Gambling

Combat veterans fall prey to gambling addictions at an alarming rate. Where's the military when the chips are down?

Kings for a Moment: The feds attack online poker, killing a $2.5 billion industry

Las Vegas Has a Giant(s) Problem

​We all know there's really only one rule in the world of big-money casinos. That rule: the house always wins. One way or another, they people who run the casinos always -- and I do mean always -- find a way to turn a profit in the long run. You may think you're winning, and you may be in the shor ... More >>

Windfall for Fairmount Park; Weathered Horse Track To Get Estimated $14 Million

Last time we ventured to Fairmount Park in '09, the JumboTron was in much need of repair.​The long legal battle between Illinois horse tracks and casinos is over. After losing an appeal and failing to get a hearing in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Illinois casinos said goodbye this week to $141 ... More >>

Lemay Fire District Loses Grab at Casino Revenue -- Again

Moral of today's appellate court ruling: Nobody gets between St. Louis County and its casino revenue!​A south-county fire district has lost, again, in its attempt to grab a share of revenue from the River City Casino.In an opinion issued today, the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of App ... More >>

Cape Girardeau Could Have Missouri's First Smoke-Free Casino Following April 5 Vote

Cape Girardeau rolls the dice on smoking next week.​Here's an interesting tidbit out of Cape Girardeau where voters next week will be asked to weigh in on a smoking ban for bars, restaurants and most places open to the public. This week the group pushing for the ban, Smoke-Free Cape, filed paperwo ... More >>

Could Missouri Be Next State to Push For Internet Gaming?

Online gaming: New Jersey legislators deal. The governor folds.​The Wall Street Journal had an interesting piece yesterday about state lawmakers trying to tiptoe around federal laws prohibiting online gambling. The effort put forth by legislators in New Jersey and Iowa would allow only residents o ... More >>

Packers Early Favorites in Super Bowl Betting

The NFL conference championships concluded just hours ago, and already the line has been set for the league's biggest game -- Super Bowl XLV. Heading into the February 6 contest, the Packers are the early favorites with numerous online gambling sites having Green Bay defeating the Pittsburgh Steeler ... More >>

Cape Girardeau Chosen for Casino

Despite today's news, the rendering of the Cape Girardeau casino has always included fireworks.​The Missouri Gaming Commission this morning announced that it has chosen Cape Girardeau to receive the states 13th and final gaming license. The southeastern Missouri city beat out competing bids from K ... More >>

Dear Chain-Smokin, Slot-Playin Grandma: Illinois Wants You Back

Yeah, we're looking your way, sweetheart.​On Monday, a group of twenty or so Illinois legislators toured the Casino Queen in East St. Louis. That same day they also visited the Lumiere Casino just across the river in downtown St. Louis. The difference in the number of gamblers at the two venues wa ... More >>

Smoke Up, Clayton. Today's Your Last Day

Tomorrow's your funeral, cig.​A Clayton smoking ban, passed a year ago, goes into effect tomorrow -- July 1. The law prohibits smoking indoors in all the city's restaurants and bars and 80 percent of its hotel rooms. Less restrictive bans in St. Louis County and St. Louis go into effect in January ... More >>

President Casino Craps Out; Brown Water to Blame

Image Via​The first gambling boat to open its doors in Missouri back in 1994 is officially closed -- a week before its owner was to shutdown the casino anyway. The flooded Mississippi River in downtown St. Louis forced the President Casino to halt business a week ago. Yesterday the casino announce ... More >>

Charlie Dooley Opposes Casino Next to Columbia Bottom Conservation Area

Image sourceCharlie Dooley may have killed the Riverview Casino development​Daily RFT first reported on the proposed "Riverview Casino" next to the pristine wetlands of the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area and the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers way back in July 2009.Despite str ... More >>

Could St. Louis Have Casino King to Complement East St. Louis Casino Queen?

​Monday was the deadline to submit bids with the St. Louis Development Corporation for a new downtown casino to replace the President, which is closing this summer. As the St. Louis Business Journal reports, three companies have thrown their name in the hat. They include Isle of Capri, Koman Prope ... More >>

Pinnacle Surrenders President, Allowing Room for North County Casino

​Pinnacle Entertainment has decided to surrender its license for the President Casino to the Missouri Gaming Commission. Earlier this year the gaming commission voted to strip the under-performing casino of its license, though recently an appeals court had questioned the commission's action.

Former MO Congressman Cashing In on Move to Legalize Online Gambling

Wikimedia CommonsWelcome to the poker "lobby." We'll start you with $300,000...​The Washington Post published an interesting read earlier this week about Dems in Congress who are gunning to overturn laws that make Internet gambling illegal. Rep. Barney Frank and others want the government to regul ... More >>

Missouri Gaming Commission: Ex-Pinnacle CEO Guilty of Bad Behavior, Innocent of Crime

Image Via​You can bet that ex-casino boss Dan Lee would like to take back a few things he said to Steve Stenger and Charlie Dooley.Early last month, when Lee was the CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment, the Vegas-based company that owns and operates three casinos in the St. Louis area, he planted his fo ... More >>

