Frontiers in Chance: Gaming Research Across the Disciplines

The UNLV Center for Gaming Research's Occasional Paper Series features papers on a variety of topics in gaming history, economics, and operations from scholars and members of the industry. This collection pulls together 17 papers originally published in the series, making them available in one book for the first time.

Ranging from the mythologies surrounding notorious gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel to a look at the lessons that the financial crisis (should have) taught Las Vegas casinos to a cross-national examination of how governments spend the money they accrue from gambling proceeds and taxes, this collection draws on several disciplines, including history, sociology, philosophy, public policy, and business.

Taken together, these papers provide a snapshot into the diversity of work currently being conducted in a variety of fields with the common focus of gambling, in its many manifestations.

Papers include:

1 "Seeking Value or Entertainment?"
David G. Schwartz

2 "The Powerful Mythology Surrounding Bugsy Siegel"
Larry Gragg

3 "The History of Baccarat"
Theodore Whiting

4 "Nation, Corporation or Family?"
Theodor Gordon

5 "The Promise of Gangster Glamour"
Laura Cook Kenna

6 "Taking the Points"
Frederick W. Krauss

7 "Gaming in Britain and America"
Nicholas Tosney

8 "Where Locals Play"
Rex J. Rowley

9 "Nevada Gaming Licensing"
Robert D. Faiss and Gregory R. Gemignani

10 "Betting on the U.S. Market"
Glenn Light, Karl Rutledge, and Quinton Singleton

11 "Souls/Soles of Signs"
Darryl A. Smith

12 "Containment and Virtualization"
Kah-Wee Lee

13 "Halos, Alibis and Community Development"
Lynn Gidluck

14 "The Fiscal Forensics of the Las Vegas Strip"
Dean M. Macomber

15 "From the Last Frontier to the New Cosmopolitan"
Jessalynn Strauss

16 "Pyramids to Players Clubs"
Oliver Lovat

17 "Moral Markets and the Problematic Proprietor"
Christopher Wetzel

The book includes illustrations in select chapters, contributor biographies, and an index.

About the Center for Gaming Research

Located within Special Collections at UNLV's state-of-the-art Lied Library, the Center for Gaming Research is committed to providing support for scholarly inquiry into all aspects of gaming. Through its website, http://gaming.unlv.edu, the Center offers several unique research tools and information sources.