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The Colorado Avalanche are -215 favorites over the Seattle Kraken in Game 7 of their first-round NHL playoff series. The total is 5.5.
This week's YouTube video gives you as much of a behind-the-scenes peek at the two guys as possible when they're in front of the mics and camera. Las Vegas Advisor subscribers will be interested to see what Anthony looks and sounds like right after the monthly newsletter deadline. They'll also get a quick look at Tanya the Extraordinary (IT geek, office manager, researcher and production supervisor, and much much more); that's she in the very beginning, Friday afternoon beer in hand. More beers on the table, shaky camera, shampooless Andrew, three-minute broadcast -- it all adds up to as ad-libitum an LVA video as you're likely ever to see.
The Boston Bruins are -225 favorites over the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of their first-round NHL playoff series. The total is 6.
The Sacramento Kings are -1 favorites over the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of their first-round NBA playoff series. The total is 230.
U2 will now perform 17 “U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere” shows to open the new entertainment venue, having added five nights in response to a reported one million-plus ticket requests via the Verified Fan system for the now nearly 300,000 seats that will fill the 17,500-seat arena to see the rock band. The added dates are Oct. 27 and 28 and Nov. 1, 3, and 4. Prices for ticket, if you can find them, are reportedly starting in the mid-$300s and topping out at around $1,500.
For the second year in a row, Circa is offering what looks to us like a pretty good deal on a two-night stay that includes a $75 food-and-beverage credit, a $50 credit up at the Legacy Club, a $25 matchplay coupon, and reserved seating at Stadium Swim. For a total price of $300 (not including taxes and fees) minus the credits, the room is approximately $60 per night, a 40% saving on the base-price king room at $100 or so. You can reserve here.
If you happen to be planning a party to end all parties for the Las Vegas Grand Prix or Super Bowl 2024 at Allegiant Stadium, you can rent the entire 71-room English Hotel downtown for either occasion or both. Situated in the Arts District downtown (with no view of the race and a long trip to the stadium), you can book the rooms and the heated pool and patio, for a cool million dollars. Tickets to either event aren't included, nor are meals in Todd English's restaurant Pepper Club. It's a good marketing move and should attract some attract some interest from race teams, room wholesalers, party planners, and/or the top 1%.
Penske, the truck-rental company, released its annual list of the most popular destinations for one-way rentals compiled from its database. Only Houston edged out Las Vegas to occupy the top stop for domestic migrants in 2022. Both repeated their 2021 spots on the list. Vegas was followed by Orlando (number 8 in 2021), Phoenix (which dropped a spot), and Atlanta (which reappeared on the list for the first time in three years). Of the six-through-10 rankings, three were in Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin), one in Florida (Jacksonville), and one in North Carolina (Charlotte). All 10 were in Warm Belt locations, as residents from the Northeast and Midwest gravitate to milder climes.
Here we go again. A slot attendant is suing Wynn Las Vegas for pooling tips and splitting them with supervisors. It’s similar to the long legal battle over the appropriating of dealer tips that ended in a $5.6 million settlement for the dealers in 2021.
Canadian superstar Drake has added a second night at T-Mobile when he passes through Las Vegas on his North American tour this summer. Already announced was Friday September 1 and another show has been scheduled for Saturday September 2. Tickets are on sale now.
Pier 17 Yacht Club has opened at Caesars Palace. Described as a “speakeasy,” it’s operated by the Spiegelworld group and located near the Absinthe tent. It includes a burger stand dubbed No Pants that serves three items: a burger, a vegan burger, and tater tots.
The eight teams of the XFL pro-football league, which completed its regular season last Saturday, recorded widely divergent average- attendance figures. The best-attended team, the St. Louis Battlehawks, drew an average crowd of 35,000. The worst-attended games were those of none other than the Vegas Vipers, averaging barely 6,000 fans at Cashman Field. The Battlehawks had a total attendance of 175,520 for its five home games, more than twice that of the number-two team, the San Antonio Brahmas, with just under 75,000. The Vegas Vipers, again, were last on that list with a total of just over 30,000. Not surprisingly, the Vipers went 2-8 for the season. The XFL playoffs start on Saturday, with the Houston Roughnecks hosting the Arlington Renegades in the South Division championship game; the DC Defenders host the Seattle Sea Dragons in the North Division championship on Sunday.
The Golden Nugget has retired its mobile sports-betting app. No reason was given for the move that leaves the book appless; however, the casino issued a statement saying that it “looks forward to providing a new mobile solution in the future.”
All along, we've heard that U2 will play 12 dates to open the MSG Sphere. In a QoD about the Sphere a couple of days ago, we wrote, "It’s been reported that Dolan [majority owner of MSG] 'quietly' agreed to pay the global rock band U2 $10 million for 12 shows to open the venue." Now they're telling us that "due to popular demand, seven shows have been added." Does that mean U2 will play 19 shows? Nope. Same 12, but in an unsmooth bit of instant revisionist history, it turns out that U2 was originally scheduled to play only five shows (for $2 million apiece), but thanks to the overwhelming outcry for tickets, the total number of shows went up to 12. Whatever. The dates are September 29 and 30 and Oct. 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, and 25. Tickets started at $140, but registration for both presale options (U2.com subscribers and Verified Fan) are closed, so good luck finding anywhere near that price. Some concert-and-hotel packages (with a suite for two nights at the Venetian) are are still available; they run $750 to $960 per person, but there's a minimum of four (so from $3,000 to $3,800); VIP packages run $1,150-$1,360 or $4,600-$5,500 for the minimum. You can book those here; if you do, let us know what the final price is with all the fees, taxes, and add-ons.
