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Revel Casino is Atlantic City about to close. Here are some panoramas of the city as seen from the top of Revel, AC's tallest, and my take on the future of gambling in AC
X-posting this from my post at /newjersey, figuring some of you guys might be interested in this discussion, as well. I'll miss this resort chiefly for the food, the gambling floor (my first "serious" casino win - $75 bucks in roulette), the cute girls (whether staff or club-minded patrons), and the impeccable rooms, but yes, the views will be missed, as well. By me, at least. The 1,400-room resort stands 710 feet / 216 meters tall. Even at the hotel's midsection, the visitor stands as high as the tops of most hotels in the city. Note that the Showboat, in the foreground, is about to close within the month, as well. I never even got to visit. The highest publicly accessible floor, over 600 feet above the Boardwalk, allows an unobstructed bird's-eye-view of the entire city. The Steel Pier Amusement Park is fun to watch from up there, especially with a good zoom lens. It was not only about the building's height, but also its end-of-Boardwalk position, which allowed for awe-inspiring, unobstructed ocean sunrise vistas. I refuse to believe that this one will stay down for too long. There is just too much money invested here; too many political interests involved - not only is it the symbol of expected revival for the entire city, but even Governor Christie is a major supporter of this specific resort's future; and having a 60-story, 1,400-room colossus sitting abandoned and literally rotting and corroding away is in absolutely no one's best interests. Yeah, the spread of gambling in Pennsylvania is the latest hit against AC, one that likely killed Revel. I don't oppose PA's actions - they do what they have to do in order to stay competitive and serve their residents. Still, even if gambling would no longer be a key driving force, AC will more than likely reinvent itself once again. After all, 70-100 years ago it used America's premier family resort, and after the advent of jet travel, the city was in much worse shape than it is today. It saved itself by reinventing its strategy via legalizing gambling. With proper administration, the city can reinvent and save itself once again.
Unpopular Opinion: The measures Alberta has put in to play aren't as bad as you all think they are. There is a lot of data and a lot of research out there and I feel a lot of people in this sub are entirely neglecting a lot of it.
To start, yes we should have implemented these much sooner. Yes the UCP shouldn't have started a fight with healthcare workers. Yes we should have far more contact tracers. Yes Kenney said a lot of BS in hopes to win votes. Yes, elderly care homes needed to be protected a lot better than they were. And yes, Kenney needed to be out in public a lot more. These are all things they should be held accountable for in the next election. I will also add that if people can't follow these guidelines we will likely have no choice but to do a hard shutdown in 3 weeks, which I am not sure Kenney wants to do. Additionally, I won't be linking a lot of sources that are pro-lockdown, primarily because I don't really have the time to go find all of them, and most people here have better sources than I do for those anyways, but please feel free to share them below as I like to be as informed as possible. Now, on to the actual topic. Whether you like it or not, locking down is a lot more complex issue than many here seem to think it is. There are implications that are far more than "just" money. David Nabarro, a medical doctor and Special Envoy on Covid-19 for the WHO specifically states:
lockdowns just have one consequence that you must never, ever belittle, and that is making poor people an awful lot poorer.Look what’s happened to smallholder farmers all over the world. Look what’s happening to poverty levels. It seems that we may well have a doubling of world poverty by next year. We may well have at least a doubling of child malnutrition.
He also said
We in the World Health Organization do not advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus... The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it.
source We've had months to prepare (which Kenney threw away), would anything change over the lockdown, or would it just become our primary way of combatting covid? Additionally, we have research from a local Albertan, Dr. Ari Joffe, an expert in infectious disease and critical care, Dr. Ari Joffe of the Stollery Children’s Hospital and the University of Alberta. In his paper, he states
The most affected by the pandemic response are “the poor, the marginalized, and the vulnerable,” while we in high-income countries have shifted “negative effects… to places where they are less visible and presumably less serious.”10 We must open up society to save many more lives than we can by attempting to avoid every case (or even most cases) of COVID-19. It is past time to take an effortful pause, calibrate our response to the true risk, make rational cost-benefit analyses of the trade-offs, and end the lockdown groupthink.
You can read the preprint paper here. Now, we have also seen cases where lockdowns work, we saw it in New Zealand, Victoria Australia, Quebec, Italy, China (though I don't think any of us want the restrictions that went on there), and many other places, but most times lockdowns went on for months. I don't have any sources on impacts to health of people in those areas, but if someone has some sources I would love to read them (regardless of what they say). There's also been research done that shows that historically (from the spanish flu) that places implemented restrictions faster were able to rebound faster sourceactual paper - pre-review and potentially even came back stronger than those who took longer. It does state that
NPIs implemented in 1918 were milder than the measures adopted in some countries during COVID-19.
We have also seen places like Hong Kong and South Korea repeatedly fight off covid with limited shutdown of businesses and no real lockdowns. They are very different than us and we wouldn't be able to implement the same measures, but it's still something to keep in mind. Schools are another factor I see a lot of people talk about, but again, there's a lot of research for both closing them and keeping them open. You can read a bunch on why children may not be as large of spreaders as you think in this article which links to several studies. At the same time, there are studies that show kids are huge drivers of covid. There's also studies that show kids need the interaction of schools and are falling very behind. During the Nov 6 update (41 ish minute mark), Hinshaw makes it pretty clear that schools aren't driving spread here, and while our data isn't great anymore, it does seem to line up with both other jurisdictions with similar measures, and some of the studies in that article. Restaurants are another biggie I see people talk about. There was the study in China which showed 3 different family groups all at different tables got sick due to the AC, and that paper recommends spacing tables apart and getting better ventilation (which we have spaced tables out here). And they definitely were super spreaders at the beginning. But new studies show that with cap limits (which we should have but for some reason don't, the table spacing should be good though) should make restaurants less of a transmission problem. study 1 summary and discussion. This also breifly discusses how small home gatherings are in fact one of the biggest drivers of covid, which can be demonstrated by looking at all the jurisdictions banning them, and even the CDC head stating similar scroll down to household get-togethers... As for the rules, it's stated that public gatherings are banned at all indoor locations. That means you can't legally meet up with people at your house, at a restaurant, at a bar, or at a casino. You can only do these with your household or if you live alone, your 2 people. Now, let me finish by saying that if the numbers keep going up we may have no choice but to lockdown, but I believe we need to at least try other measures first (which again, should have been implemented sooner). I hope that those of you who read this can at least understand why some people think the way they do, and that these decisions aren't as easy as some think they are. If all of us could educate ourselves fully on the issue I feel the world would be a much better place.
Over the years I have thoroughly enjoyed throwing together playlists for different occasions (making coffee, working out, weddings, seasons, etc.) and thought I'd share! Please let me know your thoughts, favourite mixes, as well as recommendations for future playlists. All feedback is welcome! Hope you enjoy them: That Weekend Feeling Skip to the good bit; weekend grooves to wave away any weekday blues. Awesome Mix: Ultimate Edition (Mixtape) A great hero, named Kevin Bacon, once taught an entire city full of people with sticks up their butts that, dancing, well, is the greatest thing there is. The legend of Footloose comes alive with Awesome Mix: Ultimate Edition - Songs from and inspired by the Guardians of the Galaxy series. Morning Motivation: Steal Some Sunshine Soak up the sun with energetic jams and breezy classics! I'd Drink To That: Party Playlist Mix it up with a party playlist to keep the night buzzing. I'd Sing To That: Carpool Karaoke Pack up and take those pipes on a roadtrip! The catchy. The memorable. Just Jams 🎧 Nothing but jams to fill a pair of headphones or stadium. Brendan's Listen Local Funky & Thumpy! Some of my favourite energetic jams, classics, and BBQ party starters from our local Australian & New Zealand artists. Friday Fire It's Friday! Friends. Family. Fun. Groovin' The Brew Nothing but rockin' party grooves on tap. Diverse Pop Sounds It's pop, but not as you know it. Break Thru Ear Candy. Sunday Sesh Beers & bangers on a weekend! Run To Paradise Set up goals, and knock them down with an energetic running playlist. Summer Daze The heat is on with a playlist of crisp summer tunes. Autumn Mix: Volume 1 A breezy & brilliant playlist for the ever-changing Autumn seasons. Chilled Pop Soft, chilled winter pop songs. Warm Tunes Warm songs of Spring, like a comforting embrace. A Mid-Summer Night's Drink 🍻 Lord, what fun these mortals be! Wind Down 🌚 When the night winds down, so does some great music. 90's Baby! 📼 It is the sound of the roller disco, BMX bike track and arcade! The Hip Hip Hop Only the hippest of the hip. My modern and classic hip hop favourites. Indie Bops: It's ALT Good Get your alternative bounce on. Not Your Final Form: A Workout Playlist All the other licks with the pumped up kicks to keep you going during a workout. My favourites and a few other choice tunes for pushing harder, faster, stronger. Easy On The Ears Easy, Easy, Easybeats. Life Is Good ☀️ Today is gonna be a good day. Dial M For Music Deep, cathartic music. JOY Smile. Vibe Hard Get into the zone, and vibe-out to infectious tunes! Rock & Roll Never Dies Who says rock & roll is dead? Commercial radio? It's always been around; you've just got to roll with it and look harder. Get your kicks! Brainfood Introspective acoustic, calming strings, uplifting anthems, and a touch of nature. Food for the brain, and perfect background noise for studies. Game Night 🎲 For every occasion... casino, tabletop, videogames; a soundtrack to a brilliant game night! Sizzlers: BBQ Playlist 🍔 Fire up the burner and the anthems with a barbeque playlist hotter than the bright ball in the sky. Kickstart My Heart: Classic Rock Radio Rocking all over the world. Rush Hour Grinding Gears. Riff Raff: Party Rock Some rowdy rock to turn up the night. RE : FRESH 🍹 SUPERDOPE. Piña colada's and Caribbean Rum. The Driver There's a voice in my head that drives my heel. Country Road Might as well cruise. Might as well banjo. Born to be Wild Life's an adventure; you can't be tamed. Night Moves: Dancing In The Moonlight Unwind with the moonbeams. Night drives & night lives. Funk Right Off Get Funk'd. Rambling Roses 💐 Beauty and Love are as body and soul. Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond. Sweat. Reset. Whatever it takes. 