Birthday wishes and congratulations

OK, so we’re six months early but this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Eldorado, which opened in downtown Henderson on July 1, 1962. Locals casinos wouldn’t become an industry unto themselves for years yet but the Eldorado and nearby Jokers Wild are said to hold a special place in Boyd Gaming Chairman Bill Boyd‘s affections. Jokers Wild got something of a reprieve, thanks to the recession: Boyd Gaming had been expanding its property holdings around the casino, in anticipation of major residential development just across the street.

A variety of factors, including the economy, put paid to that mega-homestead plan, leaving the Jokers Wild intact for the foreseeable future. Anyway, if you’ve not made the drive out to visit the casino cluster on Henderson’s main drag, it’s worth the trip. It’s very Main Street U.S.A., with the exception of having a couple of relatively low-key casinos where the supermarket and pharmacy might be expected to stand. Oh, and pick up some of those commemorative chips (above) while you’re there. Only 2,000 will be in circulation, so it’s definitely a collectible.

Congratulations are in order for MGM Resorts International spokesman Alan Feldman (left) newly named as chairman of the National Center for Responsible Gaming. He succeeds former Station Casinos COO Glenn Christenson in the role. Mark Vander Linden, of Iowa‘s Office of Gambling Treatment & Prevention was also elected to a board seat. In addition to putting in 12 years’ service on the NCRG board, Feldman currently sits on the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling‘s oversight body and had been part of Harvard University Medical School‘s Athletes & Addictions Task Force. So he’s no Johnny-come-lately to the prevention of addiction and pathological gambling. The NCRG gavel is in good hands. The Center’s $1.5 million in grant money may look like chicken feed compared to the amounts played (and lost) in casinos nationwide, but it’s also the biggest war chest the NCRG has disbursed to date.