In an early Christmas present to gaming historians, the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV has unveiled the Harrah’s Entertainment Corporate Archives, focusing on the 1940-2000 period. In other words, it doesn’t just go back to the beginning 
but before the beginning. William Fisk Harrah didn’t get into the casino biz until 1946, when he bought a casino and renamed it Harrah’s Reno Club, following that with Harrah’s Tahoe Club a decade later. He took the company public in 1971, seven years before his death, when it was sold to Holiday Inn. According to the Center, “The collection is primarily comprised of casino and employee periodicals, reports, manuals, promotional files, ephemera, and newspaper articles that document Bill Harrah’s casinos in Reno, Nevada and Lake Tahoe as well as Harrah’s Inc., Holiday Inns, Inc., Holiday Corporation, the Promus Companies, and Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. Also included are photographs that document the construction of Harrah’s properties, business operations, the people who worked and performed at Harrah’s properties, Bill Harrah’s family, and his automobile collection,” the latter now tragically dispersed.
Because Harrah was an avid collector of playing cards, the collection has items dating back as far as 1811, not mention some corporate documents reaching forward to 2004 — shortly before the company’s catastrophic leveraged buyout. You can find a complete inventory here. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the Center for Gaming Research.
* The pluses and minuses of St. Louis‘ six area casinos are laid out. For instance, Casino Queen in East St. Louis gets props for having the loosest slots (92.63%). Tropicana 
Entertainment‘s Lumiere Place is the tightest, at 90.2%. Only one of the six “riverboats” is actually a vessel — Argosy Belle, while it’s also the only one to lack a hotel and has the smallest slot inventory (800 machines). “I like the location,” says one player of River City. “It’s in the city but it feels like the country. It’s bigger and more spread out.” “It’s like a little city,” added Pinnacle Entertainment spokeswoman Roxann Kincade. Lumiere Place roils some because of its pay-for-parking policy, a stiff $20 on weekends. “We are part of the true-blue downtown St. Louis experience.” rationalizes Advertising Manager Amy Meier.
* As Las Vegas looks for hope in the wake of the Oct. 1 shootings, it’s finding it in the early performance of the Golden Knights, who have vanquished the St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes. “The [hockey] community was always there. It just didn’t have a team,” said one fan. While the lowly Oakland Raiders (3-6) are being imported to serve as a tourist attraction, the Golden Knights built their fanbase from the ground up, resulting in a complete sellout of season tickets.
Reports one columnist of the home opener: “A pregame show that was months in the planning was scrapped, and instead, for 
about two minutes before the action got underway, the T-Mobile Arena stopped being a hockey venue and became a church. As a small group of workers from the Route 91 Harvest festival led the national anthem, more than 18,000 people rose and sang in unison — joining in early and continuing to the very end. Solemn but loud. Proud and strong. Some cried. Some saluted.” A minute of silence, scrupulously observed, followed. The Knights took it from there, scoring four goals against the Coyotes in the first 15 minutes of play. Las Vegas may like the Raiders but it’s already in love with the Knights.