'Cause you love the adrenaline in your veins. Power Pop: Marathon Power pop to push and electrify a workout. Cool Beans: Coffee Playlist Recharge with some warm tunes. Kitchen Crooners 🎀 Now we're cooking! Now We're Cooking! Tasty tunes for the Kitchen. Pool Party Dive in to great poolside swing. Inspiration 💡 Takes Flight Reach for the Sky! Going Places Always push forward. First 💍 Songs for special days. DisNeat - Taking The Mickey Nothing but Disney favourites. Road Trip: Spinning Wheels Hear the call for adventure and hit the road. Guilty Pleasures 🍨 You like the Grease soundtrack? Word. Catchy AF POP Pop that bops. Essentials and the catchiest of the catchy. Acoustica Stripped Back. Playlist + Chill Cool off with some chilled beats and sweet acoustic. Making Waves Unwind with breathy, breezy songs perfect for a walk on the beach. The Playlist Of The Decade (New Years Eve) We welcomed 2020 with the ultimate party playlist jam-packed with familiar throwbacks and modern favourites from the 2010's! Good times! Rhythm Heaven Step up and dance. Sax on the Beach 🎷 Gratuitous? Nah! An instrument to elevate a song from good to great! BedroX 🔥 Sparks. Pump It Up: The Playlist of Champions 🏆 Winner winner, chicken dinner. Retro Rewind Twist & shout to killer Jukebox Classics. Classic Se7ens Nothing but 70's favourites. Great Eight's Nothing but 80's Favourites. Noughty & Nice Nothing but great 00's Throwbacks. The Best Playlist Never Heard It's unheard of! Best Songs You Might Have Missed Potentially slipped under the radar. Songs for Soundtracks 🎬 Royale with cheese. The Grand European Playlist About to take off! EPIC 🗡 Fortune & Glory! SUPERHOT VR : ROCK The champ is coming. SUPERHOT VR : HIP-HOP Kings never die. SUPERHOT VR : ACTION John Wick Schtick. Cowboy Bebop : Spike Spiegel Spike Spiegel is an ex-Syndicate goon and a bounty hunter aboard the Bebop. He is proficient in martial arts, zipcraft flying, and gunfights, but he also has comical and aloof sides of his personality. If there's three things he can't stand, it's kids, pets, and women with attitudes. Cowboy Bebop : Faye Valentine Faye Valentine is a coma survivor of over 50 years and she is trying to regain her memory. She got into a lot of debt upon entering this futuristic world, and she had to resort to a life of crime and hustling to survive... that is, until she decided to live on the Bebop and become a bounty hunter. Cowboy Bebop : Jet Black Jet Black is an ex-ISSP Special Forces Officer and the Captain of the Bebop. He is a bounty hunter and is called the "Black Dog" because once he sinks his teeth in he never lets go. Jet enjoys American Jazz music, taking care of Bonsai trees, and has a knack for investigative work. Cowboy Bebop : Radical Edward Edward is a net diver from Earth. Edward is a child prodigy for hacking and has an aptitude for anything mechanical, even though Edward has some eccentricities in other parts of her personality. For instance, Edward speaks in third person and sometimes behaves like a wild animal. At The Movies 🎟 Lights, camera, playlist. James Bond Classics 🍸 A martini, shaken, not stirred. The Word Is Bond 🍸 The world is not enough; but this playlist comes pretty close. Live Love LIVE Blistering live performances. Future Nostalgia Neo-swing, retro swagger; it's future nostalgia. B-Side Yourself Hidden Gems, Deep Cuts & Rarities. Punk'd You're Gonna Go Far, Kid. Building Houses: Hit By Hit Baby let's play house. Far ALT A playlist rocking that weird shit. Stay Home: The Safety Dance Stay safe out there. Day Tripper A playlist for a long drive - a day trip. In Tents Music For Camping. Roots Bluesy classics to strut to. All That Jazz Get jazzy on it. Focus Features Take a breather. Australiana Paradise. Drive Time Coast to coast. Songs for a spin. Stone Cold Classicals It's classically classic. Hall of Fame 💎 Songs for the career climbers and L.A. dreamers. Glitz & glam; all that jazz. This is Halloween Everybody Scream! It's Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas! Christmas Classics. Just For Laughs 🎭 What a Joker! Two Nights In Tao🎙 Karaoke? There's a first time for everything. GAME Take control. Game On : Borderlands Psycho-delic CHOO CHOO THE PAIN TRAIN'S COMIN' Red Dead Redemption II Songs For Bloody Duels, Whiskey-Fueled Gambles, and Rolling Desert Plains. Energy Shot Keep animated with an energetic dose of catchy music! Party Fillers A background mix for any event. The Essential AC/DC AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and heavy metal, the band themselves call it simply "rock and roll" The Essential One Republic OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, guitarist Zach Filkins, guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellist Brent Kutzle, drummer Eddie Fisher and keyboardist Brian Willett. The Essential Shinedown Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001. Shinedown has sold more than ten million records worldwide, and has had the most number one singles on the Billboard Mainstream Rock charts out of any band, with 16. The Essential Dua Lipa Dua Lipa is an English singer and songwriter. After working as a model, she signed with Warner Music Group in 2015 and released her self-titled debut album in 2017. The success of the singles helped her self-titled album become one of the most-streamed albums on Spotify. The Essential Preatures The Preatures are an Australian band from Sydney. The band was formed in 2010 and features Isabella 'Izzi' Manfredi on vocals/keyboards, Jack Moffitt (guitar), Thomas Champion (bass) and Luke Davison (drums). The band won the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition with their song Is This How You Feel. The Essential Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine, drummer Matt Flynn, keyboardist PJ Morton and multi-instrumentalist Sam Farrar. The Essential INXS INXS were an Australian rock band, formed in 1977 in Sydney. INXS was fronted by Hutchence, whose magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/pop style, the band later developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements. The Essential Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The group, whose best-known line-up comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, are regarded as the most influential band of all time. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time. The Essential Volbeat Volbeat are a Danish rock band formed in Copenhagen in 2001. They play a fusion of rock and roll, heavy metal and rockabilly. Their current line-up consists of vocalist and guitarist Michael Poulsen, guitarist Rob Caggiano, drummer Jon Larsen and bassist Kaspar Boye Larsen. The Essential Chromeo Chromeo is a Canadian electro-funk duo from Montreal, formed in 2002 by musicians David "Dave 1" Macklovitch and Patrick "P-Thugg" Gemayel. Their sound draws from blue-eyed soul, dance music, rock, synth-pop, disco and funk. As of 2018, the band has released five studio albums. The Essential Queen Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970. Their classic line-up was Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), Roger Taylor (drums, vocals) and John Deacon (bass). With estimated record sales ranging from 170 million to 300 million, they are one of the biggest. The Essential Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. The Essential Brian Setzer Brian Robert Setzer (born April 10, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He found widespread success in the early 1980s with the 1950s-style rockabilly group Stray Cats, and revitalized his career in the early 1990s with his swing revival band, the Brian Setzer Orchestra. The Essential Florida Georgia Line Florida Georgia Line are an American country music duo consisting of vocalists Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley. Their 2012 debut single "Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over seven million times, making it the first country song ever to receive the Diamond certification. The Essential KISS Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss, and Ace Frehley. Well known for its members' face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1970s with its elaborate live performances. The Essential Sheppard Sheppard is an Australian indie pop band from Brisbane, formed in 2009. At the 2014 ARIA's ceremony, they were nominated for Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Independent Release, Best Pop Release, Song of the Year, Producer of the Year, and Best Video. The Essential Matchbox 20 Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995. The group currently consists of Rob Thomas (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Brian Yale (bass guitar), Paul Doucette (drums, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), and Kyle Cook (lead guitar, vocals). The Essential Coldplay Coldplay are a British rock band that were formed in London in 1996 consisting of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion. Coldplay have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling. The Essential Daughtry Daughtry is an American rock band formed and fronted by namesake Chris Daughtry, who was a finalist on the fifth season of American Idol. Their self-titled debut album was released in November 2006 and reached number one on the Billboard 200. To date, Daughtry has sold over 9 million albums. The Essential Black Eyed Peas The Black Eyed Peas are an American musical group, consisting of rapperswill.i.am*, apl.de.ap, Taboo, J. Rey Soul and singer Fergie. Originally an alternative hip hop group, they subsequently refashioned themselves as a more marketable pop-rap act and have become best-selling artists.*
The next Detroit: The catastrophic collapse of Atlantic City
With the closure of almost half of Atlantic City's casinos, Newark set to vote on gambling and casinos or racinos in almost every state, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City are in serious jeopardy. Israel Joffe Atlantic City, once a major vacation spot during the roaring 20s and 1930s, as seen on HBOs Boardwalk Empire, collapsed when cheap air fare became the norm and people had no reason to head to the many beach town resorts on the East Coast. Within a few decades, the city, known for being an ‘oasis of sin’ during the prohibition era, fell into serious decline and dilapidation. New Jersey officials felt the only way to bring Atlantic City back from the brink of disaster would be to legalize gambling. Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts, first opened its doors in 1978. People stood shoulder to shoulder, packed into the hotel as gambling officially made its way to the East Coast. Folks in the East Coast didn't have to make a special trip all the way to Vegas in order to enjoy some craps, slots, roulette and more. As time wore on, Atlantic City became the premier gambling spots in the country. While detractors felt that the area still remained poor and dilapidated, officials were quick to point out that the casinos didn't bring the mass gentrification to Atlantic City as much as they hoped but the billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs for the surrounding communities was well worth it. Atlantic City developed a reputation as more of a short-stay ‘day-cation’ type of place, yet managed to stand firm against the 'adult playground' and 'entertainment capital of the world' Las Vegas. Through-out the 1980s, Atlantic City would become an integral part of American pop culture as a place for east coast residents to gamble, watch boxing, wrestling, concerts and other sporting events. However in the late 1980s, a landmark ruling considered Native-American reservations to be sovereign entities not bound by state law. It was the first potential threat to the iron grip Atlantic City and Vegas had on the gambling and entertainment industry. Huge 'mega casinos' were built on reservations that rivaled Atlantic City and Vegas. In turn, Vegas built even more impressive casinos. Atlantic City, in an attempt to make the city more appealing to the ‘big whale’ millionaire and billionaire gamblers, and in effort to move away from its ‘seedy’ reputation, built the luxurious Borgata casino in 2003. Harrah’s created a billion dollar extension and other casinos in the area went through serious renovations and re-branded themselves. It seemed as if the bite that the Native American casinos took out of AC and Vegas’ profits was negligible and that the dominance of those two cities in the world of gambling would remain unchallenged. Then Macau, formally a colony of Portugal, was handed back to the Chinese in 1999. The gambling industry there had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly was ended in 2002 and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market. Under the one country, two systems policy, the territory remained virtually unchanged aside from mega casinos popping up everywhere. All the rich ‘whales’ from the far east had no reason anymore to go to the United States to spend their money. Then came the biggest threat. As revenue from dog and horse racing tracks around the United States dried up, government officials needed a way to bring back jobs and revitalize the surrounding communities. Slot machines in race tracks started in Iowa in 1994 but took off in 2004 when Pennsylvania introduced ‘Racinos’ in an effort to reduce property taxes for the state and to help depressed areas bounce back. As of 2013, racinos were legal in ten states: Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia with more expected in 2015. Tracks like Delaware Park and West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, once considered places where local degenerates bet on broken-down nags in claiming races, are now among the wealthiest tracks around, with the best races. The famous Aqueduct race track in Queens, NY, once facing an uncertain future, now possesses the most profitable casino in the United States. From June 2012 to June 2013, Aqueduct matched a quarter of Atlantic City's total gaming revenue from its dozen casinos: $729.2 million compared with A.C.'s $2.9 billion. It has taken an estimated 15 percent hit on New Jersey casino revenue and climbing. And it isn't just Aqueduct that's taking business away from them. Atlantic City's closest major city, Philadelphia, only 35-40 minutes away, and one of the largest cities in America, now has a casino that has contributed heavily to the decline in gamers visiting the area. New Jersey is the third state in the U.S. to have authorized internet gambling. However, these online casinos are owned and controlled by Atlantic City casinos in an effort to boost profits in the face of fierce competition. California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas are hoping to join Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands in offering online gambling to their residents. With this in mind, it seems the very niche that Atlantic City once offered as a gambling and entertainment hub for east coast residents is heading toward the dustbin of history. Time will tell if this city will end up like Detroit. However, the fact that they are losing their biggest industry to major competition, much like Detroit did, with depressed housing, casinos bankrupting/closing and businesses fleeing , it all makes Atlantic City’s fate seem eerily similar.
The timeshare presentations in Nevada are gettimg out of hand...
