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We rarely see a compilation of the best taco joints, primarily because tacos are so simple and, frankly, undistinguished. But TastingTable.com has come out with one that lists the 14 best places for tacos based on social-media reviews, recommendations in Vegas chat rooms, and personal taste-testing. The ones that we can corroborate are Bajamar Seafood and Tacos on Las Vegas Blvd. across from the Strat; China Poblano, the Jose Andres place at Cosmopolitan, and Tacos El Gordo with four locations. We haven't tried Tacotarian, the vegan place, but now that it's on the list, we will. We didn't know about El Tacontento, a food truck that hangs out near the North Las Vegas Airport, but it's definitely the best name. You can see the post here.
The second state-approved cannabis consumption lounge will open on Friday. The 3,000-square-foot space, which features "consumption, food, and entertainment" and be called "Dazed!" according to the press release, is located at Planet 13, the largest dispensary in Las Vegas. Bong-shaped chandeliers, numerous TVs (we wonder what they'll show for the stoners; slasher movies?), and of course, a secret entrance to an inner sanctuary are all in the mix. Dazed! will operate 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sun.-Thurs. and 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fri.-Saturday.
Erin Blanchfield is a -190 favorite over Manon Fiorot in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Vicente Luque is -125 over Joaquim Buckley.
Vintage Vegas means Slots A Fun, baby! Tune into this week's video to hear the whole story: 75 coin-operated slots, $5 blackjack, and $2 hot dogs, Heinekens, popcorn, and -- yes! -- shrimp cocktail, our new Top Ten deal. Right on the Strip. Where to park? You'll learn that too. Then Anthony and Andrew launch into March Madness and the Sweet 16; Anthony runs down the lines. You all know about the blackjack mini tournaments at the Downtown Grand, but on April 13, there'll be a major with a $2,500 grand prize and $1,000 in promo chips for second. Get all the details about why this is almost certainly a mathematically profitable play. The Question of the Week addresses celebrity-impersonator shows and the Jackpot of the Week is a two a.m.-Willie Wonka-penny-waterfall dream come true! Click and go wow!
We've been receiving a number of questions about Tropicana paraphernalia and memorabilia and the disposition of the stained-glass dome above the pit. A report on News3LV indicates that "thousands of items" from the hotel and casino are now listed for sale on the website of a liquidations company, International Content Liquidations. Currently, the items are being sold only in bulk to hospitality-industry buyers, but it's expected that it will open to the public before long, "possibly later in April." The report also imparts the first news we've heard about the stained-glass ceiling: "A [Tropicana] spokesperson said that it will be preserved in a warehouse until a decision is made [on what to do] with it." Will it be incorporated into the A's stadium or the new casino on the site? Time will tell.
A three-year-old low-cost long-haul airline will start flying nonstop between Reid International and London’s Gatwick International on Sept. 12. Norse Atlantic Airways will fly 787s three times a week between the two cities and economy one-way fares will be as low as $299. Norse Atlantic also offers premium class; those fares will be $699 one-way. Norse Atlantic also flies from Gatwick to New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Orlando and five cities in Europe.
Winds of up to 60 mph in some places hit Las Vegas yesterday and continue today, though not as strong. Temperatures will reach of high of 72 today, though the winds will usher in a cold early-spring storm expected to arrive tomorrow. Rain is expected all day Saturday, with showers into the evening. But Easter Sunday should be dry and sunny during the day, with a high in the low 60s. A chance of rain and showers returns Sunday night.
The chairman of Bally's Corp. told the Las Vegas Review-Journal yesterday that the demolition of the Tropicana, which closes on Monday, is tentatively scheduled for October, “subject to permitting and further changes." He also said an implosion of the two towers is a "possibility, permit dependent."
A slot player on a streak of a lifetime hit one jackpot for $125,000 at 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Caesars Palace, then continued playing at a different machine and around 11 p.m. hit another for $383,500. Not content with a little over a half-million, the same player hit a third jackpot on a third machine just after midnight for $160,000. Not a bad night's work for $668,000.
The Super Bowl, Chinese New Year, and Leap Day accounted for a Las Vegas Strip win of $800 million in February, a 12% increase over February 2023 and a new record for the month. It was also the 36th consecutive month that Nevada's gaming win has surpassed $1 billion and was the sixth highest revenue month in history at $1.34 billion. The impact of the Super Bowl was seen in the amount of credit issued for table games; the $1.9 billion was the highest since December 2014. The impact of Chinese New Year was felt from the baccarat win on the Strip: $180.5 million, up $81.2 million or 81.9% over February 2023 (last year, Chinese New Year was in January). Statewide, the sports books won $47.9 million, an increase of $6.6 million (16.1%) compared to February 2023.
Total taxes collected from legal sports books in the U.S. recently breached $5 billion, which is impressive enough, considering that it's been less than six years since sports betting started expanding outside of Nevada and the early ramp up was slow. But even more notable is that more than 40% of the total, $2.15 billion, was collected last year alone. The sports books had a very good 2023. Last year's hold was 9.1% compared to the industry norm of 7% and so far, this year looks to set another record. In January, states collected $271.8 million in taxes, which set a new monthly record, and February's put sports betting on a pace to approach $3 billion in taxes. New York is way ahead of the pack at $1.7 billion total, with half of that collected last year (New York taxes mobile profits at a whopping 51%); the next highest state is Pennsylvania at a half-billion (34%). Since PASPA was repealed in June 2018, Nevada has collected $150 million in taxes (6.75%).
Gas prices nationwide have risen for the past four weeks, but in southern Nevada, this is the ninth week in a row that they've gone up and the latest increase is 13 cents, the largest of them all. The average price of a gallon here was $3.76 at the end of December when it started going up; it's now $4.29. According to Gas Buddy, which surveys 650 stations in southern Nevada, the lowest price available in early January was $3.13 a gallon; it's now $3.79. The price of gasoline typically inflates in the spring as demand jumps, but this year it's going up faster and higher than usual. The good news is, prices here are still lower than in California, where the average gallon costs closer to $5.
One of only three remaining restaurants that opened with the Forum Shops at Caesars in 1992, Trevi, has closed. When it opened 32 years ago, it was called Bertolini's Authentic Trattoria, but the name changed twice, once to Lombardi and then to Trevi. It was located right off the central plaza of the first phase of the Forum Shops and the "outdoor" patio was great for people watching, but hectic and noisy. The last two original restaurants are the Palm and Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab.
