The little ones on the concourse were pretty nice, eh?

Some interesting numbers about our big game last year:

• $158,586,934 – total SBLII handle in Nevada
• $1,170,432 – amount won by Nevada sports books on SBLII
• $4.76 billion – amount the AGA estimates was bet on SBLII (legally and illegally)

With the legal landscape changing this year, things should be way crazier for Rams-Patriots. I love that the Westgate SuperBook has 442 different prop bets for SBLIII. I mean, how do you even come up with a spread for Phil Mickelson fourth-round bogeys at the Phoenix Open versus Josh Reynolds receptions?

h/t to Marc Meltzer (and good luck to my tech friends in Atlanta)

While millennials have dominated headlines in recent years, baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) have continued to dominate consumer spending in the U.S. In fact, consumers over 50 now account for more than half of all U.S. spending…

https://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/touring/8488873/the-year-in-touring-charts-ed-sheeran-claims-2018s-top-tour-taylor

The $300 Lyft credit and 11-month Metro Go-To card would be awesome…

Still wish they would’ve blown it up

I don’t think your camera rental business will rent many cameras when you require a $4K deposit

Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disneyland-hotel-subsidy-20180815-story.html#

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/09/03/delta-air-lines-refinery-bet-is-about-to-pay-off-a.aspx

Respect our authoritay ✊

This may or may not be a crisis

How did Microsoft ever get this big?

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/super-bowl-52-how-the-nfl-and-us-bank-stadium-are-ready-to-make-digital-history/

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/news/4370860-win-all-us-leech-lake-officials-break-ground-site-new-casino

A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…

At least I think this was new…

http://davidbyrne.com/journal/the-secret-place-where-music-shows-get-made

http://www.startribune.com/golden-s-a-lowertown-deli-classic-closes-its-doors/444497363/

The 2017 Cisco Live Keynote @ Mandalay Bay

Free downtown parking feels like winning the lottery

Glad that sign is back

• Star Tribune*
• New York Times*
• Washington Post*
• Wall Street Journal*
• Quartz
• The Verge
• MSP Business Journal

* paid subscriber

(Also just resubscribed to the print edition of The Economist)

End of an era 🙁

Terrible scratch-off gameplay; brilliant targeting

That really says it all, doesn’t it?

• Apple (APPL)
• Coca-Cola (KO)
• Disney (DIS)
• McDonald’s (MCD)
• Nike (NKE)
• Target (TGT)
• 3M (MMM)

(if I had a portfolio)

Thanks for the hat, downtown council 

Joined NWAFCU almost 32 years ago – can’t believe they used to have your SSN right on the statement

Nice job on the remodel so far

Home of the lame training session

More hotel rooms coming to Mystic Lake 

Not what I expected…

View story at Medium.com

The new parking ramp and Wells Fargo Skyway

Up on the roof of the IDS Tower, Minneapolis

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/meet-is-murder.html?_r=0

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/14752649/the-real-story-nfl-owners-battle-bring-football-back-los-angeles

http://www.sfbaysuperbowl.com/

Last week I had two different people ask me if I missed the casino world. After some inner reflection, I realized I do a little bit – it’s an exciting industry filled with a lot of great people. I still enjoy visiting places like Mystic Lake and figuring out which machines are new, how they change floor layouts, what types of promotions they run to attract more business and other aspects of the operation (which I still feel is one of the best around).

This also made me realize that I never wrote up a trip summary from last fall’s Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas, held way back on September 28 – October 1 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center. I hadn’t planned to attend this event originally, so my hotel choices were a bit limited and I ended up at the newly branded LINQ (formerly the Imperial Palace). While the location is great, I don’t think I’ll be going back there again. Nothing majorly horrible – I just prefer other resorts.

G2E is a huge show and I was lucky enough to attend five times during my casino career. The same companies and people are usually present every year and you have the added benefit of the Vegas Strip as a backdrop. This usually leads to a number of great (free) parties and the 2015 edition was no different. This time I held back a little on the drinking side of things, but was excited to finally see the inside of Tao, Lavo and Omnia. It was also great fun to spend time with Vanessa, Jason, Ryan, Peter, Shannon, Mike, Jenn and EJ. Hope to see all of them again at some point.

On the business side of things, I love evaluating new slot machines. As you can see in the photo gallery after the jump, licensed theme games continue to be extremely popular. My favorite new titles were The Simpsons, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey and Cirque du Soleil Kooza (a natural for Vegas slot floors if there ever was one). Games I felt were duds include Caddyshack (dislike 3×3 reel games), Frogger (complete waste of a license, poor gameplay, major let down from normally strong Konami) and Space Invaders (skill-based arcade games will only work when you have controls as good as the originals, IMO).

A few other items I remember from the show floor include seeing Pitbull promote his new Playboy slot machine (along with multiple Bunnies), a James Bond-themed welcome party and the Ultimate Chef Showdown judged by Cake Boss Buddy Valastro and Gavin Kaysen’s mentor, Daniel Boulud. I also had an interesting discussion at the MICROS booth (now owned by Oracle). Turns out I’m not the only one who feels the merger has basically destroyed what was once a solid, reliable business partner.