“...and walk away with a trip to beautiful Las Vegas Nevada! Enjoy a complimentary 5 day 4 night stay at any MGM casino resort all on us! No nonsense, no gimmicks. Just a bit of your precious time! Call today!” Yes. A vacation extravaganza all on the arm. Courtesy of the Hibou Timeshare Corporation. All it cost was your time and cooperation for a timeshare presentation. Simple enough yes? I wish I would have realized how much better a couple of overtimes would have served me, than taking myself to that horrid building. I was living in Phoenix AZ with my parents. Still half way bullshitting my final semester at college. I’ve got to be honest, I was checked out. It was summer..I was going to graduate and I had these final two classes in the bag. I could have failed my finals and still walked out with a C. Yes but that kind of luxury came at a price. My social life was the casualty in all of this. While I did have a tight knit of pals, my attendance to social gatherings were...well..less than punctual. I was usually doing work for one of my advanced classes. If not that, then I was pulling a shift at either of my jobs. Yeah..you could say I gave up the glamour of late night pizzas, puking in my friends car and hooking up with a random ASU frat sluts for a heavier wallet...except I was paying everything out of my own pocket. My gas, insurance, cell, college. I wasn't exactly hiding cash in the walls. My parents worked hard but..never did make a living to give me and my siblings an extravagant lifestyle. We were grateful though. So when I heard that AD of how I could get a long needed vacation to party central Las Vegas, all for watching some BS timeshare I knew I wasn’t going to buy into, you bet your ass off I made that call. The phone only rang once before I got an answer, “Thank you for calling the Hibou Timeshare Corporation, how can we help you?” a voice rang through the phone. The voice sounded shrill and sickly. “Hi, I'm calling about the vacation in Vegas? Says that you need people for a presen..” “Yeessss.” the voice interrupted “The timeshare presentation, well...we would be so honored to have you” “Uhh..yeah...anyway I’d like to sign up? Is there a form online or do you take the information here?” I said..now feeling a bit tense. “Well I'll tell you what...pack your things for the vacation. When we are finished presenting..we can send you on our way to Vegas. We just need..a bit of your time.” That was that. He gave me the address, date and time of the meeting. The area was in a place called Amargosa Valley in Nevada. Luckily it was just about an hour away from Vegas. Before we parted ways on the phone, the operator said something...he said something that should have been a MAJOR red flag. “Okay then, you’re all set...we will see you July 28th at 4:30pm. Not a moment later” he laughed “Oh..and..one more thing, if you have some more specimens like yourself that might be interested in the free vacation...bring them along. They’ll all receive the same prize and you will receive $100 cash for every person you bring. We look forward to presenting you, Austin. Good day.” I never gave him my name. Still, my young dumb brain didn’t hear anything past $100 dollars. So I rounded up a few of my best pals and we were set to meet the reps over at the timeshare. The days leading up to the trip I couldn't get a hold of myself. It was so exciting. My first real vacation in...i couldn't remember how long. I longed for this type of adventure with my friends. We packed a truck full and set off to Amargosa Valley. I brought Luke, Larry and Adam. We’d been friends since the 3rd grade. We all moved to AZ from different parts of the country that summer, so being new kids we naturally ganged up together. Luke was from Texas..we called him Tex. Real big guy. Loved to work out but definitely was a bit of a boozebag. Larry was from Ohio. Quiet in public but probably the loudest of us all. Always had some political conspiracy to talk about. Then Adam..Adam was interesting. He was from Florida...or Georgia...or Nebraska. Adam never could keep it straight about where he was from. He always had some sort of story and backtrack about where he’d come from. I personally thought he was probably from another part of AZ and just wanted to fit in...so we humor him and let him be the nomad of our group. I myself was originally from California...things got pricey so we made the move to blistering AZ. That was my crew. No matter how long it had been, we were always as tight as ever. The ride was filled with laughing and gags. Stops at fast food joints and all around bullshitting. Yes it was an amazing time just driving there, we couldn't wait to get on with the meeting and head down to Boozeville USA. As we approached our destination...something felt off. Amargosa Valley had been a bit of a ghost town the whole drive. A gas station here. A small outlet there...but otherwise unpopulated. When we hit our destination we were met by a Chrome building. Smack center in the middle of the highway. As we parked at the only stall..we all took a look at each other. “Well this is...odd.” Luke said plainly. “Yeah man...are we really going there?” Adam shook out. Barely containing his fear. “Look guys, I know it looks weird. This place is really clean and bright in the middle of a dusty desert but c’mon. It's like what...an hour of our time? Within 2 hours we’ll be on our way to the dopest guys trip ever.” I said...selfishly. The guys all agreed. We got out, locked the car up and walked in through the sliding glass doors. The cool air hit us like a wave. Each of us breathing in the refreshingly cold air. The inside of this lobby..was also immaculate. Chrome everywhere. Right down to the sofas and chairs. A woman came from around the front desk. “You must be here to be presented. I see you brought more specimens! What a joy! Will you gentlemen please follow me?” She said. Specimens. Ugh. Her tone. That word still makes me shutter. Me and the boys looked at each other..all with the same should we do it look on our faces. Maybe it was the cold air enticing our sweaty brows. We’d been a poorly AC’D truck for a couple hours. Or maybe it was the ice cold drinks she presented in front of us. Whatever the case we followed her through a door behind the front desk and were met with a grand auditorium. It looked as if it could hold maybe 50 people. And all they had was me and my knucklehead friends. As we sat down, sucking down sodas and waters, a mans voice came over the intercom. “Welcome my friends to the Hibou Timeshare Corporation presentation. Today you will be examining the lifetime of these vessels. Determine whether or not you think they are a smart investment and make a choice if you would like to partake!” I recognized the voice. It was the same shrill tone that I set up the appointment with. “Now my dear friends, it's time to sit back with your favorite drink...and listen..” With that, a large projector screen came down from the celine. An old timey countdown began winding down. BEEP3...BEEP2...BEEP1 From what I can remember, I heard the screams of something...unnatural. A scream so high tone that I felt as if my ears would burst with blood. I tried clasping my hands over my ears but to no avail. The screams were too overpowering. As soon as it started, I passed out. I awoke looking at the lights on the celine. Unable to sit up. I could tell I was bareass naked on a metal table. I moved my head, the little that i could to see Adam next to me on another table. Naked as the day we were born. He was encased in what looked like a light purple energy field. Looking more in depth, I too had this field in front of me. Before I could speak the tables raised up. Bringing me upright. Bringing me face to face with Tex. To the left of me..Larry. “My friends, I present to you: Terramite 99-0 specimens.” a voice rang out. The same voice from the auditorium. “They are..of the male species. Strong. Cunning and above all loyal...if raised properly.” “HEY, you bastards. WTF is this! LET US GO!” Tex cried out. Before he could continue, the energy field tightened around him. Tex let out a scream that will haunt me for the rest of my life. The smell of burned flesh and hair filled the area. I would have puked had the horror of seeing my best friend being burned alive wasn't keeping my attention away from the smell. When the field lifted, Tex was stripped down to the muscle fibers. Hair burned down to the scalp. Tex convulsed until he finally relaxed into a hanging position on the table. “Now see..specimen is now sedated. Reduced to a weaker position. With the energy field keeping him contained and the Auto-Reversal Time Warp engaging, we can have this specimen back into working shape immediately.” There was an electrical hum in the air. As before my eyes, Tex’s skin began to heal. His hair growing back. And all burns subsiding. It was as if nothing had happened to him. He still hung in limbo, but we could see the breath return to his chest.The rest of us let out bits of gasps of horror and astonishment. I could see Adam crying a bit in the corner of my eyes. A figure appeared from behind me. A tentacle graced my shoulder, not even phased by the force field. I caught sight of the creature. It stood around 7foot tall. Skin that looked human but a head that was elongated. No nose. And eyes that were black as coal. It had two tentacles for hands. I could not see its feet, as it was covered by a long gown. Larry screamed in anger. “Your...your...a...a…” he managed to get out before the creature silenced him. “Shhhh….I am...a salesman is all. Now my friends I will demonstrate the life cycle of the Terramite 99-0’s.” With that, Larry's forcefield began to hum. Right before my eyes Larry began to get...smaller. Not in stature necessarily, no, but in age. He went from being a young man..to a teenager..to that kid i met in 3rd grade..to an infant. His cries were extremely loud. Unaware of the horrors around him. At that moment I could hear Adam's field begin to hum. “Please no! Please!” Adam begged. “If you will direct your attention to our third pod:” Adam then began to scream as he went from a young man..to middle aged man...to retirement age and finally...to a decrepit old man. Hair as white as snow. Wrinkled beyond recognition. Each breath looking to nearly be his last. “From birth to the declining ages of 70 and beyond the Auto-Reversal Time Warp pods are the perfect tool to use when training your armys, your children, your slaves. Imagine...never having to replace workers. Never worrying if your training methods or punishments might go too far. Never losing a prisoner to death. And though the Terramites look to be difficult to control, I can guarantee their cooperation once put through the proper training.” The creature said. Full of glee in his dead eyes. Between the crying of baby larry and incoherent babbling of old man adam, the room felt like it was spinning. Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger, the rest of the lights came to life. The room we were in were surrounded by seats, similar to the ones we sat in. However, sitting in these seats were ghastly creatures of different varieties. Some looked like the salesman creature. Others were ogreish. Large bodied creatures covered in a film of slime. Some of them even looked human. It was the eyes though...their eyes were a teal color with white pupils. Many many creatures looked up me and my friends. All of them began clapping their hands and cheering in unison. The claps were deafening. The cries of the baby felt as if a baseball bat was ramming my head. Adams babbling was terrifyingly disturbing. And Tex...hanging there. Eyes rolled back into his skull. I couldnt imagine the hell he began to feel. At this point I wondered what awaited my fate. The clapping stopped abruptly. “Oh...Austin...yes, well if you want to know what fate awaits you just shut your eyes. Shut your eyes and quietly count back from 3.” the creature said...was he reading my mind? Suddenly the urge to close my eyes overtook me. Almost as if I had no choice, I began counting down. 3….2….1…. Everything went black. I wasn't sure if i was alive or dead...or somewhere in between. I saw nothing but black for what felt like a lifetime. And in an instant...I heard that same shrill scream. Only this time I could not cover my ears. I couldn’t feel my body but I felt an unimaginable amount of pain. As the scream grew to its peak, I slammed my eyes open. Trying to catch my breath. I was back in the car...we were all back in the car. The engine was on. Shitty ac blasting. The others were still out. I sat up in my seat. Not wanting to move too suddenly. The sun was beating down on us. I looked over at the time on the dash…July 28th 4:34 pm. I reached into my shirt pocket and I found several vouchers for the MGM hotels in Vegas along with $300 dollars. I also found a card that simply read “Hibou Timeshare Corp. would like to thank you for a bit of your time” The boys came too. All feeling rather groggy. “We all fell asleep huh?” Adam laughed. “We here?” They didn't remember a thing. Not one thing. Not going in...not the reception area...not the freaky timeshare presentation...not one bit. I lied...i told them that while they were sound asleep, we arrived a little earlier than expected. The presenter had an emergency and left our vouchers at the front desk and apologized profusely. “Wow, what a gentleman!” Tex laughed. “We definitely owe it to him to sit through another timeshare, probono.” Larry added. I think it's safe to say that I will not be returning to this or any other timeshare. As I drove away I could see the building disappear in the rear view mirror. So if you’re traveling deep within the southwest of the United States and hear an ad for a free vacation that's too good to be true...do yourself a favor..turn off the radio, call into work and ask for some overtime..because nothing is ever given for free.
The day the server room cooked itself to well done
Casting: $me - obviously $sa - on-call Sys Admin $eng - engineering dispatcher I had just started my night shift that particular night and felt the need to use the restroom. As I walked past our tech shop, I heard an unusual beeping. I opened the door and realized the beeping was coming from the backup temperature monitor for one of our server rooms. I work for a large casino and this particular room handles a good amount of the gaming floor. I get close enough to read the screen... 104.3 degrees (Fahrenheit). “No”, I think to myself, “it can’t be, our temperature alert hasn’t gone off!” Our main temperature monitor calls a list of phone numbers when certain thresholds are breached. I had no record of any such calls that day. Regardless, I head to the phone next to the server room door and then I feel it. The heat is RADIATING OFF THE DOOR. I grab the phone to call surveillance (they control the one of the door locks) and through the window into the server room I just see servers shut down. MY. HEART. STOPPED. I have never made so many calls in such quick succession. SURVEILLANCE OPEN THIS DOOR NOWWWWW” I don’t think they even asked why, I’m sure they saw what happened. Then I had to contact engineering to get a portable AC unit in. $eng: “Hello, Engineering speaking” $me: “I need someone to server room with a portable AC unit!” $eng: “well, what’s going on? There’s been no temperature alerts.” $me: “The server room just overheated to the point of failure and we lost 1/3 of our gaming floor. Are you coming or do I need to find and hook up the AC myself?” $eng: “uhhhh... we will be right there” And the crowning glory: contacting $sa. $me: “hi $sa, I need you to come in.” $sa: “can it wait, I just climbed into bed.” $me: “afraid not, server room just went dark and we lost 1/3 of our gaming floor, you need to get here ASAP” $sa: “wut. Haha very funny seriously what’s going on?” $me: “I’m as serious as a heart attack. You should already be on your way.” $sa: “OMG ok I’m en route” Eventually it came to light that there had been temperature issues earlier that day, but instead of resetting the alarms, one of the engineering knuckleheads just set it to “silence”. Thus, no warning about the temps until it was too late. TL;DR: Idiot set server room temp monitoring service to “silent”, so nobody knew that the server room managing 1/3 of the casino gaming floor was cooking itself to death. I stumbled by just in time to watch all of the servers shut off. EDIT: fixed formatting (thanks u/bhtooefr!) EDIT 2: HOLY CRAP this was my first time posting anything. Thank you for all the comments and upvotes! Also (since this has come up a few times) yes there was data loss and hardware failure. We had a well maintained backup system so we only lost about 2 hours of data if I remember correctly. Hardware loss was expensive and took about 2 months to get everything fully functional. EDIT 3: clarification of degrees in Fahrenheit.
Ayala Corp buys Qualimed hospital network... and Merry Christmas! (Wednesday, Dec 23)
Happy Wednesday, Barkada --
The PSE closed down 23 points to 7202 ▼0.3%.
Thank you to @iso8583 and @tagongpangalan of the PHinvest Discord for bringing to my attention a case where someone has been stealing my content and posting MB articles to his website and 15 different Facebook groups. Maybe if he didn't remove my name and chop off the copyright notice at the end, he'd realized that I encourage people to forward MB on to others, provided that MB is not altered and that full credit to MB is given. Let's be real: MB is free, and I've always been "pro share" with anyone and everyone who might be interested... but hacking my name off and removing my branding is just basic copyright infringement. Thanks for letting me know! Gives me another thing to do over the holidays. A huge MB thank-you to one of my original Producer-level Patreon supporters, FinanceForever. Today's send is completely backed by his donation. FinanceForever has been a fantastic resource of feedback on MB's content, and a helpful well of suggestions for improvement! That producer title is well-earned. Haha Since today is the last trading day of the week (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are non-trading days), I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas... more importantly, I want to wish you a safe and healthy Christmas.
POGO Gaming ▼3.03% Fast Food ▼2.88% MiddleClass ▼2.35%
Main stories covered:
[NEWS] Ayala Corp [AC 838.00 ▲0.36%] acquires majority stake in parent company of Qualimed Health Network... Ayala Health, a subsidiary of AC, purchased Ayala Land’s [ALI 41.70 ▼0.12%] 39.2% stake in Mercado General Hospital, Inc (MGHI), the parent company of Qualimed Health Network. Ayala Health also purchased an additional 15% of MGHI directly from the Mercado Group of individual shareholders. The deal gives AC a 54.2% controlling stake in MGHI. The Qualimed Health Network includes four hospitals, an ambulatory care facility, and several clinics.