Mohave Max, the desert-tortoise mascot of the Clark County Desert Conservation Program and southern Nevada's own version of Punxutawney Phil, emerged from his hidey-hole, where he'd been brumating since late October, at 3:40 p.m. on Monday. It was the latest emergence since his re-appearances have been recorded starting in 2000 and it broke the old record by a full week. When asked why it took so long, Max said, "My publicist said this was a bespoke year to make incremental gains going forward."
The Fremont Street Experience has revealed the schedule for its annual free Downtown Rocks summer-concert series, which takes place mostly on the Third Street Stage between the D and Four Queens, with a couple of shows happening on the First Street stage a couple of blocks toward the Plaza. The shows start on Saturday May 28 and continue every other week or so through Saturday October 28; most start at 9 p.m., but on double- and triple-header nights, they can crank up as early at 7. The big names are Smash Mouth (May 28), Walk the Moon (June 3), and Gin Blossoms (Oct. 28). Others include the Toadies, Walk the Moon, Switchfoot, Young the Giant, Neon Trees, and Fastball. For the full schedule, you can go to the FSE website.
Michael Vakneen, the pizza-maker at the Plaza’s Pop Up Pizza, finished first for best pizza “U.S. southwest region” and second in the world in the “non-traditional professional division” in the International Pizza Challenge at Pizza Expo 2023 for his pork belly and date jam pizza. You won’t find that one on the Pop Up menu, except for a one-day-only tasting on May 5 from 11 am to 5 pm, while supplies last.
A third Las Vegas location of Born and Raised bar has opened at 1125 E. Craig Road. A third Flowing Tide is expected to open in May at 9860 Las Vegas Blvd. S. in the location that was formerly Boulevard Bar & Grill. There are seven more Flowing Tide Pubs in the Reno area. A PT’s Gold has opened at 8416 W. Desert Inn Rd. in the location that was formerly Porchlight Grille. It’s the 65th Nevada bar in the PT’s group.
After a shake-up in ownership, the Hard Hat Lounge (1675 Industrial Rd.) is closing for a renovation. Having operated as a restaurant or bar since 1958, it’s often cited as the “oldest dive bar” in Las Vegas. It’s scheduled to reopen in June.
A national touring exhibition of more than three dozen monumental artworks from Burning Man has made its first stop and is now open at Resorts World. The exhibit, called "Transfix," consists of 41 artworks from 39 artists in a "festival-style, interactive, kinetic, illuminated" presentation that takes place outside Resorts World on a four-acre 200,000 square-foot multi-level site; the journey through the labyrinth, which includes 10 artist-designed bars and speakeasies, takes 90 to 120 minutes and starts at 7 p.m. every night through September 15. The sponsors collected the pieces from warehouses around the world and pay the artists a rental fee. Tickets are $25 for 15 and under and $59 for adults.
Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri, better known as Luis Miguel, will play three dates at the Colosseum at Caesars September 15, 16, and 17. The 53-year-old Miguel, the youngest male artist to win a Grammy (at age 14), is among the best-selling Latin artists, with more than 60 million records sold worldwide, even though he records and performs only in Spanish. According to Billboard, his last tour of 116 shows in 2018-2019 grossed $101 million from sales of nearly a million tickets; it was the highest-grossing Latin tour until it was surpassed last year by Bad Bunny's world tour. This tour will make 43 stops in South and North America, launching in Buenos Aires on August 3 and wrapping up in Guadalajara on December 17. Details on ticket sales are forthcoming.
Bills to legalize a lottery have been introduced in the Nevada Legislature over the decades and have been quickly dispatched. This latest attempt not only made it out of committee, which was a first, it was actually passed by the Nevada Assembly last week by a vote of 26-16. State residents stopping off at the local minimart for lottery tickets, instead of having to drive to Arizona, California, or Oregon, however, is still a longshot. If the bill is passed by the Senate, it goes back to both houses for confirmation in the 2025 session. If it makes it through both houses, it goes to the voters in 2026. As soon as the voters say aye, if they do, the lottery would become official and the legislature would set one up. How long that would take, with the casino industry sure to oppose it, is anyone's guess.
Learn about the Oakland A's officially coming to Las Vegas and where the stadium is going to be, the very odd situation with the huge production show at the Wynn, a unique casino-gambling proposal coming out of Australia, the Vegas Golden Knights' chances to win the Stanley Cup in this year's ongoing playoffs, eight or so more recommendations for great Vegas Italian restaurants thanks to commenters with Anthony and Andrew's opinions about them, and another week at the Downtown Grand blackjack mini-tournament, which is turning into a real LVA video social scene. Click and enjoy.
The plan would, of course, need to be passed by the Nevada Legislature and Clark County Commission, but at this point, a special taxation district might be created at and around the Oakland A's announced stadium site on the old Wild Wild West property at Tropicana and Dean Martin slightly west of Interstate 15. Along with transferable tax credits worth around $500 million, the special district would allow sales tax collected therein to be reinvested in the area. New taxes to fund the stadium are a "non-starter" for Governor Joe Lombardo, but this plan is considered by analysts to be a "unique funding mechanism without having to raise taxes."
