Gambler's Book Club by Jamie Ian Swiss

Reviewed by Jamy Ian Swiss (originally published in Genii March, 1997)

Wait, that's not a book title, that's a publisher and a retail store. Well, consider this a brief review of that very thing, and a unique combination it is at that. Last Fall, during several months' stay in Las Vegas (and a run at Caesars Magical Empire) I finally had the opportunity to visit the retail outlet of this venerable publisher, whose works have long littered my bookshelves. I ended up staying a very long time, and carting home a carton of books. If it has something, anything, to do with gambling, you'll find it here. I purchased titles I had long known of but had never gotten around to obtaining; I purchased titles I had never envisioned, much less heard of I bought manuscripts on gaming strategy for particular casino games, fiction about gambling, non-fiction about gamblers and Las Vegas history, and all sorts of works, historical and contemporary, about scams, hustles and con games, including limited circulation volumes intended for police agencies, short-story collections about Las Vegas, and works on probability and math. In short, I had a field day. They claim to display more than 120 titles on horse racing, 100 on all casino games, 50 on poker and dozens on sports betting, with new titles arriving constantly. You can obtain a free catalog listing a thousand titles by sending in your name and address (you might mention Genii , too). Gambler's Book Club is also a publisher, largely of previously rare old titles that would otherwise have fallen out of circulation. Their list of such titles is extensive, and the prices are generally very cheap; below, you'll find reviews of two such items of interest. I spent a great afternoon at the Gambler's Book Club; make sure you drop by the next time you're in Las Vegas