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Bad Bet : The Inside Story of the Glamour, Glitz, and Danger of America's Gambling Industry
Like tobacco, the gambling industry has its share of dirty little secrets. Its "nicotine" is the compulsive gambler, the relative few who are absolutely necessary to the well-being of the industry because they bring in 80% of its revenue. This long-ignored problem confronts the gambling business with the same threats and challenges that nicotine addiction posed for big tobacco.Bad Bet exposes the false promise of economic revival that has lured communities to depend on gambling for jobs and for a fiscal fix, and the criminal connections of many of its leading companies. Timothy O'Brien also looks at the industry's new frontier in cyberspace. Bad Bet is a cautionary tale about the spreading influence of gambling -- and its often devastating effects on communities and people.
339 pages, Hardcover
First published August 8, 1998
50 people want to read
About the author
Timothy L. O'Brien
4 books89 followersTim O'Brien's novel, "The Lincoln Conspiracy," is a historical thriller set in Washington and New York in the weeks following the Lincoln assassination. The first in a series of novels about the exploits of an Irish-American detective and his wife, "The Lincoln Conspiracy" is a gripping tale of intrigue, riddles, and murder and a riveting account of what motivated the assassination of one of America's most beloved presidents.
Tim is also the Executive Editor of The Huffington Post, where he edited the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning series about wounded war veterans, "Beyond the Battlefield." Previously, he was an editor and reporter at The New York Times. There, he helped to lead a team of Times reporters that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service in 2009 for coverage of the financial crisis.
Prior to becoming Sunday Business editor at The New York Times in 2006, Tim was a staff writer for the Times. Among the topics and people he has written about for the paper are Wall Street, Russia, Manhattan's art world, cybercrimes and identity theft, Warren Buffett, geopolitics, digital media, international finance, Hollywood, terrorism and terrorist financing, money laundering, gambling, and white-collar fraud. Tim was a member of a team of Times reporters that won a Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism in 1999.
Before returning to the Times in 2003, Tim was the senior feature writer at Talk, a magazine founded by former New Yorker editor Tina Brown. Tim was with Talk from 2000 until it ceased publishing in 2002. Before joining Talk, Tim was a reporter with the Times and, prior to that, The Wall Street Journal.
O'Brien, a graduate of Georgetown University, holds three master's degrees -- in US History, Business and Journalism -- all from Columbia University. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two children. Connect with Tim on Facebook , Twitter, LinkedIn , Pinterest , and Tumblr .
Tim is also the Executive Editor of The Huffington Post, where he edited the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning series about wounded war veterans, "Beyond the Battlefield." Previously, he was an editor and reporter at The New York Times. There, he helped to lead a team of Times reporters that was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Public Service in 2009 for coverage of the financial crisis.
Prior to becoming Sunday Business editor at The New York Times in 2006, Tim was a staff writer for the Times. Among the topics and people he has written about for the paper are Wall Street, Russia, Manhattan's art world, cybercrimes and identity theft, Warren Buffett, geopolitics, digital media, international finance, Hollywood, terrorism and terrorist financing, money laundering, gambling, and white-collar fraud. Tim was a member of a team of Times reporters that won a Loeb Award for Distinguished Business Journalism in 1999.
Before returning to the Times in 2003, Tim was the senior feature writer at Talk, a magazine founded by former New Yorker editor Tina Brown. Tim was with Talk from 2000 until it ceased publishing in 2002. Before joining Talk, Tim was a reporter with the Times and, prior to that, The Wall Street Journal.
O'Brien, a graduate of Georgetown University, holds three master's degrees -- in US History, Business and Journalism -- all from Columbia University. He lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two children. Connect with Tim on Facebook , Twitter, LinkedIn , Pinterest , and Tumblr .
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 17, 2023
A very thoroughly researched look at the history and practice of gambling in America. The anthropological and historical information is informative, well-written and interesting. The look at modern casinos (such as interviews with Donald Trump which allow the puffed-up magnate to sink himself with his inane logorrhea) are just as good. There are also vignettes taken from interviewed with a professional gambler, a recovering addict, etc, and these are fine, though ultimately unimportant except as case histories.
On the minus side, the book is overloaded with statistics (O’Brien was a business reporter); it’s also a bit rote in its litany — casinos, horse racing, sports betting, charity bingo, cyber-betting, Indian reservations, even the stock market (!). Worse, O’Brien goes too far pushing his thesis. This thesis — that commercial gambling is bad! bad! — is arguable enough, but his overall tone is often harshly and inappropriately moralistic (lumping the stock market in with casino gambling is a bit much). On average, an interesting look at the gaming world, though it does read like a series of feature articles stapled together.
On the minus side, the book is overloaded with statistics (O’Brien was a business reporter); it’s also a bit rote in its litany — casinos, horse racing, sports betting, charity bingo, cyber-betting, Indian reservations, even the stock market (!). Worse, O’Brien goes too far pushing his thesis. This thesis — that commercial gambling is bad! bad! — is arguable enough, but his overall tone is often harshly and inappropriately moralistic (lumping the stock market in with casino gambling is a bit much). On average, an interesting look at the gaming world, though it does read like a series of feature articles stapled together.
Displaying 1 of 1 review