Colombia-based Avianca, the second-largest commercial airline in South America, will start flying out of Reid International in July with non-stops to and from San Salvador in El Salvador, Central America. It will be first service in Avianca's own Airbus A320 airplanes to grace Reid's runways and terminals; Avianca's flights in and out of Las Vegas are currently operated by United Airlines. The San Salvador flights will begin on July 15 and operate on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
Curtis Blaydes is a -160 favorite over Sergei Pavlovich in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Brad Tavares is -165 over Bruno Silva.
Earth Day will be celebrated around the valley today, including a farmer's market in Downtown Summerlin. The big event is in downtown Vegas, where the Earth Day Downtown Festival will take place between 2 and 6 p.m. at the Third Street Promenade on Third Street between Hoover and Gass. The press release says, "From interactive exhibits and workshops to live performances and talks, attendees of all ages will be inspired to take action for a sustainable future." There will be a vendor market, paint-your-pot activity, bicycle show, plant sanctuary, two live performances, artists, and more. The event is free for everyone.
A road show, "Selfie Studio: The Decades," will stop at the Fashion Show Mall from Monday May 1 through Tuesday May 30. Eight separate selfie backdrops will start with the 1950s and continue up to the 2020s, then launch into the future, with such themes as the Diner ('50s), Peace and Love, Disco, Video Store, and Meme Culture. The art experience will be located at the Great Hall and will be free for everyone. "Selfie Studio" appears to be the first of a number of traveling art exhibits that will make the Fashion Show home for a while this year.
Local economic-analysis firm Applied Analysis is estimating that the Las Vegas Grand Prix could have an "overall impact" of $1.3 billion over the course of the three-day race event in November. In a report, the firm noted that the Las Vegas tickets are the most expensive on the entire Formula 1 circuit, presaging the massive infusion of spending by visitors. By comparison, Applied Analysis is also estimating that the Super Bowl in February 2024 at Allegiant Stadium will have a $600 million impact on the city. For an interesting discussion on the Grand Prix, read the comments in Wednesday's Question of the Day on one aspect of the race: viewing it from the sidewalks to avoid paying the exorbitant ticket prices.
A pan-Mexican restaurant with two locations in Mexico City, one in Austin, Texas, and a third in Roseville, outside of Sacramento, is opening a fourth location at the Palms this summer, according to a Palms tweet yesterday. La Popular's Austin menu features 10 tacos, from al pastor ($14) to rib eye ($16), plus such entrees as enchiladas ($19), rib eye fajitas ($32), and a charred whole fish ($35). We'll definitely try the white-fish ceviche ($16) and ahi tuna tostadas ($18) if they make it to the Vegas venue. Details about the grand opening are promised "in the coming weeks."
The Paradox Museum, with one U.S. venue in Miami and four in Europe, will open at 3767 Las Vegas Blvd. (between MGM Grand and the Showcase Mall) in June. The 11,000-square-foot exhibit will feature 90 displays that "explore optical illusions, the science of paradoxes" (meaning contrary to common sense) and "things that if true, are false and if false, are true." Tickets for the Miami location are $23 children and $26 adult. Sounds fun.
The big buzz this morning is that the MLB's Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to construct a $1 billion 35,000-seat baseball stadium with a retractable roof on part of the nearly 100-acre site that used to be occupied by the Wild Wild West; without any notice whatsoever, it was demolished in the past week or so (it took driving by to see a completely empty lot, with nary even a few piles of rubble). The land on the corner of W. Tropicana and Dean Martin will be purchased from Red Rock Resorts (a.k.a. Station Casinos). From what we've seen, no new taxes will be imposed to help pay for the stadium (unlike Allegiant), but funding will be a public-private partnership (no details as to where the public money will come from). An A's spokesperson said the team hopes to break ground before the end of this year with an anticipated move to Las Vegas for the 2027 season. Interestingly, when the A's move, they'll be the first pro-baseball team to relocate since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005; before that, the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972.
April 20th (4/20), for reasons mostly obscure, is "marijuana day" throughout the land and to celebrate (muted as it might be), our Question of the Day is an update on the sloooooow but barely continuing headway of the cannabis lounges in Nevada. Suffice it to say, the casino lobby has always been and is still dead set against the lounges, which they view as competition, and has thrown up every impediment to their opening. For the whole progress report, such as it is, click here.
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, a pai gow poker player lined up a seven-card diamond straight flush at the Flamingo to take down the $1,333,121 progressive jackpot. It was the third million-plus-dollar win at on a Flamingo table game this year.
Thirty days after the official start of the season, spring has yet to arrive, at least according to Mojave Max. The desert tortoise, mascot of the Clark County Desert Conservation Program and southern Nevada's own version of Punxutawney Phil, has set a new record for the latest emergence from his brumating (hibernating for reptiles) burrow in the 23 years his appearances have been recorded and it's not over yet. Max broke the old record just after noon on Monday and still hasn't shown himself, a sign of the unusually cold spring, the coldest since the 1960s, according to the National Weather Service. Last year, Max was out and running around like a hare on March 26. The earliest he's emerged was on Valentine's Day in 2005, if you can believe that. We hope he crawls into the sunshine soon; we're ready for some air conditioning.
The ill-fated Hawaiian Marketplace has been razed. Never quite possessing a true Hawaiian identity or fitting into its prime spot on the Strip near Harmon Avenue, the retail and dining complex will be missed by few, if any. The 10-acre property, purchased by a New York investment firm in 2019 for $172 million, will be redeveloped into a 300,000-square-foot complex of the same sort -- retail, dining, and entertainment -- but there has been no announced timeline or budget for its completion.
