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July is poised to go down in the local-climate record books for a number of records, but the big one is the average daily temperature (add the high and low temperature and divide by 2); for the first time in history, it will be above 100 degrees, 100.1 to be exact. It breaks last year's record of 97.3. In addition to setting the all-time high-temp record of 120 on July 7, other records include seven consecutive days of new high-temp records (July 6-12), 11 days in a row of 110 or more (the old record set last year was 10), 41 days with highs of 105 or higher (starting in June and expected today), and 13 days of the low temperature above 90 (breaking last year's record of eight).
In an annual story, the Las Vegas Review-Journal publishes the compensation awarded the chief executive officers of the big casino companies, based on official filings. Here they are (total compensation includes bonuses, stock options, benefits, and other income); we leave the conclusions for you to draw: Robert Goldstein, Las Vegas Sands, base salary $3 million, total compensation $21.9 million; Thomas Reeg, Caesars Entertainment, base $2 million, total $18.6 million; Bill Hornbuckle, MGM $2 million/$17 million; Craig Billings, Wynn, $2 million/$16.2 million; Keith Smith, Boyd, $1.55 million/$11.4 million; Blake Sartini, Golden Entertainment, $1.05 million/$6.1 million; Frank Fertitta III, Station, $1 million/$3.5 million.
It took a couple of years -- MGM acquired the operations of the Cosmopolitan in May 2022 -- but the transition is now complete: Cosmo's Identity Club is gone and all play at the casino now accrues points in MGM Rewards. Points accumulated in the Identity program through July 29 have been transferred to MGM Rewards accounts. Identity members who aren't MGM Rewards members need to activate their newly created MGM Rewards accounts.
UFC 306 will take place at Sphere on Sept. 14, the first time a sporting event will be hosted by the arena. Today, tickets became available on Ticketmaster and the admission prices, according to MMAFighting.com, are running between $3,000 and $12,000 per. Forbes also lists the prices as between $2,257 and $17,507. Of course, that's without any fees and taxes. Forbes has the 400-level seats, way up at the top of the arena, at $2,257-$3,507. In addition, due to the seating arrangement and standing room only on the floor, 20,000 people can be accommodated for the fight. Forbes reports, "Tickets seem to be moving at a brisk pace, as there are not many seats listed as available to purchase." Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship and no stranger to hyperbole, justified the prices: “It will be the biggest gate of all time. It won’t be the greatest UFC event of all time. It will be the greatest sporting event of all time.” We say, it works for F1, but some people have more money than brains.
The excellent PokerNews.com broke down the results from this year's World Series of Poker. Here are the numbers that intrigued us. Total entries: 229,559 compared to 215,655 last year. Most entries: $300 Gladiators of Poker with 20,647. Second most: $400 Colossus with 19,303. With 99 bracelet events, to enter them all would have cost $971,856. Total buy-ins: $480.7 million. First-place prizes: $67 million. Total prize money: $437.4 million. And now the number that everyone's waiting for: total rake $43.3 million. Of that, $13 million went to payroll, leaving a cool haul of $30.2 million for Caesars.
Angie's Lobster, with seven restaurants in Phoenix, is coming to Las Vegas. Angie's is well known in the Valley of the Sun for its $9.99-$10.99 lobster rolls, made possible by Angie's owning a wharf in Maine, buying lobster and seafood right off the boats, and processing it all in its own plant nearby. Then, Angie's trucks the product to Arizona in its own trucks. The owners opened their first shop in Phoenix in 2021 after selling Salad & Go, which has 150 locations throughout the Southwest. Angie's menu also features shrimp, snow crab, and cod rolls from $6.49 to $10.99, along with two breakfast rolls (eggs and bacon, eggs and lobster) and French toast ($3.19-$7.99).
If you're traveling to Boulder City or into Arizona on I-11 on Wednesday, be prepared for it to take a little extra time. The southbound lane of the freeway at the junction of US 95 will be completely closed between 5 a.m. and 2 p.m. the day after tomorrow. The detour will take drivers right through Boulder City, as they used to do before the freeway bypass opened several years ago. The closure is necessary to repair the asphalt at that interchange.
In several of the most radical moves in Southwest Airlines' history, the number-one carrier at Reid International is ending open seating, selling different seat arrangements, and starting redeyes. Southwest will begin assigned seating and offering seats with extra leg room sometime next year; roughly a third of the seats will be impacted, comparable to the other airlines on narrow-body aircraft. The airline estimates that alone will raise annual revenue by $1 billion. Also, beginning on February 14, the airline will make overnight flights from Las Vegas to Baltimore-Washington and Orlando International airports. The flight to BWI will depart at 10 p.m. and arrive at 5:30 a.m., to Orlando, at 10:50 p.m. and at 6:05 a.m. Tickets for those flights are on sale now.
A report on Fox5News indicates that the Culinary Union and Virgin Las Vegas have yet to come close to a labor agreement and another strike could be in the effing offing. The last time union and Virgin negotiators met was on July 11 and no progress was made. A two-day strike on May 10-12 involved 700 hospitality workers, including room attendants, cocktail and food servers, porters, bellmen, cooks, bartenders, and kitchen workers. The union workers have been without a contract now for 14 months.
A visitor from Texas hit a jackpot for $2,170,581 on a Wheel of Fortune machine at the Palms on Friday night. The Palms reported that the player had less than $1 in credits left when the seven-figure event changed the player's life forever -- and we hope in a good way.
