What year did the group from Ben Mezrich's book, Brining Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions, begin to operate successfully?
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Bringing Down the House (book) Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions is a book by Ben Mezrich about a group of MIT card counters commonly known as the MIT Blackjack Team. Though the book is classified as non-fiction, the "Boston Globe" alleges that the book contains significant fictional elements, that many of the key events propelling the drama did not occur in real life, and that others were exaggerated greatly.
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MIT Blackjack Team The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of students and ex-students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, and other leading colleges who used card counting techniques and more sophisticated strategies to beat casinos at blackjack worldwide. The team and its successors operated successfully from 1979 through the beginning of the 21st century. Many other blackjack teams have been formed around the world with the goal of beating the casinos.
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InterCasino InterCasino established the first online casino in 1996 and is part of the InterCasino Group, which is owned and operated by CryptoLogic Operations Ltd, a subsidiary of Goldstar Acquisitionco Inc. Registered in Malta, it is regulated by the Lotteries & Gaming Authority of Malta.
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Ken Uston Ken Uston (January 12, 1935 – September 19, 1987) was a famous blackjack player, strategist, and author, credited with popularizing the concept of team play at blackjack. During the early to mid-1970s he gained widespread notoriety for perfecting techniques to do team card counting in numerous casinos worldwide, earning millions of dollars from the casinos, with some bets as high as $12,000 on a single hand. He then became famous for being banned from casinos around the world, and thus became a master of disguise as he would adopt various costumes in order to conceal his true identity and still be able to play. He is also known for filing a high-profile lawsuit against these casinos, and successfully received a ruling from the New Jersey courts that absent a valid New Jersey Casino Commission regulation excluding card counters, casinos could not ban someone simply for counting cards at blackjack. In response, many casinos changed their systems, increasing the number of decks in games, or changing rules to increase the house edge. In the early 1980s, Uston also authored several popular books on video games and personal computers. He was the subject of a 1981 segment on "60 Minutes", and in 2005, he was the subject of the History Channel documentary, "The Blackjack Man".
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Lady Luck Gaming Lady Luck Gaming Corp. was a gaming company based in Las Vegas, Nevada, that developed and operated casinos in the Midwestern and Southern United States. It was acquired by Isle of Capri Casinos in 2000.
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BankServ BankServ, a financial services company headquartered in Enterprise, Nevada, develops electronic banking software and operates outsourced data processing centers used by banks and other businesses to move money electronically. Founded in 1996, it does business with over 400 banks in more than 50 countries, primarily supplying banks with the behind-the-scenes programs used for remote deposit, Internet bill payment, mobile payments, wire transfer payments and sending messages over the international SWIFT network. The company operates offices in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Houston and London.
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Argent Corporation Argent Corporation was a company in Las Vegas that at one time controlled the Hacienda Hotel/Casino, the Stardust Resort & Casino, the Fremont Hotel and Casino and the casino in the Marina Hotel. The company was owned by Allen Glick, a San Diego real estate investor. The name Argent came from the three initials of his name, combined with the first three letters of the word "Enterprises". However, state and local officials in Nevada believed that the casinos were controlled by organized crime families in the Mid-West and that a huge skimming operation was conducted within the casinos.
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Brink's The Brink's Company is an American security and protection company headquartered outside of Richmond, Virginia. Its core business is Brink’s Inc.; it spun off its Brink’s Home Security operations into a separate company (Broadview Security) in 2008. The Brink’s brand and reputation span around the globe. In 2013, its international network serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs approximately 134,000 people. Operations include approximately 1,100 facilities, and 13,300 vehicles. The company emerged from the Pittston Company and changed its name to the Brink’s Company in 2003.
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Las Vegas Plaza The Las Vegas Plaza was the working name for a future $5 billion to $8 billion multi-use ultra-luxury hotel, private residences, retail and gaming complex to be developed on the Las Vegas Strip by El-Ad Group.
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Hilton family The Hilton family is an American family. The family members hold varying degrees of wealth and status as socialites in the United States. They are widely known for the Hilton Hotel and Resorts Group which was established by Conrad Hilton in 1919 when he bought his first hotel.
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Dubai Group Dubai Group is an investment company based in the United Arab Emirates, and a subsidiary of Dubai Holding. The company was founded in 2000 as the Investment Office, and was renamed Dubai Group in 2005. Through its companies, the group focuses on banking, investments and insurance in the United Arab Emirates and globally.
