There is one aspect of Rexville that people have been asking me to cover for roughly the past six months, but I have so far resisted doing so.  At least in-depth.

In addition to weekly motels, wedding chapels, drug sales, streetwalkers-r-us, tattoo parlors, strip clubs, and bail bonds places … the next most prominent business type in the neighborhood would probably be pawn shops.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a two-square-mile area in the world with more pawn shops than Rexville.  Unfortunately, these are probably the businesses in which I am the least interested.

Something about pawn shops have always depressed me.  They represent the aspect of capitalism that I am the least fond of.  Basically, one man’s misfortune is another’s gain.  I generally don’t think well of payday loan places, or realtors who take customers on tours of houses where the occupants have just been thrown on the street.  I could never go to a foreclosure sale or an auction where people’s lives are sold off piece-by-piece.  I would feel like a parasite.

The USA has gone from a nation of innovators to a nation of professional middle-men.  We don’t really produce anything anymore.  Instead, we just stick our finger in as many jars as we can find.  We re-sell the same product or service as many times as possible so that multiple people can skim value off of something they had no hand in creating.

Why create something of value when you can buy, sell, or broker it?

“Entrepreneur” has gone from “person inventing cool shit and selling it” to “person with little talent or intellect who has learned to lie in order to sell other people’s shit for a higher price”.  Am I right Girl Scouts?

The quality of most American-produced goods are now on-par with that of China, and the amount of false advertising and outright deception perpetrated by our companies have turned the U.S. economy into the equivalent of a Nigerian email scam.

It’s a large part of why the American empire has fallen, most likely … permanently.

In my opinion, pawn shops are a microcosm of this dynamic.  Buy as low as you can from a desperate person, sell as high as possible to someone a bit less desperate, pocket the profit.

It’s far from noble, but hey, I suppose someone has to do it.

After posting a picture of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop on my blog a couple of months ago, I was informed that the place was the setting of a popular television show.  I had obviously never seen the show (not owning a TV and all that), but someone threw up a web link where I could watch clips.

I watched about a half hour of the program, observed an old dude saying things, a bunch of large white dudes selling stuff, and a really large black guy that just kind of looked menacing.

Parts of the show were quite interesting, such as when a bald guy bought a plane … and some of it less so, such as when a rotund guy drove around running errands.  It was typical reality-show fare, I suppose.  I’m really not sure why so many of these retail-reality shows are set in Vegas, but it’s probably because our town is a human-zoo with more weirdos per-capita than any other town on the planet.

I did wince during one episode when one of the owners said “We treat all of our employees like family, as long as they are making money for us.  The minute they stop making us money, they are no longer part of the family”.  At least I was content that I had not unfairly judged the pawn industry.

Anyway, since I had not been in the interior of a pawn shop for probably ten years, I decided to walk over to the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop this morning.  I left the house … but halfway there, I stopped in my tracks.

Just after passing Boston Pizza, I had a change of heart, and decided to abort my morning quest.

First of all, I don’t queue up in lines to see TV personalities.  It’s just not something that I do.  The grapefruit-effect has no influence on me whatsoever. I’m just more interested in my own life than the lives of other people.  I don’t think this is narcissism, I think it is normal human behavior which has been bastardized into somehow being abnormal by endless streams of reality shows.  I’ve never watched Survivor, never watched The Bachelor, and never watched Jersey Shore.  I only know about these shows because other people talk about them ad-nauseum.  I’m completely indifferent to the shows, and always will be.

The presence of a “fan line” at the pawn shop was not my biggest worry, however.  I was far more worried that there would not be a line, at which point I would have no excuse but to go inside.  The realization that I might have to talk to the owners and justify my presence in the store caused me some level of anxiety.  I had no idea what to say to these people.

In my head, I ran through the scenario, and it went something like this:

Me:  Hi.
Chumlee:  Hi.
Me:  So, you are the guys with the TV show?
Chumlee:  Yeah.
Me:  I see.  Okay, thanks.  Have a nice day.
Chumlee:  You too.
(I walk out the door)
Chumlee to the Old Man:  What the fuck was that about?

There was just no point in the endeavor.  I had nothing to say, and I had no legitimate business in the establishment, so why waste their time?  The whole thing just seemed gratuitous.