A lottery ticket purchased in Neptune Township, New Jersey, near Asbury Park on the Jersey shore, matched all six numbers in the Mega Millions drawing last night to take down $1.13 billion, the fifth-largest jackpot in Mega Millions history. The lump sum before taxes is approximately $537.5 million. It was the first multi-state-lottery jackpot in 2024 and the 31st drawing since the last Mega Millions jackpot was hit on December 8. In New Jersey, jackpot winners may remain anonymous and have up to a year to collect their prize, but the state tax (on jackpots more than $500,000) is 8%, tied for the fourth highest in the nation.
Hootie & the Blowfish, the long-time band whose blend of pop, folk, blues, soul, and rock has sold more than 25 million albums, will play BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau as part of their "Summer Camp with Trucks" tour on Fri.-Sat. August 23-24. Hootie is one of the oldest bands in which all four original members are still together, having met while attending the University of South Carolina in Columbia in the late 1980s. Their debut album, Cracked Rear View, sold 16 million copies (and counting) in the U.S. alone and since then, they've produced a dozen albums, all with the distinctive baritone of lead singer Darius Rucker. The band took a 10-year hiatus, but is back together now for the 43-city tour from May through September to play such hits as “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry,” and “Only Wanna Be With You.” Tickets become available on Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
A tweet on X (the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter that no mention of the new name since it was changed last July can be published without the parenthetical clarification and probably will continue for the next three years except on LVA.com where this is the last time it will ever be posted) from the Tropicana goes as follows: "Tropicana Las Vegas is collaborating with esteemed institutions, such as the University of Nevada Las Vegas, Neon Museum, and Showgirl Museum, to preserve the heritage and items of sentimental value within the Tropicana." No other details were divulged, including the ultimate disposition of the stained-glass dome above the pit that everyone is wondering about, but at least some of the more portable memorabilia will go to UNLV (presumably Special Collections at the library), larger signs to the Neon Museum, and leftover costumes from Folies Bergere to Grant Philipo's Showgirl Museum (which you can read about in this Question of the Day).
After the special pre-sale for Nevada residents over the weekend, tickets for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, taking place November 21-23, are on sale to the public. Same as the locals prices, general-admission tickets to the T-Mobile and Flamingo zones and the new one at Caesars Palace start at $150 for the Thursday night practice round, $225 for Friday's, $350 for the race, and $600 for all three days. For the grandstands, three-day tickets start at $1,500 (West Harmon), $1,800 (T-Mobile), and $2,750 (Main zone at East Harmon). From there, the sky's the limit: from $2,100 for mix-and-match zone entries, $3,500 for club zones, $12,500 for hospitality suites, and "please inquire" for private luxury viewing. The casinos, of course, will also shoot for the moon with their packages, yet to be announced. You can get more information, see a map of the zones, and buy tickets at the F1 website.
SFGate.com has a fine retrospective on the Tropicana, with a number of details that might surprise you. (One example: "The Tropicana was the first resort on the Strip to sell ownership shares to a Black man." Sammy Davis, Jr., bought purchased an 8% interest in 1972.) Several cool photos include the featured image, an aerial of the Strip focused on the Trop property, one of bathing beauties from the '50s, and even a 1958 Edsel in front of the old porte cochere. It's a quick read and you can do so here. Thanks to Canada Roy for the link.
More news is emerging from the County Commission meeting last week concerning the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix last November. Commissioners heard the final report from the race, which was critical of many aspects, not the least of which was information sharing. "Race officials repeatedly missed deadlines and failed to provide information in a timely way," the report read in part. Transporting Strip employees to and from their jobs was a major topic and for all the vaunted experts supposedly working on the problem, some employees testified that the "solution" was ... the Monorail. "It was filled with tourists and everyone going to and from the race, so it was hard to get to work," one said. And according to the county report, county staff worked more than 17,000 hours on the race, costing $4.3 million; with the county receiving $3.8 million from permits, fees, and licenses, it was a net loss of close to $500,000. F1 is still looking to be reimbursed for part of the $88 million it spent on infrastructure improvements to the Strip, but one commissioner told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "It seems like it's off the table." The report contained a litany of suggestions for solutions to the myriad problems, to which race officials say they're "receptive." We'll see -- the same officials claim preparations for the race will require three months rather than last year's nine, which brings us to early August, only four-plus months from now.
The Mega Millions jackpot has breached the $1 billion mark and will total around $1.1 billion in tomorrow night's drawing, levitating from Friday's drawing for $977 million. The last time Mega Millions hit was on December 8; tomorrow's drawing will be the 31st without a grand-prize winner. Meanwhile, tonight's Powerball drawing will be for a jackpot of $800 million.
Starting with this week's Sweet 16 games, South Point will deal -105 on all NCAA tournament games through to the championship game for bets on pointspreads only, no totals. Bets must be made at the sports book (not available on the app). The -105 pricing is also offered at Rampart, along with CasaBlanca and Virgin River in Mesquite, all of which are South Point-affiliated books.
Lissa Townsend-Rodgers, author of our new book Shameless -- Women of the Underworld, will make an appearance at the Mob Museum on Tuesday night from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Lissa will discuss the six women who managed to make a name for themselves in the criminal world of the 20th century, despite the culture of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil for women, then sign books for her legions of fans. The event is free for members or is included with the museum entry fee ($20-$35). Shameless is a rare and beautifully written book, of which you can get a little preview in Las Vegas Weekly.
LVA correspondent David S alerts us to the fact that taxicabs are imposing a $10 surcharge for rides to and from the airport and to and from the Strip during March Madness. He writes, "Total ripoff! No such charges with rideshare services."
In this week's LVA YouTube Weekly Update, Anthony enthuses about March Madness in Vegas: "It's a bucket-list item for sports fans and bettors." Also, find out why he advises Andrew to take a $10 bill and light it on fire. Then come descriptions of Atomic Golf, which opened yesterday, and the major movie studio just announced for Summerlin. The Fremont shrimp cocktail has sustained the second price hike in nine months(find out how much it costs now) and hear about a new $2 version at Slots A Fun. The Question of the Week provides three definitions for the word "stiff" and the Jackpot of the Week goes to show why if you come to Las Vegas without the LVA Member Rewards Book, you're a sucker of the first order. Get a graphic example of it in this week's jackpot story.
