Heart attack sufferers’ best odds may be in casinos

You stand a better chance of surviving a heart attack in a casino than you would inside a hospital.

No, this missive wasn't put out by the Nevada Resort Association. The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine is the source for this tidbit.

According to a study, victims need to get life-saving defibrillation within two minutes of suffering a heart attack. Your odds are better if the attack happens at a casino.

If you suffer cardiac arrest inside a hospital, you have a one in three chance of getting defibrillation within the necessary time frame. However, if the heart attack takes place in a casino, chances are better that the victim is around other people and the response time will be quicker, giving the patient a 50 percent chance for survival.

Boyd Gaming Corp. was the first local gambling company to introduce defibrillators on casino floors.

Deadlines are deadlines, and Las Vegas-based Epic Gaming learned that the hard way.

The Kansas Lottery Commission rejected Epic's application for a $65 million casino in Dodge City after the company missed the deadline by one day.

The reason given for the blown deadline, according to The Associated Press: The copy machine broke down. Gaming companies were required to submit 20 copies of their application, which could reach up to 2,000 pages.

Epic Gaming doesn't have operations in Nevada. According to its Web site, the company is awaiting approval to manage an American Indian casino in Oklahoma and developing a project in Hungary.

Touch those pretzels, you've bought 'em, at least at the Wynn Las Vegas mini bar. So says Bob Sullivan, author of "Gotcha Capitalism: How Hidden Fees Rip You Off Every Day -- and What You Can Do About It."

In an interview to promote his book last week on National Public Radio's "Fresh Air," Sullivan discussed insidious ways hotels have devised for making money. He described how taking and holding anything from a Wynn room mini bar for longer than 60 seconds -- long enough to read the calorie count, perhaps -- would result in a charge, even if that item were replaced unopened.

The moral?

"Don't even touch, don't even open the mini bar," Sullivan said.

Former Station Casinos Vice President of Corporate and Government Relations Lesley Pittman has formed Sierra Strategies, a consulting firm that will provide government relations and communications services to clients statewide. Pittman left the now privately held gambling company in December.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com. Review-Journal writer Matthew Crowley contributed to this report.