Widely considered the "biggest girl group in the world," Blackpink, the seven-year-old Korean singing group consisting of four young women (ages 23 to 25) will become the first all-girl touring act to headline Allegiant Stadium on Friday August 18. The four members were selected over a period of five years from a large pool of pre-teens and teenagers attending what was likened to a "full-time pop-star academy"; originally consisting of six or seven members, similar to Blackpink's male counterparts in BTS, the group was winnowed down to four in 2016. Since then, Blackpink have released two studio albums and four live albums, completed three world tours, and been featured in eight movies. The presale is happening now; fans can register online for when tickets become available on Friday April 28 at 10 a.m. PT.
Gateway Casinos, one of the largest casino companies in Canada, has been hit with a cyberattack so severe that all 14 of its casinos and racetracks in Ontario have been shut down and are expected to remain closed "for the coming days." In a statement, Gateway called the problem "a cyber-security incident" and claimed that "at this point, we do not have any information indicating that this incident involves any compromise of personal data." However, Gateway has "retained third-party cyber professionals who are working 24/7 to help restore the IT environment." Though cyberattacks on casino companies, especially tribal operations, are not uncommon and have accelerated in the past few years, this is the largest cyberattack on a casino company that we've ever tracked.
The inductees for the 2023 class of the Sports Betting Hall of Fame are Michael Gaughan, owner of the South Point Hotel Casino; Nick Bogdanovich, sports book manager/oddsmaker, Circa Sports; Trish Lewandowski, Caesars Digital Sportsbook District Manager; and David L. Rebuck, N.J. Department of Gaming Enforcement Director. The inductees will be honored on May 10 at Slate NYC as part of the SBC Summit North America 2023 conference. The Sports Betting Hall of Fame was established in 2016 to recognize the industry's outstanding individuals and their career contributions.
The National Association of Broadcasters' annual confab start today at the Las Vegas Convention Center, celebrating the NAB's 100-year anniversary (it began in Chicago as a meeting of representatives from 16 radio stations) and its 33rd year in Las Vegas. The largest annual gathering of electronic media in the world, last year's conference was attended by 50,000; this year's is expected to come closer to or even surpass the 100,000 mark of pre-pandemic conventions. There will be more than 1,200 exhibitors and approximately 575,000 square feet of floor space, with a featured focus on Web3, AI, blockchain, metaverse, NFTs, and of course streaming.
A story in this morning's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports on a new policy at the Mirage: free parking and other benefits for anyone with a Nevada ID. Currently, locals are entitled to three free hours of parking, but Nevada residents who sign up for the Mirage-Hard Rock Unity Rewards cars is automatically enrolled at the Legends Tier, which entitles them to free parking, discounts on meals and shows and at the spa, and special happy-hour offers. The story also cites the easy in-and-out access off Spring Mountain Road, with which locals can avoid driving on the Strip.
Lee Canyon Ski Resort has been sold to Colorado-based Mountain Capital Partners. This is good news for season-pass holders to Lee Canyon, who'll be eligible for "reciprocal days" at other Mountain Capital resorts, which include Brian Head (in Utah, only three hours away from Las Vegas) and 11 other ski and mountain-bike resorts from Oregon to Texas. In addition, Mountain Capital is expected to invest in capital improvements at Lee Canyon and retain "the leadership team and support staff." The sales price is undisclosed, but Mountain Capital will own and manage the resort starting next season.
Click on the white arrow to hear all about many things Vegas this week: an update on parking at the Strat; the situation with turning the Strip, Koval, and connecting streets into a racetrack (hint: It's a very big job and seriously disruptive); the top three Italian restaurants according to a foodie website and Anthony's two favorite local places; a very cool story about A.C.'s second entry in the Downtown Grand's mini-blackjack tournament; and a YUGE Jackpot of the Week (in Reno). It's a fun one; don't miss it.
Vegas Test Kitchen, the restaurant that provides a single space for established chefs to test-market new menu items and up-and-comers to introduce their offerings, has announced that it will close on June 3. VGT opened in December 2020 at 1020 Fremont St., next door to Fergusons Downtown, which proved to be a tough location; the owner told Fox5 News that the venue doesn’t have "enough going on around it" to attract walk-in traffic and support the business. It's also an unusual concept, at least for Vegas, that takes some getting used to (we reviewed it in July 2021 and liked it). The restaurant is looking for a new and improved location; we hope it lands somewhere.
Formula 1's Las Vegas headquarters, being built on the company's 39-acre site on at the corner of Koval and Harmon (next to Ellis Island), was topped off in a ceremony on Thursday. The $260 million 300,000-square-foot four-story paddock building is where the race will start and end; the ground floor will house the pit row and garages, while the second, third, and fourth floors will be occupied by offices, suites, and an exclusive viewing area on the roof. With construction going on 20 hours a day and soon to start round-the-clock hours, the paddock is on schedule to be completed in October, roughly a month before the race.
Max Holloway is a -170 favorite over Arnold Allen in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Billy Quarantillo is -170 over Edson Barboza.
An ad in Las Vegas Weekly says Big Boy burgers are $1 today at Big Boy Tavern. There’s no additional information, but the ad indicates the offer is for today only. The restaurant at 9800 Sky Canyon Park Drive in the northwest part of town is one of only two Big Boys in Nevada. The other is at Terrible’s Casino in Indian Springs.