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State Street Corporation State Street Corporation, known as State Street, is an American worldwide financial services company. State Street was founded in 1792 and is the second oldest financial institution in the United States of America. It is one of the largest asset management companies in the world with $2.45 trillion (USD) under management and $28 trillion (USD) under custody and administration, which represents 11% of the world's total financial assets. State Street is a Fortune 500 company with headquarters at One Lincoln Street in Boston and has offices in 30 countries around the world. At the 2011 G20 Summit in Cannes, France heads of governments/heads of states gathered to discuss the stability of worldwide financial markets. At the G20, State Street was adjudged one of the 29 top systemic financial institutions in the world too crucial to fail, which were deemed critically important to the health of the Global Economy.
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SuperHappyDevHouse SuperHappyDevHouse (aka SHDH) is an international series of social events which organizers originally conceived as parties for hackers and thinkers. Founded May 29, 2005 by Jeff Lindsay and David Weekly (founder of PBwiki), SHDH in Silicon Valley began by hosting 150 to 200 people every six weeks at rotating venues throughout San Francisco Bay and Silicon Valley, California. The unusual name derived from a popular 1991 "Saturday Night Live" satire, Happy Fun Ball, which lampooned TV commercials and the NERF Ball. Weekly lived in a house nicknamed "SuperHappyFunHouse" after SNL's commercial parody, and that name was given yet another twist as SuperHappyDevHouse.
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Frank Fertitta Jr. Frank Joseph Fertitta Jr. (October 30, 1938 – August 21, 2009) was an American entrepreneur. He was the founder of Station Casinos, a gaming company based in Summerlin, Nevada. The company started out as a locals casino operator on July 1, 1976, opening the Bingo Palace, which was later renamed Palace Station. The company went public with an IPO in 1993 upon Fertitta's retirement.
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Vegas (duo) Vegas was a musical outfit, active in the early 1990s. The duo was formed by the former Specials & Fun Boy 3 singer Terry Hall and Eurythmics member David A. Stewart. They released their self-titled début album in 1992 as well as a trio of singles.
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The Casinos The Casinos was a nine-member doo-wop group from Cincinnati, Ohio, led by Gene Hughes and which included Bob Armstrong, Ray White, and Pete Bolton. Ken Brady performed with the group, taking over for Hughes from 1962 to 1965 as lead singer. Pete Bolton was replaced at the time by Jerry Baker. Brady left the group to perform as a solo artist and Hughes returned, at which time the Casinos became a nine-piece group. They are best known for their John D. Loudermilk-penned song "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye," which hit #6 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in 1967, well after the end of the doo-wop era.
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William Redd William Redd, also known as Si Redd (1911-2003) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was the founder of International Game Technology, a slot machine manufacturer and distributor. He was the owner of the Oasis, a hotel and casino in Mesquite, Nevada. He was the rightsholder of video poker, and he became known as the "king of slot machines".
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California Club (casino) The California Club operated from 1958 to 1973. Phil Long took over operation of the casino located at the corner of First and Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, 1958. The locals casino catered to local gamblers. It was owned and operated by Phil Long and partner George Milford and was a casino only without any hotel rooms. The California Club was sold to Steve Wynn in 1973. The California Club was combined into the Golden Nugget shortly after the purchase by Wynn.
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Hilton Grand Vacations Club Hilton Grand Vacations Club is a timeshare property located on the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The property was previously occupied by the El Rancho Vegas hotel and casino from 1941 until 1960, when it burned down. The land remained vacant until 2001, when Hilton Grand Vacations Company purchased a portion of the property and began construction of a 28-story timeshare tower.
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EFX (show) EFX was a Las Vegas Strip production show residing at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino which opened on March 23, 1995 and closed January 1, 2003. When it premiered, it was the most expensive and largest scaled theater installation in the world. A significant entertainment landmark of the strip for nearly eight years, it was known for changing its headline star every two years. Performers in the lead role were Michael Crawford, David Cassidy, Tommy Tune, and Rick Springfield.
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Sky Las Vegas Sky Las Vegas is a 45-story luxury high-rise condominium tower with 409 units, situated on a 3-acre site on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The tower's land, as well as nearby property, had been the site of the El Rancho Vegas hotel and casino from 1941 to 1960, when it burned down. The property remained vacant for decades. A two-story retail project had been planned for a portion of the site in 2001, although it ultimately did not materialize. Plans for Sky Las Vegas were announced in July 2004, with construction beginning the following year and its opening occurring in May 2007.
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Michael Morton (restaurateur) Michael Morton (born 1964) is the co-founder of Morton Group which operates La Cave Wine & Food Hideaway inside Wynn Las Vegas, CRUSH inside MGM Grand and La Comida in Downtown Las Vegas He is also the former owner and co-founder of N9NE Group and the son of Arnie Morton, the founder of the Morton's Steakhouse.