MB:AC believes that the acquisition of this “hospital platform” completes their cycle of patient care. AC, through Ayala Health, owns primary clinics, specialty clinics, and now... hospitals. AC has been growing its healthcare portfolio aggressively, but it’s interesting to see the group pivot away from its previous “stance”; the group was more focused on the distributed, non-primary care facilities like community clinics and specialty care clinics, and not so much on the traditional centralized hospital with an emergency ward and beds. As an investor, I was more interested in AC Health’s distributed approach, but I’m open-minded to see how these flavors might cook into the Ayala stew of assets.
[NEWS] PSE looking to tweak the rules on voluntary delistings... the new rules will only permit a voluntary delisting to proceed if less than 10% of the total outstanding and listed shares of the company vote to reject the move. That’s a huge change from the previous rule, which only required board of directors approval and a fairness opinion to proceed to a pre-delisting tender offer. Now, companies must conduct a shareholders vote, get less than 10% of shares to reject the move, and get 2/3rds of the board to approve, including two independent directors, and the minimum tender offer price is now the highest of a fairness opinion or a volume-weighted average price.
MB:This move is aligned with the PSE’s goal of increasing the public ownership of listed corporations. The exchange has been focused on ratcheting up the minimum public float from 10% to 20%, but it’s also been forced to take a second look at the voluntary delisting rules after a few sketchy transactions (Resorts World Manila, I’m talking about you). In the old days (you know, those days before this PSE memo went into effect a couple of days ago), all a company had to do to delist was have the board approve the move and then cram a tender offer through based on a fairness opinion cooked up by a valuator selected by the board. Now, while that fairness opinion bit hasn’t changed much, it’s no longer just up to the board. It’s no longer so easy for a company to court the investment of the public only to fold up shop a few years later once the novelty has worn off (or their interest in public disclosures has, shall we say, waned).
[NEWS] Bloomberry [BLOOM 8.20 ▼4.32%] adds ₱20bn to an existing loan facility... the Solaire casino operator negotiated with lenders to get an additional ₱20bn added to a ₱73.5bn creditline. The company also negotiated with its lenders to get a huge “covenant test holiday” on that loan facility until June 2023.
MB:That’s a pretty big add-on. Most companies are in need of some operating cash these days; they can sell something (assets), borrow it (debt), or raise it (follow-on offering / stock rights offering). Each option comes with a cost, but most owners would prefer to take on more debt rather than give up points of equity. That’s what BLOOM has done here. The interesting bit (to me) is that they’ve been able to delay covenant testing for almost three years. When a company signs a loan with a bank, the bank usually includes a list of covenants (promises) that the company must abide by. Sometimes the covenant has to do with maintaining a certain debt-to-equity ratio, or other times it might have to do with capping public ownership or transference of shares. Banks periodically test a company’s adherence to the covenants, and my feeling here is that the ₱20bn addition probably blows up an existing debt-to-equity ratio covenant for a period of years. The bank(s) are likely eyes-wide-open here, with confidence in BLOOM’s ability to service the debt eventually through gradual recovery.
MB is posted to /PHinvest every Monday and Wednesday, but my newsletter goes out daily. To stay in the loop for daily email delivery, please join the barkada by signing up for the newsletter, or follow me on Twitter.
August 19th - Welcome Bugs ArchKnights Shoutout to the new bug catchers August 21st - MindBreaker WyvernRider Set Exclusive set now on sale for $$$ August 21st - Return to the Nightmare Realm MindBreaker class no longer exclusive + weekend event
Aion North America August 18th - August Store Update Cash shop update - transformation items August 19th - Class Master Event Massive 24hour buff based on day/class and new event currency August 19th - Patch Notes: Shadows Over Balaurea Update Class balancing and other minor changes Aion Europe August 19th - UPDATE 7.6: NOW LIVE! 2 new ultimate transformations August 21st - WHEEL OF DESTINY Lootbox has returned August 21st - WEEKEND SPECIALS Minionite random box available
August 19th - The Offseason Crystal Tournament Starts Saturday First-ever offseason crystal tournament August 19th - Rise of Avalon Patch 1 - Ver. 1.17.404 / REV 172780 - 19 August 2020 Corrupted/hellgate changes + bug fixes August 21st - Guild Spotlight: Fire With Fire Interview with a guild
August 20th - Glide, Spin and Sneak through Erenor! Cash shop update August 21st - 35% Bonus for All Credit Packs – ArcheAge: Unchained Credit discount for AA:Unchained
August 19th - Pearl Shop Update: A Camp and a Keeper Cash shop update August 19th - Summer Gets Twice as Sweet! Summer event extension August 19th - Patch Notes - 19th August 2020 Class balancing and other minor changes August 19th - Mysteries of Summer: A Tale of a Fallen Kingdom II Mysterious summer event August 21st - Mysteries of Summer: A Tale of a Fallen Kingdom II Guide Guide to the mysterious summer event August 21st - Stay Healthy with the Black Spirit! Free stuff because corona...
August 17th - Hongsil’s Treasure Draw (August 2020) Lootbox is back August 17th - Midsummer Events Extravaganza Preview End of summer events August 17th - Summer Chill Event Preview Summer event to get swimsuits August 18th - Midnight Reborn is Now Live! Content update August 20th - Dawning Star Costume Crate Now Available! Lootbox for costumes and pets
August 17th - SALVAGE AND SELL EVENT AUGUST 20 - 25 Marketplace event August 18th - PS4 NEW PLAYER CLOSED BETA FAQ FAQ for PS4 CB Players August 18th - SUMMER OUTFITS AND NEW MOUNT! Cash shop sale August 20th - PS4 CLOSED BETA STARTS TODAY 8/20/2020 PS4 CB Launch August 21st - SWEET BLUSH SHEEP PLUSH CONCEPT ART SPOTLIGHT! Insight into the sweet blush sheep plush design August 21st - BLESS UNLEASHED INTERVIEW WITH KOVEN PARK Interview
August 17th - DDO Screenshot of the Week #477 It’s a screenshot… honestly I don’t know what else you expected. August 21st - The DDO Chronicle: Issue 393 Community news
August 18th - CREATE A BUSTLING HUB OF ACTIVITY WITH CHARACTER PATHING Set pathings for NPCs August 20th - DISCOVER HOW THE NEW GREYMOOR SOUNDTRACK WAS MADE OST insights
August 17th - Leve Turn in Checkbox and Additional Housing Leve quest changes August 20th - Adventurer Celebration Sale Ending Soon! Cash shop sale August 20th - The Rising Returns! Anniversary event returns
August 19th - Cash Shop Update for August 19 Cash shop update August 19th- v.216 - Astral Blessings Update Preview Update preview and end of burning world August 21st - What's Your MapleStory? - EvanelleOnyx Interview with player
August 17th - Avernus Hunt Key Bundle! New key bundle available August 17th - Patch Notes: Version: NW.122.20200708b.16 The first part of the redeemed citadel is now available August 19th - 2x Storm King's Thunder Currency! Get 2x storm king’s currency till the 27th August 19th - 2x Glory! 2x PvP points August 20th - 20% off Companions! Cash shop sale August 20th - VIP Only - 50% off Improved Bag of Holding! Rank 3 VIP members 50% discount
August 17th - Harvest Fan Art Competition Runners-Up Runner up submissions for art contest August 18th - Patch 3.11.1f Deployment and Full Patch Notes Patch notes August 19th - Harvest Statistics: Unique Items, Maps and the Most Deadly Areas Statistics..idk I don’t play PoE August 20th - Path of Exile Is Coming to macOS in September! PoE coming to macOS August 21st - Racing Gauntlet Community Event This Weekend - Huge Sale on Footprints, Portals and Character Effects Community event + cash shop sale
August 17th - CAMPAIGN: COMPLETE CLIENT ORDERS! (8/19) Party with others and get rewards August 17th - CELEBRATING 1,000,000 ARKS! Event August 18th - URGENT QUESTS & CONCERTS: AUGUST 2020 - PART 2 More Events and in game concert August 18th - NEW URGENT QUEST: DIGNITY OF STEEL UNLEASHED New urgent quests August 18th - NEW URGENT QUEST: THE LUNAR PHANTASM MATRIARCH New urgent quests August 18th - CAMPAIGN: QUEST TRIGGER DISTRIBUTION (8/19) Quest trigger handout + sale August 18th - FUN SCRATCH TICKET: AUGUST 2020 - PART 2 New lootbox rotation August 18th - AC SCRATCH TICKET: EARTH DEFENDERS (8/19) New lootbox August 19th - NEW CONCERT: ARKS DANCE FESTIVAL! New concert schedule August 20th - CASINO BOOSTS (8/23) Better chances to win at the casino August 21st - ACCOUNT MEASURES TAKEN FOR DISHONEST ACTS RMT and harassment bans August 21st - PSO2 DAY: PREMIUM USER APPRECIATION DAY User appreciation event
August 19th - Patch Notes 1.0.2.0 - Ancient Ruins & more Ancient ruins area August 21st - Realm of the Mad God Exalt End of flash client support on September
August 18th - Class packs are available for purchase! Unlock any class with cash August 19th - Sale: Sun Worshipper Pack Cash shop outfit on sale August 19th - Warm Breeze is here! Login event
August 17th - Cross Faction Support Carrier Bundle New carriers on the C-Store August 19th - PC Patch Notes for 8/20/20 Minor bug fixes August 20th - 20% Ship Sale! Cash shop sale August 21st - Carrier Bundle Wallpaper! Downloadable wallpaper
August 17th - This Week in Star Citizen Weekly recap August 18th - August 2950 Subscriber Promotions Subscriber stuff August 19th - KAIZEN: Interview with Imperator Candidate Mira Ngo Lore dump August 19th - Star Citizen & Squadron 42 Roadmap Update Updates to the development roadmap August 19th - Foundational Moments in Human History Lore dump August 21st - TRANSMISSION Insights into the FPS weapons and systems August 21st - Environment Art AMA Recap Recap of AMA
August 17th - DEVBLOG: THE NEW MINERAL TOWER Changes to mineral tower August 18th - BETA 1.69: NOW ONLINE! Beta 1.69 is ready to be tested August 20th - DRAGOTURKEY RUN New run available
August 18th - Weekly Bonus Event: Arena Skirmishes PvP arena event August 19th - Follow the Tides of Music From Battle for Azeroth Listen to the BFA OST August 19th - Shadowlands Preview: A New Look for the WoW Companion App Preview of changes to the companion app August 19th - Arena World Championship Circuit Viewer's Guide Watch the pvp world championship starting aug 22nd August 20th - Engineer’s Workshop: Recreating the Ahn’Qiraj War Effort Development insights August 22nd - Engineer’s Workshop: Enabling Ray-Traced Shadows in Shadowlands Development insights August 22nd - Cataclysm: Mounts, Pets, and More How to get stuff from Cataclysm August 22nd - Hotfixes: August 21, 2020 Bug fixes
If you are reporting about a casino, could you please try to include the following:
Name of the casino
Where it's located
What time of day and is it a weekday or weekend?
Max odds
Field pays
Side bets available (Repeater, ATS, Firebet)
Are there dividers or how many are shooting per side
The more information we have, the better off we will be. We all know that tables can change rapidly. I saw a table go from 25 to 15 to 100 at the Flamingo in the course of a few hours. I'll try to keep the mins what is reported the most and add other information in the comments like "found this table at $5 on graveyard shift" so people konw that isn't the norm These tables can be a pain to maintain, so please provide as much information as possible. An informed roller is a beter roller.
OtherNV Casnio
WeekDay Min
WeekNight Min
WeekendMin
WeeknightMin
MaxOdds
Field Pay
Sidebet
Dividers/Per Side
Last Update
Comments
Wind Creek (Wetumpka, AL)
15
25
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
4 to a table
7/31
Sycuan (San Diego, CA)
10
10
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Barona (So Cal)
10
15
10
10-15
5X
2 Dub 3 Trip
Fire/Sharpshooter
2 per side
10/2
dealers managing bets for players. ($10 at times) - Digital table . $10, double the field with Hot Shooter Bet.
Harrahs (So Cal)
15-25
15-25
15-50
15-50
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
7/31
Ameristar (Black Hawk, CO)
10
10
15
15
10X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10/12
Colorado law, max bet $100
Golden Gates (Black Hawk, CO)
10
10
10
10
20X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10/12
Colorado law, max bet $100
Monarch (Black Hawk, CO)
10
10
15
15
10X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10/12
Colorado law, max bet $100
Saratoga (Black Hawk, CO)
10
10
10
10
20X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10/12
Colorado law, max bet $100
The Lodge (Black Hawk, CO)
10
10
10
10
10X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10/12
Colorado law, max bet $100
Foxwoods (CT)
10
10
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
4/side
8/22
Mohegan (CT)
15-25
25
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Harrington (DE)
15
15-25
25
25
10X
Unknown
Firebet
2/side
10/1
Rivers (Chicago, IL)
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
8/2
Blue Chip (Michigan City, IN)
5
10
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
ATS
Unknown
5 minimum prop bets, 5 min ATS bet.