In a convoluted process that has taken many years, Japan finally approved an integrated resort yesterday. The first of three that will (or might) eventually be built, this one will occupy an artificial island in Osaka Bay. With a budget of $10 billion, the IR will feature a hotel, casino, theater, conference center and exhibition hall, and shopping center when it opens, possibly as early as fall 2029 (we're taking the over). MGM Resorts will build and operate the property, along with its joint-venture partner ORIX Corporation, a Japanese diversified financial services group. Projections have the IR attracting 20 million people and generating $3.9 billion in revenue per year, with approximately 70% of visitors to the resort in its first three years expected to be domestic.
In the last game of the regular season, the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Seattle Kraken by a score of 3-1 to win the Pacific Division title for the third time in the six-year history of the team and earn the number-one seed in the Western Conference. They also picked up two points to bring the season's total to 111, setting a new record. And 51 wins tied the record set in the inaugural season, when the VGK went to the Stanley Cup Finals (and lost to the Washington Capitals). One of the few remaining Misfits from that season, Reilly Smith, scored his 200th goal last night. The first round of the playoffs start next week and Vegas will face the wild-card Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday and Thursday at T-Mobile, having the home-ice advantage.
A sparkling 3D light show with five million colorful bulbs will pop up in the Westgate's five-acre north parking lot for 10 days later this month. The immersive experience, dubbed "Imaginarium," involves a treasure hunt in which participants "chase a collection of special objects across an eight-checkpoint mission,” according to the press release. The attractions include "illuminated forests, endless mazes, hands-on games, and 20-plus larger-than-life story-book creatures across eight fantasy zones,” such as the Purple Patch magical forest, the Pink Pansy and its mystical creatures, the Crystal Chandelier, Shoot for the Stars and Moon, the A-Mazing Walk, and more. Imaginarium will open at 7 p.m. nightly from Friday April 28 through Sunday May 7; tickets are $28 children and $33 adult and are on sale now at Imaginarium's website.
The Palms' Pearl Theater is being reinvigorated as a go-to stop for small-scale touring acts. The latest announcement is an appearance by Peter Frampton, whose “Never Say Never Tour” will play 26 dates starting June 12 in Ohio, with an appearance at the Palms on August 18, the penultimate date; the tour ends the next night in Sandy, Utah. General-public tickets went on sale this morning at 10 a.m.
On Tuesday, the thermometer hit 93 degrees, breaking the previous high-temperature record of 92 set in 2014; it was also the warmest day of the year so far. The day before, the high hit 90, though it fell one degree short of breaking the record for the day (set in 1985 and 2014). But following a high of 80 on Easter Sunday, it was the third time in Las Vegas history that the first 90-degree day of the year came directly on the heels of the first 80-degree day. Temperatures have returned to normal since the mini-heat wave: the low to mid-80s through the weekend.
Monster Jam, the show in which 12,000-pound monster trucks tear up the dirt in wide-open competitions of speed and skill, will play Thomas and Mack Center August 4-6. You can sign up to become a Monster Jam Preferred Customer at MonsterJam.com to get exclusive early access to the pre-sale offer code to purchase advance tickets. General-public tickets go on sale next Tuesday, April 18.
Spirit Airlines, second only to Southwest in passenger counts at Reid International, has announced nonstop service between Charleston, South Carolina, and Las Vegas to start on September 7. There will be five round-trip flights per week and it will be the only non-stop service between Vegas and Charleston. Special introductory fares will start at $99 one way for for travel from Sept. 7 through Oct. 18.
One of our favorite rockers and multi-award winner, including two Grammys and an Academy Award, Melissa Etheridge, will make a stop on her 44-date North American tour this summer at the Palms' Pearl Theater on Friday July 7. This show is sure to sell out the 2,500-seat theater; tickets start at $50 (plus fees and taxes) and go on sale to the general public on Friday. The pre-sale is happening now.
The Sphere has started selling tickets for the first immersive film that will be presented on the 160,000-square-foot LED screen. It's called Postcard From Earth and it's produced by well-known filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. According to the Film and Television Industry Alliance (FITA) website, “It’s an immersive and innovative exploration of planet Earth through the eyes of two human beings, Byron and Fang.”
And according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "The show will play to 10,000 seated ticket-holders. Pricing starts at $49, not including fees." Tickets go on sale today at thespherevegas.com.
Online registration for the 54th-annual World Series of Poker will open on Thursday. And for the first time, prospective WSOP players have an additional option to book an entire trip package, including accommodations and airfare, immediately following online registration at BravoPokerLive.com. The new package is through Caesars Rewards Travel Bundle, which makes it convenient to stay at a Caesars property, primarily Paris and the Horseshoe where the tournament takes place, while earning reward credits through the players club. The WSOP, which will run from May 30 to July 18, will feature the largest slate of bracelet events in its history; plus, with 608 tables, the series will have the largest capacity to date and the expectation to shatter attendance and prize-money records.
Katy Perry will wrap up her residency with 10 more shows in October and November. They'll mark the 51st through 60th shows in her two years at Resorts World and tickets go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m. PT. The dates are October 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, 14, and 31, and November 1, 3, and 4.
