What once was a mainstay for Hollywood celebrities and gamblers alike looking to cash in on a few pari-mutuel tickets, today the racetracks ofAmericahave become something much different. Live horseracing, known to many as “The Sport of Kings,†has certainly seen better days. The sport is being challenged by competition from more entertainment options and gambling outlets (including casinos and poker rooms in 38 states), lotteries, online gambling, as well as online wagering platforms allowing horseplayers to wager from anywhere. In the late 1950s, horseracing was the number two sport inAmerica, falling just behind baseball. Now, the racetracks seem more desolate than ever except on major racing days. Many tracks are left to rely heavily on revenue from adjoining casinos, referred to as “racinos,†to supplement purses. And tracks without that revenue source are feeling the effects from nearby casinos, many in neighboring states.

Without a doubt, horseracing needs a jolt of adrenaline to bring the level of interest back to what it once was. Winning a quick hand of blackjack or a roll of the dice doesn’t hold a candle to the thrill one gets from successfully handicapping a field of thoroughbreds, especially when your picks cross the finish line first and you take your ticket to the window to claim your winnings. Even if you don’t win, you have two thrilling minutes to imagine your investment crossing the line in first place. However, unless you are basing your wagers on names, numbers or colors, horseracing requires analysis of multiple variables, from past performances and bloodlines to track conditions and distance of the race. It not only requires your financial investment, but also the consideration and discipline to pick your spots to cash in. Maybe that’s what makes it so magical, but maybe that’s what also makes it so difficult to market and attract the masses the way it once did.

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Super Bowl Sunday is so sacred it’s surprising the United States government hasn’t declared it a national holiday. It attracts attention from around the globe, despite the fact that the rest of the world doesn’t play “American†football. This year, that attention will be focused on one of the nation’s best sports towns—Indianapolis, Indiana.

As the host city of Super Bowl XLVI, which is slated for February 5, 2012,Indianapolis finds itself in somewhat familiar shoes. It has served as the home of many major events over the years, ranging from the Indy 500 to the men’s and women’s NCAA Final Four to the Pan-Am Games. It is a city accustomed to rolling out the red carpet to the sporting world, which means the 2012 Super Bowl is in good hands.

While it’s too early to guess which team will become the champion, this much is clear—Indianapolis will be the big winner. It has been estimated that past Super Bowls have had an economic impact from $125–$400 million on their host cities’ local economies. In fact, according to the NFL, the average Super Bowl attendee spends four nights in a hotel in the host city and spends nearly $2,000 during that stay.

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As has been widely publicized, the Mayan calendar expires on December 21, 2012. Naturally some debate will continue between advocates and detractors of this timetable, but instead of fretting whether or not a solar flare will eradicate our planet, I suggest we all put our energy into savoring the present age. Achieving this goal is relative depending on point of view but, if you are thumbing through Southern Gaming, then I assume you’re a player. Exciting individuals need to know when and where the action is going to take place!

On New Year’s Day each of us received a clean slate, and whether your mind will forever affix the word “success†or “failure†to 2011 now remains irrelevant. It’s time to plot a course, and the forthcoming chronology is a sound foundation on which to build any personal almanac and, if wagering be the intent, I say a majority of these contests bear serious consideration.

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Everything grows in stages. Call them chapters, phases, spurts, or steps, but they are all parts of development. The game of poker had those stages, from Amarillo Slim garnering attention from his appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson†to Chris Moneymaker taking a small online poker satellite and transforming it into $2.5 million at the World Series of Poker. And poker continues to grow.

Black Friday, as a momentous as it was in the online poker world, was also part of said growth. On the surface, it looked like an enormous setback when the United States Department of Justice handed down indictments and charges pertaining to the biggest online poker websites in the world. The industry was left gasping for air.

Some players immediately began preparing for a move to an online poker-friendly country likeCanada. The majority of online poker players merely threw their hands up, though, as their favorite pastime and leisure activity was ripped from their laptops.

