Rating: 
Summary: Best book I have ever read
Review: I was not able to put this book down. It is broken into two parts. Part one is the history of Vegas, part two focuses on a handfull of its residents over a year. While I was looking for a book on Vegas, I wanted to know more about personal experiences there, like what was in the second part of the book. I figured I wouldn't care for the history part, and would maybe skip it if it got boring. I was totally wrong. The history part was every bit as engaging. It's really a study in business more than history. It was thoroughly enjoyable, and part two was also. I like the way the author spends a year with these people (prostitiute, security guard, showgirl, etc.) and tells their story thoughout the book, instead of all in one chapter. Very well written. Also, very balanced in my opinion. At no point did I feel the author was judging anything, merely reporting it. I could go on and on. It's books like this that make fiction look so dull.
Rating:
Summary: Informative and fun to read
Review: On the way to Las Vegas I picked up this book in an airport newstand, and by the time I arrived in the City of Neon, and neverending activity I was hooked. I found the book to be filled with highly entertaining historical information, as well as interesting stories about individuals who live and work in the glitter of the casinos's. The first half of the book covers the development of the town from its train stop roots to its current status as Glitter City USA. The second half follows the operations of the Luxor hotel and Casino, a fascinating look inside a hotel/ casino. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about Las Vegas, past and current, whether they plan to visit or not.
Rating: 
Summary: Out with the Wiseguys, In with Wall Street
Review: Pete Earley is an excellent journalist whose books are quite readable and informative. With "Super Casino," he tracks the careers of men like Steve Wynn and Bill Bennett, whose vision helped transform the Las Vegas Strip from a haven for mobsters and high rollers to literally an adult Disneyland suitable for the whole family. While one might question the morality of the casinos, one has to admire the audacity of the entreprenuers who keep building them ever larger and more grand. Earley shows how over the last quarter century gambling (or gaming, as its now called) has lost a lot of its negative stigma and how big time investment bankers have pushed the mob out of the casino racket. Earley also makes some attempts to show a balanced account of the downside of legalized gambling on a massive scale. Like any good journalist, he lets the reader make the moral judgements. Overall, the is an interesting and well-written book that will captivate anyone drawn to this subject matter.
Rating:
Summary: Las Vegas - An Insider View
Review: Pete Earley provides real insight into how Las Vegas operates. Not only from a business perspective but more importantly, discovering who the people are that make the casino's happen. The real "risk-takers" go beyond the card tables and slot machines. There's enough history in Super Casino to appreciate how a barren desert destination could blossom into a destination with so much global brand awareness. The sky is the limit in Las Vegas.
Rating:
Summary: Makes you want to take a road trip
Review: Pete Earley's book provides an incredibly rich account of the many facets that make Vegas the city of dreams: the book details the stories of individual dealers, gamblers, prostitutes, dancers, "weekend warriors," casino barons, etc. Super Casino begins with the rise of the mega-casinos -- funded through loans from a Mormon-run bank and junk bonds -- and ends with the grandiose projects completed at the turn of the century. It is the people in this book that make it interesting. The reader feels the energy that drives individual ambitions and dreams. While not every story is a happy one, every story is an interesting one. I gave it four stars only because the book is a bit "light": while entertaining and a quick read, it doesn't really attempt to delve beyond the surface details of the stories presented.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book to read Before you Go to Vegas. Fun Insight!
Review: Quick read. Provides great insight into Vegas and how it has evolved to what it is today. Read before you travel to Vegas.
Rating: 
Summary: Super Town - Super Casino
Review: Sammy, Frank and Dino are no longer with us and the Mob has long since departed (or so we are told). But Las Vegas continues to exercise its talent to remake itself and "Super Casino" catches the city after it became America's no. 1 tourist destination as well as America's fastest growing city. Author Pete Earley got an unprecedented amount of access to the higher-ups at Circus Circus - the chain that built the pyramidal Luxor - and he puts it to good use. "Super Casino" works best as a behind-the-scenes of this frantic, 24/7 place, as Earley talks with everyone from hookers and card dealers to pit bosses and vice presidents. His style is engaging and easily readable. I almost gave this book four stars but hesitated because a key ingredient in the social formula is given short shrift - the common tourist/gamblers who pay the bills. As a result, "Super Casino" is long on celebration, relatively short on criticism. You won't hear, say, how even the poshest new hotels manage to build minimalls into their formulas (how many Bennetons does one town need, anyway?), a replay of the dodging-the-slots formula the bedevils tourists at the older casinos. But if you like behind-the-scenes accounts, this book will bring present-day Vegas home to you in a fresh, lively manner.