VisualCapitalist.com has posted a chart that shows the annual salary necessary to buy a home this year in the 50 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Las Vegas ranks at number 19; the median home price is $465,400 and the salary required to afford the mortgage is just under $115,000. The most expensive city is San Jose (think Silicon Valley): $1.84 million median price, $464,000 salary. San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles followed, giving California the four most expensive cities. Then it's Seattle, New York, Boston, and Denver. The least expensive was Cleveland ($192,000, $58,400), with Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Detroit, and Louisville rounding out the bottom five.
Leon Edwards is a -270 favorite over Belal Muhammad in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Tom Aspinall is -420 over Curtis Blaydes.
A slower-paced and more relaxed than usual YouTube with a very happy ending awaits with the click on the arrow. Anthony and Andrew start out with a description of closing night at the Mirage, which Anthony attended, then launch into a discussion of the WSOP: final table, new champ, last woman standing, and a major controversy that's currently raging and two of our experts will mull over in next week's video. Then a subject that's dear to Anthony's heart, bars; they're closing all over the place and you can hear his take on what's driving the trend. The Question of the Week is about betting on the Olympics and the Jackpot of the Week is a shameless testimonial -- a free-play coupon from our Member Rewards Book led to a nice fat jackpot at Ellis Island!
For a peek at East Fremont Street as you've never seen it before, catch “Downtown Las Vegas Nightlife in One Take,” a two-minute-and-46-second cutting-edge single-take drone video set to a soundtrack by homegrown rockers The Killers. This is, according to the promo, "one of the most intricate drone shots ever captured." The tech specs: a GoPro Hero 12 camera mounted on a custom-built sub-250 drone. "The cinematic first-person perspective transports viewers into a Saturday night on East Fremont Street between Las Vegas Boulevard and Carson Avenue, highlighting the whimsy of Park on Fremont, the underground club scene at Discopussy, the colorful mezcal-fueled vibe at Lucky Day, the convergence of music and art at We All Scream, the irreverence of Cheapshot, the modern Tulum feel of La Mona Rosa, and the nightlife and live-music experience at Commonwealth." Amazing. (And thanks, once again, to Canada Roy for the link.)
Fountainebleau made it onto Time magazine's 2024 list of the World's Greatest Places. Last year, the list consisted of the 50 greatest cities; this year, it comprised 100 “specific establishments that stand out in their field and the world.” Time also cited Sphere in Fbleau's entry: "Along with Sphere, the $2.3 billion music venue that opened off-Strip last autumn featuring the largest LED screen with the highest resolution in the world, Fontainebleau is pulling the city’s center of gravity farther northward, away from its traditional epicenter.” You can read the full write-up here. It was one of 53 Greatest Places To Stay (no numbering), which also included lodgings from Denali Park, Alaska, to Ocala, Florida, in the U.S. and from Norway to Antarctica internationally. We find ourselves gravitating to Fbleau more than we'd expected (free parking helps); our latest visit was to try the Capon burgers at the food hall; review to come.
Six miles of I-15 will close completely this weekend for a marathon repaving project. All northbound lanes of the freeway between Warm Springs and Flamingo will shut down at 9 p.m. tonight; the stretch between Tropicana and Flamingo will reopen Sunday at 5 a.m., the rest on Monday at 5 a.m. Next weekend, the same situation will occur on the southbound lanes. We recommend avoiding the entire area if you can.
From time to time, the folks over at VegasChanges.com post an extensive roundup of freebies and deals available to locals and visitors during the month in which their birthdays fall. The new list includes 120 birthday deals current as of yesterday. VegasChanges notes, "Most require a signup for an email, slot, or text club and you may need to sign up a month or more before your birthday in order to get in the system." The vast majority are for national chains (free ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry's, free Bang Bang shrimp at Bonefish Grill, free dessert at Olive Garden), which will come in handy even if you don't redeem them here. But a number of them are Vegas-specific, including casino deals, such as a two-fer at Binion's Cafe, a wheel spin at Diablo's Cantina at Luxor, and $10 in free play at Ellis Island. You can see the whole list here.
It's earnings season and the casinos are reporting their second-quarter numbers. At the same time, some news is arriving from executives and on Boyd's call yesterday, the company announced plans to build a new casino on the 15-acre site it owns on Boulder Highway in Henderson that Jokers Wild now occupies. The new casino will be called Cadence Crossing in a nod to the nearby Cadence master-planned community, which is about halfway through its buildout of 12,000 units. The budget was pegged at $100 million, with construction starting later this year and an opening date in early 2026. Jokers Wild casino will stay open until Cadence Crossing replaces it, then will be demolished. A possible phase two, with a casino expansion and a 114-room hotel, was also mentioned.
In industry news, only a few days before the company's second-quarter earnings revelations, Bally’s Corp. accepted a buyout bid from Standard General, the hedge fund that the chairman of Bally's board of directors, Soo Kim, founded in 2007. Stockholders will receive $18.25 per share, a 71% premium on the trading average of Bally's stock 30 days before the Standard General takeover offer was received on March 29, valuing the company at $4.6 billion. Shareholders can also roll over their stock position to ownership in the new corporation. Bally's will be merged with another Standard General-owned gaming company, The Queen Casino & Entertainment, owner of two casinos in Louisiana, one in Illinois, and one in Iowa. The merged Bally’s and Queen Casino will have 17,700 slot machines, 630 table games, and 3,950 hotel rooms. Bally’s is also in the midst of developing several new properties, including the big one in Chicago, and has an option to redevelop the site of the Tropicana in Las Vegas.