Caesars Southern IN
10
15
15
25
Unknown
ATS & Fire
Unknown
Unknown
11/15
French Lick Resort (French Lick, IN)
15
15
25
25
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
8/5
Tables open at 11am and close at 3AM.
Harrah's Hooiser Park (Anderson, IN)
10
10
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Hollywood Larenceburg (Larenceburg, IN)
10
10
Unknown
Unknown
Sharp/Lucky Shooter
Unknown
Unknown
4/side
11/15
Indiana Grand (IN)
10
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
Hollywood casino Lawrenceburg (IN)
10-15
10 -15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Rivers (Chcago, IL)
10
15
Belle (Baton Rogue, LA)
5
10
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
one half sized table sometimes they open the big one. $5 small table and $10 big late at night
Hollywood (Baton Rogue, LA)
5
10
Unknown
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
7/24
L’auberge (Baton Rogue,LA)
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
8/2
L’auberge (Lake Charles,LA)
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
8/2
El Dorado (Shreveport, LA)
10
10
10
10
100X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
8/17
Horseshoe (Shreveport, LA) 15
15
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
8/17
Margaritaville (Shreveport, LA) 15
15
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
8/17
Sams Town (Shreveport, LA)
10
10
10
10
20X
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
10/10
Ocean Downs (MD)
10
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
8/17
Maryland Live (MD)
25
50
50
100
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Yes, 4 per side
9/6
Electronic craps 15 min
MGM @ National Harbor
50-100
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
No bubble craps or low roller options.
Firekeepers (Battle Creek, MI)
10
15+
15
25
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
8/17
$3 Bubble Craps.
Four Winds Casino (New Buffalo, MI)
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Digital craps table 5$ min
Gun Lake (Wayland, MI)
10
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
No
No
MGM Grand Detroit (Detroit, MI)
15
25
unknown
unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Yes
Turtle Creek (Traverse City, MI)
5
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Soaring Eagle (Mt Pleasant, MI)
10
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Yes, 5 per side
Hollywood Casino, Maryland Heights (St Louis) MO
15
15
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
4 per side
River City (St. Louis, MS)
20
20
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown
Unknown 4 players per side
You have to have at least a $20 bet for every throw to "hold your spot"
August 4th - The BugHunters are recruiting Looking for players to assist the QA team find bugs August 7th - NecroTech Knight Upgrade Bonus New set available when you spend $10 or more August 7th - Demon Queen Boss Battle Indonesian independence day event
Aion North America August 5th - Frosty Fever Event Summer PvE event - get loot or buffs Aion Europe August 5th - THE GREAT DAEVANION EVENT Event - higher chance to upgrade daevanion gear August 5th - REVENGE OF THE GRANKER KING Event - kill special mobs in gelk/ing and get loot August 7th - WHEEL OF DESTINY Loot box promotion August 7th - WEEKEND SPECIALS Cash shop promotion
August 4th - New Player Video Guides AO mod created YT ch that answers common questions August 5th - Guild Spotlight: Victi Omnes Interview with a guild August 5th - First Look: The Rogue Adventurer Bundle Promotion for a new cash shop outfit and mount set August 6th - Watch the Crystal League Finals on AlbionTV Guild season is coming to an end August 7th - The Offseason Crystal Tournament is Coming Tournament announcement
August 6th - ArcheAge: Discounted Garden of the Gods Packages Cash shop sale on Garden of the Gods packs August 7th - Up, Up and Away We Go! Cash shop update
August 5th - Loyal Attendance Rewards Refreshed Daily attendance rewards have been changed August 5th - Pearl Shop Update: Enhancement Pack Cash shop update + new cash shop outfit available August 5th - Patch Notes - 5th August 2020 Bug fixes, events and class balancing August 5th - Great Summer Festival Summer event
August 4th - DESTINY 2 HOTFIX 2.9.1.2 Minor bug fixes August 6th - THIS WEEK AT BUNGIE - 8/06/20 Weekly recap August 7th - COMMUNITY FOCUS: DREXIS Interview with Drexis
August 5th - SUMMER SALES: FINAL MARK-DOWN! Merch store discount August 5th - ANKAMA LAUNCHER: NEW INTERFACE FOR ALL YOUR GAMES! Revamped game launcher is available August 7th - ANKAMA LIVE: DOFUS RETRO SPECIAL EDITION Livestream and in-game event details August 7th - THE RETURN OF GROZILLA AND GRASMERA Monster hunt event August 7th - [CONTEST] INTERNATIONAL BOW MEOW DAY! International cat day event - screenshot contest
August 3rd - CROWN STORE SHOWCASE—AUGUST 2020 Cash shop sale August 6th - ANNOUNCING ESO’S NEXT-GEN SUPPORT PS5 and Xbox SX will be supported August 6th - SAVE UP TO 50% AND PLAY FREE DURING QUAKECON AT HOME Free play week and discount on cash shop currency
August 4th - METALIMINAL STORMS - NEW UPDATE Spacestorms will appear at random in nullsec space August 6th - SLICE OF LIFE Upcoming stream promotion and PvP event details August 7th - FOUNDATION DAY EVENT IS LIVE Login, get free stuff August 7th - NEW ABYSSAL PROVING GROUNDS EVENT PvP event details August 7th - UPCOMING ABYSSAL PROVING GROUNDS EVENTS Upcoming PvP event details
August 3rd - Unveiling The Voracious Resurgence Special Website! Special site is up for a new storyline in the world of Vana’diel August 5th - The Sunbreeze Festival Summer event is back August 7th - Discount Campaign Get the game along with all the expansions for $9.99 USD August 7th - Return home to Vana’diel campaign Returning players event August 7th - Presenting a New Wallpaper Commemorating The Voracious Resurgence! Download a new wallpaper by Akihiro Yamada
August 3rd - Watch the Latest Installment of Duty Commenced US team’s live stream. August 3rd - FINAL FANTASY XIV Fan Kit Released! Wallpapers release for mobile and desktop August 3rd - Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LIX Digest Released Dev talk replay available August 5th - Changes to the FINAL FANTASY XIV Starter Edition Heavensward added to the starter edition August 5th - Changes to A Realm Reborn Main Scenario Quest Requirements Store progression in the base game has been updated August 6th - Patch 5.3─Reflections in Crystal Site Update Teaser site updated August 7th - Patch 5.3 Notes (Preliminary) Patch notes for upcoming 5.3 patch
August 4th - Festival of the Four Winds 2020 Begins Next Week Annual summer event returns August 4th - Cool Off under Your Ice Reaver Cape Cash shop update August 7th - World vs. World Weeklong Bonus Returns August 14 PvP channel event
August 3rd - [Updated] Nexon Merch Store is Back! Get MS merchandise on Amazon August 5th - Cash Shop Update for August 5 Cash shop sale/new item rotation
August 3rd - Community Livestream - 'P.E.T. Part 2' Update Preview Livestream that shows off the PET Part 2 update August 4th - Art Corner - 2nd Edition Fan art highlight
August 5th - 2x Underdark Campaign Currency! Double currency drop event August 6th - Limited Time Magnificent Keyring! Lootbox promotion August 7th - Updated Roadmap Q&A Stream - August 11, 2020 Roadmap Q&A Stream on Aug 11th
August 3rd - Our 3.12 Expansion Timeline Dates for upcoming content August 3rd - Afterlife cat pet New cash shop pet available August 4th - Harvest fan art competition highlights Featured fan art from ongoing competition August 4th - Undead outcast helmet skin New cash shop item August 5th - Harvest statistics: crafts, lifeforce and the avatar of the grove Stats on the most used crafts August 5th - Doomcrow wings New cash shop item August 6th - Community Organized Event - 8 Day Racing Gauntlet Starts on August 22nd! Racing event August 6th - Automation lightning armour set New cash shop outfit August 7th - Community showcase Fan art highlight August 7th - New Skill Effects and Super Stash Sale New cash shop cosmetics
August 3rd - FUN SCRATCH TICKET: AUGUST 2020 - PART 1 Lootbox promotion August 3rd - MISSION PASS: SEASON 6 Monthly achievement system rewards August 3rd - AC SCRATCH TICKET: MAESTRO SUMMONER Lootbox promotion August 4th - PSO2 ON STEAM: BONUS LOGIN REWARDS! Bonuses for logging in through steam August 4th - CAMPAIGN: JOIN AN ALLIANCE! (8/5) Join an alliance, get rewards August 4th - CHALLENGE OTHERS IN THE BATTLE ARENA! New PvP content August 4th - LEVEL UP FASTER WITH BONUS QUESTS! Leveling event August 4th - CAMPAIGN: WELCOME BACK TO PSO2! Returning player event August 5th - URGENT QUESTS & CONCERTS: AUGUST 2020 - PART 1 Event August 5th - NEW URGENT QUEST: BEACH WARS! Summer event August 5th - BEACH WARS BEACH-WEAR! Summer cash shop promotion August 5th - NEW REWARDS BUNDLE FOR XBOX GAME PASS ULTIMATE MEMBERS! Xbox game pass ultimate members will get rewards August 5th - NEW EPISODE 4 LAUNCH BUNDLES! Cash shop bundles August 5th - SUMMER IN PSO2! Summer event details August 5th - PSO2: STEAM LAUNCH REWARDS Rewards for playing through steam August 5th - CASINO BOOSTS & BONUSES! (8/8) Casino promotion
August 4th - AuguST ST STreak - x1.5 XP and droprates! Discord Q&A! Janus is there too. 1.5x event August 5th - Patch Notes 1.0.1.0 - Oryx changes, Discord Nitro Boosting Rewards and more Patch notes... duh
August 4th - Ready Player Sun: Free Gift & 30% Off Sale! Freebies and 30% off on the cash shop August 5th - Sale: Hall of Trophies - August 5, 2020 Trophy sale
August 3rd - Free Lower Decks Duty Officers! Get officers from the new show to join your crew August 3rd - PC and Console Patch Notes for 8/4/20 Events, balancing and minor fixes August 5th - PC Patch Notes for 8/6/20 bug fixes
August 3rd - August 3rd - This Week in Star Citizen Weekly insight August 4th - Portfolio: Otoni Group Lore August 4th - DISCOVER THE SPEED, POWER, AND UTILITY OF NEW & REWORKED VEHICLES Overpriced vehicles for sale August 5th - ALPHA 3.10 FLIGHT & FIGHT Patch highlights August 6th - Star Citizen Monthly Report: July 2020 Monthly update on development August 7th - TRANSMISSION Inside star citizen stream PTU August 7th - TRANSMISSION Weapons creation process August 7th - Roadmap Roundup - August 7th, 2020 Dev decision insights
August 3rd - Get ready for TERA in 64-bit! 64bit tera client coming soon August 3rd - Get Ready to Mask Up! Buy digital masks and support real doctors August 6th - TERA Battle Arena Update: Gameplay Patch preview
August 3rd - Medeina's FLEX BOX Do content, get boxes, open for loot August 3rd - Summer TOSventure Event Summer event August 4th - Like & Comment Event: ToS Task Force is back with Second Event! Facebook event August 4th - World Map Reorganization World map update preview August 4th - Update Plans for the Second Half of 2020 Update plans August 5th - New Original Sound Tracks Available - August OST Video
August 4th - Take the Lunar Plunge until August 18 Event August 4th - Dive into Deals for Lunar Plunge until August 18 Cash shop promotion August 7th - Luxion’s First Arrival in August – Lasts until Aug. 10 Luxion’s store refresh
August 5th - SUMMER SALES: FINAL MARK-DOWN! Merch store discount August 5th - ANKAMA LAUNCHER: NEW INTERFACE FOR ALL YOUR GAMES! New game launcher August 6th - SHELLS AND CRUSTACEANS PACK Cash shop promotion
August 3rd - WoW Classic Ahn’Qiraj: The Scarab Lords are Rising! Join the war effort August 4th - The Pet Battle Bonus Event Has Begun! Pet PvP event August 4th - Jump Into This Week’s PvP Brawl: Hotmogu Weekly PvP rotation August 4th - Explore the Temple of Ahn’Qiraj and Ruins of Ahn’Qiraj Raid content available
7 Days to Die Alpha 19 Newbie Guide (PC Version) I've seen a number of posts looking for a "how to play," or "introduction," to the game. This is my attempt to write one. At the beginning of the game, you wake up video-game naked (i.e., in your underwear) and completely ignorant. Your goal is to survive, which is made harder by a) your nude ignorance, and b) the fact that you're living in the aftermath of a combined zombie/nuclear apocalypse. Your character has four on-screen meters showing your status: food, water, health, and stamina (or call it whatever you like -- fatigue, energy, etc.). Food and water levels go down unless you eat or drink something. They go down faster if you're doing something that burns stamina (like running). They go down faster if you're too hot or too cold (which is usually only an issue in biomes like desert or snow when you're not properly dressed). They can also go down faster with certain health effects (like getting dysentery -- I'll talk about these effects in a second). Run out of food or water and you will die. (Pay attention to the status bars; in real-life survival situations, regularly getting water is more important than food, but in-game, they both matter.) (Pro tip: Food and drinks you can make yourself are better in many ways than canned goods or basic crops.) Health is just like in any other video game. It goes down when you get hit, or fall, or step on pointy things like spikes or cacti. Run out of health and you die. Eating food, using certain medical supplies, or just waiting will cause health to go back up. Again, certain health effects may nerf your health bar. Stamina shows when you're tired. If you run out of stamina, then you can't swing weapons or tools, run, jump, or do other elements of an active post-apocalyptic lifestyle. The good news is that your stamina comes back faster than health while waiting. Drinking improves stamina recovery, and eating gives a temporary boost to maximum stamina. The bad news is that you will be using stamina constantly as you go about your day. (Pro tip: Check out the various beverages in the game to find stamina benefits -- particularly red tea and coffee, also known as the mining combo.) Alpha 19 has a variety of different health effects that can hamper your food and water consumption, your health/stamina recovery, your maximum health/stamina, your speed, or your ability to use tools. Dysentry comes from eating rotting flesh or drinking unboiled water. Don't do that if at all possible. (Pro tip: You can eat animal fat and snowberries -- or yucca fruit in the desert biome -- if you run out of food in the first couple of days.) Other de-buffs come from injuries. The good news is that if you click on the icon showing the effect, it will bring up your character with info on exactly what you need to mitigate the effect, e.g., put on a splint or a cast to speed healing from a broken leg. Two particular health effects worth calling out are bleeding and infection. If you're bleeding, your screen will flash and your health will keep dropping. Use a bandage, medicated bandage, or medkit to stop it. ANYBODY can make bandages from cloth, so keep some with you. Infection refers not to gangrene, but to the dreaded zombie infection...a disease so horrifying that it helped usher in the fall of civilization. The ONLY way to cure this dangerous disease is...to eat some honey or take an over-the-counter antibiotic. Really, infection should only ever be a serious issue in the first week. (Pro tip: using an ax on tree stumps has a random chance to drop honey.) Encumbrance: You have a fixed number of inventory slots. You will note that three rows are clear at the start of the game, while the final two rows are not. Those extra rows represent encumbrance, and filling them up will significantly slow you down and increase your stamina usage. Try to avoid that outside of cleared or safe areas. You can increase the number of non-encumbered slots with clothing and armor mods, or through the Pack Mule perk. I recommend finding or making pocket mods ASAP and skipping the perk, though a single level in the early game can make things easier for newbies. (Pro tip: Some items, like most raw materials, food, drinks, medicines, etc., stack in inventory; some items like clothing, mods, and weapons do not. Smart inventory management when looting and salvaging will keep that in mind: do I really want to pick up that pair of shoes, or hold onto that dirty water that will stack if I find more?) All right, now that the basics are out of the way, how do I get better at surviving? The answer to that is two-fold. 1) Learn how to do more things. 