Sophisticated slot machines are providing flashier graphics to keep players glued to their seats as video components turn the play into a better entertainment experience.

More and more casinos will install systems that will connect their machines to a single server so slot-floor managers will be able to make changes from a keyboard, minimizing the labor-intensive process of changing individual machines.

Some casinos are looking to increase play by offering devices that operate in restaurants, lounges and at poolside. They work just like portable video games.

In the race and sports books, video screens have gotten bigger and better and nearly every high-profile game is presented as it happens.

One place where technology hasn't come full throttle is at the table games.

Sure, we've seen automatic card-shuffling machines that can handle multiple decks at the tables and card scanners that enable blackjack dealers to determine if they have 21 without looking at the cards.

Probably the most obvious place for automation at the tables is with the dealers themselves.

Would that ever happen?

The dealerless blackjack table was a part of the discussion in a panel at the recent Raving Consulting Co.'s first-ever Table Games Conference.

A panel on the aftermath of efforts to unionize dealers determined it's possible continued union drives could be countered by management buying more machines that use video of attractive dealers to interact with players instead of human beings.

But panelist Jesse Guest, a table games dealer at Wynn Las Vegas, which went through its own unionization drive, said the personality most dealers bring to the floor may make it more difficult for casino management to dump live dealers for technology.

The Transport Workers Union was elected to represent dealers after a headline-making controversy erupted over whether dealers should be required to share tips with pit supervisors who weren't making as much money as the dealers. The crux of the issue was whether the dealers could be forced to share their tips or if the company should just pay the supervisors more so that the workers weren't earning more than their boss.

The big question was: Would the Wynn policy spread to other casinos?

Guest said the unionization never would have occurred had Wynn not touched the tips.

"Trust and control were the big issues," Guest said. "The bottom line is we trusted this guy."

But would casinos really pull the plug on live dealers and plug in machines to do the job?

More evidence was presented in a later panel on whether casinos should fear table game advantage players - those alert people who win more by paying attention to abundant comps, drawings and giveaways as well as casino weaknesses to win more than the average player.

Panelists talked about teams like those depicted in the recent film "21" as well as sloppy dealing practices that present advantage opportunities for players.

But how important is the issue of being wary of advantage players? Panelist Willy Allison, president of World Game Protection Inc., said a dealer survey listed the top five issues in table games and the results were surprising.

Of 115 dealers and pit bosses surveyed, only 3 percent listed advantage play as a key issue. Cheating and theft was listed by 14 percent; dealer errors, 17 percent; and overcomping, 18 percent. The biggest issue, listed by 49 percent of those surveyed: slow game pace.

That tells me that the union push may not be the only reason why casinos could someday look at further automating the table game pits.

Don't think it could happen? Check out the poker room at the Excalibur. In August, it was converted to PokerPro electronic tables, which takes the dealer out of the action. PokerTek, the maker of the new machines, says the system is capable of dealing 50 percent more hands for Texas hold 'em and 100 percent more hands for Omaha games since the "cards" are all video images.

Manufacturers are doing more and more with table-game technology, and it's likely that more of it will be unveiled in November at the next Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.

Machines can work faster and they'll never unionize.

But they'll never exude the personality of card dealers.

Shareholders of Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines have approved the merger that would create the world's largest air carrier.

The deal next goes to federal regulators who also must sign off on it before it is finalized. Airline executives hope to get the deal completed by the end of the year.

The result was no surprise to anybody following the merger, which would fly under the Delta name and have a corporate headquarters in Atlanta.

When mergers occur, capacity usually is decreased as the blended carriers are able to eliminate duplicate flights. Delta hasn't announced how or where that would be accomplished.

In Las Vegas, there isn't much crossover between Northwest and Delta, as most of the flights connect McCarran International Airport with existing hub airports - Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis, Tenn., for Northwest and Atlanta, New York's John F. Kennedy Airport and Salt Lake City for Delta.

