What is being hailed as a major breakthrough in problem-gambling treatment rests upon some observations that don’t seem to be particularly novel. Disordered gambling is being 
blamed on the insula area of the brain, crucial to forming emotions. So far, so good. But researchers then said, “‘near-misses’ seem to encourage further play, even though they are no different from any other loss. In a random sequence like tossing a coin, a run of one event (heads) makes people think the other outcome (tails) is due next; this is known as the ‘gambler’s fallacy’.” No s&!t, Sherlock. Spend any time at all around slot players and you’ll make that observation.
Strangely, your damage to your insula is thought to protect you from compulsive-gambling behavior. Only the study group with insula impairment was immune to the thought pattern described above. Reported Dr. Luke Clarke, of the University of Cambridge, “Based on these result, we believe that the insula could be hyperactive in problem gamblers, making them more susceptible to these errors of thinking. Future treatments for gambling addiction could seek to reduce this hyperactivity, either by drugs or by psychological techniques like mindfulness therapies.”
There may have been some hyperactive insulas at work in Ohio, where the state scored 
its second-best-ever month of gaming revenue last month … surpassed only by the previous March. In the Columbus area, Scioto Downs was 1.5% up and Hollywood Columbus 1% down. That treading-water effect is symptomatic of an Ohio casino industry that is adding capacity without growing revenue: Horseshoe Cleveland was down 13%, thanks partly to Hard Rock Rocksino and Caesars Entertainment‘s own Thistledown Racino. Down by more modest degrees were Hollywood Toledo and Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati. Since year-over-year comparisons aren’t available for most of the state’s racinos, Scioto Downs wins the Stand Your Ground Award for March 2013, for being the only gambling hall not to surrender market share. Congratulations.
In Baltimore, Caesars is hiring at a furious pace for Horseshoe Baltimore. It plans to go heavy on table games — which have proven so lucrative for Maryland Live — and to that end has signed up 500 dealers. It also promises sensational restaurant product (too sensational to reveal), of which only a Jack Binion’s Steakhouse has been named. Forget about a Bobby’s Burger Palace, though: Maryland Live already has one of those Bobby Flay eateries.
It’s been several months since the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement shut down the Borgata Winter Poker Open, freezing the prize pool and that pool remains frozen over. While the question of who gets the money is being sorted out, Boyd Gaming has been addressing the root of the problem: counterfeit chips. Borgata will henceforth be using chips that aren’t RFID-equipped but do have a UV-sensitive stamp and incorporate more colors than average, to make life harder on potential counterfeiters. Meanwhile, accused cheater Christian Lusardi is still in the cooler after get caught red-handed, trying to flush phony chips down a toilet — a tidy metaphor for where his life is headed.
