andy800

When this happened for me the first time, about 6 months ago, I initially thought it was the start of "geographic atrophy", a syndrome that Henry Winkler (The Fonz) does a commercial for, which is very scary, and irreversible. A bunch of web searching eventually led me to scintillating scotomas and realized that's exactly what I had, so I felt quite a bit better. I've had perhaps a half-dozen total. I'm also fortunate that it has not been accompanied by migraines.

I built a similar project, for a single industry. Same concept strategically: scraping a bunch of web sites for job listing, aggregating, then providing direct link to the source:

https://www.casinojoblist.com/

Give the guy a break, he had Parkinson's disease and was still willing to shoot a scene playing golf.

Curb is an incredibly good show that easily stands on its own without celebrity cameos (of which, there have been many). But absolutely, every time Richard Lewis was in a scene it was pure magic. Not only was he an incredible talent and overwhelmingly funny, but you could see and even feel the joy that Larry had when working and joking with his best friend.

Not that Curb was his only success, far from it, but he was just so, so good on that show.

Vice only survived as long as it did because some MBAs insisted that if they wanted to do cool stuff (documentaries, TV channel) they needed to do something else on the side that actually generated revenue. The majority of Vice's revenue came via highly un-sexy "creative services" (i.e. producing TV commercials) and other advertising media.

For a brief time, their HBO series was essentially a blueprint for a 21st-century 60 Minutes (which long ago became a hollow shell of its former self).

The George Washington Bridge and Outerbridge Crossing both connect New York City (on the east) with New Jersey (on the west) but are about 45 minutes apart, even with no traffic.

Maybe I'm weird but I think NYC area has numerous semi-poetic sounding roads (while most of the country just uses route numbers): Harlem River Drive, Cross Bronx, Major Deegan, Van Wyck, Belt Parkway, Grand Central Parkway, the Taconic, Palisades Parkway, the B.Q.E., the Sprain Brook. Plus the Verrazano and Tappan Zee.

A bomb threat last year? Hmmm, I wonder why Caesars chose not to renew the contract.

You don't understand casino accounting. Gaming WIN is revenue. If you put $100 in and get $75 out, that's $25 in marginal revenue with zero corresponding costs. The $100 is a statistic that the casino records, but it does not factor into profit calculations (total, or margin).

Gaming does have expenses -- labor (mostly dealers and slot attendants & mechanics), costs of purchasing and leasing the machines, and some other miscellaneous stuff... but profit margins on pure gaming are very high (and not limited in any way by the 25% maximum hold percentage that you reference)

> I'd expect security (including digital security) to be literally top notch

I know why you'd expect that, regardless, you'd be very wrong

Primarily, it's about public image. It would look idiotic to host this group, regardless of intention. And it's about insurance -- logical or not, their insurer probably insisted they quit inviting DEF CON and associating, in any capacity, with self-identified hackers.

Yes, most likely. That's why it would make zero sense for Caesars to state anything publicly that would antagonize members of the community. Saying nothing (or even praising DEF CON, and claiming it was a "change in strategy") is the smarter route.

Let's say Caesars states, "we just got hacked and, as has been reported in every major newspaper, paid $10 million as ransom. We have reason to believe one or more attendees of DEF CON were part of that group."

How does making this statement this benefit Caesars in any way? Now DEF CON can demand some proof of this claim, or sue for defamation, or state that without proof, Caesars isn't acting in good faith, whatever.

> for some reason

To avoid any legal liability. Stating a specific reason would open them to possible "breach of contract" depending on whether the act(s) were significant enough or justifiable, based on the contract terms. Just say nothing, part amicably, everyone moves on without drama.

With that said, they probably weren't lying. Most likely, months after ponying up $10 million to a sophisticated international hacking group, Caesars Entertainment probably doesn't want to invite some of the world's best hackers to stay and meet at its flagship resort.

Hoop Dreams is not on a list of the 50+ best documentaries?

There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane - investigation of a car crash that killed 8 people

Art of the Steal - walks through the back-room negotiations and money resulting in the move of the Barnes Foundation (one of the world's greatest private art collections) from Main Line to Center City Philadelphia, which was specifically against the patron's wishes.

Roger & Me - I don't love Michael Moore's politics or his later movies but his breakthrough film, where he looks at everything gone wrong in his hometown of Flint Michigan, is very good.

June 17th, 1994 - this is an ESPN 30 For 30, splices together TV clips covering multiple historic sporting events of that particular day, most famously, the O.J. Simpson car chase. If you weren't alive on that date (and even if you were) it's utterly fascinating.

This comment is naive, from someone who doesn't understand the different dynamics.