First, Celine Dion made a surprise appearance at the NHL Draft at Sphere late last month to announce the Montreal Canadiens’ first selection; Celine hails from just outside of Montreal. Next, she'll sing a duet of "La Vie en Rose" with Lady Gaga tomorrow at the Olympics' opening ceremony in Paris. Now we hear that she's on the verge of signing a residency deal with Resorts World. Media and gossip outlets are reporting that after months of negotiations, Celine and Resorts World are in the "final stages" of arranging a residency that will start in late 2024 or early 2025. Celine had to cancel her RW residency plans in late 2021 due to her battle with Stiff-Person Syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that causes progressive muscle stiffness and repeated episodes of painful spasms. By all accounts and from recent evidence, Ms. Dion is ready to return to performing, whatever the cost.
PokerNews reports that "Big Deal for One Drop," a new high-stakes poker tournament that will raise money for the One Drop Foundation in conjunction with the World Poker Tour, will take place at noon on Friday November 22, the day before the Formula 1 race. It will be a $10,000-buy-in event with 54 players vying for bragging rights. One Drop Foundation is an international nonprofit organization organized by Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté and based in Montreal; its mission is to provide access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene in all corners of the world where water scarcity is a major issue. Big Deal will be emceed by the inimitable poker superstar Phil Hellmuth.
A pai gow poker player at the Venetian was dealt a seven-card straight flush on Sunday. Having made the $5 side bet, the player won the progressive jackpot and won $2,211,469. It was the largest progressive jackpot on pai gow poker in history, according to the press release.
A local blogger, JacobsVegasLife, has a post on X with an 11-second video showing the lagoon in front of Treasure Island completely devoid of water. The headline reads, "The hackers have drained Treasure Island." Ignoring the faulty wording, the claim is worthy of the tabloids, as if a cyberattacker could pull a digital plug and empty the 1.2 million gallons of water from Siren's Cove. A statement from the casino clarified the situation: "Siren’s Cove is scheduled for its annual maintenance, which cleans and maintains all the pipes in the fountain. This process will take about four to six weeks.” Last we checked, the tweet was still up and you can see it here, if only to view the pirate ship in drydock. Good attention-getting hoax, but fishy nonetheless.
According to a story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this morning, the Primm Valley Golf Course has closed and, apparently, been sold. The 25-year-old facility comprises two 18-hole courses designed by the prolific golf-course architect Tom Fazio, with a driving range and putting greens. It's unclear if the golf course has a future, but with the Prizm Mall closed and the three hotel-casinos shadows of their former selves, the only real action out there at the state line is the Lotto Store. Primm Valley Casino also made the news this morning. Last week, a local woman apparently snuck into the cage and, with the help of her husband, stole $650,000 in cash, coin, and chips; the police arrested the pair shortly after the theft.
SmartAsset.com conducted a study to find the states and cities where retirees are moving, analyzing data from the Census Bureau’s 2022 one-year American Community Survey, which considered 60 and older populations in 182 of the U.S.' largest cities. SmartAsset did the arithmetic for people moving in and out of them, then ranked the net migration. Mesa (Arizona), San Antonio (Texas), and Henderson (Nevada) ranked 1, 2, and 3, respectively, for net in-migration. Out of the top 20, Arizona, Texas, Tennessee, and Florida claim two cities. The Spring Valley area of Las Vegas ranked 28, Reno 41, the Paradise are 58, North Las Vegas 83, and Las Vegas 90. Nevada ranked ninth out of the 50 states for in-migration. The most people 60 and older moved out of New York City, L.A., Chicago, Portland (Oregon), and Anchorage (Alaska).
Yesterday, pre-sale tickets became available for Sphere's New Year's Eve event, an EDM rave with a performance by American-born Italy-raised DJ Matteo Milleri and his solo Anyma show, "The End of Genesys." Today, "due to overwhelming demand," three more dates have been added to the three originally announced. Now, Milleri will appear on Dec. 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31 and January 1. General-public tickets for all six shows go on sale this morning at 9 a.m. PT.
Mariah Carey has added eight new dates to her "Celebration of Mimi" residency at DolbyLive at Park MGM. The original eight dates launch this Friday and run through August 10. The new dates are January 31 and February 1, 5, 7, 8, 12, 14, and 15. Various presales start tomorrow; general public tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.
A slot player won a jackpot worth $1,039,754 yesterday at the Venetian on a Dragon Link machine. You can see a photo of the jackpot screen here (at ReviewJournal.com). You'll see that the slot whale was firing up $25 a hand, 25 lines at $1 each, and had $405 in credits when the jackpot hit.
For the past year, Hard Rock and Neon Museum executives have been meeting to discuss which historic pieces of the Mirage will be donated to and preserved by the Neon Museum and on Friday, the official announcement was made. Penta Building Group, general contractor for the transformation of the now-shuttered Mirage to the Hard Rock, will carefully dismantle the following pieces and truck them to the museum: the 17-foot-tall sculpture of Siegfried & Roy with a giant white tiger, dedicated in October 1993, by then-owner and developer Steve Wynn; the 30-foot-tall hotel-entrance sign; the 27-foot-long Mirage neon sign from the Volcano Lagoon; and various additional statues and pieces leftover from the Mirage’s public-art auction in September.
