UNLV Gaming Podcast 87-June 8, 2018

Michelle Malkin 
"Gender and Gambling Motivated Crime"

In this June 8, 2018 Colloquium Talk, Malkin examines the social, economic, and legal consequences of problem gamblers, with a focus on gender. Starting with an exploration of problem and women's gambling in history, she analyzes how the approaches to possible criminal consequences of gambling motivated crime challenge traditional criminal justice assumptions about gender and crime.

Listen to the audio file (mp3)

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Slot machines are the backbone of most casinos. They earn the most money and determine the physical layout of the casino floor. The management of slot machines, which includes overseeing employees, selecting machines, designing the playing space, resolving customer disputes, and conducting analyses to improve operations, is a challenging field whose complexity has grown as the machines themselves have become more sophisticated.

To better document the current issues in slot management-and the change the field has seen over the past four decades-the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research conducted an oral history project. Drawn from these interviews, Tales from the Slot Floor features slot managers discussing several of the most important issues in today's casino world, including: the optimal layout of a slot floor; the qualities demonstrated by both good and bad managers; what customers want from their visits to the casino; the vendor/casino relationship; appealing to millennials; and what the future holds.

Paper 41: June 2018

Cynthia Van Gilder and Dana Herrera.  "Ninth Island, Las Vegas: Hawaiian Gaming Tourism and The California Hotel"

ABSTRACT: Many people do not realize that Las Vegas, Nevada is home to a unique niche tourism: it is overwhelmingly the vacation destination of choice for residents of the state of Hawai'i, even affectionately termed the "Ninth Island." Many credit the strong Hawaiian interest in Las Vegas to the fact that there is no legal gaming in the state of Hawai'i, however, data indicates that it is not just the opportunity to gamble that bring Hawaiian tourists here, but also the specifc amenities and experience offered at one particular hotel and casino, The California Hotel. Nicknamed "The Cal," this establishment is overwhelmingly the Hawaiian choice for sleeping, gambling, eating, and socializing. Although the exterior of The Cal still reflects its original identity as a California-themed establishment, the interior reveals its forty-year history of transformation into a Hawaiian homeaway-from-home, with island themed décor, banquet rooms labeled in the Hawaiian language, and multiple eateries offering Hawaiian favorites. This paper examines the "tourist imaginary" created at The Cal by the Boyd Gaming Corporation, and suggests that it has become a "lovemark," that is now part of the Hawaiian pan-ethnicity known as being a local, or kama'aina.

View the paper  here (pdf)