More than four million people, 4.27 million to be exact, have attended events at Allegiant Stadium since it opened on July 31, 2020, less than four years ago. And it's an even shorter period, given that the stadium was at greatly reduced capacity its first year due to the pandemic; no fans were allowed in for Raiders' home games during the 2020-2021 season. Since then, 1.61 million Raiders fans have attended home games at Allegiant, plus another two and a half million plus for giant concerts, UNLV football and college bowl games, international soccer and rugby tournaments, the Super Bowl, and private events. A stadium spokesperson predicts that Allegiant will hit five-million sometime this year.
The Clark County manager made a presentation at the County Commission meeting earlier this week with some Las Vegas Grand Prix numbers. Visitor spending alone hit $884 million, thanks to race fans shelling out an average of $4,100 each, nearly four times what the typical traveler does, and staying 4.1 nights. As for the overall economic impact, that number, $329 million, was a far cry from the $1.5 billion cited in the breathless projections by bought-and-paid-for economic analysts. (It does, though, exclude F1's land acquisition and construction costs in the hundreds of millions and the $88 million spent on public infrastructure.) Workers and business owners were given time to express their sentiments and the upshot was that very little information was disseminated about how they were supposed to get to and from work "until a week before the event," while the owner of the Tex-Mex Tequila on the corner of the Strip and Harmon said that construction cut off his sewer and power lines and prevented his employees from getting to work. That restaurant has closed.
Max Weinberg, the long-time drummer in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and leader of the Max Weinberg 7 house band for “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” will play the new Pinky Ring lounge at Bellagio on Saturday night. His band is so versatile that every song they play is a request from the audience. Weinberg will also perform with Springsteen, who's appearing in Las Vegas for the first time in 22 years at one long-sold-out show at T-Mobile Arena tonight.
Tickets for this year's Las Vegas Grand Prix go on sale, starting at noon today, for state residents. This is "an exclusive" offer for anyone with a Nevada ID; it runs through midnight on Sunday. The least expensive ticket is $150 for standing room at the Flamingo grandstands for the practice on Thursday night only; they go up from there to $225 for Friday night, $350 for the race itself, and $600 for the three-night package. The sky's the limit for the luxury packages, up to $35,000 to watch from a special box at the F1 garage. Tickets for the general public will be available starting Monday March 25 at 10 a.m.
TastingTable.com, a popular site that covers all things in the food and restaurant world, has posted a piece that identifies the 14 "absolute" best pizza places in Las Vegas. Interesting to us is that the criteria for selection were described: a combination of taste, texture, innovation, price, and popularity as adjudicated by the TastingTable team. You can see all 14 here, but the ones we totally agree with are Pizza Rock, Good Pie, Monzu, ØØ Pie & Pub, and Yukon.
Nevada legalized gambling on March 19, 1931, when Governor Fred Balzar (a Republican) signed Assembly Bill 98 into law. This marked the beginning of the Silver State's recovery during the Great Depression, its transformation into a major tourist destination, the only place in the nation to gamble legally for 47 years (New Jersey legalized casino gambling in 1976, but the first casino didn't open until 1978), and the evolution of Las Vegas from a dusty whistle stop on a western rail line into a major metropolitan area that's unique on Planet Earth.
Yesterday, the Clark County Commission approved an $1.8 billion -- yes, billion with a "b" -- movie studio and mixed-use development in Summerlin. The joint venture, between Howard Hughes Holdings (the landlord) and Sony Entertainment (the Hollywood connection), will be called Summerlin Production Studios and located on Town Center Drive just off the 215 Beltway. Encompassing 10 buildings with approximately 500,000 square feet, 100,000 of the total will be retail, restaurants, and offices. No timeline has been divulged and this is the first step in a long process, but the end result will be ... movie stars all over the west valley.
If you haven't voted in our survey on the legal vices in which you indulge while visiting Vegas — activities you most likely wouldn’t do at home, you've got one last chance to do so. The poll closes tonight at midnights and here's the link that takes you to the poll page.
A story on SportingNews.com is illustrated with a photo of one of the greatest oddsmaking and handicapping teams ever to work for a single sports book in Las Vegas or anywhere. The post is an interview with Chris Andrews about March Madness line creation and the photo shows (left to right) Tony Sinisi, Chris, Alex White, Vinny Magliulo, and Jimmy Vaccaro. For more than 20 years, Sinisi worked for Roxy Roxborough's Las Vegas Sports Consultants, which helped transform sports betting in the early days. Andrews, of course, is the director of South Point's sports book and author of our two books Then One Day and Then One Year. Alex White is the daughter of longtime sports book boss Ken White, so she grew up in the business. Magliulo has a mere 45 years in sports betting, having worked at Caesars and Wynn, and was inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame in 2022. Finally, if anyone in the business is a grander old man than Magliulo, it's Vaccaro, who's been around for 50 years, including opening the Mirage sports book when the Mirage itself opened in 1989. All told, the photo represents upwards of 175 years of experience in sports betting and if you'd like to see it, it's here.
Boyd Gaming has announced a major refresh for its 24-year-old northwest Las Vegas hotel-casino Suncoast. No budget was disclosed, but the two-year project continues work that started last year with a new high-limit room and the debut of William B's steakhouse. The showroom will close today to be converted into a stadium-style sports book scheduled to open in time for football season; the current sports book will be turned into a new bingo room, while the current bingo room on the second floor will add more meeting space. One of the table-game pits will be transformed into a 70-seat raised chandelier bar and the casino will be modernized. Of course, a food hall is in the offing in the space that was formerly the buffet.
The $350 million march toward modernity continues at the Rio. Along with renovating all the rooms, converting the buffet into a food hall, replacing All American Bar and Grille, and transforming the central iBar into Lapa Lounge, the Rio will open its new wine cellar tomorrow. According to the description in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "Head down a winding staircase at the eastern end of the casino and you’ll emerge into the stone Cellar, which features wine stewards leading exploration of pours from around the world. The Cellar serves tequilas, whiskeys and bourbons, too." The photo shows a subterranean room, with stone walls, floors, and beams, overhead brick arches, a long wooden bar with red-cushioned stools, and liquor casks on the back-bar counter. The Cellar will be open 4-10 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays.