Going into the final round of golf's Open Championship (British Open), Xander Schauffele is the -350 favorite. He’s followed by Scottie Scheffler at +415 and Billy Horschel at +550. Horschel is the tournament leader, one stroke ahead of Schauffele and five others.
Spiegelworld's Discoshow, in the works for nearly six years, will debut at the Linq on August 14 at 7 p.m. According to the pre-opening buzz, the 70-minute Discoshow will "party like it's 1979" and that's literally: There won't be any seats or even a traditional stage in the theater and "you get to hang out with the performers and feel the love” of the classic-disco soundtrack, including “Le Freak,” “Good Times,” “We Are Family,” “Disco Inferno,” and “Everybody Dance.” The showroom bar will be called 99 Prince, a legendary New York address in the disco scene; upstairs will be the Glitterloft and Diner Ross (get it?) "where New York diner classics spin into disco-bistro-chic" (in other words, a Spiegelworld restaurant along the lines of Superfrico at the Cosmo; the chef there also developed the menu for Superfrico). The show, originally announced to launch on July 27, almost hit its mark; the preview shows will start on August 14 and run through September 7, with the grand opening on Sunday Sept. 8. Dark Mondays and Tuesdays, DiscoShow will perform Wed.-Sun. at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and the previews cost $69, except for Saturday at 7, $99. Diner Ross is taking reservations as of Thursday August 15 at 5 p.m.
This one surprised us; we hadn't seen anything about it previously. TravelandTourWorld.com reports that the Miracle Mile Shops will open a new "food collective" this winter. It sounds more like a food court than a food hall, but ... who knows? Anyway, it will be called Miracle Eats and feature Tacotarian, the Las Vegas-based vegetarian taqueria; Dave’s Hot Chicken (we're not sure if the existing outlet just up the street at the Grand Bazaar Shops at the Horseshoe is moving or if this is a second venue); Fat Sal’s, a sandwich shop with six locations in southern California; and Carnegie Pizza, straight from Times Square in Manhattan. Lobster ME, the existing Maine-inspired eatery at Miracle Mile, will be revamped for Miracle Eats with a new look and updated menu. And Fat Tuesday will open a second location at the Shops for Miracle Eats, which is currently under construction near the south entrance of the mall. Miracle Eats will eventually have 10 food outlets.
You know the high-pressure system that parked itself over the Southwest last week? Well, it moved east of southern Nevada and eased up on the heat here for a spell, but now, it's moving back! This "retrograde" meteorological phenomenon is a rare event in which the typical air flow reverses and moves from the east to the west, bringing with it more record-high temperatures. The highs over the next few days could hit 115, a couple of degrees hotter than the previous highs. Following those, the highs are forecast to be around 112. We're closing in on a new record for consecutive 110-or-higher days; today will be the 23rd day in a row. The record of 29 days was set in 1940. So far in July, the average daily temperature is 100.4, compared to last year's 97.3, the hottest July on record.
Anthony and Andrew sit down with their infamous red cups and do their thing live for Beer Fridays on this weeks vlog. Thus far sporadic, Beer Fridays will now happen every third week. It's a fun time where the guys do a bit of free form, answering questions from viewers in real time and downing beer after beer from the conference room keg. It goes on for an hour, so it gets progressively more, shall we say, juiced, but a lot of ground is covered along the way. Tune in to hear all about the closing of the Mirage in its myriad details, the arrest of a participant in the MGM cyberattack, the Neon Museum's impending move, the best time to visit Tahoe, this year's lead up to Formula 1, buying a Vegas condo, the battle between Chicago and Detroit hot dogs, some gambling questions, of course, and much more more. Stay till the end for the grand finale. See it all here.
A collaboration among a UK Regional Organised Crime Unit, the FBI, and MGM security is responsible for apprehending a 17-year-old suspect suspected to be involved in the MGM cyberattack last September. The unnamed boy was arrested in central England and will, reportedly, be charged with blackmail and several offenses under the Computer Misuse Act. Evidence seized at the suspect’s dwelling includes a number of digital devices. No details were revealed about how or if the suspect might be affiliated with the hacker gangs that claimed responsibility for the MGM attack, as well as a separate hack of Caesars Entertainment computer systems. Caesars paid a $15 million ransom; MGM refused to pay and suffered several weeks of disruption, costing an estimated $100 million.
CBS News reports that cans of soda have been bursting on airplanes sitting on tarmacs in the intense heat of this summer. Southwest Airlines confirmed to CBS that "cans of carbonated drinks have ruptured, often while being opened, resulting in an onboard mess and reports of about 20 injuries to employees so far this summer." Most of the injuries are to flight attendants' hands; one required stitches. Southwest, unlike other airlines, doesn't store soda onboard its planes; thus they can heat up in delivery trucks when they're exposed for stretches of time to ambient temperatures. Southwest says it's taking immediate steps to mitigate the problem, plus exploring changes to its provisioning procedures in response to the exploding cans.
