Temples of Chance

This is an absolutely informative and yet totally entertaining book about the inside of the gambling industry. David Johnston does a great job of detailing the evolution of the casinos, all the while making a strong case for its negative impact on society. Throw in the flashy gangsters, mobsters, lawmen, colorful tales of some of the biggest gamblers, incredible stories of rags-to-riches and vice-versa, and you have a real page-turner.

"Temples of Chance: How America Inc. Bought Out Murder Inc. to Win Control of the Casino Business" literally tells the story of how the modern Las Vegas invented by Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel when he built the Flamingo gambling resort as World War II was ending, was run by mobsters for three decades, who were bought out be a new generation of "respectable" businesspeople in the 1980s. While the media was focuses on the excesses of Wall Street the casino industry was being taken over by the heads of well known publicly traded corporations, as well as junk-bond kings like Donald Trump, Merv Griffin, and Steve Wynn. In "Temples of Chance" journalist David Johnston documents the little-publicized transformation of what has proven to be one of the country's fastest growing and most lucrative industries.Johnston explains how in just over a decade revenues from gambling went from $2 billion a year to $10 billion. The immense profit potential of the gambling business attracted corporate giants like the Holiday Corporation and Ramada, Inc., both of which sold off their namesake hotel chains at the end of the 1980s and sank their resources into the new megacasinos. However, Johnston's book underscores that "no matter who deals the cards, the game is always the same." Now business school graduates and skilled managers have replaced mob muscle and the new "loaded dice" are provided by computer geniuses who carefully stack the odds against players, government officials who support corporate deal makers, and even subtle psychological techniques that invite addictive behavior.The framing story for "Temples of Chance" is the story of Akio Kashiwagi, the boldest gambler in the world, who is wagering $14 million an hour for days while playing baccarat at Trump Plaza. As the first chapter ends Kashiwagi is has a pot of $18.6 million and the Donald is getting nervous. However, Trump has hired Jess Marcum, a physicist who helped invent radar and "a lonely atheist in the temples of chance because he did not believe in Lady Luck" on his side. Kashiwagi does not have a chance, but we do not find out how this game plays until the end of the book.Ultimately "Temples of Chance" makes a convincing case that any wager placed on legal gambling in America is a sucker's bet, the exception being if you are one of the power brokers on the inside. Johnston has a whole series of horror stories reflecting the mentality of greed that drove corporate investors to sponsor casinos on Indian reservations, Mississippi riverboats, and every place it can get a foothold. Johnston maintains that the logic underlying government support of the expansion of legalized gambling is pretty stupid in light of the evidence that while legal gambling can offer short-term economic relief, it creates no new wealth, and has not and cannot permanently revive struggling economies. The value of this 1992 book as a warning has obviously waned, but it still provides a fascinating look at how Wall Street