Last week I wrote in Portfolio.com about the unusual ways some airports have found to earn income – such as growing and selling hay planted on airport acreage to signing contracts to allow outside companies to drill for oil and gas underneath airport ground.

That article also noted that, for some time now, Reno-Tahoe International Airport and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas have been raking in the bucks from slot machines scattered about inside the airport terminals.

According to a report in the Arizona Republic, the mayor in Phoenix, Arizona thinks putting slot machines at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a great idea. But Phoenix isn’t Nevada, where gambling is legal pretty much everywhere. So to make this idea work, the city would have to create a profit-sharing agreement with a Native American tribe.

It’s do-able, but not yet a done-deal. The paper reports that the slot-machine scheme is just one of the ideas a revenue-enhancement team is exploring to help solve budget shortfalls for the entire city of Phoenix.

Got some other ideas? Casey Newton at the Arizona Republic (casey.newton@arizonarepublic.com) has offered to gather them up and forward them on to the mayor who, he says, “will give you – at his own expense – a weekend at the downtown Sheraton, complete with tickets to a sporting event or other cultural experience” if the city uses your idea.

In an effort to replace the revenue they used to get from airlines, some airports have found they can earn cash from slot machines, t-shirts, oil rigs and acres of hay.

In my article about this for Portfolio.com, I also found two airports where the naming rights are up for sale.

Starting on July 4^th, waiting on line at a security checkpoint at San Diego International Airport (SAN) will be a bit more entertaining.

The airport is rolling out a series of “info-tainment” videos featuring popular San Diego mascots offering tips to travelers about what can and cannot be taken through the checkpoints.

Look for the San Diego Zoo’s Bamboo Bear, Legoland’s Johnny Thunder, the San Diego Padres’ Friar, and Shamu from SeaWorld.

SAN isn’t the only airport to feature celebrity videos at the security checkpoints. In Las Vegas, McCarran International Airport partnered with the local Convention and Visitors Authority to create almost a dozen short videos featuring Las Vegas “luminaries” such as Wayne Newton, Rita Rudner, Carrot Top, magicians, aliens, and acrobats demonstrating the proper way to go through the security checkpoints. You don’t even need to be on line at the airport to see the videos: they’re on the airport’s website under Traveler Tips.

If you get stuck at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, don’t fret. There’s plenty to keep you entertained: a great aviation museum, slot machines, oxygen bars, and candy shops that hand out free samples of fudge. There’s also a 24-hour gym.

On a very long layover at McCarran recently, I played the slots, ate the fudge, and visited the museum. And I produced a radio story about the gym for National Public Radio.