Instead, I did a 180, walked to Tiffany’s, and enjoyed breakfast with about a dozen of my bizarro peers from the neighborhood.  We acknowledged each other with a nod, ate shoulder-to-shoulder without saying a word, and disappeared into the Rexville cityscape after paying our check.  This is human interaction the way God intended it to be.

When all was said and done, I was pleased with my choice.

As far as Pawn Shops go, I got in the car a bit later, drove around the neighborhood, and took an external tour of the various shops.  Even though I’m not fond of the business model, I can still appreciate the aesthetics of pawn joints.  Each shop is almost like a piece of pop-art.  They have their own character and style, and they do help contribute to the overall “weird and seedy” vibe of the neighborhood.

When push comes to shove, I suppose it’s better to have your neighborhood infested with pawn shops, rather than Best Buys, K-Marts, and Walmarts.

Like the aforementioned big box stores, however, I think I will always be content to admire pawn shops from the outside.

Link to the original site

Lotto-Quebec is starting to offer online casino games in September. Quebec’s government accepted the company’s submission and as a result will get about $50 million in revenue over the next three years. To say more, this number is not final, it can be even larger, depending on how much of the…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

Greece is still refusing to comply with the European Commission’s request to readjust policies and regulations and end the existing online gambling state monopoly. The Greek government explains it as a necessary measure to protect Greek citizens from addiction. In reality, it is all about the…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

The European Court of Justice has finally started supporting the efforts of the European Commission in forcing countries to open their doors to foreign gambling companies.
At the moment Spain is hot on the list of the countries breaking EU gambling laws. The disagreement has risen as a result of…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

The Full Tilt Poker Series (FTOPS) is believed to generate a $17 million prize pool across the 27 scheduled events varying in some way.
Each season the tourney starts with qualifiers and offers seats for the main event. Most of the events are for high rollers and skilled players. The buy-ins range…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

Re-launched ZodiacCasino.com is offering new players a 2,000% deposit bonus turning $1 into $20.
To get this bonus, new players need to download and install online casino’s software before registering and making a deposit of one dollar. Players will also be eligible to receive $100 free on their…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

Golden Lotus is the recently launched by JackpotCapital.com 5-reel 25-payline slot taking players to an oriented garden.
Golden Lotus offers gamblers plenty of opportunities for free games. The prizes there can be tripled, quadrupled and quintupled. Moreover, its Chinese Garden bonus feature makes…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

Mastercard is reported to have blocked transactions between US gamblers and foreign offshore companies. To say more, Mastercard is the first of the major processing companies to announce the blocks.
The reason why the 2006 UIGEA as not worked yet is because there ave been no enforcement policies in…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Link to the original site

I can’t believe they are doing this again.

The Strip will go dark the evening of March 27, as the annual Earth Hour event comes to Las Vegas for a second year.

The World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour, designed to raise global awareness of climate change, will roll across the world and reach the Strip at 8:30 local time, when high-profile hotel-casinos and government agencies plan to dim or turn off their exterior lights for 60 minutes.

Leslie Aun, Earth Hour’s managing director, said Las Vegas’ participation as an Earth Hour flagship city in 2009 proved “critical” to advancing the event and its popularity. Unlike turning off the Eiffel Tower — the real one, in Paris — or Mount Rushmore, blacking out the Strip and surrounding areas requires the cooperation of myriad business executives and public officials, Aun said. That makes Las Vegas an ideal representation of what Earth Hour is all about.

“Las Vegas is a great metaphor for what we’re trying to do across the country, which is to get everyone to participate, instead of a place here and there,” Aun said. “Las Vegas was a pretty big momentum builder last year.”

The World Wildlife Fund unveiled its local plans for Earth Hour 2010 at a Tuesday press conference.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Clark County Commissioner Larry Brown attended the event, held underneath the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign at the Strip’s south end.

Goodman called Earth Hour “a perfect fit for the city and its sustainability initiative.”

Goodman asked businesses and residents across the Las Vegas Valley to join resort operators and government agencies in celebrating Earth Hour.

Now, I’ve taken a lot of criticism for my “climate change” stance, but of all of the things I get criticized for, I consider these attacks to be the most unwarranted and unjustified.

In my mind, when people criticize me for making fun of global warming, it is akin to meth addicts with DARE bumper-stickers chastising me for my caffeine intake.  It’s irrational.

If one were to do a comprehensive audit of fully-functional 41 year old males in the USA (paraplegics probably use little gasoline), I would estimate that my personal lifetime carbon footprint would place me in the bottom ten percentile … if not the bottom five.