2) Get better stuff. How do you learn more things? You get experience points (xp) from almost everything in this game. Eventually, when your xp bar fills, you will gain a level and get a perk point. You can use that to select perks, which all have various benefits. At the start, you will get a series of basic quests that serve as a mini-tutorial, and you will gain 4 perk points from finishing them (make sure you complete them!). (Pro tip: Upgrading blocks, e.g., turning flagstone walls into brick walls, is an exceedingly generous way of earning xp in Alpha 19; using a hammer on a block will tell you what material is needed to upgrade it.) Which perks should I pick first? Well...as a newbie, I recommend Lucky Looter (which improves your chance of finding good stuff), either Pummel Pete or Skull Crusher (depending on whether you want to use clubs or sledges), Sexual Tyrannosaurus (which improves your stamina usage), and something from the Fortitude recovery perks. Healing faster, using less food, or running away are all useful. Ask a different player and you will get wildly different suggestions. Eventually, you will figure out your preferred style of play and pick things accordingly. Note that perks tend to be useful to different degrees based on whether you are in early, mid, or late game. The other way to learn stuff is to find skill books and schematics. Schematics let you craft new things. Skill books give you a free perk, basically. Collect all seven of a type to get a bonus perk. Some of those are quite useful. Some of them are very circumstance-specific. Regardless, reading an unread book or schematic at least nets you bonus xp. You can tell that you've read a book by the tiny book icon (it will be open if read already). Even if you've read it, you can keep it and sell it for some cash. (Pro tip: Technically, schematics and books stack in inventory; in practice, finding multiple copies of the same one in a single POI is relatively rare.) How do I get better stuff? There are three ways to do that: 1) Loot it; 2) Make it; 3) Buy it. Looting: There are many objects that serve as containers in the game. Some objects, like cars, may or may not be a container. Just get close. If you get the option to search it, then it is a container. Not every container will have stuff. Searching containers takes time and makes noise. Locked containers need to be disassembled or have the lock picked in order to open them. Alpha 19 changed looting to be highly level- and time-dependent. You will not get top-tier loot in the early game. Even if you somehow fight your way to the roof of the Shotgun Messiah weapons plant on Day 1, you are likely to find stone spears and maybe a blunderbuss. (Pro tip: a pair of lucky goggles will increase your chance of finding better loot when opening a container for the first time.) Crafting: If you know how to build something, and you have the necessary ingredients, and you have access to the correct work area, then you can create something from scratch. Perks and schematics will tell you how to build stuff, though there are a handful of things you can build right at the start (like you saw in your tutorial quests). Ingredients can be looted, or you can salvage them by destroying items. See the next paragraph for more on this. Lastly, some items require you to be at a workbench, chemistry station, campfire, or forge to create (there will be an icon next to the item in the build list telling you which). You can build all of these work areas if you know how, buy them from traders, or use ones you find scattered around the world. Traders have one of each, though they probably won't all be functional (but the broken ones can be looted, at least). Caveat: In Alpha 19, you can build up to level 5 gear (higher level gear is usually better and has more slots for mods), but level 6 gear can be found or purchased. Level 6 gear is typically better than anything you can build of the same type. Salvage: Getting raw materials can be done in a number of ways. Use tools (axes, picks, wrenches, shovels) to extract things from blocks in the world. This is mostly fairly intuitive -- shovels work best on dirt, cement, etc., while axes are good on wooden items like tables and trees. Tools have different levels and can be modded to improve their abilities. Pay attention to the "block damage" stat of the tool to compare them. Some blocks are better sources than others. You can find mineral nodes scattered around that provide you with coal, iron, nitrate, oil shale, or lead, and those are excellent sources (Pro tip: the nodes are just the tip of the mineral iceberg; you can dig down to extract more ore.) Another way to get raw materials is to use the scrap command in inventory (personally, I found the hotkey for this a little too easy to hit accidentally, so I remapped it). This includes most useful items of gear, as well as certain decorative items like faucets and chairs that you can pick up. Note that many metal items can be put in the forge to smelt them down for more resources than you get using the scrap command, including iron tools. (Pro-tip: Smelting radiators that you get from disassembling cars, heating radiators, and AC units is a great source of brass for crafting ammo; you can also smelt Dukes...but you're usually better off using them to buy ammo from a merchant.) Buying: Merchants are scattered over the map. Setting up a base near one is a good idea. The post-apocalyptic currency in this game is the Duke, a brass coin that looks like a casino chip. (There are no bottle caps in this game!) If you don't have any money, then you can instead trade your labor for payment. Complete a quest and you'll get cash, xp, and a free prize of some kind (you get a choice -- ammo, meds, gear, etc.). Quests boil down to: retrieve a package, kill some zombies, kill some zombies AND retrieve a package, or dig up and retrieve a package. In the early game, in particular, quests can be very lucrative. (Pro tip: The Daring Adventurer perk can improve the rewards you get from quests if you decide you want to focus on that aspect of the game.) Merchants sell all sorts of things: food, raw materials, weapons, armor, vehicles, skill books, schematics. Their inventory resets daily-ish, so pop back on a regular basis. Cheesy pro-tip: When you trigger a quest location, the POI will refresh to an "unexplored" state. This automatically refills all of the loot, etc., as well as repopulating the zombies. You can clear the location, then trigger the quest and clear it again for double the rewards. Just don't leave any loot inside a container that will refresh. What about combat? Why haven't you really mentioned the z-word yet? Well, honestly, you'll probably spend a lot more time salvaging and looting than fighting (with the exception of Blood Moon horde nights, which I'll talk about below). Most zombies in the early game are slow and fairly easy to avoid. If you can avoid getting mobbed, then you will probably be all right. Animals, however, will mess you up. You will quickly start yawning when you see a single stumbling housewife zombie, but a wolf will continue to be a threat well into the mid-game. Zombie animals are also a threat. Zombie dogs are fairly easy to kill but come in packs of 3-7. Zombie bears will soak up more damage than you can easily dish out in the early game. Zombie vultures are hard to hit and are really good and causing lacerations and bleeding. I've gotten infected by zombie animals far more commonly than I have from human zombies. Zombie dogs, coyotes, wild cats, and wolves: running works until you run out of stamina, and then you're dead. The best bet in the early game is to find someplace high they can't reach and snipe them if you have enough arrows or ammo. These animals can and will sneak up on you. The good news is that they will make random noises that will let you know they're in the area. Snakes: I've seen these in the desert and wasteland biomes. Good eatin', but they are quiet and can attack without warning. Luckily, they die easily. Wild pigs: Don't bother them. Seriously, just leave them alone until you have good guns. Bears and zombie bears: The good news is that they won't chase you as easily as some other animals. They are also not as fast and you can outrun them. The bad news is that if you get cornered, they can take and dish out huge amounts of damage. Zombie vultures: These will attack you if you're injured, or are riding a vehicle. Shotguns are the easiest way to deal with them. Hitting them with melee weapons is an irritating chore that often ends with negative health effects. Possibly the most annoying creature in the game. Deer, rabbits, and chickens: They don't attack, but run if attacked. They can be a good source of meat. (Pro tip: you can get quests from slips of paper you find in loot; the ones asking you to do things like, "kill a bunch of rabbits by throwing cans of Sham at them," are never worth it unless you're desperate to try something new.) As the game advances, and as you explore some of the larger points of interest (POI), you will run across more dangerous zombies. Feral zombies have glowing eyes and always move at a full run. Crawlers will jump around like demented jackrabbits. Glowing versions of zombies regenerate health. A good rule of thumb is that if something is different about a zombie, it probably is more dangerous. (Pro tip: Quite a few POI's have alert triggers that will cause a bunch of nearby zombies to wake up at once, and stealth doesn't avoid tripping them; best to always have a clear avenue of retreat when entering a new location.) Weapon selection: As said earlier, clubs and sledgehammers are your basic melee option. Either works well for the early game or to save ammo or hit quietly in the later game. Spears, axes, and knives/machetes can also be used, but they require more practice and really NEED perks to be fully optimized. Note that knives and axes are mostly meant to be tools. Stun batons require another source of damage, either turrets or other players, to be effective, and are also perk/mod-dependent. Bows can easily kill basic zombies quietly with a headshot. Use the best bow or crossbow and the best ammunition that you can. Do away with stone arrows/bolts as soon as you can find or build the iron versions. You'll need to decide for yourself if you want to keep using bows once guns are available. I like them, but your mileage may vary. (Pro tip: There is a skill book that allows you to craft flaming and explosive arrows; sadly, there is no way to ride around in a Dodge Charger, shooting exploding arrows out the window while Dixie plays from the car horn.) Guns are easily the best option in the game...and while perks can make them more effective, they aren't necessary. Don't hesitate to pull out a shotgun just because you put all your perk points into pistols if you run out of 9mm ammo. There is a fair amount of ammo in this game, and you can make more...but I always keep a club or sledge with me just in case. Having a gun makes exploring the harsher biomes a lot easier. The trade-offs for gun selection are pretty in line with any other game that has guns. Some burn ammo quickly. Some have low ammunition capacity. Some are better at long range. (Pro tip: having several loaded blunderbusses or double-barreled shotguns in your tool belt can provide an early-game rapid-fire option for dealing with tougher opponents.) Weapon perks and skill books: Each type of weapon has an associated perk, and an associated skill book set. Maxing out both can make a fairly sizeable difference, and can have some unexpected other benefits. For example, one of the skill books gives you a 10% barter bonus if you happen to be holding a .357 while trading. Blood Moon Horde Nights: Every 7 days (by default), the sky will turn red. When night falls (hour 22 by default), a horde will spawn near the player. Every zombie in that horde will magically know exactly where you are and will rush at you to eat your delicious flesh. The devs of the game have made it clear that they want you to FIGHT the zombies, and have gone well out of their way to make turtling behind defenses less viable. Zombies will break down walls -- even ones made of brick and concrete. They will dig to reach you. They jump on top of each other to climb to get you (like in the Brad Pitt zombie flick). As the game progresses, zombies will appear that are capable of spitting acid, or that act as suicide bombers (can you call it suicide bombing if they're already dead?). (Pro tip: Bomb zombies, also known as Demolishers, can be taken down by head or leg shots; shooting them in the chest is a bad idea, despite the fact that shooting the glowing spot is normally the best move in a video game.) Having said that, building defenses and traps can be very effective at delaying or channeling zombies, and can effectively thin the horde. There are pretty much two approaches people use to deal with a horde night.
