For one month at least, you've got a reason to read Playboy for the articles (well, three if you count Kurt Vonnegut's essay on the firebombing of Dresden and new fiction by Dog Soldiers author Robert Stone).

Controversial former Seminole chairman James Billie is the subject of a lengthy profile. He's plotting a return to the directorship of the tribe now that it's flush with Hard Rock and Class III gambling cash. Author Pat Jordan's story is a sentimentalized apologia for Billie, told almost exclusively by Billie and his sympathizers (NIGC Chairman Phil Hogen makes a cameo appearance).

To hear Jordan tell it, all that stands between the Seminoles and federal revocation of their sovereignty (Ha!) is someone like Billie, "who was preaching fiscal responsibility." Leaning on a recent series of Sun-Sentinel exposés, Jordan thunders that "There is a perception in Florida, outside the reservation, that the Seminoles have become greedy and arrogant, possibly corrupt ... [a] perception among non-Seminoles that tribal leaders have a serious image problem."

Not half as much as when James Billie was running the show. (Jordan also plays down Billie's ties to Meyer Lansky, failing to even properly identify Lansky for readers who don't speak cosa nostra.) Shame on Playboy for running such a poorly vetted piece and shame on Jordan for not getting the other side of the story (registration req'd, alas).

Tilman the Umbrageous: Owner of the Golden Nugget and a man easily slighted, Tilman Fertitta is venting in the Las Vegas Business Press (sorry, no link) ... again. Despite the efforts of Four Queens owner Terry Caudill and El Cortez patriarch Jackie Gaughan, Fertitta is insisting upon sole credit for Downtown's modest revenue growth in 2007, attributing it to a 10% upsurge at the Nugget. (Since Nevada doesn't provide property-by-property breakouts, there's no way to independently verify this claim.)

Granted, Fertitta is almost alone in attempting to improve Downtown's casino image and he's spared no expense in doing so. The bright and shiny Nugget (home to an overzealous security force, it seems) would be right at home on the Strip. Wouldn't couldn't say that of Don Barden's Fitz and never of the rag-tag assortment of Tamares Group properties.

Still, it seems a bit presumptuous for Fertitta to berate Business Press reporter Benjamin Spillman by huffing, "You're thinking downtown was up. It's not. The Nugget was up."

Whatever you say, Tilman. Just don't make us listen to that "Golden Nugget" theme song again, OK?