Delta currently is the fifth busiest air carrier at McCarran with an average 20 flights a day and a 4.6 percent market share. Northwest has an average 11 flights a day with a 2.5 percent market share and is the 10th busiest.

The Travel Promotion Act, backed by the Travel Industry Association to strengthen the United States as a tourism destination to the world, advanced last week in a voice vote in the House.

It heads to the Senate, where it is expected to pass.

The bill, which funds a private-public partnership to communicate security and entry policies to the world, is an effort to reverse the decline of visitation to the United States that began with 9/11 and has gotten progressively worse.

Las Vegas is particularly interested in the legislation since international travel is a key to turning around declining visitation.

International visitation to Las Vegas got a blow last month when Korean Air, which provides the only nonstop flight connection to Asia, suspended its three weekly flights between McCarran and Seoul, South Korea. The airline says it will be back in December and the suspension was described as a seasonal schedule change.

But it isn't good news for a city that wants more, not less, nonstop international service and needs a reliable partner that will be there in the off-peak months as well as the strong ones. That's the only way the route can grow into daily service some day.

Travel + Leisure magazine, in its October edition, asked travelers to rank America's top 25 cities in a variety of categories.

The magazine said Las Vegas ranked first in the night life category, coming out on top in the cocktail hour, singles and bar scene and late-night clubs. But the area was last in public parks. Not a shocker, considering most visitors don't even contemplate going to some of the nice parks we have.

You have to dig into Travel + Leisure's Web site to get details on where the city finished in other categories, since the magazine lists only the top three finishers by category and the one that finished last.

The cities surveyed besides Las Vegas: Seattle; Portland, Ore.; San Francisco; Los Angeles; San Diego; Honolulu; Phoenix-Scottsdale; Santa Fe, N.M.; Austin, Texas; San Antonio; Denver; Dallas; Minneapolis-St. Paul; New Orleans; Chicago; Nashville, Tenn.; Boston; New York; Philadelphia; Washington; Atlanta; Charleston, S.C.; Orlando, Fla.; and Miami.

Here's how Las Vegas did by category: Classical music, 25th; live music and bands, sixth; theater, seventh; museums and galleries, 24th; historical sites and monuments, 24th for an overall cultural rating of 22nd.

Food and dining: Destination restaurants, fifth; ethnic food and cheap eats, 24th; cafes and coffee bars, 19th; farmers and specialty markets, 25th; for an overall rating of 24th.

Holiday travel: Spring break, fifth; summer vacation, 20th; Thanksgiving, 17th; winter-Christmas, 24th; for an overall rating of 14th.

People: Athletic-active, 23rd; attractive, 12th; diverse, 14th; friendly, 19th; intelligent, 23rd; stylish, ninth; for an overall rating of 20th.

Quality of life and visitor experience: Affordability, 14th; cleanliness, 20th; environmental awareness, 25th; noteworthy neighborhoods, 25th; peace and quiet, 24th; people-watching, second; public parks and access to the outdoors, 25th; public transportation and pedestrian friendliness, 15th; safety, 19th; skyline-views, sixth; traffic, 21st; weather, 12th; for an overall rating of 22nd.

Shopping: Antique stores, 25th; art galleries, 23rd; local boutiques, 20th; luxury boutiques, second; vintage stores-flea markets, 25th; for an overall rating of 24th.

Type of trip: Active-adventure vacation, 11th; cultural getaway, 25th; family vacation, 25th; relaxing retreat, 19th; romantic escape, 11th; wild weekend, first; for an overall rating of 21st.

Night life: Las Vegas was first in all categories, cocktail hour, singles and bar scene and late-night clubs.

Now that those results are out, the magazine is having a bracketed competition of city against city. In the first round, Las Vegas got more votes than Santa Fe. The city's next competition: head to head with San Diego, which already beat out Denver and Dallas.

I think we can all understand how the city finished last in the "family vacation" category and a No. 22 cultural rating. But 25th in access to the outdoors? And 19th in safety?

Based on the results of the survey, it's clear that there's still a lot of educating to do about the real Las Vegas.