{"id":14589,"date":"2014-09-17T11:42:05","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T19:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=14589"},"modified":"2014-09-17T11:42:05","modified_gmt":"2014-09-17T19:42:05","slug":"as-iowa-goes-so-goes-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/as-iowa-goes-so-goes-america\/","title":{"rendered":"As Iowa goes, so goes America"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chips<\/a>If you need any evidence of the increasing American acceptance of casino gambling as an everyday activity, just look to Iowa<\/strong>. Two years ago, 69% of Iowans had gambled in the previous year. Now it’s up to 78%<\/a>. Mind you, it’s not all casino-driven: Casino revenues gained 4% while the lottery leapt 20%. According to the\u00a0University of Northern Iowa\u2019s Center for Social &\u00a0Behavioral Research<\/strong>, “factors for the increase in gambling activity could be the improving national economy or an increased public awareness of the types of activities that are considered gambling for the study\u2019s purposes.”<\/p>\n

The news wasn’t entirely good: 8,000 Iowans were quantified as problem gamblers, with another 369,000 in the “at risk” category. That means they manifest at least one destructive, gambling-related behavior. The study also found a correlation between problem gambling and excessive drinking and\/or tobacco or drug abuse. Study co-author\u00a0Dr. Ki Park<\/strong> said,\u00a0\u201cThat is very consistent with many gambling studies.\u00a0Those who have substance abuse problems, who are suffering from mental health issues, are more likely to be a problem gambler compared to the average population.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the overwhelming number of gamblers in the 1,826-person sample, 56% expressed the opinion that gambling is harmful<\/a>. So I guess it’s OK when I buy a lottery ticket but bad when Joe Blow does it.<\/p>\n

* Fans of grind joints can take heart that the Klondike Sunset<\/strong> will live to see another day. The late John Woodrum<\/strong>‘s pint-sized operation, known for its 25-cent roulette<\/a>, near the Boulder Strip<\/strong> has been acquired by Club Fortune Casino<\/strong> owner Carl Giudici<\/strong>. The Klondike closed on Aug. 15, after staggering along through eight postmortem months. Woodrum’s widow cashed out to Giudici for an undisclosed sum. The new owner is in no hurry to reopen and,\u00a0from what I know of\u00a0the Klondike brand, the place could probably use a major overhaul. It’s a bit of a comedown for Giudici, though, considering that previous acquisition targets of his were Herbst Gaming<\/strong> and, during its bankruptcy, some of the low-hanging fruit of Station Casinos<\/strong>. S&G<\/em> wishes him a successful relaunch of the Klondike, although I imagine a name change is in the works.<\/p>\n

* Carrying water for companies such as\u00a0Station, Clark County<\/strong> Commissioner Steve Sisolak<\/strong> is going after the Dotty’s<\/strong> chain again. It seems some fuzzy wording in a previous ukase<\/em> against the slot parlors left wiggle room as to the degree to which slot revenue can be “incidental” to their overall revenue<\/a>, compared to food and drink: “Critics argue that businesses like Dotty\u2019s and its many imitators operate like mini-casinos while being licensed as bars.” Much like Richard Nixon<\/strong> with his 1968 ‘secret plan’ to end the Vietnam War<\/strong>, Sisolak is keeping the details of his Dotty’s-centric edict under wraps until he can round up more support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you need any evidence of the increasing American acceptance of casino gambling as an everyday activity, just look to Iowa. Two years ago, 69% of Iowans had gambled in the previous year. Now it’s up to 78%. Mind you, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[88,51,14,123,86,90,25,57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14590,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14589\/revisions\/14590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}