Effort to Overturn St. Louis Smoking Ban Would Focus on Casino Exemption

Photo: Jenn SilverbergHannegan lighting up at one of his favorite haunts, Herbies' Vintage '72.​St. Louis' most tireless smoking-ban opponent Bill Hannegan stopped by the Riverfront Times the other day. In so doing, Hannegan hinted how his Keep St. Louis Free plans to topple the ban in the city th ... More >>

So That's Why They Want to Build Another Casino

Image Via​Apparently casinos are extremely profitable endeavors-- even when there are six of them (soon to be seven, possibly eight) in one metropolitan area.The Business Journal reported yesterday that St. Louis-area casino revenue jumped ten percent in October.Here are the numbers: • Las Vegas ... More >>

Councilman's Inability to Say No to Casinos, Angers Casino Chief

www.stevestenger.com​By now you've probably heard how St. Louis County Councilman Steve Stenger was flabbergasted Tuesday when a casino executive "muscled" him prior to a council meeting. As Stenger told the Post-Dispatch yesterday, the chairman and chief executive of Pinnacle Entertainment, Danie ... More >>

Latest Panacea for Fairmount Park: Internet Gambling

​After trying for years to get slot machines at tracks, the Illinois horse-racing community is hoping the next-best thing will help the troubled industry. Yesterday the Illinois Racing Board legalized online gambling for horse racing. As the Belleville News-Democrat reports this morning, the ... More >>

Danny Glover Brings Lethal Weapon -- His Mouth -- to Aid of Casino Workers

​Actor Danny Glover was in town yesterday in a show of support for union employees of the Lumiere Place and President casinos. The Lethal Weapon co-star spoke at an event on Laclede's Landing where he warned that the "diplomatic immunity" of the casinos' owner, Pinnacle Entertainment, had "just be ... More >>

Joe's trolley, the suffering of the Jews and a casino on bottomland

The Future of Fairmount Park Looks Like a Long Shot These Days

Photo: Chad GarrisonOpening Day at Fairmount Park this past April​It's been a rough summer for Fairmount Park, the venerable and decrepit horse track in Illinois. The windfall it expected to receive this summer from a tax on casinos is tied up in appeal. And it's looking as though the track will n ... More >>

If President Casino Craps Out, What Happens to Its Gaming License?

photobucket.com/albums/u271/ginger_jedi​Last year Missouri voters narrowly approved Proposition A. The ballot initiative repealed loss limits for the state's gamblers, taxed casinos for the benefit of schools, and capped the number of gaming licenses issued by the state at 13. Not only did th ... More >>

A Sprawling Casino Next To A Conservation Area?

photo by Keegan HamiltonThe Columbia Bottom Conservation AreaLocated at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers just north of St. Louis, the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area is among the last stretches of undeveloped riverfront near the city. The Missouri Department of Conservation, t ... More >>

Now That Fairmount Park Is In Line for $7 Million Bailout, Will It Finally Fix Its JumboTron?

Good news horse-racing fans. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an appeal filed by four Chicago-area casinos over a special fund established to help horse racing. The fund, passed into law in 2006, required Illinois' four biggest casinos (all located near Chicago) to set aside part ... More >>

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Gets Political With Its Online Advertising

On the eve of Election Day two weeks ago, some online readers of the Post-Dispatch opened their inboxes to find an intriguing note from the local daily: an e-mail touting Proposition A, the controversial gambling ballot initiative that aimed to do away with the $500 loss limits enforced at the state ... More >>

Double Down

Gary Kaplan put all of his chips on BETonSPORTS and drew the worst hand of his life. Now he’s making tuna casserole in a St. Louis jail.

Genome: The Secret of How Life Works

Let’s Revue

Hold 'Em Tight

Unreal went to Las Vegas for the World Series of Poker and all we got was this lousy story.

Bracketology

Two SLU professors say they’ve solved the world’s most challenging math problem: your office NCAA pool

Slots with Video Poker (1996)

Week of December 15, 2005

Nags to Riches

A late push for slot machines in Springfield may be Fairmount Park's silver bullet

Turkey With Plum Sauce

Celebrate Thanksgiving the way the Pilgrims did: at a casino with Vietnamese pop stars!

Best Casino

Ameristar Casino

Best Casino

Ameristar

Ocean's Eleven, Give or Take

Soderbergh and Clooney knock over Vegas, without much to show for it

Best Casino

Harrah's

Beat the Casinos? Not Yet.

As always, gambling is a numbers game

The Count

Ace blackjack player Stuart Ziglin has been beating Missouri casinos at their own game. Now they want to change the rules.

Jackpot

Missouri's "get-tough" gaming commission gives an embattled casino what it wants

Joker's Wild

Casino lawyer Michael Lazaroff cheated for years -- and the insiders knew. Now that he's cut the deal of his life, why does anybody believe him?

Best Casino

President

Unlucky Town

Published the week of Aug. 23-29, 2000

The Great St. Louis Casino War

Published the week of July 5-11, 2000

The Albatross

St. Louis has a long and tortured history with the Admiral, home of the President Casino, but the city is about to gamble another $3 million to keep it afloat. It's a risky bet.

PRAYING AGAINST THE ODDS

Developers of a Lemay casino have political muscle on their side. But the School Sisters of Notre Dame are betting on a higher power.

THIS LAND IS THEIR LAND

A tiny Indian tribe pitches a plan for a downtown St. Louis casino, but city officials aren't betting on the idea