the end of every blog post.
Updated the “Casino Tweets” tab. I was missing a few casinos from every area. This is now up to date.
Updated the “About” section. Nothing major here. I just cleaned up the original entry.
Added a few sites to “Blogs n News” and “Blogroll.”
I usually focus my time on ECG to reading news and sharing what I find interesting, but these were just a few items I’ve wanted to update for a little while. I hope you enjoy.
I’m a gambler from the east coast, but gamble wherever I may have the chance. East Coast Gambler will chronicle my research on gambling and news about Atlantic City, Las Vegas and Sports. Occassionally there will be a trip elsewhere, but this is where most of my gambling occurs.
