In the hottest months of the year, Vegas isn’t the first vacation destination that comes to mind. Most people think about heading to the beach this time of year, not the desert. Temperatures climb past 110 degrees in July and August in Las Vegas, but there’s so much to do in the city that the weather is an occasional nuisance at worst.

Las Vegas is currently offering just about everything at a discount. Early gaming revenues were down this year, prompting the industry to cut costs in an attempt to attract more players to town. Room rates are slashed, and package deals for the resorts can save you hundreds of dollars in services and complementary promotional items.

So if you want to hang out at the pool, where there’s just about anything your heart desires within easy access, it’s never been a better time to head to Sin City for a few days of hot times.

The hardest casino game – excluding poker because it’s not considered a casino game – would have to be craps. There are no real difficult games to play; even craps is simple once you understand what going on, and which bets to make. Many find that the explanation for craps is too long, and most recreational gamblers don’t want to have too much to think about when they’re on the casino floor.

The craps table can be intimidating because of the loud players hitting their rolls. The game concept is simple enough; each player takes turns rolling dice and possible outcomes are bet on. The roller must roll a point to continue to throw the dice, and will continue until he doesn’t. Everyone has different types of bets they can make on what the thrower will roll.

It can be the most exciting game in the casino, and it’s well worth the effort to learn.

The best bars in Vegas can change from time to time. Casinos pride themselves on having a top-rated bar under the same roof, and the city has most of the hottest nightclubs in the entire country. The Palms has Rain in the Desert. It has private cabanas that get hired out by high rollers and Hollywood celebrities alike.

Rum Jungle is still one of hottest stops in town. Located in the Mandalay Bay, it’s mainly a Latino/Caribbean vibe, with funky décor that includes fire walls and waterfall walls to volcanic mountains of rum and go-go dancers who perform above the huge bar area.

The MGM Grand has the hot remake of New York’s Studio 54. It’s a huge club on four levels, each with a separate dance floor and bar. The wait is usually manageable, but there is a cover charge every night. Drink prices are a bit better too.

With the success of the Aussie Millions poker tournament, New Zealand is looking to amp up their annual poker tournament. Last year’s event only had 50 entrants playing for a $30,000 prize pool. This year the tournament had 150 entrants playing for $340,000, with 90% of the entrants coming from New Zealand.

SkyCity Entertainment Group is the country’s largest casino operator and they’ve decided to cash in on the new poker craze Down Under. They intend to host a million-dollar guaranteed tournament at the Auckland casino. Poker has become the most popular game in the casino since Joe Hachem won the WSOP main event three years ago.

Ejaaz Dean, SkyCity’s new table game boss who has more than 20 years experience in the casino business says, “I think SkyCity has the fundamentals in place to host such a tournament. But we will have to offer at least a million.”

It can get so hot in Vegas that you have to be careful where you walk. If you attempt to walk a distance that’s too far, you could get into physical trouble in the sweltering heat. Even walkways have air conditioning or mist sprays to cool down patrons of the casinos. I’ve been there in July, and the temperatures average around 110 degrees. It doesn’t get much hotter than that in North America.

The only thing hotter than the weather in Vegas is the women. Most beauties in search of fame and fortune either head to Hollywood or Vegas to make their mark. With all the money in the city, it also attracts women that are just interested in cash, if you know what I mean. Not to mention that the town is a playground teeming with actresses, debutantes, show girls and gold-diggers out for a weekend of debauchery and sin.

The high price of gas is forcing us to do a lot of things at home. One of them is play at an online casino. Casino revenues are down for 2008, and it’s mainly because people don’t have as much disposable income as they did a year ago. Instead of going to Vegas or driving to the local casino, players are playing more at home and saving a few bucks as they do it.

Playing online is already cheaper than a live game, when you include bonuses and time you save not having to drive to the casino. Not to mention that the action is faster and the options are limitless as far as getting into a game of your choice.

Maybe casinos will start mailing out gas cards to VIP’s to get people to come back. They’ll have to do something – perhaps a car service that will pick you up and take you home.

Michael Jackson’s famed Neverland Ranch has been purchased by Colony Capital Group, and rumor has it that the theme park may be transformed into a gaming resort. Colony owns Hiltons in both Vegas and Atlantic City, and their intention of purchasing the ranch could be to convert it to a casino.

It is a ready-made park with a zoo, Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, wave swinger, super slide, zipper, spider, sea dragon, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster and bumper cars. The notoriety of the ranch will attract many people, but there’s one issue that’s flawed with this idea, if indeed Colony Capital Group is planning to attempt to bring a casino to Santa Barbara County, California.

The State of California doesn’t hand out gaming licenses like they do in Nevada. Rural land is not available for development, and Santa Barbara County is known for stopping developers looking to make a quick buck.

Recent studies show that the future of online casinos continues to be bright. Online casinos are on the top of the list of topics that are being searched for on internet search engines like Google and Yahoo. This means that more people are searching for online casinos and casino information than ever before.

The opening up of China has introduced a large new gaming market to the global industry, and areas like Europe and Australia continue to grow interest in online casinos, sports books and poker rooms.

Online casinos have improved a great deal over the last couple of years, and players can find great deals and loose odds online much easier than in traditional casinos. Games are better and more easily accessed, and the security of online casinos is monitored and controlled. Once the US market is regulated, the industry will have another evolution that will make it even more popular.

A new study at Harvard University has shown that around 5% of online casino bettors show signs of problem gambling. That’s five times the amount as compared to a study that shows that only 1% of sports bettors become problematic gamblers. This information is being used to help launch an automatic warning system for online players.

The name of the study is “Stability and Progression of Disordered Gambling: Lessons from Longitudinal Studies”, and was published in the January 2008 issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. It was primarily funded by the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG). The NCRG is an American non-profit organization.

The study also showed that addicted players will move back and forth between healthy and disordered states. Debi LaPlante, Ph.D., and an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School said, “As researchers learn more about the course of the disorder, health care providers can develop better tailored treatment plans.”

Apparently the party is slowing down in China. The Chinese government has decided that the rapidly expanding gaming industry in the country needs to be levelled out and reviewed. They have stopped issuing any new casino licences in Macau until further notice; that includes sub-concession gaming licenses as well. Gambling has been legal in Macau since 2002.

To date there are three concessions and another three sub-concessions. These casinos will have all the action until the government decides to change its current position on the issue. Macau rivals the entire state of Nevada in gaming revenue already, but that looks like it will slow down for the next while.

“We’re now at a stage to review and estimate the development of the industry. We decided not to issue any new casino concessions, including casino sub-concessions,” said government official Edmund Ho during a question and answer session with legislators.