Abstract
The Eugene Martin Christiansen Papers (dating from 1948 to 2017, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1975 to 2005) contain research files, reports, and presentations about gambling written and collected by gaming consultant Eugene Martin Christiansen. Most of the collection is comprised of research files and reports about legalized gambling, casinos, hotels, racetracks, and entertainment venues, including the economic impacts of legalized gaming, feasibility studies for opening new casinos and racetracks, popularity of off-track betting, horse and dog racing, table games, gambling addiction, gaming regulation, taxes, lotteries, and Native American gaming. The collection also includes research files covering state and municipal regulation of gaming, significant individuals in the gaming industry, prominent hotels and casinos, gaming research conferences, financial reports, and international regulation of gaming. The collection also contains a small amount of business records from Christiansen’s entertainment company Feature Film Finance & Production.
Finding Aid PDF
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Scope and Contents Note
The Eugene Martin Christiansen Papers (dating from 1948 to 2017, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1975 to 2005) contain research files, reports, and presentations about gambling written and collected by gaming consultant Eugene Martin Christiansen. Most of the collection is comprised of research files and reports about legalized gambling, casinos, hotels, racetracks, and entertainment venues, including the economic impacts of legalized gaming, feasibility studies for opening new casinos and racetracks, popularity of off-track betting, horse and dog racing, table games, gambling addiction, gaming regulation, taxes, lotteries, and Native American gaming. Some subject and research files contain born-digital materials. The collection includes research files covering state and municipal regulation of gaming, significant individuals in the gaming industry, prominent hotels and casinos, gaming research conferences, financial reports, and international regulation of gaming. The collection contains files from Christiansen’s private research firm Christiansen Capital Advisors, LLC (formerly Christiansen/Cummings Associates), as well as research, newsletters, and correspondence with other financial institutions such as Prudential Financial, Bear Stearns, Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities, Smith Barney, Goldman Sachs, and Oppenheimer & Co. The collection also contains newsletters from gaming interest groups, trade publications, drafts of Christiansen’s book The Business of Risk, correspondence with state regulatory agencies, printouts of financial and attendance records for racetracks, and legal files. The collection also contains a small amount of business records from Christiansen’s entertainment company, Feature Film Finance & Production (FFF&P).
Access Note
Collection is open for research, with the exception of materials that are restricted per donor agreement to protect privacy and confidentiality. Restrictions are noted at the file level of this inventory and will be open for research on the dates indicated. The donor placed restrictions on select files that will be opened January 1, 2027, and he agreed to open files originally marked “confidential” on January 1, 2047. Files that were identified as a legal work product are restricted for 75 years, until January 1, 2092, at which time they may be opened, pending further review. Arrangements must be made in advance to access digital files; please contact UNLV Special Collections and Archives for additional information.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into seven series:
Series I. Subject files, 1950-2013;
Series II. Financial and economic reports, 1950-2017;
Series III. Client files, 1977-2015;
Series IV. Laws and gaming regulation files, 1948-2005;
Series V. Racetrack, casino, and hotel files, 1950-2009;
Series VI. Entertainment business files, 1988-2010;
Series VII. Gaming conference files, newsletters, and correspondence, 1974-2012.
Biographical / Historical Note
Eugene Martin Christiansen is a consultant and chairman of Christiansen Capital Advisors, LLC. He has worked as a consultant for the commercial gaming and entertainment industries since 1976. He has written extensively on gambling legalization and regulation, the economic impacts of legalized gambling, taxation of gambling and entertainment, Native American gaming, and pari-mutuel wagering. His book, The Business of Risk: Commercial Gambling in Mainstream America (co-authored with Vicki Abt and James F. Smith), was published by the University Press of Kansas in 1985.
Christiansen is a member of the National Council on Problem Gambling and the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.
Preferred Citation
Eugene Martin Christiansen Papers, 1948-2015. MS-00561. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were donated in 2009 and 2016 by Eugene Martin Christiansen; accession numbers 2009-24 and 2016-036.
Processing Note
The collection was minimally described at the time of accessioning. In 2016 and 2017, as part of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) grant-funded project "America's Great Gamble," Lindsay Oden, Hana Gutierrez, and Lee Hanover processed, arranged, and described the materials. In 2019 and 2020, Sarah Jones minimally processed the born-digital materials and transferred them off optical discs and floppy disks. Numerous files failed to transfer due to corrupted files. No access copies were created at the time of processing.
In all cases, the names of federally recognized Native American nations used in the finding aid were taken from the "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs" compiled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the 2016 edition of the Federal Register. However, when autonyms and native language names were available, they were placed before the Federal Register name. Outdated Federal Register names were also listed if the current Federal Register name had been edited or changed significantly by the government. For non-federally recognized nations, the name found on the primary document in the collection or the name found on the group's website was used. Canadian First Nations names were drawn from the "Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada" website.
Sources:
Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Notice. "Indian Entities Recognized and Eligible to Receive Services from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs." Federal Register 81, no. 86 (May 4, 2016): 26826-26832.
"Search by First Nation." Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, June 14, 2016. http://fnp-ppn.aandc-aadnc.gc.ca/fnp/Main/Search/SearchFN.aspx?lang=eng.
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Storage Location
The collection is stored in the Lied Automated Storage and Retrieval Unit (LASR). Advanced notice may be required to access these materials.