Big company (Station Casinos) buys smaller company (George Maloof's Fiesta), scraps business plan and slogan that made it successful, sacks entire workforce and drives customers into the arms of Suncoast. Fast-forward almost eight years and realization sinks in that Something Isn't Working. Solution? Back to Square One (more or less). Customers not yet buying it (see comments), or so they say.

It's only fair to note that Station is still having to tinker with the flawed formula of what used to be Ameristar Casinos' The Reserve, an African safari-themed property that tanked from Day One. Ameristar's late owner Craig Neilsen was able to offload it in return for bailing Station out of some problems in Missouri (an opportunistic tradeoff that went very much in Neilsen's favor). So no surprise to learn that it still hasn't found its niche. Maybe version 3.0 will be the charm.

Innovative as ever, mega-mogul Sheldon Adelson asks himself, "If cruise ships can offer gambling and the winnings aren't subject to taxes, why can't we take that idea to the friendly skies?" So now Vegas-bound 'whales' can play 14 straight hours of baccarat at 35,000 feet. (What happens if they drop their whole bankroll before they even land?) MGM Mirage says its weighed the idea "for about 15 minutes," then ashcanned it. But never bet against Adelson. Ever.

Asked by an analyst if "there would be any other activity on the planes than just serving as transport, [Las Vegas Sands President William] Weidner again said the company didn't need to comment on the question." Hmmmmm ...

Build it and they will come, goes the time-tested Vegas refrain. Readers crunch the numbers and say (at bottom of page) they don't add up. It's interesting to look at the projects sidebar and see which ones are listed and which aren't, or maybe have been dropped (no Cosmopolitan, no Plaza -- yet, no Trop do-over).

Looking at those project costs, you have to wonder what magic elixir William Yung III has discovered that enables him to continue floating a $2.5 billion-$3.5 billion price tag for converting the Las Vegas Tropicana into what's been described as "the world's largest building," with almost 10,000 hotel rooms and condos. (Jim Murren would probably like to get some of that pixie dust, no doubt, and make those CityCenter costs go away.) And to think that Glenn Schaeffer is ekeing out a mere 4,000 rooms for $2.9 billion at Fontainbleau (below). That Schaeffer sure must not know what he's doing. </sarcasm>

Monte Carlo reflections. UNLV's David Schwartz warns against complacency in the wake of a "noncatastrophe."

Local business reporter mocks tourists en route to uttering some commonplaces about the Las Vegas Monorail, whose problems are far better summarized elsewhere. I'm sure all those players, some of them quite skilled, would be pleased to know that the local paper's tourism scribe considers the Las Vegas Strip a monument to their "gullibility." Classy.

Never mind all that stuff Sen. John McCain said about banning betting on college sports, quoth American Gaming Association prexy Frank Fahrenkopf. Because any potential scandals in that realm are, like, so totally busted. Or words to that effect.

Stunningly handsome former casino executive and sometime U.S. Senator John Ensign takes time off from the links (his handicap is the stuff of legend) to visit Iraq. If he's coming out against permanent U.S. bases in Iraq, then maybe there's hope for Ensign yet. But, just to be safe ... couldn't we leave him there? I mean, he says it's really safe now and all that. What could be the harm?