Firstly, we're glad you enjoy this feature and would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who responded to Friday's QoD, offering to help repair the damage that occurred to part of the archives. We'll be following up on that soon.
To answer your question, we receive numerous submitted questions for this feature on a daily basis, and more than a few are addressed directly to Anthony, obviously under the assumption that he writes all the answers. In reality, he's way too busy with the numerous other obligations involved in running Huntington Press, our publishing wing, this website, LVASports.com, and the montly LVA newsletter (the majority of which is written by him) to have time to handle Question of the Day on a daily basis. Plus, one of the fun things about QoD is how eclectic the subjects covered are, and no single person could -- or would want to -- answer all the questions.
QoD has always been a team effort that calls on the spectrum of talents and areas of expertise represented by our research and writing staff, aided by an ever-growing group of outside contributors who we're fortunate enough to be able to call on for specific topics, from gambling history to cocktailing, entertainment to golf. Take a look at the gallery of Contributing Experts, to whom we always attribute the answers they provide. The list keeps growing, with restaurant critic and Eating Las Vegas co-author Al Mancini being the latest addition to the clan.
When a question is answered in-house, we don't attribute it, however, so we'll take this opportunity to thank David McKee, our beloved Stiffs & Georges blogger, who contributes on average at least one answer every week or two, which are always a treat to read, both for their content and his inimitable style. Former Senior Editor Deke Castleman was also a frequent QoDder, whose knowledge of Las Vegas and Reno history, plus numerous other miscellaneous topics, supplied many of the most epic and entertaining answers you'll find in the archives. The current writer handles at least three or four per week, depending on contributions from others, which ebb and flow according to the nature of the queries submitted and her own competence to answer them. Which means the rest, which we estimate currently constitutes about one out of every fifteen or so, are handled by Anthony Curtis, who also often has a hand in checking and embellishing the answers of others.
While gambling strategy and math are Anthony's acknowledged areas of expertise, and the most frequent areas to which he contributes, he's lived and breathed Las Vegas for more than three decades. Hence, from time to time we'll call on him to address other topics close to his heart, like who serves the coldest beer in town (he knows, and you can find that one in the archives). He's our go-to man for questions about long-gone casinos that he used to play in, or former shows and restaurants that were closed before this writer had ever set foot in Las Vegas and was still in high school in England! The respect he garnered as a professional gambler, both for his expertise and integrity, mean that he's also able to call upon a spectrum of experts to whom we'd never otherwise have access. So, although only one or two questions every couple of weeks are wholly penned by the maestro, his unseen touch is present in many more answers than that, one way or another.