Rating: 
Summary: A Tawdry Look at Life and Vacations in Vegas
Review: Seldom has so much writing talent been so misdirected in a project as occurred with this book. Mr. Earley sought out every seamy angle he could about Las Vegas, past and present, and the people profiled in the book. With such a negative slant, Mr. Earley could have made a family theme park seem like Sodom and Gomorrah. He also does not understand the national evolution of gambling, and misrepresents what has been happening in Las Vegas. The best part of the book is in its opening chapter, where Mr. Earley does a superb job of explaining how casino staffs play cat and mouse with customers trying to get an edge playing Blackjack by changing their bets when the odds shift in their favor. That chapter set a high expectation for me. It was all quickly downhill from there. The background of the "old" Las Vegas was much too long and detailed, and added little that is not carried in newspaper and magazine reports about Las Vegas. In both the "old" and the "new" sections, he tried to work in every negative angle he could about people. You will get to read about crimes related to illegal gambling, theft, rape, kidnapping, fraud, prostitution, assault and battery, and murder. I have read many books about hardened criminals that did not have as much crime in them as this one. In case this isn't enough of a downer, he wants to make sure that you see other seamy parts of human nature. If anyone has a bad habit, it's explored in here. You get lots of people losing their tempers with each other, making false claims about each other, being greedy, showing inconsiderateness, and having worked for organized criminals in the past. You also get nice normal Moms taking their clothes off to create a sensation at the pool, wives seducing dealers, and dancers being groped in Japan (I know that seems like its a long way from Las Vegas, but some Japanese people have been known to visit Las Vegas -- that seems to be the connection). The description of the development of Las Vegas is focused much too much on two companies, Mandalay Bay (formerly Circus Circus) and Mirage (no longer independent). Even here, the story is too narrowly drawn between getting high rollers from overseas versus low-income slot players from Southern California. Las Vegas is turning into an adult version of Epcot Center, a mini World's Fair with spectacular sights all in one place. In addition, some casinos are creating destination resorts that are appropriate for the whole family (Excalibur, MGM Grand, and Mandalay Bay all have this character, in part). At the same time, gambling isn't paying off for investors in the way that it used to. The book makes you vaguely aware of that, but doesn't come to grips with why it's happening and what it means. The book is very critical of the house "win" in the Las Vegas casinos, but the odds there are much better than in any state lottery, illegal gambling activity, and also in many Native American-owned casinos across the country. Mr. Earley is too intelligent to be this off-target. There seems to be a hidden agenda here, but I'm not sure I can describe it for you. By contrast, let me desribe my last trip to Las Vegas. I was able to get a very inexpensive room. While there, I saw a great art exhibition at Bellagio that compared favorably with what can usually only be seen in major city museums. I ate a terrific, inexpensive lunch at Rio. I saw several free shows, including ones outside at the Mirage (with a volcano erupting) and Treasure Island. I toured five casinos I had never seen before, and was fascinated by the designs and the stores. I never gambled a nickel. After finishing the visit, I realized that I had spent less money and seen more than would have occurred if I had been at a theme park in Florida or California for the same amount of time. And I had a very good time. Unless you like to take a jaundiced view of everything, avoid this book. My own suggestion is that you visit Las Vegas and see for yourself what it is like now. If you have not been there in five years, you have many nice surprises ahead of you.
Rating:
Summary: Must read Vegas book
Review: Someone wrote that this was 'the best book ever written aobut Las Vegas , and I think I've read them all' Well I have read them all and I really enjoyed this one . I just hope this guy digs up his old notes and cranks out Super Casino II from some of the material that he didn't use in this book.
He uses quotes from 'The Gambler' by Dostoyeusky before some of the chapters ...
Rating:
Summary: Super Casino
Review: Super Casino offers a fascinating look at "behind the scenes" Las Vegas. I bought the book with the intent of reading only the second half (a close look at the Luxor), however I began, out of curiosity, at the beginning of the book. I found this part(a history of the Circus Circus corporation) so interesting that I read the book in its entirety. This was one of those books that you hate to put down once you begin reading. It has renewed my desire to return to Las Vegas for a vacation, and to visit the Luxor, the subject of most of the book. I would strongly recomend Super Casino to anyone who has visited Las Vegas. Having been there certainly enhances the reader's understanding of much of the book.
| 
