Bits, Bytes and Barks

Bits, Bytes and Barks

Newsday gambling project

At Newsday in New York, we did a five-part series in December on how states had become hooked on gambling revenue and were introducing new games. We did a computer-assisted analysis of the demographics of who played the lottery, instant cash games and a new video keno game that you can play every five minutes.

To do this, we FOI'd the tape of more than a million lottery winners in New York State for the past five years and analyzed it using both FoxPro and a mapping program. We showed conclusively that the lottery was taking the most money from those least able to afford it. This contradicted the claims the state had been making to our reporters. Experts confirmed that this was a statistically valid approach, compared to just getting lottery revenue by outlet.

Other parts of the series included a profile of a major vendor, GTECH, a look at how states are spending heavily to promote gambling ($40 million in New York), and a case study of Tunica, Miss., which has had problems since casinos went in. The reporters were Bill Falk, John Riley, Ford Fessenden and Stephanie Saul. - Bob Tiernan, enterprise/database editor, New York Newsday

Miami Herald on-line job

The Miami Herald's On-line Services Division is seeking to fill a key leadership position; the title and job description will depend on the skills and interests of the applicants, but the person hired will help manage this new department.

Among the experience that might be helpful: World Wide Web page design, computer-assisted research and reporting, graphic artistry, marketing and promotion, computer programming, newspaper copy editing and page design. The ability to write, edit and converse in both English and Spanish is a plus.

Send a resume and a note outlining why you think you're right for this job to Rich Gordon, the on-line services manager, at rgordon@herald.com, or via snailmail to him at 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla. 33132. NOTE: If you send via e-mail, do not send the resume as an attachment - embed it as text in your message.