Connecticut is the favorite to win the NCAA Basketball Championship at +350, followed by Houston (+560) and Purdue (+720). The longshot is Stetson at +350000 (3,500-1). The tournament begins with tonight’s two First Four play-in games.
Friday's all-day rainstorm set a new record for precipitation for March 15 at .35 inches. The previous record was a mere .08 inches (1942 and 1955). The next day's rainfall hit .36 of an inch, also breaking the previous record of .20 (2003). The total for March stands at .71 of an inch, almost double the average precipitation for the month of .46. All that said, the rain has a long way to go to beat the all-time record totals for the month; during the 1992 El Nino pattern, the record was set at 4.8 inches. The storm also dumped 28 inches of snow on the Lee Canyon ski resort up on Mt. Charleston.
Lady Gaga will return to Dolby Live at Park MGM with her “Jazz + Piano” show for an eight-date mini residency in late June and early July; the dates are June 19, 20, 27, 29, and 30 and July 3, 5, and 6. Tickets will go on sale 10 a.m. Saturday. Meanwhile, the New York Post is reporting that the Eagles "have agreed to a residency at Sphere" after they finish their “Long Goodbye” tour on June 15 in the Netherlands.
The Post writes that the band will perform over 10 weekends from September through December, though no dates for or terms of the shows have been disclosed.
An 8NewsNow story that's woefully short on specifics cites Nevada Council on Problem Gambling "statistics" that indicate one in five college students dips into financial-aid funds to make sports bets. The story attributes the 20% figure to unnamed "experts," so where the statistics come from is anyone's guess, at least as far as this morning's story is concerned. It does quote the executive director of the Nevada Council, who claims, "About two-thirds of college students who live on campus are betting on sports now and most of them are not of legal age to do so.” Digging a little deeper, we found a 2022 survey by Intelligent.com, a site that ranks colleges and programs across the country; Intelligent.com polled just under 1,000 college students and found that one in eight use financial aid or loans to finance gambling (12.5%), a little less than half of the 8NewsNow report. We're not minimizing the seriousness of underage and student sports betting; the survey also found that two-thirds of college gamblers believe that sports betting has become a problem for them and fully 85% of students who gamble say school promotions are the reason they started gambling.
If you're not watching the four-part CNN series "Vegas: The Story of Sin City," which premiered on February 25 and continued on March 3 and last night, and wraps up next Sunday March 24, you can see the evolution of Las Vegas in dozens of photographs on CNN's website. It's worth a five-minute scroll to trace the city's history, from Fremont Street in 1905 and 1910 all the way up to Super Bowl 2024 at the Circa sports book.
We've been waiting for the disposition of a prime 1.36-acre piece of property on the south Strip. The parcel, on which the Diamond Inn Motel has stood since 1955, most of them graced by a large pink elephant, was up for auction between March 7 and yesterday and failed to sell at the minimum bid of $12.5 million. The motel is across the street and a little south of Mandalay Bay, with 237 feet of Strip frontage and zoned for a hotel-casino. The auction house claims that the process "identified several serious and interested buyers" that are doing their due diligence, but curiously, the listing price of the property is now $25 million, double the minimum bid that no one wanted to pay. An adjacent 2.2-acre property sold in 2022 for $12.8 million.
All reservations after April 2 at the Tropicana have been canceled. If the reservation was made directly through the Trop, deposits should be refunded in seven to ten days. If the reservation was made through a third-party (Expedia, Travelocity, etc.), the refund depends on that company's policy. All chips can be cashed at the Trop through April 1; after that, they can be redeemed at the cage at OYO next door, but only through July 31. (Starting August 1, they'll be collectors items.) Slot tickets can be redeemed by mailing them to 3801 Las Vegas Blvd. South, Las Vegas, NV 89109. You must provide a copy of your ID if you don't have a player's account and all mail must be postmarked by the expiration date on the ticket. Rewards points can be redeemed at the Trop until it closes. After that, members can redeem them at any Bally's property in the land by Dec. 31.
Forbes has issued its annual ranking of the world's most valuable sports teams and the U.S. can boast the top 10. Number one is the Dallas Cowboys, valued at $9 billion (Jerry Jones bought the team in 1989 for $150 million). The NFL has six teams in the top 10: New England Patriots ($7 billion), L.A. Rams ($6.9 billion), NY Giants ($6.8 billion), Chicago Bears ($6.3 billion), Las Vegas Raiders ($6.2 billion; Al Davis bought the team in 1966 for $180,000 and his son Mark owns it now), and the NY Jets ($6.1 billion). The NY Yankees placed number two ($7.1 billion) and the Golden State Warriors number three ($7 billion). Real Madrid was #11 ($6.07 billion) and Manchester United #12 ($6 billion). And thanks to Canada Roy for the link.
St. Patrick's Day is a good time in Las Vegas, which loves any excuse for partying with beer. A festival, parade, and car show will take place at Henderson Water Street Plaza and the annual St. Paddy’s ShamROCK Bash will be celebrated on Fremont Street. For other big parties, check out Celtic Feis 2024 at New York-New York, Flogging Molly’s Shamrock Rebellion at the Downtown Events Center, and RÍ RÁ Irish Pub at the Shoppes at Mandalay Place.
Hard to believe that it's already been four years since all the casinos in Nevada were shut down due to COVID. But four years ago today, March 17, 2020, then-Governor Steve Sisolak ordered all casinos, restaurants, bars, and other nonessential businesses to close for an initial 30 days. The closures lasted 78 days, costing the casinos more than $6 billion in lost revenue, a 25% drop from the year before, and the unemployment rate soared to nearly 35%. The rebound, of course, was beyond dramatic and it appears that it's finally slowing down, if first-quarter projections are an indication, but not by much; though the demand might no longer be pent up, business is still roaring around here and the traffic is as heavy as we've ever seen it.
In this week's LVA YouTube Update, Anthony and Andrew are joined by Huntington Press' long-time editor, "Sleepy" Deke Castleman, who tells us that he abhors the spotlight, but agreed to appear on the show after being given the choice: Do it or take early retirement. The three discuss the Mirage volcano and the closing of the Tropicana, then answer the Question of the Day about the best Jewish deli in Vegas. Finally, the Jackpot of the Week happened on a keno machine that Anthony and Andrew personally witnessed for 81,000 nickels. Now, if you'll excuse us, we're off to Bagelmania for a smoked-whitefish platter and bagels with a shmear. Click the arrow and feast!
