From Sin City to Atlantic City, from high-end resorts to offshore cruises, gamblers have more choices than ever before to get their hit.
Its Saturday night in Uncasville, Connecticut, a little town in the middle of nowhere. Common wisdom holds that the place should L
be dead. And it is. Until you proceed down a new four-lane road, buffered by dense forest and illuminated by a long parade of headlights. At the end of the road resides a natural, flowing river, beautifully landscaped foliage, and a hard-angled building that shimmers like an enormous multifaceted diamond. You've arrived at Mohegan Sun, a casino that serves as a three-dimensional exemplar of everything that gambling wants to be in the twenty-first century: sleek, efficient, alluring and immensely profitable.
Inside, the place is anything but dead. Situated on land belonging to the Mohegan Indians, a tribe that predates the
American Revolution, the casino offers the kind of scene you'd never expect to find on a reservation. Decorated in a style
that's more haute Southwest than pure Native American, the casino has enormously high ceilings draped with what appear
to be woven rugs. The elevator walls are made of textured aluminum, giant glass sculptures hang in the lobby, and an
entire wall has been done up to resemble a stone waterfall complete with percussively rushing currents. A neo-Four Tops
act performs in the casino lounge, animatronic wolves perch on faux mountains that book-end blackjack tables, and the
restaurants (including a Michael Jordan steakhouse, a Mediterranean place under the stewardship of celebrity chef Todd
English, and a seafood eatery overseen by Jasper White) rival those of Las Vegas.
The casino feels comfortably crowded. Blackjack action is lively, craps tables swell with high-betting exuberance, and
the poker room is SRO. Considering all of this, you might be only mildly shocked to note that Mohegan Sun is one of
the most successful casinos in the world. What's truly shocking, however, is that the most successful casino in the
world, Foxwoods Resort and Casino, is only 15 minutes away. Suddenly, northern Connecticut is the place to be on a
Saturday night. A spokesman for the Sun~which has just completed a $1 billion expansion to become the largest
casino in North America and, it's been said, the world attributes the casino's success to blessed proximity and only
one nearby competitor: "There are 22 million people within an hour-and-a-half drive of us [an estimated one-third of
them have gambled at one of the two casinos during the last year]. And our property can compete with anything in
the world."
He's not kidding. Together, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods take in $2 billion annually in total gross revenues. And
while that might be a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated $100 billion that gambling in America generated
during 2000, it's a pretty good sum of mostly tax-free cash--especially when you consider that prior to 1983, the
Mashantucket Pequots, who own Foxwoods, weren't even recognized as a tribe.
In a broader sense, the figures speak volumes about what many Americans like to do with their free time and extra
income: gamble. Even in the wake of 9/11, Vegas slowed down for little more than a hiccup before regaining its
footing and climbing back. The American Gaming Association reports that casinos attracted 53.2 million visitors in
2000, and gaming stocks rose more than 40 percent, on average, in the past year. Forty-seven states have some
kind of legalized gambling (including lotteries and bingo) and 30 states allow casinos of some sort to operate.
Even though casino gaming remains controversial, it holds a special allure for legislators during cash-sensitive
times like these. Considering that commercial casinos (including riverboats) grossed an estimated $28 billion in
taxable revenue during 2001 (up from $26.8 billion in 2000), the allure is downright magnetic. Steve Rittvo,
president of the Innovation Group in New Orleans, a company that does feasibility studies for the casino industry,
routinely articulates the appeal of gam- ZD mg. "Budget deficits, border wars-states watching dollars crossing to
other state~and the success of Native American casinos have all led lawmakers to seriously look at gaming
opportunities," says Rittvo.
"[When it's legalized] gaming becomes part of a city's entertainment mix. Gaming subsidizes tourist marketing.
It generates more money, more jobs, more air travel. It's getting to the point where not having casino gambling
can be a liability." Punctuating the point, state and federal revenues from taxation from all gambling enterprises
reached $27 billion last year.
Mainstream hotel chains, not necessarily famous for gambling in the way that Bally Park Place or MGM Mirage
might be, are getting in on the act as well. Hyatt Gaming Management Inc., for example, owns or manages
several casinos in the United States, Canada and South America. Its casino building process is as intensely
strategized as any hotel construction. "We like to be in areas that are less than competitive, where we can
provide a product unique to the region," says Larry Lewin, president and chief executive officer of Hyatt Gaming,
explaining why Hyatt has avoided the Las Vegas Strip and focused instead on Middle America. This approach
obviously works, as the Hyatt gaming empire generated more than $600 million in adjusted gross gaming
revenues last year.
Not only are Americans gambling more than ever, they are doing it in increasingly varied ways: on Indian
reservations, aboard riverboats, inside state-monitored casinos, at the track, on the Internet and over the
telephone. We're betting on sports, horses, dogs and table games that range from classic (blackjack) to
newfangled (Caribbean stud) to, let's be honest here, just plain dumb (casino war). What we re not yet doing is
regularly watching gaming on TV, though that may change in the near future. Poker star and casino consultant
Lyle Berman is taking gambling to the next level by turning it into a spectator sport. This past Memorial Day,
Berman launched the first leg of what's been dubbed the World Poker Tour.
His plan is to videotape 13 poker tournaments around the world (employing a technique that allows viewers to see
players' cards), boil the matches down to 60 or 120 minutes of compelling television, and broadcast the events
every week. He maintains that there has already been interest from four media outlets. Berman is so bullish on
the concept that he vows to broadcast the show himself if he does not have a deal by mid January"In a few years
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