After a bit of a whirlwind summer filled with travel I’m finally back home and back at the computer. I know I owe you all some content, and rest assured it is coming.
Last week I traveled to Hot Springs to give a talk at the 150th Anniversary Gala, which was really an incredible event. There were probably about 500 more people there than I imagined would be, so I was pretty nervous. But I think I did alright. Hopefully no video exists of it so none of you can draw your own conclusions. Joey Lauren Adams told me I did a good job so even if she was just gassing me up at least that was a fun thing to hear. I have to imagine the folks at Visit Hot Springs liked it because they told me they’d love to have me back for the 300th.
I also gave a talk and signed copies of The Vapors at Black Ribbon Books while I was in town. If you live around there and you want a signed book, they have tons of them now!
The week before that I was at Bet Bash in Las Vegas, which has become one of the weeks I really look forward to every year. I’ve made so many friends there over the years and there is always so much new information to learn, so many new people to meet, and the gathering just gets bigger and bigger each year. This year Roxy Roxborough moderated a panel with authors of new books that have come out in the last year. I really love not only that there are enough books being published on this topic to warrant a yearly panel now, but also that the community of professional gamblers actually enjoy reading about more than just technical treatments of gambling. I look forward to getting grilled by Roxy about American Gambler next summer.
For my part I gave a one hour talk on the history of sports gambling in America. I was surprised at how well attended it was, and I really enjoyed talking to people afterwards and hearing how much people really like learning about this stuff. While I was nervous about my Hot Springs talk and kind of didn’t believe anyone who told me I did a good job, for this one I felt pretty good about it. Maybe because it was more like a classroom lecture and less me trying to entertain the audience. Maybe because I’m confident in my command of this particular topic after the last couple of years of submersing myself in it. Whatever the reason, I figured when folks afterward told me they’d like me to release the audio or video of the talk, I’d do it. But rather than upload the raw audio of that talk and the q&a, which I’m not sure Spanky would want me to do, I’m going to give it again here on Substack this week and upload the video and audio to paid subscribers.
If you’re not already a paid subscriber and you want to see the talk, you can upgrade your subscription here:
This will also go out on the podcast feed as a bonus episode. As for new episodes, I have those coming, too. After Bet Bash I lined up a lot of new topics and guests, and plan to get back in the lab now that I’m off the road and record a slew of new book club episodes in the next few weeks. So keep a lookout for those.
As always, thank you for subscribing and for all of your support. I’m looking forward to sharing more here on substack this fall.