This Week's LVW col: Be grateful, Bethlehem

Here's this week's Strip Sesne column from the Las Vegas Weekly, a defense of -- apologia for? -- the idea of gaming as an economic revival tool. Which is funny because I don't even gamble. Much. -sf

An east target, a misguided notion

Why the people of Bethlehem, Pa., should be grateful for, not suspicious of, their new casino

By STEVE FRIESS

The day after the May 22 opening of the quite lovely Las Vegas Sands casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the local newspaper, the Express-News, ran with a news bulletin on its website: “Easy ways to stay safe at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem; two patrons report missing wallets.”

We then met Nancy Miller, 61, of New Joisey, who bought a snack at the food court and “shortly thereafter noticed her wallet missing,” and 25-year-old Dominique Alexander of Philadelphia, who left her wallet on a slot machine and “found it had been taken” when she returned.

Stop the presses! People lose shit! The intrepid journalist on the case turned to About.com for news-you-can-use tips on how not to let “loss, theft and other problems spoil your Memorial Day weekend fun at the casino,” which essentially boiled down to: Keep track of your shit.

Yes, this is an example of ridiculous journalism. There’s no chance any serious newspaper would have done a story on these careless people if they had misplaced their wallets at, say, a new Starbucks. Nor would they have drawn the inference that people need tips on how to stay safe at all coffeehouses.

But to me, it was more than that; it was the culmination of a couple of days focusing on a foreign land where a casino was a new and troublesome presence to many. As I covered the Sands opening, I was reminded yet again of how ridiculous the nation’s love-hate affair with Las Vegas and the gambling business has become.

Read the rest at LasVegasWeekly.Com

Breaking: People Lose Stuff At Casinos!

Sorry to keep going with the Bethlehem stuff, but this is too funny not to share. The Express-News in Bethlehem, Pa., where Las Vegas Sands opened a 3,000-slot casino on Friday, had this headline atop a report on their website on Saturday:

"Easy ways to stay safe at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem;
two patrons report missing wallets"

We then learn that two women lost their wallets on opening day. One bought some food and then couldn't find it. She lost $220 she probably wouldn't have gone home with anyhow. The other lady admits she left it on a slot machine and when she returned for it, it was gone.

Now, I feel for these women. I do. I'm on record as being a total loser. But! If the lady had left her wallet on a table at Wendy's and came back to find it gone, would this be worth reporting in the newspaper? Would all fast-food joints and Dave Thomas himself be guilty by association? The intrepid journalist here offered up some surefire ways to avoid this fate, courtesy of About.Com. The experts apparently recommend you, uh, keep track of your shit. Stop the presses!

Of course, casino-hating commenters blamed the casino. Among the remarks:

Casinos are a robber's paradise. Wherelse can you find half-looped careless people loaded with money who don't pay attention to anything other than the rotating fruit on the machine in front of them?

You have to expect this kind of behavior in a house of gambling. Thefts like these happen in Vegas and AC and anywhere you have casinos, its just going to happen. I was wondering how long after the doors were opened on Friday it would be before we'd see an action like this reported.

Look at the dempgraphic [sic] that feeds these places!! Old people, mostly women, widowed women who are desparetly [sic] trying to spend all of their husbands hard earned money. Money he earned working weekends and holidays to provide for this blue haired biotch that sat home made dinner and did the laundry.

Yikes, huh?