I’ve always made it priority #1 to live where things were actually located.  I’ve never “driven to work” on a daily basis.  I’ve walked, biked, roller bladed, and taken the bus/subway … but hour-long daily automobile commutes are a completely foreign concept to me.  Driving in traffic feels like torture and I go to great lengths to avoid it.

Sure, I own a car now, but I’ve earned it.  I paid my “carbon” dues in spades for damn near 35 years.  I’m too banged up to self-propel myself quite as far as I used to.  Especially in 110 degree temperatures.  Still, personal drives of over 5 miles are uncommon, and I still overwhelmingly prefer the bus or the monorail.  On a day-to-day basis, my “carbon footprint” is still probably 80% less than the average suburbanite’s.

Even when directly compared to modern bedheaded iPhone users that hang out in coffee shops (what’s the big deal about coffee?) and go to earth rallies, chances are I’ve lead a FAR more eco-friendly life than they have.

Allow me to present evidence.

I’ve lived in a loft before.  A real one, and not something built from the ground up to be a “loft”. There was no parking provided as the notion of car ownership amongst loft-dwellers was patently laughable.

Recently, “lofts” were erected in Rexville.  Here are a few photos:

Notice that there are no windows on the bottom 1/3rd of the buildings.  That’s because that portion of the structure is devoted to parking.  In 2010, not even the biggest hipster-douches can get by without a car.  They can only carry the “urban” pretense so far before caving in to the creature comforts of whatever suburban hellhole they came from.

Even though I have arguably been the most eco-friendly person on the planet, has anyone, nay, anyone ever thanked me for my selfless contributions toward reducing global warming?

NO!

Not once.  Instead, they’ve scolded me because I don’t publicly wring my hands over the supposed problem that is “climate change”.  Nobody in this country cares what you do, they only care what you say.  Screw walking the walk, it’s the talk that matters, and that’s one reason why these “climate change” events are imbecilic.

It’s not the largest reason, though.

I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, the earth simply cannot be “saved”.  It’s un-savable.

Earth exists at the whim of the sun, and as all stars do … the sun will burn out … flash freezing the earth and spinning it off into darkened space.  There is nothing we humans can do to prevent this.

Well, almost nothing.

As the sun weakens, earth may actually need an increasingly-weakening ozone to keep temperatures stable.  This means that eco-friendliness may actually hasten the demise of the planet or precipitate another ice age.  The climate change stuff is an inexact science.  2006 was one of the 10 hottest years on record.  Then again, 1934 was also in the top 10.  As was 1953, 1921, and 1938.  The earth cools and the earth warms.  It always has and it always will.

Is “man” responsible for it?

It doesn’t matter.  If a future generation doesn’t exhaust all earthly resources, those resources will have gone to waste when the planet ceases to exist.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no fan of pollution (I’m quite low-impact there as well), but climate change as a cause is nonsensical.  These “earth” events almost certainly do more harm than good while satisfying some kind of deep-seated urge among the participants.  Most likely, it is the urge to belong.

I openly dispute the WWF’s and Oscar Goodman’s assertion that Earth Hour has any effect on the planet whatsoever.

Whether it was in person, on TV, or through videos on our computer screens … we all saw Earth Hour in Las Vegas last year.  Sure, it was interesting on some level because it was unique, but the novelty is now gone.  Thousands of cars packed Las Vegas Boulevard last year to watch, spewing exhaust into the air while celebrating the inconsequential savings of electricity.

I can’t help but believe that this was 100% counterproductive.  I don’t think it changed any minds either.  It was a stunt, and it was seen as such.  People came out to see the darkened Strip, and then went back to what they were doing.

That is exactly what will happen this year as well.

I can count on my third testicle the number of people who indicated to me that they were modifying their eco-behavior because Las Vegas Boulevard had voluntarily gone dark for an hour.  The very notion that the event had, or will have an effect on anyone’s daily behavior is patently absurd.

If you are truly concerned about the planet, and I mean really, truly, and deeply concerned … just say “no” to earth events.  Instead, shut your hole, move closer to work, and sell your car.  It may not be glamorous, but it is the single most effective thing you can personally do to reduce your impact on the planet.

If you don’t do this, and continue to rally and participate in earth causes, in my opinion, it’s all for show.

