在20世纪80年代末，我第一次到拉斯维加斯，作为一个新兴的商业作家参加了镇上的商务会议。在那里，特别是周围那些零售房地产，那是我的专长。在拉斯维加斯的给我留下很深刻印象第一件事情就是那里无所不在的赌场，其实应该没那么多的实体存在（我预计），但他们为吸引更多的客户而不断这样做广告。在拉斯维加斯的大众媒体中，不管何种传播的形式都看到赌博广告的踪影。你可以在主要的电视和电台看到关于赌场的有力营销信息。

　　我无法告诉你这样的常态对于我来说会有什么不同。我在马萨诸塞州长大，那里除了彩票外，没有任何其他的游戏广告。我在费城上学，并最终在纽约市定居，在那里，赌场营销会出现在你偶然看到的公路广告牌上，那里本来仅向你传递95号州际公路方向的信息。但是在我居住地附近的赌场，这样的情况没有出现，毕竟大西洋城是美国第二大博彩赌场，在管辖方面设定有不少条款，虽然它是处在距离公路少于200公里的地方。当时赌博还属于垄断行业，我想，度假村不觉得需要像我这个年龄（当时我20岁）的人来纽约市尝试老虎机和桌上游戏。他们有大量的顾客，他们都是大西洋城的赌博爱好者，在那里玩流行的游戏。

　　对于我来说，时代已经变了。我仍然在纽约市，大西洋城也还一直都处在路旁，但现在大家都非常担心这一事实。这些天来，纽约市居民不仅被大西洋城的赌场广告轰炸，在附近的宾夕法尼亚州和康涅狄格州的各种设施也严重影响了正常的生活。在扬克斯赛道所有地方的老虎机都是以马为主题发布的广告，仿佛有胆量的曼哈顿在敢踏上扬克斯… …虽然获得了巨大的成功但也要为此投入了很多成本。

　　而现在，才是真正加入战斗。渡槽跑马场出现在皇后区内，目前正在开发一个40万平方英尺的度假胜地，将会成为纽约乃至世界的名胜。预定今年秋天晚些时候会开放，将成为纽约市第一家有SANS现场桌牌游戏的赌场。该赌场将提供2280个视频彩票终端和205款电子桌牌游戏，并计划年底扩大到5000多台赌博机。这需要很多赞助才能使这个游戏获得利润。客户在游戏战斗中可能需要很集中的注意力。赌场会促进该地区发展，特别是能够推动当地经济和弥补预算短缺。

　　说真的，看到赌场面向大众的营销，并最终可能都会达到拉斯维加斯水平，我不会对此感到震惊。赌场的营销程度要有多高才合适，主要得看对这个市场的利害关系，这将成为营销的上线。作为一个纽约人，我对此并不介意，就像一些背景音乐，有时也会有一些恼人的声音冒出来，我想都会有所不足的。

　　译文

　　I first started going to Las Vegas in the late 1980s, a fledgling business writer attending the town’s business conventions, specifically those around retail real estate, which was my specialty back then. One of the first things I was struck by in Las Vegas was the omnipresence of casinos—not so much the physical presence （I expected that）， but the way they were constantly advertising for more customers. It didn’t matter what form of Las Vegas mass media you turned to—primarily television and radio back then—casinos’ forceful marketing messages filled the airwaves.

　　I can’t tell you how very different this was from the norm for me. I was brought up in Massachusetts where, outside of the lottery, there was no gaming advertising whatsoever. I went to school in Philadelphia and eventually settled in New York City, where casino marketing was the occasional highway billboard you passed as you headed south on Interstate-95. It’s not that casinos weren’t nearby; after all Atlantic City was the second largest gaming jurisdiction in the United States in terms of number of casinos, and it was less than 200 miles down the road. But at that time it was also a monopoly and I guess resorts did not feel the need to blanket New York City with calls for people my age （mid-20s at that time） to come south to try the slots and table games. They had plenty of trade from gambling aficionados, who flocked to Atlantic City because it was literally the only game in town.

　　My, how times have changed. I’m still in New York City, Atlantic City is still just down the road, but now everyone is very aware of that fact. These days, New York City residents are absolutely bombarded with regional casino advertising, not only for Atlantic City, but for facilities in nearby Pennsylvania and Connecticut. We’re even getting talking horse-themed ads for the slots at Yonkers Raceway of all places. As if any self-respecting Manhattanite would dare set foot in Yonkers… although many must be given how wildly successful that property is.

　　And now the battle is about to be joined for real. Resorts World New York, a 400,000-square-foot resort currently being developed within the footprint of the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, is scheduled to open later this fall and will be the first casino （sans live table games） in New York City proper. Initially, the facility will offer 2,280 video lottery terminals and 205 electronic table games, with plans to expand to more than 5,000 gaming machines by the end of the year. It will require a lot of patronage to make this amount of gaming profitable. The battle for customer attention is likely to be fierce, especially as more states in the region foster casino development to boost local economies and make up for budget shortfalls.

　　Really, I wouldn’t be shocked to see the casino mass marketing eventually reach Vegas levels; that’s how high the stakes for this market will become as more and more regional properties come on line. As a New Yorker, I for one will not mind the background noise, so long as they take something equally annoying in return.