In a highly anticipated presentation, an Oakland A's executive told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority yesterday that the team expects not to have to use the entire $380 million in public funding that's been promised toward the cost of the stadium. Instead, only $350 million will be needed, with another $300 million in investor money and the remaining $850 million covered by equity financing. In other words, the Fisher family, owners of the A's, will sell assume $300 million in debt and sell off a large part of its equity in the team for the remaining funding. The executive admitted that the A's have yet to secure the outside investment and we're not the only ones who wonder why they'd leave $30 million of public money on the table when they're looking for $300 million in debt. Also, the public money was allocated more than a year ago and the fact that the team has closed neither the debt nor equity deals in all that time raises questions about the team's ability to do either. The executive said that the Fisher family could cover the entire cost of the stadium, though John Fisher, who has a reputation of being "notoriously cheap," hasn't himself made any statements to that effect. The issue of how many home games would be played in places other than Las Vegas wasn't discussed and architectural plans for the stadium still haven't been submitted, with three and a half years to go before the building has to be completed. All in all, the whole thing is still way up in the air and the presentation before the Stadium Authority didn't do anything to bring it back down to Earth.
At the City Council meeting yesterday, the Neon Museum announced plans to move. Nothing is finalized, but museum executives said they're looking at two sites. They described the first as the ninth and tenth floors of a parking garage that is yet to be built, the second in a space nearby. Either way, the museum would double or triple in size. Rumor has it that the museum is also in discussions with Bally's and Hard Rock over space on the Strip. More details to come.
Today’s Las Vegas Review-Journal contains several articles reflecting back on the Mirage, which closed yesterday. Best of the bunch is the “Kats!” column, in which Elaine Wynn shares stories and remembrances of the creation of the resort that we’ve not heard previously. It’s well worth a read, and if you’re an R-J subscriber, you can click right through. For non-subscribers, there’s a 99¢ deal, which grants access for a month.
Bring on the laughs, it's a comedy filled weekend with:
Scottie Scheffler is the favorite to win golf's Open Championship (British Open) at +500. He’s followed by Rory McIlroy at +800 and Xander Schauffele at +1300. Tiger Woods is +20000 (200-1).
A 38-year-old from Humble, Texas, described as "unassuming" and the roommate of Joe McKeehen, 2015 WSOP Main Event winner, earned his bracelet and a $10 million payday when he beat Jordan Griff in an epic heads-up match, not to mention surviving the other 10,111 players who entered this year's World Series of Poker. Jonathan Tamayo shared a house in Las Vegas with McKeehen, who was on the rail cheering him on the whole way. It took 235 hands at the final table and 65 of heads-up play for Tamayo to beat Griff. The flop was nine-high, Tamayo moved all in, and Griff called with top pair. But Tamayo had flopped two pair and he held on through the turn and river to take the bracelet, the $10 million, and his name and photo on the winners wall at the Horseshoe. Griff won $6 million for second place, followed by Niklas Astedt (Sweden) $4 million, Jason Sagle (Canada) $3 million, Boris Angelov (Bulgaria) $2.5 million, Andres Gonzalez (Spain) $2 million, Brian Kim (U.S.) $1.5 million, Joe Serock (U.S.) $1.25 million,, and Malo Latinois (France) $1 million.
“Bulldozers and construction people will be here tomorrow,” said Chairman of Hard Rock International and CEO of Seminole Gaming Jim Allen at the closing ceremony for the Mirage yesterday. “We’ve been slowly mobilizing over the past five to six months, but by this time next week, we'll be in major demolition.” Allen also mentioned that the redevelopment of the nearly 80-acre property will cost between $4 billion to $5 billion. What stays and goes hasn't been revealed, though Allen did say that the rain-forest atrium "isn't in the future," while the villas "are safe. We know they’re a part of the amazing legacy of this building. We will certainly update the interiors, but considering the iconic individuals — celebrities and politicians and influencers — that have stayed in the legendary villas, we thought it was important to keep that heritage.” The new Hard Rock, with its 700-foot-tall guitar-shaped hotel tower, is slated to open in mid- to late 2027.
They’re down to three players in the World Series of Poker’s Main Event and the chip counts are close. Niklas Astedt leads with 223 million, Jonathan Tamayo has 197 million, and Jordan Griff has 187 million. The champion will be decided today.
A slot player hit a progressive jackpot on a Buffalo Power Pay machine on Sunday July 14 at the Wynn. The jackpot symbols lined up at 1:44 a.m. early Sunday morning, almost ensuring a mostly sleepless night for the lucky patron, who won $1,935,806.
We, other Las Vegans, visitors, and the world bid a fond farewell to the Mirage this morning. The 34-year-old property, the first megaresort that changed Las Vegas forever, closes at 11 a.m. It will be completely transformed into Hard Rock International's guitar-shaped hotel, which is scheduled to reopen in 2027. One iconic casino closes, another takes its place. Additionally, Steve Wynn broke a long public silence to pay tribute to the hotel-casino that, against all odds, he financed, developed, and turned into one of the greatest success stories in American history. In a statement submitted to select newspapers, Wynn referred to his creation with the feminine pronoun, explaining, "Why feminine? As a structure, she was always about ideas and those ideas had a soft feminine quality in many ways. Visible between the towers, a round four-story atrium suggested the round midsection of a woman promising future life." He continued, “If you had a sense of humor, you would have understood the tremendous contradiction in the name. She was most definitely not a mirage, but a dazzling and commanding reality." He concluded, “So much depended on Lady Mirage. Almost 8,000 employees and their families depended on her. Siegfried & Roy depended on her, the dolphins and the kids depended on her, and it turns out the future of Las Vegas depended on her. What is so wonderful about this grand enterprise is that she did the job and she got it done for everybody. Bravo, Mirage, you put a warm smile on the face of our city.”