Find a POI that prevents the zombies from reaching you and then wait out the attack. Anyplace high with enough metal or stone to last for a while will work. Large stores, fire departments, skyscrapers, water towers, etc., can all work, though the smaller the location, the more quickly it will fall to the zombies eventually.
Build a fortress. This is usually a setup that includes auto-turrets, traps, spikes, and walls made of brick or concrete. Often, they're set up to lead zombies into a killing zone where you can shoot or bomb them into bits. There are many YouTube videos on different approaches, and they range from lore-friendly to extremely cheesy exploitations of the AI or physics engine.
Note that these two are not mutually exclusive. It's pretty common to use POI's at first and then try building your own, or to move back to POI's if your attempt at a custom fortress is less effective than you had hoped. (Pro-tip: Don't use your home base for horde nights...at least until you've got a LOT of experience fortifying against horde nights.) Creating a home base: Every survivor needs a place to keep their stuff. Just like with a horde base, you can either re-purpose a POI or build your own from scratch. If you use a POI, then make sure you put down your bedroll. That will keep sleeping zombies from respawning in the area. If you want to use a bedroll as a way of regularly resetting your spawn point, then you're probably better off building your own base. That said, a good POI to use as a base has height. Using a forge on the first floor is a good way to attract random zombies. It's also good to find someplace with brick or concrete walls, as they'll last longer against wandering foes. Also, keep in mind that you'll be going in and out a lot, so you don't want it to be too hard to get in and out. (Pro tip: lone zombies can't jump to ladders that are two blocks off the ground, but you can; this doesn't work so well with hordes, as they climb over each other.) By default, zombies are faster at night, so early game nights are a good time to huddle up in a base and craft things. When you run out of things to craft, READ the descriptions of your perks, skill books, and the built-in journal entries. You'll be surprised how much information is buried in there. You can also take the time to look at the map and plan out the next day's activity. (Pro tip: Find a cluster of close-together POI's on the map, and put a chest or storage box in the middle to serve as a temporary loot repository; inventory item stacking means that having a collection point can mean many fewer trips back to your base with the fruits of your effort.) Vehicles: Maps in this game are fairly large. The solution to moving about to different biomes (which have different resources and different POI's) is to make or buy a vehicle. Anybody can assemble vehicles if they have the right parts, but some of the parts are locked behind perks/schematics. Taking the first-level vehicle perk can be useful, as the bicycle isn't a bad starting vehicle and the perk unlocks wheels, which every other vehicle needs. (Pro-tip: the easiest way to get gas when out-and-about is to salvage the many derelict cars.) Zombies and wildlife are pretty harmless if you can speed past them...with the exception of vultures, which can be annoying enough to make you stop your motorcycle just to shotgun them out of the sky. Mods: There are tons of clothing, weapon, and armor mods in the game. Read the descriptions, as they can have a huge impact on effectiveness. (Alpha 19 has no vehicle mods, despite the fact that vehicles have mod slots.) If you open an item for modding, then any mods in your inventory that can be used for that item will start flashing, making it easy to see which mods go with that item. (Pro tip: There is a boot mod that reduces falling damage that is worth its weight in gold. Not only is it really easy to fall in some POI's, but the de-buff from spraining or breaking a leg when zombies are about can be utterly lethal.) Power tools: Power tools are very powerful. Augers and chainsaws harvest materials very rapidly. They also use gas and make a ton of noise. They tend to quickly attract screamers, which are zombies that scream until other zombies show up to find out what all the fuss is about. Kill them quickly to avoid hordes interrupting your mining. (Pro tip: The physics engine of the game means that mine collapses are a thing, and they can be deadly; shoring up the ceiling with wood blocks can help prevent this, but augers can mine so quickly that you can lose track of how deeply you've gone beyond your supports.) The annoying pinging noise made by augers is an Alpha 19 addition that was generally disliked by everyone. Repairing items: Many items like tools, weapons, and armor will degrade over time. Weapons and tools will let you know they need repair...typically when you need them the most. Armor never notifies you. It just stops working. Check your item status bars to figure out when to repair them. Simple tools and weapons can be fixed with wood and stone. More sophisticated items require repair kits. In Alpha 19, repair kits are a generic fix-all for any advanced item, which greatly simplifies things. They can be crafted with forged iron and duct tape. (Pro tip: forged iron can be made in any forge, but you can also salvage them from disassembling weight sets, desk and gun safes, and NON-FUNCTIONAL vending machines; salvaging them can be tedious in the early game but can be worth it to keep your precious firearms and armor functioning.) Farming: You will find seeds, or you can take a perk or find a schematic to craft seeds. It takes five cobs of corn to create one corn seed, which is odd given that the whole grain is basically made of seeds...but chalk it up to game-play balancing. To plant a seed, you need a farm plot (except for mushrooms, which can grow on any surface), which you can craft with wood, rotting flesh, clay, and nitrate. Once planted, it will grow in three stages. Harvest it at stage 3 by punching the plant, and it will revert to stage 1 and deposit the appropriate food item into your inventory. If you accidentally harvest the seed, just replant it. If you want to get physically fit, do a push up in the real world every time you accidentally punch the ground or the air instead of your crop. (Pro tip: Don't harvest with a mostly full inventory, as if your tool belt slot is the last open spot, the crop will go there, and your next attempted punch will instead eat the last one you harvested.) Electricity: Fire attracts zombies like moths. Using electric lights is a convenient way to avoid that, as zombies are Luddites and don't care for the products of industry. The most convenient way to light up your home base is with lanterns, but you need to find a certain skill book to make them. The good news is that their batteries never need recharging. You can also get flashlights, or mods that attach lights to your helmet or your weapon (press F to pay your respects...er, sorry, to turn on your light). You can also craft a variety of stand-alone electric lights, but that requires a separate energy source. Energy sources come in three varieties. Battery packs hold up to six car batteries and drain the batteries over time. You can recharge the pack by connecting it to a different energy source. Generator banks hold up to six engines (recoverable from many derelict vehicles, among other sources) that burn gasoline to provide power. Solar banks contain solar cells and generate power as long as they are in sunlight. They also cannot be crafted and are as expensive as hell. (Pro-tip: Higher-level batteries last longer; use level 1 and 2 batteries to craft vehicles, sell, or smelt for lead, and keep the better ones for the battery banks.) Use wiring tools to connect energy sources to energy consumers. There are some slightly wonky rules to how you can connect, but it isn't hard to learn with a little trial and error. Wiring doesn't cost you anything, so experiment freely. You can put various switches between the consumer and the source: toggle switches, pressure plates, and motion sensors being the most common, though there are other options. Switches require power, but less power than an active consumer. This allows you to, for example, conserve power in the daytime by turning off active defenses and lights so you don't waste battery charge or gasoline. (Pro tip: a solar bank charging a full battery bank will provide quiet, continuous power, at which point you can feel free to light up your place like a Vegas casino 24/7.) Stealth: Some players will tell you stealth is impossible in this game. That is not true. What is true is that some situations negate stealth, most particularly Blood Moon hordes. Just tell yourself that the red moon makes their senses so acute that they can smell a living human from a mile away -- if you can't rationalize it away as a game balance issue. Some POI's also have event triggers that are based on your location rather than how stealthy you are being. Chalk that up to dramatic license. This is a game where zombies are real and I can carry a motorcycle in my boot. Get over it. There are some things you need to know about stealth, though, to do it effectively. Your stealth rating is a combination of noise and visibility. Clomping around in heavy armor, waving a torch or flaming club around, or using a flashlight will make you easy to notice. Firing a gun, whacking a wrench against a metal appliance, or jumping up and down on a pile of trash will also make you easy to notice. That means using light armor, using a bow or melee weapon, and crouching are all ways to avoid being seen. There are a number of skill books, perks, armor and weapon mods, and craftable gear that can all make you more stealthy. With diligence, you can walk up behind a sleeping zombie, smack him in the head with a sledgehammer, and not disturb the other one right next to him. Will this make the game much easier? I would argue no. It certainly makes some specific situations much easier. Clearing out a mini-horde in a POI with a bow before they wake up can be much less stressful, certainly. The lack of universal effectiveness definitely makes it a playstyle choice, however, rather than an over-powered build to avoid if you want a challenge. (Pro-tip: Stealth is never a 100% guarantee, which is why you always carry stacks of wood; wood is incredibly flexible, as it lets you drop cheap spike traps in narrow passages, climb up easily to places zombies cannot reach, make bridges across open gaps, craft doors to seal off openings that foes have to make noise to get through but that you can open easily, etc.) That's about it. The most important pro tip is this: this is an open-world game where the only thing that matters is that you have fun playing it. It doesn't matter if you want to do single-player, or multi-player, or if you like crafting more than combat, or prefer spears over guns. You bought the game. Do what you like, as that is really the only goal.
40 Best Songs of All Times About Poker, Dice, Cards and Addiction
40. Go Down Gamblin’ - Blood Sweat and Tears
Released in 1971, Go Down Gamblin’ by Blood Sweat and Tears is a song describing a gambler who is “born a natural loser.” He never wins, no matter what game he plays, but, he doesn’t feel like a loser. As the song goes – “Cause I've been called a natural lover by that lady over there, Honey, I'm just a natural gambler but I try to do my share.”
39. Gambler - Madonna
Gambler is a song written and played by Madonna, made for the film Vision Quest. Although the song reached the top 10 in the charts of the UK, Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, and Norway, Madonna performed it only once on her 1985The Virgin Tour. It’s a catchy song, we suggest you play it as you spin the reels of some of your favourite retro online slots.
38. The House of the Rising Sun - The Animals
Our list wouldn’t be complete without the 1964 hit song - The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals. Everybody knows the famous lines ”My mother, she was a tailor, sewed these new blue jeans, my father was a gamblin' man way down in New Orleans.” This single had a major success and made it to the top 10 songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the USA. Likewise, the hit was featured in the video game Guitar Hero Live.
37. The Winner Takes It All - ABBA
Whether we admit it or not, we all love at least some songs played by the very well-known Swedish pop group, ABBA. According to some sources, Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote the 1980 hit song The Winner Takes It All which was inspired by his divorce to his fellow band member, Agnetha Fältskog. The winner takes it all is a sort of a comparison to a divorce (especially the part ”I've played all my cards and that's what you've done too, nothing more to say, no more ace to play”), where one of them is the winner and the other one is left with nothing. And things are just the same when it comes to gambling, so we’ve decided to put the song on our list.
36. Shape of my Heart - Sting
We’re all aware of the fact that our gambling behaviour can be influenced by certain types of music and that's because online gambling and music go hand in hand. So, we suggest you start playing your preferred games with one of everyone’s favourite songs by Sting called The Shape of my Heart. It was released in 1993 and used for the end credits of the film Léon. In one of his interviews, Sting explained that the lyrics of the song tell the story of a card player who places bets not in order to win but to figure out something that’s been bothering him - “some kind of scientific, almost religious law.”
35. All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards - Corb Lund
“Well, I guess I really oughta be makin up songs but all I wanna do is play cards. I know it's dumb and sick and wrong but all I wanna do is play cards. Got the studio booked in Tennessee, and my record producer's callin me, the tape will roll in just three weeks and all I wanna do is play cards.” Does it sound familiar? It’s a 2005 hit by Corb Lund called All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards, once you hear it you’ll be playing it on repeat.
34. Gambling Man - The Overtones
When you’re falling in love, it’s perfectly normal to feel like you want to gamble everything just to attract that person’s attention to notice you and love you back. Well, Gambling Man is a lively 2010 song that tells a story of a guy fascinated with his love, so he places all his bets on her, as the song goes - “I played my hand, I rolled the dice, now I'm paying for my sins, I got some bad addiction.” This time, he feels that this love affair is different from any other – “Baby, it's you, yeah, yeah, that's right.” The song was released in 2010 and has been popular ever since.
33. Poker Face - Lady Gaga
Although the Poker Face song is more about the game of romance rather than the game of poker, the catchy refrain that starts with “Can't read my, no he can't read my poker face” kinda reminds us of winning at the tables, so we couldn’t skip it this time. Released in 2008, the song achieved worldwide success, topping the charts in the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and several European countries.
32. Little Queen of Spades - Robert Johnson
Moving on to the Little Queen of Spades, a song title by the American blues musician Robert Johnson who recorded the song in 1937 and first released it in 1938. The first version of this gambling-themed song has a playing time of 2:11, whereas the second one lasts 4s longer (2:15), and is considered an alternate take and first appeared on Johnson's album The Complete Recordings, in 1990.
31. Train of Consequences - Megadeth
Another great song Train of Consequences is the title created by Megadeth, released as the first single from their sixth studio album Youthanasia in 1994. The song was later included on their compilation albums and its music video was the 26th most played video on MTV. There’s this part of the song “No horse ever ran as fast as the money that you bet, I'm blowing on my cards and I play them to my chest” – which is about a person’s gambling problem, who realises something’s wrong with this lifestyle, but it still hunts him down. Could be just the thrill, but he just can’t stop playing.