In a unanimous vote yesterday the Nevada Department of Transportation's Board of Directors loosened up the high-occupancy-vehicle lanes running through Las Vegas to even less than the typical peak traffic hours: 6-8 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. Monday through Friday. All traffic can use the HOV lanes outside those minimal periods. The Board might reconsider the decision, opting for completely eliminating the lanes or turning them into express lanes, but that will take another study period of around two years. Since the HOV lanes were completed in May 2019, they've been widely criticized for not serving their putative purpose; carpooling isn't a thing in Las Vegas and the lanes were underused, while traffic in the other lanes was worse than ever. The restrictions were amended last October to 5 a.m.-10 p.m. daily; this decision finally finishes the job -- in the beginning of May when the new policy goes into effect.
The NCAA's 2023 National Collegiate Women's Bowling Championship will take place at the South Point Bowling Plaza next weekend, Saturday and Sunday. It's the first time this event has ever been held in Las Vegas; it's also the first time the NCAA, which only recently started deigning to take money from Sin City, will hold a championship event here. (The Final Four basketball tournament is slated for 2028 in Las Vegas.) Four teams will play six matches in four rounds in a double-elimination format. Tickets are $10 per day and are available now.
Yesterday was the first time in nearly six months that Las Vegas, known far and wide for its hot hot HOT summer temperatures, hit 80 degrees. The official high on Saturday was 79 and finally, after a long dark wet cold winter and early spring, seasonal temperatures finally arrived on Easter Sunday. Easter is also the day that the Lee Canyon Ski Resort ends operations for the year, but due to a record amount of snowfall, it will remain open on weekends at least through Sunday April 30. Today's high temperature is predicted to reach 91; if it does, it will be the only the third time in Las Vegas history that the first 80-degree and 90-degree days of the year happen over two consecutive days.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports this morning that Tasting Table, a New York-based food and drink website, has issued a list of the top 20 Italian eateries in the U.S. New York with four on the list is the only city with more than Las Vegas with three. The three here are local celebrity chef and James Beard Award finalist James Trees' renowned Esther's Kitchen (moving from its original space on S. Casino Center in the Arts District into a larger one a half-block away; Trees will open a French restaurant in the old space); Brezza in Resorts World; and Carbone in Aria. According to the R-J, Tasting Table cited Esther’s "sourdough swiped with anchovy butter, pizza topped with Brussels sprouts, and veal osso buco"; Brezza's "tuna carpaccio, heirloom Caprese salad, lobster campanelle, and steaks"; and Carbone's "Caesar salad, beef carpaccio, veal Parmesan, and spicy rigatoni alla vodka."
Going into today’s final round of the Masters golf tournament, two-stroke leader Brooks Koepka is a -105 favorite to win. John Rahm is +155, Viktor Hovland is +600, and Patrick Cantlay is +1700.
Special Easter brunches and dinners are being served in restaurants all over town. Easter-egg hunts are taking place around town, but those are mostly for local families (and with the continuing egg shortage, some are painting potatoes). The temperatures are finally spring-like, with a high of 86 today and a low not going below 60.
Major news site Stacker.com used data from analytics firm YouGov to rank the most popular U.S. cities as travel destinations. Out of the top 25 cities ranked in the survey, Las Vegas placed right at number 10. The score was based on the percentage of positive responses in the YouGov survey; Las Vegas received a 56% positive response. The survey also broke down positive responses by generation; Vegas' popularity among Millennials was 60%, GenX 58%, and Boomers (who remember the glory years) only 51%. By comparison, the number-one most popular city, Nashville, boasted an overall positive-response score of 62%, with Boomers and Millennials tied at 62% and GenX 57%. Nashville was followed by Denver, New Orleans, San Diego, Colorado Springs, Boston, Miami, San Antonio, and New York. Las Vegas barely beat out Tampa, Seattle, and San Francisco to squeeze into the top 10.
Israel Adesanya is a -150 favorite over Alex Pereira in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Gilbert Burns is -450 over Jorge Masvidal.
Denver-based McWhinney real-estate investment and development company has bought the Cal-Neva in Crystal Bay on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. The Reno Gazette Journal reports that the sales price, though undisclosed, is in the neighborhood of $58 million, a sizable profit for the group of investors, including Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, that purchased the 13-acre property in 2018 for $35.8 million. That group announced ambitious plans to revitalize the nearly 100-year-old Cal-Neva, but they barely got started. McWhinney plans to refurbish the hotel tower, upgrade the Frank Sinatra Showroom, retain the main ballroom (through which the Nevada-California state line runs), and turn the rest of the space into a spa and wellness retreat. It doesn't sound like a casino is in the works.
The government of the Australian state of Victoria, whose capital is Melbourne, has introduced potential regulations to protect gamblers against the weaknesses of their character. Patrons at Crown Casino Melbourne who've been playing for three continuous hours would be required to take a 15-minute break; those who've been gambling for more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period would have to leave for 24 hours. Finally, patrons would be restricted to 36 hours at the tables or pokies over one week.
Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Las Vegas will feature headliners Zedd, Marshmello, Afrojack, Chris Lake, Kaskade, David Guetta, Dom Dolla, Subtronics, and of course Tiësto at this year's event at the so-called kineticFIELD at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This will be the 12th version of EDC and will take place May 19-21. Upwards of 525,000 attendees are expected at the three-day affair, comprising 230 or so dance-music artists performing on nine stages. For Tiesto, it's his 12th year at EDC; he's headlined every one since the festival moved from L.A. to Las Vegas in 2011. Trance artist Armin van Buuren will appear for the tenth time. Tickets are on sale; general-admission three-day passes are $599 (plus $109 in fees and taxes), while the VIPs are $1,000 (plus $150), with various shuttle packages available.