The American League is a -120 favorite over the National League in tonight's Major League Baseball All-Star game. The total is 7.
Not many sports books are posting them, but some offshore books have lines on the World Series of Poker Main Event. The odds closely mimic the chip counts, with chip leader Jordan Griff the favorite at +150. He’s followed by Niklas Astedt at +225 and Brian Kim at +275. The long shot is the short stack, Andres Gonzalez at +2200. They’ll play down to four players today and the winner will be crowned tomorrow.
Sure, it hit 120 in Las Vegas last week and smashed the all-time high-temperature record. Yes, the thermometer rose above 110 for 11 straight days, beating the previous record of 10. But Death Valley makes all that look like life in the cool lane. The official temperature readings in Furnace Creek at Death Valley National Park broke 125 degrees for nine consecutive days and the average high temperature this month so far is 117, Las Vegas' previous all-time record. It fell one day short of the park’s longest streak of high temperatures at or above 125, which continued for 10 days in 1913. Death Valley reached what's considered the hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet during that stretch in 1913: 134 degrees. The valley also broke daily high-temp records three times during this recent stretch between July 4 and 12, rising to a record 129.3 on July 7. The park is less than 100 miles, as the crow flies, from Las Vegas, an easy day trip if you like it really hot.
Sphere will present its first EDM show, basically a rave, for its first New Year's Eve event. American-born Italy-raised DJ Matteo Milleri will perform his solo Anyma show, which he's played for tens of thousands of fans at venues on four continents since it debuted in 2021, for the last time at Sphere to ring in the new year. The show is called "The End of Genesys," named for Milleri's two albums; both the show and albums explore themes of technology and nature, art and music, humanity and coexistence, according to the press release. Pre-sale tickets will be available on Monday July 22, with general tickets launching the next day.
The 9-player final table for the World Series of Poker’s Main Event has been determined. The chip leader is Jordan Griff with 143.7 million (last year’s chip leader at this point had 143.8 million). The other final-table occupants are Brian Kim (94.6 million), Niklas Astedt (94.2 million), Joe Serock (83.6 million), Jason Sagle (67.3 million), Boris Angelov (52.9 million), Jonathan Tamayo (26.7 million), Malo Latinois (25.5 million), and Andres Gonzalez (18.3 million). Four players are from the U.S., and one each from Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Canada. Last Woman Standing Kristen Foxen held the chip lead at one point, but was eliminated in 13th place. Final-table play begins Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
According to published reports, "overwhelming demand" has prompted, for the third time, the Eagles to add four more shows to its burgeoning residency at Sphere. Announced a month ago, the residency started with eight shows in September and October. Then it was extended to 12 shows, with four in November. Then it went to 16 shows, with four in December. Now it's 20 shows, with another four in January: 17, 18, 24, and 25. Tickets for the new dates go on sale at noon PT on Friday July 26 at eagles.com.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports this morning that the Bureau of Reclamation has built a toll plaza just beyond the security checkpoint at Hoover Dam. The plaza is inactive so far, but it looks like that at some point in the foreseeable future, visitors will have to pay to approach the dam, access the walkway for the Pat Tillman-Mike O’Callaghan Memorial Bridge over the Colorado River, and get to the trailhead for hiking in the vicinity. There's a fairly long history of fees being imposed by the Bureau at the dam, starting with the parking garage and upgraded visitor center that opened in the 1990s and continuing with the inauguration of a use fee for commercial tour buses of $100 per year and $5 per passenger in 2020. For now, cars can drive across the dam and park for free on the Arizona side, but those days seem to be numbered.
Argentina is a -185 favorite over Colombia in today's Copa America Championship soccer final. The total is 2.
Spain is a -150 favorite over England in today's Euro Championship soccer final. The total is 2.
Going into Day 8 of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event, 18 players remain. Malo Latinois is the chip leader with 61.3 million, followed by Diogo Celho with 51.5 million and Jason Sagle with 51.4 million. Kristen Foxen is in 5th position with 47.4 million and is the last woman standing with a chance to become only the second woman to make the Main Event final table; Barbara Enright did it in 1995, finishing 5th. Brian Rast was eliminated. Play resumes today at 2 p.m. and will continue until the final nine players have been determined.
While asbestos-abatement work continues at the Tropicana, Controlled Demolition Inc. has applied to Clark County for a permit to implode both 22-story hotel towers. From the application, it appears that both towers will be dropped "in a single explosive event." The application also shows that CDI, long the go-to demolition company for Las Vegas implosions, will begin setting up on Sept. 30 and "complete the work" by Oct. 8. So the implosion will take place sometime between those two dates, closer to if not on October 8, a Tuesday. No further details have been revealed about the restrictions that will be put in place at that corner when the towers fall.
Carlos Alcaraz is a -130 favorite over Novak Djokovic in today’s Wimbledon men's tennis final. Djokovic is seeking his 8th Wimbledon title and 25th Grand Slam championship. Alcaraz is playing for his second Wimbledon title and 4th Grand Slam.