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Sports represent more than mere entertainment to Americans. They constitute a celebration of athletic excellence and a structured environment allowing the competitive juices to flow. But they are at their best when entertainment and drama intersect via a big-time rivalry, when personal ambitions collide and polarized fans take a sporting match up from run-of-the-mill to historic proportions. The best competitions to watch are those where each side is equally talented, with thousands of fans betting on the team or individual who has captured their heart in games past. Every sport has a major rivalry, from tennis to distance running. They’re all worthy of attention, and we could write an entire article on each one. But, hey, this is a magazine and there are space restraints! So we handpicked a few of our favorites for you:

Magic vs. Bird - They couldn’t be more different. Earvin “Magic†Johnson was a flashy, high-gloss player who led a fast-paced team fans and sportswriters aptly referred to as “Showtime.†Larry Bird, routinely referred to as the “Hick from French Lick,†was a small-town boy who played in a minor college basketball program. Yet this hard-working kid from southernIndianawas so determined and so talented that he took that no-name program—IndianaStateUniversity—to the 1979 NCAA Championship game.

That outing, one of the most storied in college basketball history, wasn’t the first time Bird and Magic met on the court. But it was the first time they went tête-à-tête when the stakes were high, and the match up spawned an intense personal rivalry that was unlike anything else the world of basketball has ever seen. In fact, to this day it remains arguably the most interesting and dramatic rivalry in sports history.

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How much time it takes to play a hand or spin the reels is a factor just as is the house edge. That doesn’t mean time is destiny. We can counter the effects of time and the house edge and get a better run for our money. We can learn basic strategy at blackjack or the video poker games we choose. Even on the slots, we can slow down and learn to savor the bonus rounds and free spins.

The costs per hour we’re about to calculate won’t match your results every time you play. Winning streaks and big wins happen in every game, no matter what speed of play and house edge say our average results should be. It’s those big wins that keep us coming back.

Nonetheless, time may be money on the tables, but it’s more like time and a half on the slots, where many players turn up the speed. A slot player who’s determined to keep the reels spinning can crank it up to 1,000 plays per hour. And you can slow the games down, but for calculations here, we’ll use 50 hands an hour at blackjack, 500 on reel slots and video poker, and 300 on video slots.

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Music is the heartbeat of the Hard Rock brand. Hard Rock properties are known for having the best in live entertainment, showcasing the hottest names in every genre. With international tour dates scheduled years in advance, it isn’t easy to catch up with today’s top artists to book a showing. But for Robyn Smith, Director of Entertainment at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino inBiloxi,Mississippi, it’s all in a day’s work.

In 2011, the International Entertainment Buyers Association named Smith Casino Buyer of the Year. Filled with excitement, Robyn sat down to tell us how she keeps the rockin’ Hard Rock entertainment alive inBiloxi!

SOUTHERN GAMING: How long have you been in the entertainment industry, specifically in the casino world and with Hard Rock?

Robyn Smith: I started in gaming in 1994 when I first got a taste of the casino world. Two years later, I became a part of the Greg Thompson production cast as the company manager, a performer and choreographer. After that, in late 1999, I joined the management side, and eventually went to the corporate regional office for Caesar’s as the Director of Entertainment for the entire mid-south region.

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The Silver Slipper Casino is nestled in the southernMississippicoastline amongSouth Beach Boulevard, Bayou Caddy and theMississippi Sound. But it’s not a lonely location by any means. If you arrive just before 4 pm, you’ll notice a lively crowd, but you’ll also see a line forming in the rear of the casino filled with eager faces anxious to dine at the Jubilee Buffet—one of the South’s premiere casino-dining establishments.

The buffet is divided smartly into themed serving stations, so that even when crowded the lines are evenly dispersed. The salad bar, with stone accents and tile panels, is decorated with a floral hat that is the centerpiece of the buffet. It allows access to all four sides and offers everything fresh and healthy a salad lover might want.

The Asian station, trimmed in stained wood and warmly colored tiles, offers great stir-fried entrees with bright green and yellow peppers and spicy red onions. The sweet-and-sour chicken is fragrant and highlighted with scallions and sesame seeds. The steamed wontons look to be fresh from a sidewalk stall in an Asian market and are complete with a green garnish that is the sort of extra touch you will find frequently at the Jubilee Buffet.

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If you’re looking for a reason to venture from home during the winter months, here’s the perfect excuse—a trip to a DiamondJacks Casino. With first-class locations inBossier City,Louisiana, andVicksburg,Mississippi, it may take more than one visit to soak up all that these incredible hotspots have to offer. Exceptionally accommodating personnel greet guests upon arrival, providing optimum customer service, and a refreshing, lively atmosphere awaits players on the casino floor. A winning combination of southern hospitality and high-quality entertainment makes it easy to see why DiamondJacks Casino & Resorts are the premier gaming destinations in the mid-south.

