Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Day Three in Vegas

It was 110° when I left the office. I am thinking about going out to the Red Rock Recreational Area, but not today. I think I will go out there just before I leave, either on Wednesday or on Thursday. Ironically, the federal government runs Red Rock through the Bureau of Land Management, and yet BLM does not take credit cards anywhere. That is odd because you would think that tourists would use either credit or travelers’ checks for obvious monetary security reasons. I never carry cash because of the slight possibility of issues when testing machines in casinos if you happen to be carrying cash. I will figure something out.

Today’s class was on another table game product. The company bought a significant interest in another company and is perfecting the technology and marketing it for what is now our de facto subsidiary. The training was not difficult, but I don’t see this product coming into our local market anytime soon. Minnesota’s gaming environment is different. We don’t have stepper games (traditional mechanical reel-type slots). Minnesota is strictly a video gaming environment in casinos. Arguably that means this product WILL come to market in Minnesota, because it is a video-based gaming table, but I still see this as a long-term prospect as it takes up quite a bit of gaming floor space. Casinos tend to not want to give up space to large gaming devices, because the cost in revenue per square foot has to be high to make up for the large size of the games.

I am going out to see Red Rock tomorrow if I find a way to pay the admission fee without having ready access to cash. The company office and training center are halfway between the hotel and Red Rock, so it makes sense to visit Red Rock Canyon from the office instead of from the hotel.

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