TripAdvisor studied search data on its travel platform between December 1 and January 25 to produce a list of the most popular destinations for Easter this year, starting today and running through next Friday. Las Vegas was fourth on the list, behind Cancun, Punta Cana (Dominican Republic), and Orlando. Vegas was followed by New York City, Key West, and Honolulu.
The first-quarter-2023 gross gaming revenue for Macau is finally looking up from the double-ugly 2022 result, which was the worst annual revenue in 18 years. The year-over-year comparisons are certainly soft, but the revenue over the first three months of this year totaled $4.3 billion and if the monthly average is sustained, Macau will surpass that of full-year 2022 at $5.3 billion (which was down 51.4% from 2021). Similarly, March revenue of $1.58 billion is 70% higher than that of March 2022 and the highest since January 2020 when the pandemic shut down the casinos, though it remains 50% below March 2019's tally.
Tune in to the latest exciting episode of the LVA YouTube Weekly Update to get your dose of Vegas, baby. It has further word on paid parking at the Strat, traffic woes in the Strip corridor for the $75 million roadwork necessary to run the Grand Prix race in November, the opening lines on the Masters golf tournament, a locals bar where different live bands perform every night (A.C. says he's never seen a bar like it and trust us, he's seen a lot of bars), and Andrew tells the story of the origins of the YouTube's intro/outro music. Finally, the Jackpot of the Week actually comprises two jackpots and wait till you see and hear the coincidences involved.
The uber-expensive production at the Wynn, Awakening, will perform its last show on Saturday April 15. The Wynn calls it a "temporary pause to allow for an extended rehearsal period" and Ticketmaster shows seats available starting Tuesday June 6. But this is the second time the show has been put on pause to retool (it opened on November 5 and closed on January 31 for two weeks) and audience counts have been visibly low, barely making a dent in the 1,500-seat Wynn Theater.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports this morning that a $700 million 60-story hotel-casino has been proposed for a two-acre site in the Historic Westside district at the once-vibrant corner of Jackson Avenue and F Street; the location was previously occupied by a small neighborhood bar and slot joint, Town Tavern, which opened in 1955 and changed names over the years to New Town Tavern and Ultra New Town Tavern. In 2016, a sign was installed naming it Tokyo Casino, based on a Japanese developer's $2 billion plan for a 400-room hotel-casino and 2,000-seat performing-arts center, which was denied by the Gaming Control Board. The Harlem Nights proposal calls for a 687-foot-tall hotel with 764 hotel rooms and 458 residential units, a casino, rooftop restaurant and bar, 900-seat theater, and retail shops. The Beverly Hills-based developer owns the lot and is looking, like the Japanese's plan, to connect the area to the tourist corridor. The first hurdle will be to overcome the height restriction; the proposed property is only 53 stories beyond it. The Las Vegas Planning Commission will consider the proposal next Tuesday.
Rory McIlroy is the favorite at 6-1 to win golf's Masters tournament. He’s followed by Scottie Scheffler at 8-1 and John Rahm at 10-1. Tiger Woods is 85-1.
Is it New Jersey, the oldest igaming jurisdiction? Or Michigan, which surpassed New Jersey in online-gaming revenue for the first time two months ago? Is it Pennsylvania, with its population of 13 million (fifth largest in the U.S.)? Is it the UK or Australia? Perhaps, but it could also, surprisingly, be Ontario, Canada's most populous province (with 14.7 million residents, a bit more than Pennsylvania). Ontario celebrated the one-year anniversary of what's probably the world's most open igaming market yesterday. In only 12 months, Ontario now hosts more than 40 igaming operators that handled $36 billion in total wagers on more than 70 gaming sites with upwards of 5,000 games from 1.6 million accounts (one account for every 9.1 residents). The average spend is around $69 per month. Which sport was the most popular with bettors? Soccer? Hockey? NFL football? Curling? Nope, basketball, with 28% of the handle, followed by soccer (15%), football (14%), hockey (9%), and baseball (8%). In the online casinos, 48% percent of all wagers were on slots, 32% on table games with live dealers, and 19% on computer-based table games.
The Las Vegas Aviators Minor League Baseball team played its inaugural game of the 2023 season last night at Las Vegas Ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. The team is celebrating its 40th year in Las Vegas, having begun in 1983 as the Las Vegas 51s, then the Las Vegas Stars. The Aviators played the Oklahoma City Dodgers, losing 7-6 in a Dodgers blowout that turned into a nail biter in the bottom of the ninth, when the Aviators rallied and had the tying run at second base with one out before Oklahoma ended the game with a double play.
On Sunday night, a casino patron at the Atlantis in Reno had spent a half-hour running $10 coin-in through a Megabucks Mega Vault machine when the local Reno woman, a long-time patron at the hotel-casino, lined up all four symbols to win $14 million. It was the largest jackpot ever hit in Reno. According to the press release, the unidentified player hadn't planned to be at the Atlantis on Sunday, but due to a cruise cancelation, she wound up in the right place at the right time. Also according to the release, Sunday’s win at the Atlantis is the first Megabucks jackpot to hit in Nevada since April 2021.
