Casino lesson - Tales of a Gypsy - 2004-01-01
Casinos, Casinos, Casinos - those dazzling places, which cause so much grief, marriage breakdowns, broken fingers and put so many people in jail.

I have been fascinated with these places for quite some time. Mostly because most of my mates have been pretty serious gamblers. To me, the whole gambling experience took about half a year of my time, all of my money, which wasn't that much, but believe me, it would be very helpful to have it all back. The place also works as a taxation office, for crooks from both sides. The official ones and underworld ones.

I was doing card counting in Blackjack. It takes time and money to find out, why it does not quite work. But that's a different story.
Read the full story at ABC Regional Online

Payoffs Are A Trickle For Senecas' Year-Old Casino - 2004-01-01
In the year since the Seneca Niagara Casino opened on the New York side of the falls, this depressed city looks almost unchanged. For every restaurant or shop that's open, there still seem to be an equal number remaining vacant. A new nightclub debuted close by on Third Street, but a long-established restaurant was bought and torn down so the casino could build a parking garage.

Meanwhile, the reservations of the Seneca Nation of Indians are still pictures of poverty. Wood-framed houses with exposed tarpaper and mobile homes that might have been new 30 years ago are common dwellings on the Cattaraugus Reservation, an hour's drive south from the casino. The sole benefit casino money has brought to the reservations so far: a burial fund, because many people are too poor to give their loved ones a decent funeral.
Read the full story at GamblingMagazine.com