[malo]

Pretty easy to figure the places that just threw out a few poker tables on the casino floor--Trop, O'Sheas, Riviera--will be the first to go.

I've wondered a bit about Harrah's properties. Currently, they have a room in every poperty they own on the east side of the Strip (except the red-headed stepchild Bill's.) Do they feel a need to offer poker at every property because the operate the WSOP, or will they pull the plug on at least a couple of these places?

Something I noticed about the Strip casinos that were open three years ago: they all had reasonably accessable parking for locals. As much as tourists say they don't care to play with locals (and some locals don't care for the "locals" casinos) LV residents do seem to form the base on which poker room business is built, even on the Strip. And they don't seem to like lengthy hikes to the poker room (nor valeting to avoid the hikes.) Will this have any affect on places like MGM and Planet Hollywood, with their parking a fair distance from their rooms? Is there enough increased tourist business to sustain them? Believe MGM used to have a room, and closed it when the interest began to decline (late 90's/early 2000's). Would they do it again?

Then there is the possibility UIGEA will be overturned in the foreseeable future, and US gaming corporations moving into online gambling. The opportunities for cross-promotion between the two for poker are huge, and could spark another boom.