Speaking of food, I had quite a long list of Vegas restaurants I wanted to visit. I was hoping to hit db Brasserie at the Venetian right away, but they were “out of food” by the end of lunch that day. Spots that were open: Hash House A Go Go at the LINQ, Giada at the Cromwell, Bouchon at the Venetian and Yusho at the Monte Carlo. All were wonderful.

Ended up taking a red-eye home, so I had a lot of time to walk around various properties on the last day of the trip. I hiked over to New York, New York to get a glimpse of the new arena being built by MGM and AEG (now called T-Mobile Arena). The new hole in CityCenter where The Harmon used to stand was a bit dramatic. I also stopped in at the Bellagio Gallery of Art and took in the Picasso – Creatures and Creativity exhibition (for free, thanks to MyVegas).

Perhaps this post was best left unwritten, as now I just want to go back again…

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/01/19/los-angeles-rams-nfl-ownership-meeting

Hennepin County Service Center for driver’s license renewal 

$1.66 a gallon at an SA in Golden Valley, Minnesota 

A sign is made to be seen…

http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/12/22/super-bowl-xlvii-blackout-superdome

Everything about that was lame

So many buildings, such an expensive neighborhood 

Lesson #1: Fear is a great motivator

Last time I saw Mr. Kawasaki was at the MHS

Jacob Morgan, Futurist and Global Thought Leader

See, I wasn’t joking

Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO

This seems familiar, somehow

Lots of personalization going on at the Marriott Marquis

http://fortune.com/2015/06/05/caesars-losing-las-vegas/

Norwest in the IDS (or whatever they are called now)

South-side signage getting prepped for install

Yes, I picked out a red stapler

…the reason that these extraordinary non-gaming attractions exist is because the damn casino is the cash register…

Strategic planning sessions

Aristocrat G2E Party

I don’t usually write a lot about casinos on this site, but there has been so much Minnesota news this year, I just can’t pass up the opportunity to offer a little commentary. I’ll start off with Treasure Island Resort and Casino, operated by the Prairie Island Indian Community outside Red Wing, Minnesota. Like many rural Minnesota casinos, they are Goodhue County’s number one employer, with a large gaming floor (roughly 2200 slots, 50 tables and bingo), 500 hotel rooms, RV park, marina, 24-lane bowling center, multiple dining options and the Island Event Center, which can seat 3000 people for concerts and other events. The tribe also purchased the Mount Frontenac Golf Course in 2000, which is located about 22 miles south of the casino on highway 61. Oh, can’t forget the 120 passenger yacht “Spirit of the Water,” which is unique among casinos in the state.

We started visiting Treasure Island early on, long before they added all these newer amenities. An early favorite memory was getting my first royal flush on a quarter video poker machine. I’m pretty sure this was when I was still a poor college student, so instead of $1000 for a max coin bet ($1.25), I won a grand total of $62.50. Still not bad for a single quarter bet, but I later learned a nickel machine pays $200 on a 25-cent bet. Other memories include seeing Ron White in concert (and watching him drive a scooter all over the casino afterwards), bowling during the 2012 Super Bowl and watching A Brulé Christmas last year.

Several little birdies have told me the casino has had quite a bit of staffing and revenue drama the past year, but major decisions are still being made: the new Tado Steakhouse opened in March, the Tradewinds Buffet just reopened after a major remodel and they broke ground in May on a $19 million pool expansion that will include a fitness center, spa/salon, lazy river, zero depth pool and a swim-up bar. Colleen and I liked Tado – it’s a beautiful room with good food. Service wasn’t the best, but we did visit right after they opened. Brad and I tried to stop for lunch at the new buffet after golfing at The Jewel, but they refused to seat us at 2:01. Ugh.

We had another recent negative experience with a security guard, but the service recovery was laudable. Colleen and I stopped at their convenience store outside the casino before heading in to play. She bought a soft drink there, but a casino guard wouldn’t let her bring it in the building. Their marketing department sent me an email after our visit and I let them know about her experience. Within a day, I had a personal reply from Security Manager Leslie Keplin apologizing and explaining their policy. Very nice.

Treasure Island competes aggressively with Mystic Lake and Grand Casino Hinckley for the bulk of the Twin Cities market and must spend a ton of money on advertising and promotion. They sponsor just about every major sports team in Minnesota and my dad and uncle love spinning the wheel at Wild and Twins games. They have both redeemed multiple hotel stays and various amounts of free play. I even won $100 in free play during a Twins game and used it by visiting my old friend Kenny in the tiny, non-smoking area way back by the poker room (they also have a larger non-smoking area near bingo).

Overall, I like what they are doing for their community (and for southeastern Minnesota). I always thought they were close to our house, but it’s more than twice as far as Mystic Lake (which is still my favorite). On my last visit, I noticed that they seem to get a lot of traffic from Rochester, which I imagine is the closest gaming option for those guests (along with Diamond Jo in Iowa). I’ve never been a fan of their outside visuals, but the tropical theme inside is well executed, as is their social media. They have expanded in a patchwork fashion over the years, but it’s now coming together nicely…

Target has already switched

The mark of a great leader is that they have a strong team and don’t need to be there all the time themselves…

It’s 4:20 somewhere

A new look for Fond-du-Luth Casino in Duluth

IGT service van outside Fond-du-Luth

One week of mailers from Grand Casino Hinckley