EPISODE 97---Gambling, Space, and Time: Shifting Boundaries and Cultures -- David G. Schwartz

David G. Schwartz, the Director of the Center, has been at the University of Nevada Las Vegas since 2001. 

As Director of the Center for Gaming Research, he oversees the acquisition of new materials for the Center and seeks to encourage its utilization by scholarly, media, government, and industrial researchers. He also created and maintains this website, gaming.unlv.edu.

Complementing his work at UNLV, Schwartz is a writer, and consultant on gaming and related issues. He has consulted with law firms for prior art in gaming patent cases, delivered expert witness testimony about casino history, and helped casinos research and share their own company histories.

As a speaker, he talks to a variety of audiences, from visiting classes to convention groups, who enjoy his wide-ranging, fast-paced introduction to casino topics, including his "Seven Things You Should Know About Casinos" presentation.

Born and raised in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Schwartz earned his bachelor's degree (a double major in anthropology and history) as well as his master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania before seeking his doctorate in US History from UCLA.

He became the youngest Ph.D. in recent memory from UCLA's history department, filing his dissertation and receiving his Ph.D. at the age of 26 in early 2000. His dissertation, Suburban Xanadu,charted the evolution of the casino industry on the Las Vegas Strip from 1945-1978. It is now a published book, the first of three currently available. 

After completing his graduate studies, Schwartz worked in the surveillance department of an Atlantic City casino resort and taught casino history, communications, and hospitality courses as an adjunct professor, before coming to UNLV. In his current work, he combines his "real world" experience in the casino industry with his academic expertise. 

For more information about Dr. Schwartz's creative and professional activities, including his speaking, executive seminars, and consulting work., visit his website: http://www.dieiscast.com. 

Schwartz has written three books and numerous articles. His books include Suburban Xanadu: The Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and Beyond, Cutting the Wire: Gaming Prohibition and the Internet, and Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.  Suburban Xanadu is a look at how casinos began and developed on the Las Vegas Strip in the years after World War II, and how they changed late 20th century ideas of gambling.  Cutting the Wire looks at how the Wire Act, the culimation of a half-century's effort to contain interstate bookmaking, ended up being used to prosecute legal online sports books in the early years of the Internet.  Roll the Bones is a comprehensive history of gambling, from the dawn of civilization to roughly 2 AM, April 28, 2005, incorporating cards, dice, lotteries, horseracing, and several other forms of gambling.  He also writes regularly for Casino Connection, Vegas Seven magazine, and Las Vegas Business Press.  - For Casino Connection, Schwartz writes a monthly Atlantic City history column. - For Vegas Seven, Schwartz pens the weekly "Green Felt Journal" gaming and tourism column and occasional essays and feature articles. - For the Las Vegas Business Press, Schwartz writes bi-weekly opinion essays on the past, current, and future state of Southern Nevada's gaming industry. 

The eight essays in Gambling, Space, and Time use a global and interdisciplinary approach to examine two significant areas of gambling studies that have not been widely explored--the ever-changing boundaries that divide and organize gambling spaces, and the cultures, perceptions, and emotions related to gambling. The contributors represent a variety of disciplines: history, geography, sociology, anthropology, political science, and law. The essays consider such topics as the impact of technological advances on gambling activities, the role of the nation-state in the gambling industry, and the ways that cultural and moral values influence the availability of gambling and the behavior of gamblers. The case studies offer rich new insights into a gambling industry that is both a global phenomenon and a powerful engine of local change.