More tv slot hoki!Cable channel Bravo has thrown its hat into the TV slot hoki ring,
Cable channel Bravo has thrown its hat into the TV slot hoki ring, announcing a new series "Celebrity Poker Showdown" that sounds half-poker, half-celebrity gawk reality TV. Link
While there will be twenty-five players in total, stars taking part in �Celebrity Poker Showdown� include "CSI: Miami's" Emily Procter, rapper/actor Coolio, "The West Wing's" Martin Sheen, Allison Janney, Bradley Whitford, John Spencer and Richard Schiff, actress/comedian Sarah Silverman, actor/comedian Jack Black, "The Simpsons'" Hank Azaria and Nicole Sullivan of "King of Queens," with others to be announced shortly.
Not quite hollywood's A-list, but any poker on TV is welcomed by me and I'd love to see Martin Sheen bluff his ass off. The show will be taped at the Palms next month, I guess contact Bravo if you'll be in Vegas and would like to try to be an audience member.
"las vegas"
"Las Vegas", the new NBC show about security staff in a casino, aired their first episode this week. Thankfully the Monday Night Football game was largely a bust last night by the time "Las Vegas" aired, so I watched the pilot almost exclusively. My reaction was lukewarm. The show was OK, but once again suffered from similar flaws to "Lucky" -- way over-the-top characters, spotty acting, and very unrealistic gambling scenes.
Nevertheless, James Caan really saves the show from being terrible, and I thought the other male lead was pretty decent. It has a distinctively more "hip" feel than "Lucky" did, and I think there is a lot of story that can be squeezed out of the situation (security staff in a nice casino). I can't help feel that every episode is going to involve crazy capers and wild-goose chases though.
I'm keeping a wait-and-see attitude to the show. One huge issue for me personally is that they've pitted it up against Monday Night Football, which is going to win 75% of the time. This review agrees:
... Like a winner on a hot streak, NBC has lost perspective, as it comes up craps by scheduling this guy appeal homage to vice and dice against the truer slot hoki testosterone testament, ABC's "Monday Night Football." So expect "Las Vegas" to go bust, unless it is moved to a more favorable time period.
So we'll wait and see what happens. I wouldn't be surprised if it moves timeslots, and I also wouldn't be surprised if the show gets better with a few more episodes and basic character development.
Aussies big losers
Australians lost over AUD$15 billion in 2001-2002. That's over AUS$1,000 per Australian aged 18 and over.
Almost every city in Australia has a casino and a lottery. Several states allow video poker in bars and clubs.
Not too surprisingly, the state with the lowest losses per head at $469 -- my former home, Western Australia -- has no video poker in bars and clubs, while the three states with the heaviest losses all have slots-a-plenty in all kinds of establishments.
The enemy in Australia isn't just a cultural predilection to gambling behavior from the convict ancestors. Australian state governments have notoriously juicy arrangements around the legalization of casinos and video gaming. Most states have a monopoly agreement whereby one single casino is allowed in the state in exchange for a huge chunk of tax revenue. That equates to an environment much unfriendlier to players than Las Vegas or Atlantic City. For example, the blackjack rules at Burswood Casino in Perth, Western Australia carry about a 0.9% house edge, as opposed to about 0.4% in the 6-deck games at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Non-casino slot machines consumed the most money in Australia, with $8.9 billion lost against $85 billion gambled -- giving the average slot machine in a bar or restaurant a poor 89.5% payout rate, compared to 92-95% for most casino slot machines in Vegas and 95-100% for most video poker machines (at perfect play) in Vegas.
The natural reaction to reports like this is to become aghast at the amount of gambling losses. While that is probably a justifiable reaction, I'd blame at least 30-60% of the losses incurred on the stifling of competition by Australian state governments.
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