Is Gareb Shamus stealing a page from Danny Ocean?

The Beat noted an interesting quote about a survey being conducted at The Big Apple Con: “If Big Apple Con added a casino, would you stay and gamble?”

Want to know the secret behind that question?  Open source intelligence reveals all.

You may recall that Big Apple Con was acquired by Gareb Shamus?

You may recall Shamus is CEO/owner of Wizard.

Wizard has a show in Chicago that’s been slumping, and they appear alarmed that the folks behind the New York Comic Con have announced a sister show in Chicago, starting in 2010.

But did you remember that there’s a casino opening up about a mile down the road from the RosemontConvention Center, home of Wizard World Chicago?

(The casino might have been closer to the convention center, but Rosemont has a problem with allegations of mob ties to the city.)

It isn’t clear that the casino will be open in time for Wizard’s 2010 show, if indeed there’s going to be a 2010 show.  It does suggest that Shamus may be troubled by the NYCC entrance into the Chicago market enough to try and market the proximity of casinos to his show.  Or at least explore the possibility.

Who knows, maybe it would turn out better than the not-lamented Las Vegas convention?