Super Casino: Inside the "New" Las Vegas Summary and Reviews

Super Casino: Inside the "New" Las Vegas
by Pete Earley

Super Casino: Inside the "New" Las Vegas
List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $3.86
You Save: $4.13 (52%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Pete Earley
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-01-02
ISBN: 0553573497
Number of pages: 512
Publisher: Bantam

Book Reviews of Super Casino: Inside the "New" Las Vegas

Book Review: A Tawdry Look at Life and Vacations in Vegas
Summary: 2 Stars

Seldom has so much writing talent been so misdirected in a project as occurred with this book. Mr. Earley sought out every seamy angle he could about Las Vegas, past and present, and the people profiled in the book. With such a negative slant, Mr. Earley could have made a family theme park seem like Sodom and Gomorrah. He also does not understand the national evolution of gambling, and misrepresents what has been happening in Las Vegas.

The best part of the book is in its opening chapter, where Mr. Earley does a superb job of explaining how casino staffs play cat and mouse with customers trying to get an edge playing Blackjack by changing their bets when the odds shift in their favor. That chapter set a high expectation for me. It was all quickly downhill from there.

The background of the "old" Las Vegas was much too long and detailed, and added little that is not carried in newspaper and magazine reports about Las Vegas.

In both the "old" and the "new" sections, he tried to work in every negative angle he could about people. You will get to read about crimes related to illegal gambling, theft, rape, kidnapping, fraud, prostitution, assault and battery, and murder. I have read many books about hardened criminals that did not have as much crime in them as this one.

In case this isn't enough of a downer, he wants to make sure that you see other seamy parts of human nature. If anyone has a bad habit, it's explored in here. You get lots of people losing their tempers with each other, making false claims about each other, being greedy, showing inconsiderateness, and having worked for organized criminals in the past. You also get nice normal Moms taking their clothes off to create a sensation at the pool, wives seducing dealers, and dancers being groped in Japan (I know that seems like its a long way from Las Vegas, but some Japanese people have been known to visit Las Vegas -- that seems to be the connection).

The description of the development of Las Vegas is focused much too much on two companies, Mandalay Bay (formerly Circus Circus) and Mirage (no longer independent). Even here, the story is too narrowly drawn between getting high rollers from overseas versus low-income slot players from Southern California.

Las Vegas is turning into an adult version of Epcot Center, a mini World's Fair with spectacular sights all in one place. In addition, some casinos are creating destination resorts that are appropriate for the whole family (Excalibur, MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay all have this character, in part).

At the same time, gambling isn't paying off for investors in the way that it used to. The book makes you vaguely aware of that, but doesn't come to grips with why it's happening and what it means.

The book is very critical of the house "win" in the Las Vegas casinos, but the odds there are much better than in any state lottery, illegal gambling activity, and also in many Native American-owned casinos across the country.

Mr. Earley is too intelligent to be this off-target. There seems to be a hidden agenda here, but I'm not sure I can describe it for you.

By contrast, let me desribe my last trip to Las Vegas. I was able to get a very inexpensive room. While there, I saw a great art exhibition at Bellagio that compared favorably with what can usually only be seen in major city museums. I ate a terrific, inexpensive lunch at Rio. I saw several free shows, including ones outside at the Mirage (with a volcano erupting) and Treasure Island. I toured five casinos I had never seen before, and was fascinated by the designs and the stores. I never gambled a nickel. After finishing the visit, I realized that I had spent less money and seen more than would have occurred if I had been at a theme park in Florida or California for the same amount of time. And I had a very good time.

Unless you like to take a jaundiced view of everything, avoid this book.

My own suggestion is that you visit Las Vegas and see for yourself what it is like now. If you have not been there in five years, you have many nice surprises ahead of you.

State & Local Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in State & Local Books
Blood Done Sign My Name: A True Story ImageBlood Done Sign My Name: A True Story
by Timothy B. Tyson
Crown; Published: 2004-05-18; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.90
Price in other shops: $24.00
Downtown: My Manhattan ImageDowntown: My Manhattan
by Pete Hamill
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2004-12-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops: $23.95
Shallow Grave in Trinity County ImageShallow Grave in Trinity County
by Harry Farrell
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 1999-08-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $42.89
Shadow of the Hunter ImageShadow of the Hunter
by Richard K. Nelson
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1983-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops: $25.00
Movie Anecdotes ImageMovie Anecdotes
by Peter Hay
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1991-12-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.50
Price in other shops: $39.99
Slavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk ImageSlavemaster President: The Double Career of James Polk
by William Dusinberre
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2007-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.00
Price in other shops: $30.00
Oh the Glory of It All ImageOh the Glory of It All
by Sean Wilsey
Penguin Audio; Published: 2005-05-19; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops: $44.95
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition ImageCadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition
by Marc Reisner
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $18.00
Great Plains ImageGreat Plains
by Ian Frazier
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1990-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.95
Price in other shops: $13.95
Disaster! The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 ImageDisaster! The Great San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906
by Dan Kurzman
William Morrow & Company; Published: 2001-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.93
Price in other shops: $25.00
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
When the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder ImageWhen the Mob Ran Vegas: Stories of Money, Mayhem and Murder
by Steve Fischer
Berkline Press; Published: 2005-07-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.75
Price in other shops: $19.95
Las Vegas Then and Now ImageLas Vegas Then and Now
by Su Kim Chung
Thunder Bay Press; Published: 2002-12-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops: $19.95
The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law Vs. the Mob (True Crime) ImageThe Battle for Las Vegas: The Law Vs. the Mob (True Crime)
by Dennis Griffin
Huntington Press; Published: 2006-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.10
Price in other shops: $14.95
Fool Me Once: Hustlers, Hookers, Headliners, and How Not to Get Screwed in Vegas ImageFool Me Once: Hustlers, Hookers, Headliners, and How Not to Get Screwed in Vegas
by Rick Lax
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2011-01-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $15.99
Las Vegas: An Unconventional History ImageLas Vegas: An Unconventional History
by Michelle Ferrari, Stephen Ives
Bulfinch; Published: 2005-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $11.81
Price in other shops: $40.00
Double or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas' Legendary Casinos ImageDouble or Nothing: How Two Friends Risked It All to Buy One of Las Vegas' Legendary Casinos
by Tom Breitling, Cal Fussman
HarperBusiness; Published: 2007-05-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.47
Price in other shops: $24.95
Running Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn ImageRunning Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las Vegas Casino King Steve Wynn
by John L. Smith
Da Capo Press; Published: 2001-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops: $16.95
UNDER THE NEON SKY...A Las Vegas Doorman's Story ImageUNDER THE NEON SKY...A Las Vegas Doorman's Story
by Jay Rankin
jay Rankin; Published: 2009-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.99
Whale Hunt in the Desert: Secrets of a Vegas Superhost (Biography General) ImageWhale Hunt in the Desert: Secrets of a Vegas Superhost (Biography General)
by Deke Castleman
Huntington Press; Published: 2009-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.92
Price in other shops: $16.95
Winner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, and the Race to Own Las Vegas ImageWinner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, and the Race to Own Las Vegas
by Christina Binkley
Hyperion; Published: 2009-03-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.99
Price in other shops: $15.99