In place of today’s previewed question about hotel key cards and identify theft, we’re running a different security-oriented question. The reason for the substitution is that this one’s topical, so we wanted to run the answer while it was still in the news. We’ll run the key card answer on 5/7/09. This question was also submitted by a journalist whose work we greatly admire, so we wanted to help out with the answer to his query asap – and we got a QoD out of it in the process!

How did Laughlin come to be? It seems an odd place – a bunch of high-rise hotels in the middle of nowhere.

When a casino is placed for sale, how do they determine the value of it? Do they go by cash flow or land value or what? If its cash flow why would somebody like MGM consider selling something that brings in money and helps pay the bills?

I have stayed at the Wynn/Encore the last few times I visited LV. I had a view of the golf course on all occasions and despite good weather never saw a soul on the course. Who can play there, how much are the fees and how many rounds of golf have been played in the last 12 months on the course?

We read that there is a place in Vegas that has fried Twinkies. If so where it is ?

I enjoy collecting casino playing cards and was just wondering how many decks of cards does any one casino go through in a day, week, month, year?

After watching Ocean's Eleven the other night I got to wondering about their "top three casino robberies of all time" ... are they real as protrayed in the movie? Have there been any more recent ones? Have there ever been any successful casino robberies?

What ever happened to the casino La Mirage? It was east of the Strip.

Wynn restaurants, including the Terrace Pointe Café and room service, serve the best oatmeal. What's the chance of getting the recipe?

I read a recent article regarding Las Vegas Sands’ loss of a lawsuit regarding their Macau license. The article made reference to Sheldon Adelson helping the Chinese government in a deal with the U.S. government. Will you explain what the deal between the governments was and what Sands did or was supposed to do for the Chinese?