EDITOR'S LETTER: Rethinking the holidays
by Paul Doocey
December 11, 2012
I’m having a really hard time getting into the
holiday spirit this year. I think part of my ennui stems from the fact that
Christmas commercials and store displays started popping up in early October
this year, well before Halloween, which is alarming to say the least. Soon Xmas
will be like the political process, a never-ending cycle that rarely rests, as
evidenced by pundits who were already handicapping to 2016 election less than
an hour after President Obama won this year’s race to the White House. Really,
it wouldn’t shock me if stores rolled out the Christmas swag during Labor Day
weekend next year. If this happens, you better believe Walmart will call in its
workers after the Fourth of July fireworks for its first “Black Friday” evening
Xmas sale.
Honestly, I’m giving serious consideration to
chucking the whole holiday experience and celebrating Festivus instead. For
those unfamiliar with the concept, Wikipedia defines Festivus as, “a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as
a way to commemorate the holiday season without participating in its pressures
and commercialism.” The origin of the holiday stems from an episode of the
1990s comedy series Seinfeld, which delved into the Costanza family’s offbeat holiday celebration
that substituted the airing of grievances, feats of strength and a bare
aluminum pole for the more traditional holiday trappings of carols, presents
and a decorated tree.
From such humble origins a phenomenon has grown.
Festivus is now celebrated across the United States and around the world. There
are books on the holiday and a lot in Wisconsin that specializes in selling
Festivus poles. Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream also got in on the act, offering a
seasonal Festivus blend (brown sugar ice cream with gingerbread cookies and a
ginger caramel swirl) in 2000 and 2001. There’s even a slogan of sorts, “a
Festivus for the rest of us.” Not as catchy as “Happy Holidays,” but give it
time and I’m sure it will grow on you.
Festivus can even work within the confines of
the casino industry. I’m sure we all have gaming grievances from the past year
we would like to air; legislative, legal, political or business issues we wish
would have turned out differently. Tops on my list would be the failure of
integrated casino resort legislation in Florida. On paper, casino resort
expansion in the Sunshine State seemed a win-win situation for all involved—tax
revenue for the state, jobs for its citizens, a tourism-oriented marketplace
with developable land for gaming operators. Here’s hoping the issue is explored
again in the upcoming years. A close second would be Mother Nature and the
unexpected harsh blow it dealt to New Jersey and the surrounding region with
Hurricane Sandy. It’s no secret that the Atlantic City gaming market has been
down for years now; and Superstorm Sandy was a blow it could ill afford just as
it was starting to gain some momentum.
The second Festivus tradition, the so-called
feats of strength, usually involves wrestling the head of the family until he
is pinned. In lieu of that, I’d prefer to contemplate the positive gaming
developments from the past year. There have been quite a few, but tops for me
was last December’s decision by the Department of Justice that the Wire Act—the
law that had been used to suppress all forms of online wagering in the United
States— only applied to sports betting, clearing the way for Web gaming
liberalization. Indeed, 2012 was a good year for gaming expansion, with new
commercial casinos opening in Ohio and Maryland, the resort selection process
being played out in Massachusetts, and online gaming legislation introduced in
a number of states.
Well, that’s my gaming-oriented Festivus
celebration for 2012. Now to bring the idea home and run it up the aluminum
pole to see if it flies. I’m thinking it won’t be as popular as the star we
normally put atop the Christmas tree.
Paul Doocey
is editor of Casino Journal magazine. He can be reached at dooceyp@bnpmedia.com.
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