30. Gambler - Whitesnake
Released on the album Slide It In (1984) and appearing on the compilation album Gold (2006), Gambler is the song by the British hard rock band Whitesnake. These words may sound familiar - “No fame or fortune, no luck of the draw, when I dance with the Queen of Hearts, a jack of all trades, a loser in love, it's tearing my soul apart”. And in case you’ve never heard it, we think you should give it a shot, the chances are you’re going to love it!
29. Gambling Man - Woody Guthrie
Now here’s one single from 1957 - Gamblin' Man. The song was taped live at the London Palladium and published as a double A side, with Puttin' On the Style. Reaching #1 in the UK Singles Chart in the summer 1957, it was “the last UK number 1 to be released on 78 rpm format only, as 7' vinyl had become the norm by this time.” Written by Woody Guthrie and Donegan, this gambling themed song was produced by Alan Freeman and Michael Barclay.
28. Roll of the Dice - Bruce Springsteen
According to Songfacts, Roll of the Dice was the first Springsteen’s song he didn’t write by himself. In fact, E Street Band’s pianist Roy Bittan helped with the music, while Springsteen was in charge of the lyrics, starting with – “Well I've been a losin' gambler, just throwin' snake eyes, Love ain't got me downhearted. I know up around the corner lies, My fool's paradise in just another roll of the dice.” After he broke up the E Street Band in October 1989, Springsteen wrote lyrics for the Roll of the Dice (with two other songs) and liked them to the point where he began writing and recording more songs.
27. Queen of Diamonds - Tom Odell
Here’s one song about a gambling fanatic who’s trying to satisfy his own addiction but also someone else, hoping it’s going to save him. Released in 2018, Queen of Diamonds is Tom Odell’s song from the album Jubilee Road, based on the local characters that inspired this British songwriter to include the whisky-soaked gamblers who regularly visited one betting shop.
26. The Angel and the Gambler - Iron Maiden
Now, this song may divide Iron Maiden fans and it’s most probably because of its repetitive lyrics that can be a bit annoying. The release we’re talking about is The Angel and the Gambler. Truth be told, the melody in general is very catchy and, even a bit similar to The Who in some moments. As the song was released in 1998 while Blaze Bayley was its frontmen, it’s missing the well-known high-pitch vocals from Bruce Dickinson.
25. Ramblin' Gamblin Man - Bob Seger
We’re moving on to a rock single from 1978 - Ramblin' Gamblin Man by Bob Seger. The author meets an old acquaintance, a professional gambler who happens to be a swagger. As such, he attracts people’s attention whenever he bets. Putting so much of his faith in the cards (rather than in people), he walks away every time, just before avoiding loss. Along the way, the narrator realises that, if you scratch beneath the surface, you’ll find he’s a very cynical man, who will never change. Another gambling-themed song worth mentioning by Bob Seger is Still The Same.
24. Blow Up The Pokies - The Whitlams
Blow up the Pokies is the next song on our list, played by The Whitlams. It is the second single by the group from their 4th studio album, Love This City. Released in the year 2000, the song became a hit and made it to number 21 on the ARIA Singles Chart. According to several resources, the lyrics written by singer Tim Freedman were inspired by the destruction he saw in original Whitlams bassist Andy Lewis's life, due to his gambling addiction.
23. A Good Run of Bad Luck - Clint Black
Now here’s one 1994-song packed with gambling-related terms. As you listen to A Good Run of Bad Luck, recorded by American music artist Clint Black, you'll have a bit of fun as you try identifying what all these gambling terms mean. The song is a bit fast and is about falling in love by using gambling metaphors. The main character is willing to spend a lot of money to win his special lady over and, although he has had a period of bad luck, he is not giving up – “I've been to the table, and I've lost it all before, I'm willin' and able, always comin' back for more.”
22. When You’re Hot, You’re Hot - Jerry Reed
Jerry Reed won a Grammy for the song When You’re Hot, You’re Hot which was released in 1971. Most people remember it as it was a major hit, ranked as number 1 in the country charts, also making its way up the Pop Top 40. It’s an enjoyable novelty song about the ups and downs of the gambling life, about one’s winning streak caught in an illegal game of Crap. Country star Jerry Reed also came up with a version The Uptown Poker Club in 1973.
21. Lawyers, Guns and Money - Warren Zevon
Next one up - Lawyers, Guns and Money is a song by Warren Zevon, the closing track on his album Excitable Boy, released in 1978. An edited version of this song was distributed as a single and found itself on the A Quiet Normal Life best of compilation on the CD and LP. The song goes like this - “I went home with a waitress the way I always do, how was I to know she was with the russians, too? I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk Send lawyers, guns, and money Dad, get me out of this, hiyah!”
20. The Lottery Song - Harry Nilsson
According to the man in the 1972 pop-rock song The Lottery Song by Harry Nilsson, there's more than one way to get to Vegas. Addressing his lover, the narrator mentions a few different options for buying a ticket and going to Sin City – “We could win the lottery we could go to Vegas,” and “We could wait till summer, we could save our money” as well as “We could make a record, sell a lot of copies, we could play Las Vegas.”
19. Casino Queen - Wilco
Now here’s one black-humoured gambling-themed song, released in 1995 and titled after a casino. Featuring a dirty electric guitar, Casino Queen was composed by an American songwriter, Jeff Tweedy, who wrote this song after playing a game in a riverboat casino accompanied by his dad. Inspired by the event, the author wrote: “Casino Queen my lord you're mean, I've been gambling like a fiend on your tables so green.”
18. Have a Lucky Day - Morphine
Another song on our list that you simply must check out starts like this: “I feel lucky, I just feel that way, I'm on a bus to Atlantic City later on today. Now I'm sitting at a blackjack table and swear to God the dealer has a tag says, "Mabel." Hit me, hit me! I smile at Mabel, soon they're bringing complimentary drinks to the table.” Check it out yourself - it’s called Have a Lucky Day by Morphine.
17. Kentucky Gambler - Merle Haggard
Written by Dolly Parton and released in 1974, Merle Haggard’s Kentucky Gambler is another song on our ultimate gambling playlist that you should pay attention to. It’s about a miner from Kentucky who leaves his family to gamble, under the bright lights of Reno. Unsurprisingly, his winning streak comes to an end, and he loses all his winnings. All broke, he decided to return back home only when he arrived, he found out his wife was involved with someone else.
16. The Jack - AC/DC
The next song on our list will give you some adrenaline boost, for sure. It goes like this - “She gave me the queen, she gave me the king, she was wheelin' and dealin', just doin' her thing, she was holdin' a pair, but I had to try…” Sounds familiar? This song from the 1975s is called The Jack and is played by AC/DC and there’s no way you can skip it.
15. Blackjack - Ray Charles
Moving on to something a bit different - a melody that blackjack lovers can listen to as they play is Ray Charles’ Blackjack. Apart from being a good quality song from 1955, it carries an important message with an emphasis on how brutal the game of blackjack can be. Some sources say that Ray Charles wrote it after beating T-Bone Walker at a blackjack game session. Yet another Ray Charles’ famous song about gambling is called a Losing Hand.
14. Ooh Las Vegas - Gram Parson
“Ooh, Las Vegas, ain't no place for a poor boy like me”... is a song-into for Ooh Las Vegas which was written by Gram Parsons and Ric Grech. It was first released by Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris in 1974. Playing this song would be perfect for the beginning of the road trip (i.e. to Las Vegas), especially if you have the energy to sing along.
13. The Stranger - Leonard Cohen
Published in 1968 and performed by Leonard Cohen, The Stranger appears in the The Ernie Game movie about a man released from a mental asylum. More appropriately, it is the perfect opening song in the 1971 Western McCabe & Mrs Miller, in which Warren Beatty plays a gambler. As you listen to this song (without watching the movie), it makes you see fascinating images of card games, smoky dreams, and concepts of risk versus safety.
12. Desperado - Eagles
Written by Glen Frey and Don Henley, Desperado song is one of The Eagles’ greatest hits from their 1973 album of the same name. The song features a classic tune while the ballad tells the story of a lone wolf imprisoned by his loneliness. As for the lyrics, they have loads of card references mentioning the queen of diamonds, the queen of hearts, and so on.
11. Huck's Tune - Bob Dylan
The next song on our list is about the risks of poker, money, and relationships, which are precisely what the movie Lucky You is all about. Does it ring a bell? That’s right, this 2007 song is called Huck’s Tune and is performed by Bob Dylan. Each of us can all relate to lines "You push it all in, and you've no chance to win, you play 'em on down to the end." Play the song and you’ll enjoy more than 4 amazing minutes of Bob Dylan. Likewise, Bob Dylan recorded Rambling, Gambling Willie and Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts, both excellent and both inspired by gambling.
10. Four Little Diamonds - Electric Light Orchestra
A song by the British rock band Electric Light Orchestra Four Little Diamonds was released in 1983 and found itself on the album Secret Messages. The single wasn’t so popular in the US, being only 2 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, at number 86, and number 84 in the UK. This song refers to the singer’s cheating lover who tricked him out of a ring which had 'four little diamonds' on it.
9. You Can't Beat The House - Mark Knopfler
Moving on to our next choice for the day, You Can’t Beat the House. It’s the third song on the Get Lucky studio album released in 2009 by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler. The album and the songs received favorable reviews with the album reaching the top three positions on album charts in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland. The singer’s divine voice combined with beautiful music and lyrics goes like this – “You can't bear the house, you can't bear the house, tell the man somebody, you can't beat the house.”
8. Deck of Cards - Don Williams
Deck of Cards is a recitation song that tells the story of a soldier who gets caught while playing cards in church and then faces a sentence from a superior officer. The soldier defends his case, explaining he wasn't about to deal a hand of poker, but was rather confirming his faith with the cards. Performed by T. Texas Tyler, the song managed to become a major hit in the 1940s and 1950s. Also, Wink Martindale had an even bigger hit with his 1959 cover, with a successful version by Don Williams featuring Tex Ritter and Buddy Cole.
7. Gambler’s Blues - B.B. King
First recording of the song Gambler’s Blues by B.B. King was in 1966, and it was released in 1967. The song appears on the album Back in the Alley (1970). Some say gambling and blues go hand in hand, so if you (gambling fans) haven’t heard it, listen and see for yourself.
6. Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones
One of our favourite songs on the list is Tumbling Dice, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It tells the story of a gambler who can’t remain faithful to any woman. Being released in the 1970s and featuring a blues boogie-woogie rhythm, the song was and still is one of the greatest singles of all time. Rolling Stones also recorded Casino Boogie, and it’s from their 1972 album, Exile on Main St.
5. Luck Be A Lady - Frank Sinatra
The next song on our list is about a gambler who hopes that he will win a bet, the outcome of which will decide whether he is able to save his relationship with the girl of his dreams. You probably know what song we’re talking about; it’s called Luck be a Lady released in 1965 and performed by one of the most popular musical artists - Frank Sinatra.
4. Deal - Grateful Dead
Next one up is the song Deal. It was first performed by the Grateful Dead in 1971, as a regular part of the repertoire through their 1970's tour. Although being less common to the fans during the 1990s, the band continued to perform it. The singer opens with the message: “Since it cost a lot to win and even more to lose you and me bound to spend some time wondering what to choose,” that later kicks off with a chorus: “Don't let your deal go down...” Loser is another song first performed by the Grateful Dead in 1971 as well, heavily played during 1971 and 1972.
3. Ace of Spades - Motörhead
Ok, the next song is loaded with some great gambling verses like "The pleasure is to play, makes no difference what you say, I don't share your greed, the only card I need is the Ace of Spades" will definitely set you in the right mood for hitting some winning combinations. Released in 1980, the song was inspired by slot machines that the lead singer Ian Fraser “Lemmy” Kilmister played in London pubs.
2. Viva Las Vegas - Elvis
As soon as you start playing the second song from our playlist “Viva Las Vegas,” you’ll probably picture a huge casino and a great gaming atmosphere. Performed by the legendary Elvis Presley, the 1964-released song brings the glamour of the city, and its beat will get you in the mood for some serious gameplay. This song was written for the movie of the same name starring Elvis Presley, in which he plays a race car driver waiting tables at a hotel to pay off a debt. There’s this famous scene when he performs this song at the talent competition alongside many showgirls.
1. The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
Performed by the legendary country singer Kenny Rogers, The Gambler song is our number 1 - it's full of some betting advice that are relevant today, even though it was released more than 40 years ago, in 1978. Here’s how it goes… “If you're gonna play the game, boy you gotta learn to play it right, you've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.” These classic chorus lines were told from the first-person perspective inspired by a conversation the author had with an experienced poker player on a train. Written in the form of poker metaphors, Schlitz wrote the tune in honor of his late father. Johnny Cash is also among other musicians who recorded The Gambler in 1978, on Gone Girl.
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Sands Atlantic City Casino - 3 weeks after it closed - YouTube
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