Yesterday's rainstorm here was fairly tame, dropping less than a quarter-inch throughout the day, but in the mountains, it was pretty major. The road up to Lee Canyon, NV 156, was closed around 10:30 a.m. due to the heavy snow accumulation; it took four hours to open it up again and chains and snow tires are still required this morning. The snow depth at Lee Canyon ski resort is reportedly a foot and a half deeper now than it was 24 hours ago and it's expected to grow until 5 this evening. It all bodes well for spring skiing conditions: new powder and warmer temperatures through the week, with a high of around 80 predicted for Thursday.
In the first item, Margaritaville, the Jimmy Buffett-themed chain restaurant with a long-time location (21 years) at the Flamingo, is closing. No official word has been issued by Caesars, but VitalVegas reports that employees have been notified they'll be out of jobs sometime in the near but indefinite future. Apparently, the closure has nothing to do with the recent death of Buffett and everything to do with the tried-and-true out-with-the-old-and-in-with-the-new Las Vegas tradition (though if you've ever eaten at a Margaritaville, you'll probably know that even when it was new, it was old). In the second item, former Van Halen front man, Cabo Wabo founder, and long-time Jimmy Buffett friend and partying buddy Sammy Hagar will launch Sammy's Island at the Palms pool in May. The reports mention a poolside restaurant, several bars, and of course loud rock on the sound system. Whatever Sammy's Island turns out to be, we're grateful that it will occupy the space vacated by that grotesque 60-foot-tall Damien Hirst headless sculpture, Demon with Bowl. (See it here if you dare.)
If you haven't voted in our survey on the legal vices in which you indulge while visiting Vegas — activities you most likely wouldn’t do at home — here's the link to make your voice heard about "doing the nasty things you must" (in the words of the Tubes). The poll closes on Friday.
The American Gaming Association has released its estimate for the handle on this year's NCAA basketball championship series. Including both the men's and women's tournaments and excluding conference tournaments and bets made outside of sports books, as much as $2.72 billion could be wagered on this year's March Madness, which starts Tuesday and wraps up with the championship games -- women's on April 7 and men's April 8. The estimate is nearly double the Super Bowl's handle ($1.4 billion), but of course that was bet on a single game, whereas March Madness is 134 games altogether.
The final tally for the U2 residency at Sphere has been revealed: The 40 shows between September and March (the last on March 2) all sold out and played to just over 700,000 fans. The seating capacity of Sphere for concerts is 17,600 and the shows averaged around 17,500 attendees, so the potential and actual ticket sales match up. The gross from ticket sales won't be known until Sphere Entertainment's first-quarter earnings call next month, but it's obvious that U2 and Sphere were a residency match made in heaven.
On Monday, a slot player in the high-limit lounge at the Palazzo hit a jackpot of $1,037,828 on a Dragon Link machine off a $25 bet. It was the third million-plus jackpot hit in the Palazzo's high-limit room since October.
For some reason, TintingChicago.com, the website for a commercial tinting and graphics company, analyzed Google reviews for more than 300,000 American restaurants to determine the most common restaurant names. China Wok placed first with 80 locations around the country, followed by China King (54), China House (44), China Star (42), and Great Wall (37). In fact, 52 out of the top 100 most common restaurant names are attached to Chinese eateries. Hibachi Express is the most common Japanese restaurant name (29), Taste of India is the most common for Indian restaurants (26), America's Best Wings takes the prize for chicken wing places (21) and Gino's for pizza restaurants (9). Joe is the most common first name in restaurant appellations (152), followed by Tony (138), Jimmy (98), Nick (95), and the all-purpose Mama (92). And here's the local connection: North Las Vegas takes the dubious prize for the percentage of restaurants with the least unique names at 26%; Cambridge, Mass., has the most at 87%.
A story on SimpleFlying.com lists the 23 busiest airports in the world, all of which will handle 1,000 or more flights every day of the week of March 12-18. LaGuardia didn't make the list, since it fell below 1,000 flights on the Saturday; Madrid, Newark, Paris CDG, and Seattle also fell slightly short. The top 23 account for a full 20% of the roughly 663,000 flights this week in and out of upwards of 3,700 airports worldwide. The U.S. claims the top six busiest: Atlanta, Dallas DFW, Chicago ORD, Denver, Charlotte (NC), and L.A, and 11 of the top 23, including Phoenix (#11), Orlando (#15), and -- here you go -- Las Vegas (#17). Guangzhou, Shanghai PVG, London LHR, and Tokyo HND round out the top 10. New York JFK, Houston IAH, Miami, and Frankfort bring up the rear.
This year's Triple-A National Championship will take place on Sept. 28 at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin for the third year in a row. The game will be between the winners of the International and Pacific Coast leagues; those will be decided in three-game series, also at the Ballpark, starting on Sept. 24. Last year's title game was won in the bottom of the ninth with two outs, when the Norfolk Tides beat the Oklahoma City Dodgers on a towering 455-foot grand slam.
Citing "a source that asked not to be named," Casino.org reported yesterday that Michael Kors, the one store that remains open at the Primm Mall, will close toward the end of this month. The Casino.org story traces the ups and downs (mostly down) history of the ill-fated 26-year-old mall, complete with photos; you can read it here.
At this time last year, the prognosis for the spring and summer runoff throughout the Colorado Basin watershed was highly positive; the snowpack stood at 130% of the 30-year historical average. Ultimately, Lake Mead rose 17 feet from the runoff. This year, with only three weeks until the snow accumulation usually reaches its peak level in early April, the snowpack is slightly above normal at 103%, so far allaying forecasters' worries that, as is typical in the Southwest, the wet year in 2023 would be followed by a dry year. On the last day of February, Lake Mead's surface sat at 1,077 feet (above sea level), 27 feet higher than in July 2022, when it dropped to its lowest level ever. If the snowpack remains at normal or above, it will be relatively good news for the lake for the rest of the year.
America's Got Talent Presents Superstars Live will close on May 11 after a two-and-a-half-year run. Though "America's Got Talent" is a popular TV show, the live version was underwhelming and underattended; we never reviewed it, as we didn't expect it to last. Thus far, there's no word on what might replace it, but the Luxor Theater is batting 0-for-2 recently; the show that AGT replaced was Cirque's R.U.N. fiasco.