The "play-for-fun" casinos successfully utilize the onboarding process to attract, and even create, the people most likely to be exploited by these games. Real-money, online casinos require a real-money deposit to get started, therefore, few people download the apps to begin with without being at least a somewhat-experienced brick-and-mortar casino gambler who is prepared to deposit real money.

Play-for-fun attracts casuals looking for the next Candy Crush or Bejeweled and might get a week of play (grooming, essentially) before even being asked for an in-game purchase. Further, specifically because play-for-fun is NOT gambling, they are unregulated and have no requirement to be fair or random. The developers can insert all kinds of manipulations and scripted outcomes that encourage more play and more importantly, more real-money purchases. They can amplify the payouts over time so initially, a few thousand coins is exciting, then tens of thousands, then millions. The coin purchases get more expensive as the player requires higher amounts to maintain their levels.

Lastly, it isn't like real online casinos aren't addicting or potentially problematic. Through 9 months of 2023, New Jersey online casinos have generated $1.41 billion, 65% of the brick-and-mortar casino revenue ($2.17 billion). And since online casinos and sports betting are growing much faster, they will likely surpass b-and-m a few years from now. Basically, New Jersey has created an army of addicts in a single decade, and many other states are following suit.

https://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/docs/Financials/PressRelease2023/S...

Why do people play Tetris or any other game? For most it is just a fun way to pass some time. However for others, it's an obsession that is prioritized over real-life -- jobs, finances, etc.

The clubs appear to be like guilds or teams in online games, players collaborate for high scores and to maintain a ranking on a leaderboard. The problem is that once someone joins a team, they feel pressure to generate points to contribute to the team's success, which often requires in-app payments to obtain more coins to wager.

The fact that the exterior is a giant ad is exactly what makes it a revenue generator

Funny that this is the general perception of Las Vegas after 50 years of marketing itself as a budget destination

Which was dismissed recently, although the judge allowed it to be refiled, if some additional details are included.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.reviewjournal.com/business/...

Thanks for the info, and for trying the game. I think the game saw you splitting 10s, realized how irrational that was, and that's what crashed it :)

There's a big "repeat bet" button following every hand.

Casinos and regulators require a game's house advantage to be "certified" by one of two specific third-parties. A big expense (both cost and time) when I am sufficiently qualified to calculate the long-term house advantage of the game (and spent lots of hours tweaking the rules and running models to reach a very specific result goal), but no way around it if you want to be in a b-and-m casino.

There is significant money to be made as a ticket broker, unfortunately there is nothing of substance in this particular article, such as, how does he obtain a lot of tickets at below-market-value in the first place.

There are alternatives to Godot, in particular I'll mention ZimJS https://zimjs.com/about.html#features

Like you, I recently created an online casino game, Cheat at Blackjack https://play.cheatatbj.com/

and used ZimJS for all of the animation. I considered Godot but found it simpler to do everything in client-side JS.

Zim's web site is definitely a bit "out there" but the animation features are quite good and it allowed me, a terrible artist, to program my game quickly and add a lot of visual flair -- dealing the cards, the dealer checking for blackjack, chips sliding, the bouncy result status, etc.

What value are you adding here by shitting on another poster's job? Just because it isn't something that interests you personally, is it necessary to announce that?

The majority of game mathematicians work on video slot machines. These games have somewhat complex payout structures, seeing that they may have 40 or 50 "lines" (directions in which identical symbols trigger a payout), one or more "scattered symbol" prizes (payouts based on the appearance of a minimum number of special symbols, regardless of lining up), wild symbols, multiple progressive jackpots (individual and shared), one or more bonus games, free spins (often at an increased payout multiple, with the possibility of triggering jackpots), and possibly more gameplay features.

Incorporating all of these features into a single games with an acceptable "hold percentage" (theoretical percentage of wagers that result in casino profit) that is still fun to play that gives players a feel that they have a good chance of winning and generates repeat play, is a difficult task that every slot machine vendor is trying to achieve, and the mathematicians are tasked with balancing frequency of payouts with amount of payouts to keep players playing.

Right now Aristocrat Gaming is the most successful, they have the most titles (and the top spots) on industry-wide slot performance surveys.

Fake ID? Did you read the story? He did not have ID with him when he requested a replacement room key.

Everything in your first paragraph usually flies at a typical suburban Courtyard Marriott in the USA. However your story took place at a 5000-room megaresort in Las Vegas, where security has to be much more serious. Most visitors appreciate that.

It's all good. I opened up a can of worms at the start by expressing doubt, it was all kind of a joke but as we all know, text on a screen lacks expression.

> In Europe? Don't you mean "in that specific hotel, on that specific day, with that specific employee"?

No I don't mean all of that. He wrote "In Europe this would literally be zero problem, hence my attempt." I'm curious, if you can get a hotel room key in Europe without ID, how does that work? Does the phone work as proof?