Link to the original site

One day, two stat-filled press releases:

Las Vegas saw more than 2.8 million visitors in January, up 4 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Figures released Wednesday by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also show that convention attendance dropped by 16.4 percent from January 2009 to January 2010, to just under 450,000. The decrease was accompanied by a drop in the number of conventions and meetings held, which fell from 1,368 in January 2009 to 1,197 this January.

January marked the fifth straight month that year-over-year visitor numbers increased.

The visitors authority says 8,000 net additional rooms this January over last January resulted in a drop of 0.8 percent in citywide occupancy.

The average daily room rate also fell from $104.89 to $99.75, a drop of 4.9 percent.

Shortly after the above release was published, a very similar story hit the news services:

Thanks in part to the recession, Las Vegas has the nation’s most popular and affordable hotel rooms, according to a twice-annual survey by the travel reservations Web site Hotels.com.

Rates plummeted significantly from the first half of last year, when Las Vegas was ranked 45th in hotel pricing nationwide.

Las Vegas was the top destination for domestic travelers and the No. 2 destination for international travelers, behind New York, according to the survey, which is based on Hotels.com bookings made in the last half of 2009.

Average daily rates in Las Vegas from July to December fell 18 percent to $79, the company reported. By comparison, rates were $109 per day in the first half of the year.

This all seems like swell news, and it probably is, but there is at least one interesting inconsistency in all of the numbers swirling about.

The LVCVA reported average daily rates as $99.75 while a major hotel-booking site reported them to be $79.

For those of you keeping score at home, the LVCVA is being 26% more optimistic than the private company.  The private company also says that rates dropped 18% in 6 months, and the LVCVA says they only fell 4% in an entire year.

Who’s right?  Who’s wrong?

Who knows?

The thing about stats is … they usually lie.

Numbers are easy to throw out, and since few people have the resources or initiative to double-check them, you can more or less make numbers up and still sound plausible.  Even if you do know absolutes, there are a myriad of ways to manipulate them to show what you want to prove.  For example, the Visitor’s Authority may have used a smaller starting number (104 vs. 109) to make the decrease look less dramatic.

If I had to take a wild guess, I would opine that the LVCVA’s rates are less accurate since the promotion of optimism is their one and only job, but I have no hard data to back that up, other than a hunch and a small amount of common sense.

Fortunately, much of the new influx of visitors is comprised of people who are content with Wackjack, Crapjack, or whatever.  I’m actually warming up to the “Crapjack” suggestion and may use it instead.  See Mr. Snow, that’s how to put your ego aside, take a superior reader suggestion and put it to use. Despite your best efforts, sometimes other people come up with better ideas.  The inability to recognize this is not a virtue.

Anyway, this “low room rate/low gambling odds” business model was fully validated by the NASCAR fans last week who openly played $5 6:5 tables directly adjacent to $5 3:2 tables with open seats.  This extra gaming skim from the lower-middle-class almost certainly makes the room rate decreases easier to swallow for the properties.  The casinos are making a calculated bet that people availing themselves of $79 rooms probably aren’t the most discerning customers when it comes to gambling, and they seem to be absolutely correct.

The problem is, I believe that chasing off discerning gamblers is a long-term losing strategy for the town.  Then again, if I actually knew anything about how to get the city on track, I’d be sitting on $87 million of taxpayer money rejecting suggestions from constituents instead of sitting behind a monitor with my pants around my ankles.

In any event, while these numbers look promising, they do reflect the cannibalization that was somewhat expected with the opening of City Center.  Without double-digit visitation increases, the supply/demand curve will not be saturated enough to warrant an increase in room rates.  We simply cannot withstand any more dilution.

This realization cannot be lost on Tower X, formerly known as the Fontainebleau (it currently has no name, and thus is an unknown variable).  In addition to the Strat, I live every day in the shadow of Tower X.  It’s quite dominant on the Rexville skyline.  I’ve been waiting a long time for it to open, but at this point, I think opening would spell the swift demise of the property.

There simply exists no demand for the rooms, and if it opens within the next couple of years, it will fail.  I’ve finally reached the “acceptance” stage of grieving.  I’m just surprised they haven’t slapped a gigantic wrap on it yet.  I wonder how much they would charge me to put a 700′ high “VegasRex” banner down the side?

It’s something to explore.

Anyway, if you thought Vegas was cheap last year, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Link to the original site