We rarely post the results of the incessant surveys conducted by various websites. NerdWallet, Lawn Starter, Business Insider, and others daily determine that Nevada is, for example, the 38th state out of 50 with the most dog lovers, number 26 on the list of martini drinkers, and seventh when it comes to the rudest service people. But this particular survey, reported in Newsweek, collected data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Energy Information Administration and scored each state according to 16 indicators, so we thought we'd make an exception. Apparently, Tennessee has the most residents with "chronic high levels of stress," as measured by hours worked, commute times, credit-card debt, income, utility costs, divorce rates, child-care costs, health-care costs, and physical and mental health. Alabama, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and -- here we are -- Nevada rounded out the top five. For what it's worth, North Dakotans are the least stressed, with people in Utah, Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota also hanging around at the bottom of the list.
After several years of wrangling over a sports betting bill, North Carolina yesterday became the 38th state, plus Washington, D.C., to allow some form of sports betting and the 30th to offer legal online wagering. The governor signed the bill legalizing sports betting into law last June and the 12 licensees paid $1 million each to partner with an existing Tar Heel State sports team, sporting venue, and/or Native American tribe; the dozen must also "make efforts to" offer in-person betting. Eight of the 12 went live yesterday: Bet365 with partner the Charlotte Hornets; BetMGM/Charlotte Motor Speedway; Caesars/Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians; DraftKings/NASCAR; ESPN BET/Quail Hollow Golf Club (PGA Tour); Fanatics\Carolina Hurricanes; FanDuel/Carolina Panthers; and Underdog/Sedgefield Country Club (PGA).
Eight months after the initial announcement that MGM Resorts was switching its loyalty partnership from Hyatt to Marriott, the new system is operating. Marriott members can now both redeem and earn Bonvoy points for stays at 16 MGM resort-casinos around the country. The least expensive stay appears to be 5,000 points for a room night at Excalibur, followed by New York-New York at 9,000; Bellagio at peak times is running as high as 150,000 points. All kinds of bonus-point options are available, escalating for higher tier statuses. Several estimates we've seen peg a Bonvoy point at eight-tenths of a cent, so a $120 room would run around 15,000 points. Note, however, that unlike with the World of Hyatt partnership, Marriott members will be charged the resort fee; you can pay for that with points, but it raises the redemption rate significantly. Hyatt has established a partnership with the Rio -- and still without the resort fee.
A Tour de France mini-event, dubbed L’Étape (the Step) Las Vegas, will return to Las Vegas on May 15, reprising last year's (two-day) debut. The mini-Tour "is designed to provide everyone with a Tour de France-level bicycling experience"; worldwide, roughly 25 L’Étape events are staged in Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania every year. Three routes will be offered: 75-, 50-, and 25-mile races. The L’Étape route will begin and end at the Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin and pass through Red Rock Canyon. Registration is available now and starts at $115.
The Transportation Security Administration has been beta testing its self-screening technology at Reid International for several months and began using the system, under supervision, last week. Today, self-screening will be in operation for real. Travelers with PreCheck clearance take themselves through the process, which employs facial recognition to verify IDs and automated bin-scanning of luggage; if the system flags something suspicious, the luggage is routed down a different conveyor where a TSA officer conducts a hand search. Finally, travelers enter the body scanners, which are monitored remotely. The system is still in its testing stages and Reid is the first airport to open it to the public; according to the TSA, it might, if it works according to plan, be expanded to other airports "in the next few years."
Don’t forget to move your clocks ahead by one hour for Daylight Savings Time, which began at 2 a.m. this morning. The time change is especially relevant for sports bettors who want to bet today’s early games.
The Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden has opened its spring display, dubbed "Tea and Tulips." This one seems more ambitious than others, with three giant flower-filled teapots pouring water into teacups on saucers, two floating in ponds; other oversized teapots and cups scattered about, including two held by gown-clad mannequins and a hot-air balloon with a teacup gondola; a beautiful hummingbird dipping a beak into one of countless tulip flowers; a young flower girl floating in a quarter moon; a three-story wedding gazebo; and of course a vast profusion of flowers, grasses, trees, and other ornamental horticulture. "Tea and Tulips" runs through May 18.
On Friday, Clark County hosted its annual Spring Job Fair at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It was billed as the largest such event of the year and upwards of 150 businesses were there looking for help. In all, 20,000 jobs were available. The county made it easy for job seekers, providing free childcare, career coaches, and access to computers and printers. How many people showed up? Barely 4,000, according to published reports. The Vegas labor situation remains critical.
In tonight's Academy Awards, Oppenheimer is the prohibitive favorite for Best Picture at -5800, with The Zone of Interest the distant second favorite at +4800. Cillian Murphy is -1600 to win Best Actor for Oppenheimer. Lily Gladstone is -230 to win Best Actress for Killers of the Flower Moon. Robert Downey Jr. is one of the biggest faves of the night at -12000 to win Best Supporting Actor for Oppenheimer. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is -7500 to win Best Supporting Actress for The Holdovers. For more detail, see David McKee's report in Stiffs & Georges.
Sean O'Malley is a -265 favorite over Marlon Vera in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Benoit Saint-Denis is -230 over Dustin Poirier.
To go with the new table games, the refurbished Slots A Fun next to (and owned by) Circus Circus has installed upwards of 75 vintage token-operated slots in 25-cent, $1, and $5 denominations. All the coin machines from Circus Circus were relocated to Slots A Fun and a few dozen more were bought from Vegas vendors to fill out the floor. In addition, the small joint is offering $5 table minimums and $2 shrimp cocktails, which we'll check out anon.
A double bill with Elvis Costello and his band the Imposters, featuring Charlie Sexton on guitar (long-time lead in Bob Dylan's backup band), plus Darryl Hall (of Hall & Oates fame), will play the 3,800-seat BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau on Sunday June 23. Costello opens the show and Hall closes it; they're touring together, making 22 stops in June and July. The presales run March 11-14 and tickets for the general public start on Friday March 15.
