David G. Schwartz

Gaming Historian
UNLV Ombuds
Affiliate Professor, Department of History
Former Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
Expertise: History of Gambling, Gaming Statistics, Casino Surveillance and Security, Gaming Technology, Casinos and Social Media

Biography

David G. Schwartz is a gaming historian. Currently serving as UNLV's ombuds, Schwartz was the longtime former director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV, a hub for scholarly analysis of gambling and gaming issues. The center is part of University Libraries and boasts the largest repository of English-language materials on gambling and has an unparalleled repository of books, journals, and primary materials for gaming research. The center also maintains casino corporate archives including the Harrah’s Entertainment, MGM Resorts, and Boyd Gaming Corporate Archives, gaming-related manuscript collections such as the Sands, New Frontier, and Binion’s Horseshoe collections, and a growing number of collections obtained under the Problem Gambling Pioneers initiative, which collects and preserves the papers of the pioneers of the problem gambling treatment and advocacy movement.

In addition to his work at UNLV, Schwartz is an active consultant. As vice president of research and analytics for Santo Gaming, he assists the Las Vegas-based gaming management and consulting firm with a range of projects. He also serves as executive director for the Far West Popular Culture Association, a venue for the scholarly discussion of popular culture.

Schwartz is the author of four books about gambling, including Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling, Suburban Xanadu: The Casino Resort on the Las Vegas Strip and BeyondCutting the Wire: Gaming Prohibition and the Internet, and At the Sands: The Casino That Shaped Classic Las Vegas, Brought the Rat Pack Together, and Went Out With a Bang. He previously wrote the biweekly Green Felt Journal column for Vegas Seven magazine and was named gaming and hospitality editor of Vegas Seven.

Education

  • Ph.D., American History, University of California, Los Angeles
  • M.A., American History, University of Pennsylvania
  • B.A., Anthropology and History, University of Pennsylvania

Related Links

David G. Schwartz In The News

Press Of Atlantic City
Gary Smith can thank Resorts Casino Hotel for both his and his mother’s careers. Marge Washburn, Smith’s mother, was a first-day employee as a waitress at the buffet in the casino, then named Resorts International, when it opened May 26, 1978, and went down in history as the first casino hotel in Atlantic City and the first legal U.S. casino outside Nevada.
Casino.org
The myth of Hoover Dam’s entombed owes to how large the structure has loomed over Las Vegas for nearly 100 years.
Associated Press
Panelists at a major casino industry conference said the construction of three new casinos in New York could cost Atlantic City 20% to 30% of its casino revenue, a development that could possibly return the resort to the days of casino closures.
Las Vegas Review-Journal En Español
The shuttered Hawaiian Marketplace shopping complex has been razed to make way for a new 300,000-square-foot shopping center on the east side of Las Vegas Boulevard, just south of Harmon Avenue.

Articles Featuring David G. Schwartz

a female student sits in the grass by a tree reading a book
Campus News | September 1, 2022

A roundup of prominent news stories highlighting university pride, research, and community collaboration.

Remember sculptor Claes Oldenburg who created U.N.L.V.'s iconic Flashlight sculpture this month.
Campus News | August 3, 2022

A collection of news stories highlighting university experts’ insights on and contributions to health, environment, and society.

Lake Mead
Campus News | July 11, 2022

A collection of news stories highlighting UNLV experts who made headlines locally, nationally, and around the world.

2022 U.N.L.V. Spring Commencement Ceremony for the Graduate College.  May 13, 2022 (Josh Hawkins/UNLV)
Campus News | June 2, 2022

A collection of news stories highlighting the experts and student changemakers at UNLV.