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September is Responsible Gaming Education Month, and the industry’s efforts to promote that cause are now in their 35th year due, in no small part, to one of the largest casino operators on the Las Vegas Strip. Caesars Entertainment was the first commercial casino company to advance responsible gaming with the launch of its Project 21 initiative in 1989.

As we mark the start of responsible gaming education month, this seems the appropriate time to reflect on the relative merits and the challenges of the term “responsible gambling) itself. Responsible gaming (RG) was brought into the world hoping to communicate a message that was both positive and preventative. It seems clear that 30 years on, it has done neither.

Alan Feldman oversaw corporate communications across the openings of nearly a dozen well-known casino resorts in five states and Macau over the last four decades. During much of that time, he was the chief spokesman for MGM Resorts International, one of the largest public casino companies.

The Mirage is about to vanish from the Las Vegas Strip - after ushering in a new era for Sin City 34 years ago. After a farewell party Wednesday afternoon, the doors at the iconic tropical island-themed hotel and casino will shut for good.

The Mirage is about to vanish from the Las Vegas Strip. Gambling ends and the doors close Wednesday at the iconic tropical island-themed hotel-casino that opened in 1989 with a fire-spewing volcano outside and Siegfried & Roy's lions and dolphins inside.

The Mirage volcano spewed lava and steam one last time Wednesday morning to mark a celebratory yet bittersweet end of an era on the Las Vegas Strip that phased in nearly 35 years ago.

Executives of The Mirage came full circle with the property Wednesday morning, applauding the work of 3,000 employees, including 137 of them that had been employed there since the first day it opened, and hinting about what lies ahead as it transitions to Hard Rock Las Vegas.

The Mirage is about to vanish from the Las Vegas Strip. Gambling ends and the doors close Wednesday at the iconic tropical island-themed hotel-casino that opened in 1989 with a fire-spewing volcano outside, and Siegfried & Roy’s lions and dolphins inside.