Las Vegas' WNBA team, the Aces, have made history by being the first team in the Women's National Basketball Association ever to sell out all of its season tickets. Since the Aces won back-to-back league championships in 2022 and 2023, interest is at a peak, which explains the sellout of all 8,600 seasons tickets. They also led the league in average game attendance last year at 9,550 and attracted the largest attendance for any single game in the league last year: 17,406 for the final regular-season home game at T-Mobile. The Aces start their season on May 14 at home (Mandalay Bay); single tickets go on sale in late April.
In this week's installment, A & A discuss the latest renderings of the A's stadium, tickets for this year's Las Vegas Grand Prix, a rare James Beard Award that includes the iconic north Strip restaurant the Peppermill, an interesting casino contest just announced, and different views on why the casino influencers who post slot-playing videos are so popular (could they be providing a public service?). The Jackpot of the Week isn't all that big, but it is a dream come true. Tune in with a click of the white arrow.
Caesars Entertainment announced yesterday that Rick Bayless, Michelin-starred celebrity chef, author, and long-time host of the food show on PBS, "Mexico: One Plate at a Time,” will open "his acclaimed restaurant" Tortazo at Caesars Palace. Tortazo has two locations in Manhattan and one in Chicago and is considered fast-casual, though the menus tell a little different story, with prices for tortas, tacos, quesadillas, and tlayudas ranging from $13 to $18 (and we wouldn't be surprised if they're higher at Caesars). The Chicago restaurant serves three meals, New York brunch and dinner. Tortazo is scheduled to open in late summer and will be Bayless' first restaurant in Vegas.
A commentary on Defector.com, a sports and culture website, puts into particularly withering words the sentiments of a number of interested observers in the Oakland A's stadium saga. The title of the piece gives you the idea: "A’s Unveil Renderings of Yet Another Ballpark That Will Never Be Built." The renderings, according to Defector, are "supposed to represent the latest in ballpark technology, when in fact they really look like the product of an unsatisfying sexual liaison between the Sydney Opera House and the Barbie Dream House." And that's just the first paragraph. Here are some other choice examples: "Noted potato impersonator John Fisher [the A's owner] and his wingless wingman Dave Kaval [the general manager] never get anything accomplished, as part of their grand strategy to wait for someone else to accomplish it for them" [referring to the speculation that Fisher's "secret" plan is to unload the team]; "what he and his shrinking coterie of noddy-headed yes-beings could do instead is show more than one shot of an actual playing field, as though what he owns is not a CAD software company but a baseball team"; and "At least then we could say, 'Well, it's still never getting built, but at least Fisher seems to finally comprehend that he isn't building the Jetsons’ local strip mall.'" The team has called this type of criticism "noise," the owner of the Trop is playing along with the team by imploding the place, and we certainly don't know what will happen, but there's plenty more to this piece and if you'd like to read all the searing sulphurous scorn, you can here.
The iconic and beloved Peppermill Restaurant and Fireside Lounge on the north Strip was one of six restaurants singled out last week by the James Beard Foundation for an America's Classics Award. The Foundation cited the Peppermill's "welcoming atmosphere" and the long-time waitresses who know customers' names. Indeed, the general manager started as a waitress in her teens and has been there for nearly 50 years (her son is the executive chef). The other award winners were Sylvia’s in New York City, Vietnam in Philadelphia, Wade’s in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Pheasant in Brookings, South Dakota, and Mandalay in San Francisco.
The second batch of renderings of the Oakland Athletics' new stadium were released yesterday and it's widely agreed that the non-retractable roof looks like the Opera House gracing the waterfront in Sydney, Australia (with its three "shells" that each comprise sections of a sphere). The stadium architect described it as a "spherical armadillo." You can see the four renderings and read a more thorough treatment of the design and intent in a Nevada Independent piece.
Online-casino gambling launched yesterday at noon in Rhode Island, the seventh state to offer igaming and the first to launch it since Connecticut in October 2021. Bally's is the sole provider of icasino games in the Ocean State; it also holds the monopoly for brick-and-mortar casinos, with one each in Lincoln and Tiverton. The proprietary igaming app features 170 slots and live-dealer blackjack and roulette; the company partnered with Stakelogic, a live-table-game supplier, for its blackjack and roulette software and the technology for its 4,000-square-foot live-game studio in Lincoln. Rhode Island residents must be 21 to play onlilne (only 18 to play in the land-based casinos) and responsible-gambling protocols are in place, including deposit, session, and betting limits and various self-exclusion opportunities.
Just when we'd almost forgotten about it, F1 has announced that tickets for this year's race weekend, taking place November 21-23, will go on sale on Monday March 25 at 10 a.m. PT. Race officials made a bit of a splash last week with the news that tickets will be more affordable this year and sure enough, general-admission standing-room entries for race night in the Flamingo GA section dropped all the way to $350 from $500. The same ticket for all three days of festivities will cost $600, down from $1,000. Otherwise, tickets range from $850 for the Caesars Palace Experience and $12,500 for the Bellagio Fountain Club up to $25,000 for the Wynn Grid Club and $35,000 for the F1 garage. Nevada residents can avail themselves of early access between Friday March 22 at noon and Sunday March 24; tickets must be purchased via Ticketmaster using a credit or debit card linked to a Nevada billing address.
We haven't reported a jackpot all year, so even though this one wasn't quite up to seven figures, our usual threshold, it's big enough in 2024 to be reported. Also, it was hit at the airport, always exciting, since it happens when a traveler jumps on a machine right off the airplane or takes one last shot before taking off. This unidentified traveler was playing a Wheel of Fortune Gold Spin Triple Red Hot 7s machine on Monday when the jackpot symbols lined up for a payout of $782,467.
But this time, it's not about a sporting event. Rather, it's the third phase of a $150 million improvement project that began way back in 2019 at Sahara Avenue and has marched south over the years. Now, it's impacting the stretch between Harmon and Tropicana avenues. The work involves replacing water lines, road repaving, improvements to pedestrian crossings, traffic signal upgrades, LED street lighting, and median landscaping. The work, thankfully, will be performed mostly in the wee hours, between midnight and 9 a.m., though it will go on for a while. The second phase of the project, between Russell Road and the 215 Beltway, is scheduled for completion in the next few weeks.
Here's what we wrote back in December: "Bruno Mars can't get enough of Dolby Live, Park MGM, and Las Vegas. The current residency was slated to end in August, but Mars added five shows this month, all sold out, and has now added five Dolby Live dates in February: 1, 2, 5, 7, and 9." Now, Mars has added yet another 12 dates: June 7, 8, 12, 14, and 15; August 20, 23, 24, 27, 28, and 31; and September 1.
