Scratch two more conventions from the Las Vegas Strip schedule. Casino Journal has made the decision to go virtual with both the Casino Marketing & Technology Conference (Nov. 10-11) and the preceding Loyalty Player Development Conference (Nov. 9). There’s something ironic about discussing player loyalty through Zoom chat boxes but a focus on casino technology could not be more apt in these increasingly Web-based times in which we live.
All too often, we read about anti-maskers engaging in fisticuffs with people who encourage them to behave responsibly, if not for their sake then for others. At casinos, the violence has tended to be strictly verbal but the Centers for Disease Control is urging that anti-maskers be treated with caution. “Don’t argue with a customer if they make threats or become violent,” the CDC said. We’re not sure if this advice is going to turn out to be productive or will simply embolden the anti-maskers, who would be wearing leper bells in a truly just world. Reports The Hill, “workplace violence can include threats, verbal assaults such as swearing and insulting, and physical assaults such as slapping and choking the employees.” Instead of confrontation, the CDC recommends the deployment of panic buttons to front-line employees, as well as heightened security. (Are you listening, Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas?) The latest anti-mask outrage took place at, of all unlikely venues, a Sesame Street theme park in Pennsylvania. An allegedly grown male (who later had to be tasered into submission by police) punched out a 17-year-old employee, breaking his jaw and dislodging a tooth, for having the temerity of trying to enforce Sesame Street’s masking rules. Today Bert and Ernie, tomorrow the Strip.
PredictIt is still sanguine about the U.S. presidential race, favoring Joe Biden (59 cents) over Donald Trump (45 cents). Other future markets are more volatile. An official statement from Smarkets (British-based) said, “Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump in our ‘Next President’ market has more than halved since its peak at the beginning of August. Trading activity on Smarkets currently gives Biden a 56% chance of winning the presidency, a drop of seven points since the end of July. Trump has climbed eight points over the same period to 43%—his highest position in over two months.” Added the site’s political analyst Patrick Flynn, the “anticipated post-convention bounce for Biden has failed to materialize in our market, with his lead sliding to 13 percentage points, down from an all-time high of 28 points at the start of August.” We agree that we expected more of a Biden bounce, even if there’s something about a virtual convention that singularly fails to say, ‘Fired up! Ready to go!’