Rose Namajunas is a -250 favorite over Tracy Cortez in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Santiago Ponzinibbio is -185 over Muslim Salikhov.
It's just been announced that the Mirage casino will close at 11 a.m. on Wednesday July 17. So the last night, which has been a matter of speculation until now, will be Tuesday. A closing ceremony will begin at 9 a.m. with speeches from Mirage executives past and present (though not Steve Wynn). All hotel guests must check out on Monday morning.
Going into Day 7 of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event, 59 players remain. Kevin Davis is the chip leader with 26.3 million, followed by Shundan Xiao with 23.9 million and Malo Latinois with 22.4 million. Xiao is one of two women still in the field along with Kristen Foxen with 14.5 million. Brian Rast is in the mix with 12.7 million. Tony Dunst was eliminated. Play resumes today at noon.
Though the worst of the record-breaking heat wave is behind us, Anthony and Andrew were still in the thick of it when they taped this week's YouTube two days ago. You can hear what they have to say about 120 degrees and the relief when it cools off to 100. Anthony comments on the Mirage closing and the progressive jackpots that need to be given away before then. He updates the WSOP Main Event as of Thursday late afternoon, relates some news about restaurants closing at Bellagio and opening at Wynn, gives a recommendation for one of his favorite eateries having a great summer 50%-off promo, and talks about the coupon in our Member Rewards Book for Top of Binion's Steakhouse. Click here and enjoy.
Barbora Krejcikova is a -145 favorite over Jasmine Paolini in today’s Wimbledon women's tennis final. Krejcikova is seeking her second Grand Slam championship, Paolini her first.
Going into Day 6 of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event, 160 players remain. Stephen Song is the chip leader for the second consecutive day with 12.3 million, followed by Carlos Caldas with 12.1 million and Diogo Coelho with 10 million. The first big name to appear on the chip list is Brian Rast in 21st position with 6.3 million. Flop, Turn, River co-author Tony Dunst is 89th with 3.2 million. Four women are still playing. Play resumes today at noon.
Las Vegas hit 118 yesterday at 4 p.m., breaking the previous high-temperature record for July 11 of 116, set all the way back in 1959. It was also the sixth day in a row that the thermometer rose above 115, extending that record two days past the previous one of four consecutives. That run started last Saturday at 115, then hit 120 on Sunday, 115 Monday, 119 Tuesday, and 118 Wednesday and yesterday. Four of those days broke the previous all-time high-temperature record of 117 and the daily high-temp records. Yesterday was also the ninth day in a row of temps of 110 or higher. We should tie that record today, set in 1962 and last year, as well as set a new one for the high on July 12. The National Weather Service's excessive heat warning was issued more than a week ago and though it's set to expire tonight at 11 p.m., it could be extended through tomorrow after the forecast is finalized.
The new balcony rooms in the Versailles Tower at Paris are available to reserve as Monday July 22. The 38 rooms are listed at $246, including the $50 resort fee, not including taxes. These are the first balcony rooms to open on the Strip since the Cosmopolitan debuted in 2010; they all offer 55-square-foot west-facing patios overlooking the Strip. The Jubilee Tower at the Horseshoe was renovated and rebranded the Versailles Tower, then subtracted from the Horseshoe's room inventory and added to Paris'. A pedestrian walkway from Paris to the Versailles Tower should be finished in time for the F1 race in November.
Going into Day 5 of the World Series of Poker’s Main Event, 464 players remain. Stephen Song is the chip leader with 4.7 million, followed by Adrian Mateos and Will Berry, both with 4.5 million. Only a few big names are left, including Tony Dunst (13.3 million), Phil Ivey (650K), and Maria Ho (340K); Dunst co-authored our book Flop, Turn, River. No former ME champions remain; the last previous winner to go out was Joe McKeehan. Play resumes today at noon.
One of the Wynn's most popular restaurants, the Lakeside, is closing in the next couple of weeks. The current menu will go away, but not the venue; the fabulous location as close to the Lake of Dreams as is possible without being in the water will be converted into Fiola Mare, a seafood restaurant from Fabio Trabocchi, a James Beard- and Michelin-awarded chef and restaurateur. Trabocchi runs eight other seafood restaurants, six in Washington, D.C., and two in Florida. Fiola Mare at the Wynn will open in early 2025 in a redesigned room that, according to the press release, will "maximize views of the Lake of Dreams." The menu at Fiola Mare in D.C. should be representative: prix fixe three-course lunch ($32), along with a seafood tower ($135 for 2), oysters ($3.50 per), and entrees from prosciutto flatbread ($26) to a whole branzino ($220); dinner is similar, with caviar ($23-$27), antipasti ($27), pasta ($28-$85), and filet mignon ($72). Perfect for a $250+ comp.
An advertorial on TravelandLeisure.com yesterday "exclusively confirmed" that the Boulevard Penthouse collection of 25 suites at the Cosmopolitan, previously reserved for high rollers and unavailable at any price, can now be rented by us hoi polloi. The penthouses range from 2,000 square feet for a one-bedroom at $5,000 to 5,000 square feet for the four-bedroom at $30,000. And yes, that's per night. The suites feature butlers, grand pianos, marble baths and steam showers, billiard tables, indoor swing sets, 24-karat-gold finishes, and, of course, "everything from the music to the drapes is managed by a smart Control4 system." No word on whether Cosmo charges a resort fee on the suites.