Tickets are on sale now and start at $225. The pop superstar also shows up occasionally at his cocktail lounge and jazz bar at Bellagio, the Pinky Ring.
Ferraro’s Ristorante is owned by the Ferraro family, who moved to Las Vegas from upstate New York in 1976. After 16 years in the Italian-specialty food business, they opened their first restaurant on West Flamingo, catering mostly to locals. Ferraro's did a stint at the Stratosphere, then in 2009 moved to its current location on Paradise Road across from Virgin. It's beloved among locals and by Gambero Rosso International, a magazine and media group that's considered one of the world’s authorities on Italian food and wine. Gambero rates Italian restaurants and last year awarded Ferraro's Tre Bicchieri (Three Glass), its highest rating, for the restaurant's 1,000-bottle wine list. This year, the group selected Ferraro's as one of the 33 top Italian restaurants in the world, endowing it with the Tre Forchette (Three Fork) award for its culinary program. Only eight other U.S. restaurants earned the designation.
Announced all the way back in October 2021, Atomic Golf will open on Friday March 22 in a grand new building next to the Strat. This four-story attraction occupies 100,000 square feet and features four floors with 101 golfing bays and a 212-yard range, along with two exclusive “cannon bays,” described as "a machine cannon that launches golf balls toward the targets." Eight putting bays employ "projection-mapping technology that immerse guests into the putting map." Golfers track their statistics on the patented Trackman platform. All bays are outfitted with clubs and include seating. Atomic also boasts six full-service bars that will, we assume, serve bar food. Atomic Golf will be open Mon.-Wed. noon-midnight, Thurs.-Fri. 10-2 a.m., Sat. 9-2 a.m., and Sun. 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
Announced last September for a November opening, Junior's Restaurant and Bakery finally opened at Resorts World late last week. Junior's Cheesecake was founded in 1950 in the heart of Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue (and DeKalb) and this is its first location beyond the East Coast. The original restaurant remains in place 74 years later; Junior's has three other locations, two in Times Square and the other at Foxwoods. Junior's is renowned for the best cheesecake in the city and beyond. It's also a full-service deli and New York-style diner, with a huge menu of breakfast items and soups, salads, sandwiches, steaks, seafood, barbecue, and chef's specialties. The bakery could turn into the go-to dessert place for its 25 varieties of cheesecakes, plus pastries, brownies, cookies, ice cream sodas, shakes and malts, and of course rugelach. The 300-seat room is across from Randy's Donuts.
According to a story from Bloomberg making the rounds, workers in the Las Vegas Loop tunnels are reporting “a massive buildup of waste, the consistency of a milkshake, that's said to burn the skin of anyone who comes in contact with it.” The caustic chemicals are “accelerants used to set the grout to build the tunnels.” One worker told Bloomberg, “You’d be like, 'Why am I on fire?'" Reportedly, the sludge was up to two feet high in some places. Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is conducting an investigation into the situation.
Treasure Island has opened The Cove, a 7,400-square-foot arcade with 27 games and activities. It’s located at the bottom of the escalators where Kahunaville used to be; the area was recently used as convention space. Game cards start at $20 for 30 minutes of play. Oddly, there’s also a bar with video poker machines in the Cove, which likely excludes those under 21 from playing in the arcade.
The ever-expanding AREA15 has announced that it’s partnering with the movie studio Lionsgate to create the “John Wick Experience.” Based on the four John Wick movies, starring Keanu Reeves, the 12,000-square-foot attraction will transport guests into the “fantastical underworld of John Wick, where they navigate a high-stakes adventure.” No other details or timetable for the opening of the attraction were divulged.
After a three-year run at New York-New York, ventriloquist Terry Fator’s final show there will be March 26. Fator hasn’t announced where he’ll land next, but the rumor mill puts him at the STRAT. The move ends a 15-year relationship with MGM Resorts, including headlining for more than a decade at the Mirage.
On a list of the “Top 100 Pizza Spots” in the U.S. on Yelp, Las Vegas boasted 7% of them: Secret Pizza at Cosmo (#6), Pizza Rock (#21), Esther’s Kitchen (#36), Casa Di Amore (#58), Evel Pie (#61), Old School Pizzeria (#95), and A Mano (#97). We agree with Secret Pizza, Pizza Rock, and Evel Pie (definitely one of our favorites); we haven't tried the others. Yet. We doubt we'll ever try the pizza at Esther's Kitchen or Casa Di Amore. Esther's is one of the most renowned Italian restaurants in Las Vegas and too many other choices on the menu call our name when we're there (not the least of which are the homemade pastas and sourdough bread), no matter how good the pizza is. And the Casa di Amore menu is the kind (big) that takes 10 minutes to consider, so pizza is a last-on-the-list afterthought. A Mano is similar. Old School Pizzeria, however -- that got our attention. It's a local brand with three locations in the 'burbs; look for our review in an upcoming LVA.
The World of Hyatt, Hyatt Hotels' loyalty club, and MGM Rewards ended their relationship on September 30; MGM subsequently joined forces with Marriott. This morning, Hyatt announced that its members can, as of today, earn and redeem points at the Rio. World of Hyatt members will earn 500 bonus points for each qualifying night at the Rio for stays between April 1 and June 30 this year. Curiously, the press release includes "free parking for members"; we certainly hope that doesn't mean the Rio is planning on charging sometime in the future. Globalist members, the highest Hyatt tier, are entitled to an "enhanced arrival experience" and a breakfast comp.
Superstar singer Adele is postponing the performances of her “Weekends with Adele” residency over the five weekends in March for health reasons. She explained that she fell ill at the end of her last concerts and didn't recover before the shows resumed. The March shows are being rescheduled, but the dates haven't been determined; ticket holders will be notified as soon as more information becomes available.
In general, March is more of a kitten than a lion month weather-wise. Average Las Vegas temperatures in March start out a bit cool and rise steadily, but not too high. From an average high of 66 degrees on the 1st, temps top out at 74 on the 31st. The lows go from 47 to 52. The record temperatures can, of course, be much more extreme: 92 is the highest (set on the 21st in 2004) and 19 the lowest (set on the 2nd in 1939). March historically has the second highest rainfall during the year at .59 inches.