After claiming seven of Southern Gaming’s Readers’ Choice Awards for 2011, DiamondJacks has certainly been on a hot streak. Now, with the launch of a more user-friendly web site, it’s even easier to join in the fun and start testing your skills on the casino floor. The newly redesigned layout is easier to navigate with sections designated for gaming, hotel information, rewards club benefits, exciting promotions and upcoming live entertainment.

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The Shreveport-BossierCityarea has long been touted as a Sportsman’sParadisefor its vast array of wildlife, park and lake areas. However, for at least the last two decades, the area also has transformed into a lively hub of exciting southern gaming available through its many riverboat casinos scattered along both sides of theRed River.

That hub is about to get bigger with the coming of one of the country’s premier casino resorts. Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville Casino Resort, which is currently lighting up the Las Vegas strip and soon to join the Biloxi shoreline, will make Bossier City the home of its third locale with a grand opening slated for spring 2013. The casino resort will be located inBossier City’s bustling outdoor Louisiana Boardwalk shopping center, a popular tourist attraction, and located right next door to center’s anchor store, the Bass Pro Shop.

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Unity, financial stability and accountability are the top priorities for Phyliss J. Anderson, the first female chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaws (MBCI).Andersontook office in a historic inauguration ceremony on October 4, 2011, and now faces an exciting, yet challenging, four-year term as tribal leader of the MBCI and Chairman of the Choctaw Resort Development Enterprise (CRDE) Board. The Choctaw tribe is the only federally recognized tribe inMississippiwith its government headquarters located in the east centralMississippicommunity ofPearl River.

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The definition of a successful PLACE wager as it pertains to thoroughbred racing is as follows: A straight wager involving selection of a runner that finishes in at least second position.

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Recently I attended the Global Gaming Expo (G2E), headquartered for the first time in its 11-year history at The Sands Convention Center inLas Vegas. I’ve participated in all but one G2E and can tell you more than the venue has changed in this mercurial business. The way management views and categorizes their player base is also evolving. That’s not always good for patrons, especially recreational gamblers. But you can do several things to improve your odds by knowing the latest trends.
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There are many heated debates in the world of craps, some actually involving intelligent examinations of the game’s math and patterns, others involving idiotic notions.

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“How much should I play before I first contact a casino host?â€

This is a frequent question I get and, unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer. Each casino has its own parameters for its host system. However, it sometimes helps, for general guidelines, to divide casinos into three general categories.

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If you have ever had a questions regarding anything concerning gambling or casinos…we have your answer. John Grochowski is THE Casino Answer man. His knowledge on everything from Slots to Table Games will help you sharpen your skills and feel more confident than ever. Enjoy!

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The intent of a progressive betting system is to vary the size of your bets in a predetermined manner, according to whether or not you won the previous bet. Many recreational players use them when they play blackjack. I’ll focus on one of the most famous and widely used progressive betting systems—the Martingale, or double-up, system.

Using the Martingale betting system, you double your previous bet after every loss until you finally win a hand, at which point you will be ahead by one betting unit. For example, suppose you wager $10 and the results of the next three hands are loss, loss, and win (L-L-W). You would have lost $10 on the first hand, $20 on the second hand, and won $40 on the third hand. You wind up with a net win of $10, which is the goal of the progression, to win an amount equal to your starting wager.

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This section, “Slot Concepts,†is taken from the chapter “Not Your Grandma’s Slots Anymore,†in the book written by Jean Scott call More Frugal Gambling. More Frugal Gambling is the sequel to Jean’s best-selling book The Frugal Gambler, which started off the 4-book Frugal Gambler series.

More so than most gambling advice, many of the “insider tips on slots†you see are total bunk. Although much of this bad advice comes by mail in long letters with lots of bold type, I’ve seen too much of it in print by self-styled slot “experts.†The following is some of the more egregious slot advice I’ve read.

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With the holidays in the rear view mirror and spring approaching, the golf season is nearly upon us and it’s time to start thinking about some golf getaways. Whether you are looking to take a long golf vacation or a long weekend, you’ll find the perfect destination in this article. Here are my top 10 golf getaways.

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There are so many different bets to make when you go to a casino that it is hard to keep track of them all. Which ones are good? Which ones are horrible? Southern Gaming Guru, Bill Burton, breaks down the The Best and Worst Casino Bets you will come across on your next gambling adventure…be sure to pick the winners!

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