A lot of hype is surrounding the first Punk Rock Museum in the nation, which opened on Saturday. It's a two-story 12,000-square foot space with what's considered to be the most comprehensive collection of punk music, lifestyle, and culture in the world. It also boasts a bar, tattoo parlor, wedding chapel, and jam room where visitors can play the instruments played on stage by famous punk rockers. One of the founders told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "There’s no Grammy for punk. There’s no chart in Billboard for punk — and that’s how we like it, because we’re not part of the music industry. We’re not respected. And we don’t want respect. We want a place where any punk rocker from around the world can come and feel like they’re part of something special.” The museum is located at 1422 Western Ave. right below the freeway and a few blocks south of Charleston. It's open daily from noon to 10 p.m.; tickets are $30.
In August 2021, Redbook, the 120-year-old women's magazine (of all periodicals), posted a series of 85 photos commemorating "What Las Vegas Looked Like the Year You Were Born." They start in 1935 and travel through time all the way to 2019. It's worth 86 clicks to see how Vegas proceeded through the ages. And thanks to Canada Roy for the link.
Connecticut is a -7 favorite over San Diego State in the NCAA Basketball Championship game. The total is 131.
GoBankingRates.com has posted a survey of the "10 Cities Where Home Prices Have Skyrocketed the Most Over the Past 10 Years." Las Vegas placed ninth, with a median home price in 2011 of $124,700 rising to $397,000 in 2021 (218%). Florida occupied four of the 10 places: Port St. Lucie (10), Punta Gorda (7), Cape Coral (5), and Naples (3). Reno took the number-six spot ($158,000 to $531,800/237%), while Atlanta (8), Phoenix (4), Boise (2), and Detroit ($53,800/ to $245,700/357%) completed the list.
If you've been a fan of our restaurant-guide series Eating Las Vegas, you'll want to check out author John Curtas' recent list of Las Vegas restaurant picks. John's voice is always vital and full of vim, his appetites are voracious, and his insights are savvy. He's also involved in a podcast, "Eat. Talk. Repeat," which you can link to from the list page. Worth a gander.
Peter B., long-time friend of LVA and deep-dive researcher, supplies the following details about the proposed extension of the Vegas Loop we reported on last week. The Boring Company's planned southern terminus for the Loop will be located at what's currently a 30-acre vacant lot at Las Vegas Blvd. S. and Blue Mountain that the company purchased for just under $100 million in February 2022. UNLV will wind up with seven stations. Tunnels will go under and into the airport, but so far, no stations for Reid International have been proposed.
Iowa is a -3 favorite over Louisiana State in today's NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game. The total is 158.
Spiegelworld, producer of the Vegas shows OPM, Absinthe, and Atomic Saloon, is developing a new $40 million production, DiscoShow. It will, reportedly, launch in the summer of 2024 at a brand-new two-level 500-seat venue that replaces the sports book at the Linq. It will actually be the second iteration of the show; the first was called We Are Here and was tested for a while in New York City in 2018. DiscoShow was supposed to open here early this year, but construction challenges have delayed the debut for another 15-16 months.
Subscription-based sports website The Athletic reports that the NFL owners voted on Tuesday to allow sports books at football stadiums to remain open on game days. Four teams currently operate sports books within or very near their home fields: Arizona Cardinals, New York Giants and Jets, and Washington Commanders. Sources say that the revenue generated from the sports books won't be shared with other teams until it surpasses what's believed to be $20 million; beyond that threshold, profits will be distributed among all the teams.
Question of the Day readers might remember a QoD we posted on Vegas Solitaire, in which Jeroen Romme, a writer from Malta, spent the long months of the COVID lockdown researching the history of solitaire from a gambling perspective. His work resulted in a cool website where, Jeroen informed us a few days ago, you can play a free demo version of the classic solitaire game. We went, took a look, and played for a while. It's a fun version with a few new bells and whistles and the pretend-betting element gives it a new dimension, including playing in pounds, rather than dollars. You can check it out here. But be forewarned: It's addictive.
Check out this week's vlog for news about a new paid-parking policy at the Strat, some "upsetting" developments during March Madness in Vegas, including Anthony's winner pick, the Downtown Grand's first blackjack mini-tournament that Anthony played, recommendations for Thai food in a great Thai-food town, and a departure from the usual Jackpot of the Week with a fun story from Andrew. All with the click of a fingertip.
The odds were against the legalization of sports betting in Kentucky this year. It was an odd-year 30-day legislative session and a two-thirds majority was required. The bill sailed through the House, but took a lot of backroom wheeling and dealing to pass the Senate, which it did on Thursday, the second-to-last day of the session. Less than 24 hours later, the governor signed it into law, effective June 28; the bill mandates wagering to launch by December 28 in time for the NFL playoffs. It allows for all nine Kentucky horse-racing tracks to open in-person sports books, with a tax on revenue of 9.75%, and they can each partner with up to three online-sports book operators (at a tax of 14.25%), for a total of 27 remote sports-betting platforms for a state of 4.5 million. A bill legalizing medical cannabis also passed on the same day.
April is a gorgeous month weather-wise hereabouts. It's dry and mostly sunny, with daily high temperatures rising from around 74 degrees on April 1 to around 82 on April 30 and lows ranging from 52 to 61. A record high of 99 degrees was set on the 24th in 2012, the 27th in 2000, the 29th in 2013, and the 30th in 1981. A record low of 31 degrees was set on the 2nd in 1975 and the 3rd and 4th in 1955. Typically, April is the second driest month of the year, receiving an average .15 of an inch of precipitation; June is driest with .08.
Connecticut is a -5.5 favorite over Miami in today's second Final Four game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The total is 149.
San Diego State is a -2.5 favorite over Florida Atlantic in today's first Final Four game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The total is 131.