England is a -130 favorite over Netherlands to advance in the Euro Championship semi-final soccer match. The goal line is 2.
The Las Vegas Raiders will hold two practices at Allegiant Stadium next month that will be open to the public and free to attend. The dates are Wednesday August 14 and Tuesday Aug. 20 and both start at 6 p.m.; doors open at 5. These are the first-ever Raiders' open practices at Allegiant, but you need tickets to attend. They'll probably go fast and you can reserve them here.
Yesterday, Las Vegas came within a degree of tying the new record of 120 set on Sunday. Though it didn't get there, it did smash the high-temp record for July 9, set in 2021, of 116 degrees. The forecast today is for 115, which would also set a record for the number of consecutive days of 115 or higher. The previous record of four days in a row was set in July 2005 and new records could be set tomorrow and Friday before the thermometer starts to settle down within a normal-temperature range between 100 and 107 or 108.
Las Vegas Review-Journal entertainment columnist John Katsilometes reports that the 450 tropical fish that have inhabited the 20,000-gallon saltwater tank behind the Mirage's front desk since opening day are being transferred to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. The delicate operation of 85 different species is expected to take a week. It's yet another sign that the Mirage is being dismantled right before our eyes in anticipation of its closing next week.
Spain is a -130 favorite over France to advance in today's Euro Championship semi-final soccer match. The goal line is 2.
Total attendance for this year's Main Event at the World Series of Poker hasn't been announced, but on Day 2 of registration yesterday, the record was already broken. The 10,112 players ponying up the $10,000 entry fee so far beat last year's total of 10,043 by 69 and it's not over yet. Prior to last year's 10,000-plus, the record was 8,773, set in 2006. In addition, as enumerated in the current issue of LVA, it looked like Main Event attendance might fall short of 10,000. But with what PokerNews is calling "Poker Boom 2.0," the WSOP did it again. The Main Event runs through July 17, a week from today.
Our current poll on the best movies with at least one Vegas scene in them ends tonight. If you haven't voted and you'd like to, you can here. The poll has garnered more than 2,600 votes, so it's a significant sample. Add to it by clicking on your favorite Vegas silver-screen portrayals.
A total of 1.6 million people came to Las Vegas in 2023, either to get married or to attend a wedding being held here, according to the Vegas Wedding Chamber of Commerce. In total, they generated $2.2 billion in economic activity. The county Marriage License Bureau issued 74,275 licenses last year, up slightly from pre-pandemic 2019 and helped by more international travelers opting for a Vegas wedding.
Lady Gaga's long-running "Jazz & Piano" residency at Dolby Live Theater at Park MGM ended on Saturday night. Gaga launched two residencies at Park MGM, the first a progressive-pop-centered show, "Enigma," in late 2018, then "Jazz & Piano" a few weeks later; it was the first time any artist had tackled dual residencies with entirely different music. "Jazz & Piano" lasted five and a half years with 48 shows total. During that time, Gaga's jazz mentor, Tony Bennett, who performed with her on opening night, passed away; she also won two Academy Awards, Best Original Song and Best Actress, for A Star Is Born. The final numbers aren't in, but this residency is believed to have earned more than $100 million over its lifespan and Gaga hinted at the show on Saturday that she'd be back for another round of pop music.
Yesterday at 2:35 p.m., the official temperature reading at Reid International was 118.4. That broke the all-time high temperature for any day since records began being kept in the 1930s. At 3:15, as we were watching on its website, the National Weather Service reading was up to 119. Finally, the thermometer topped out at 4 p.m.: 120 withering degrees Fahrenheit. So there you have it. July 7, 2024, will go down in the record books as the hottest high temperature ever recorded in Las Vegas. The record should stand for at least two days; Tuesday's high temp is forecast to be just about as hot as yesterday's and excessive heat warnings are in place through Wednesday and could be extended into Thursday.
Yesterday, Las Vegas tied the high-temperature record for July 6 of 115; the record was set in 1989 and tied in 2007. Today, the forecast is for 117 and it's warming up fast. The thermometer hit 100 at 8:35 a.m. and there's a 25% chance that it will set the new all-time record of 118 sometime in the late afternoon. The 117 record was set on July 24, 1942, and hit four times since: July 19, 2005; June 30, 2013; June 20, 2017; and July 10, 2021. Tomorrow, it "cools down" all the way back to 115 and Tuesday it rises again to 117 ... and could go beyond ...
A story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal enumerates the progressive reserves that the Mirage must give away before it closes. It's a total of $1.6 million, approximately $1.2 million at the slots and another $400,000 at the tables. We recently posted a Question of the Day about what has to happen to this money and this is a good example. In order to disburse the progressives, the Mirage is sponsoring what the R-J calls "one last mega-promotion." The Mirage Progressive Finale Cash Giveaway promotion for the slot jackpots will take place between July 9 through 13 and, if necessary, will continue on July 16 -- another hint in the answer to the unanswered question about when the casino will close. The slot promo will pay out a guaranteed $200,000 on July 9, 10 and 11, then $250,000 on the 12 and 13 and the final $100,00 on the 16th. The table-game jackpots will be awarded at two drawings at 8 p.m. on July 12 and July 13. For those, entries are earned at face-up pai gow, Ultimate Texas Hold'em, Three Card Poker, Let It Ride, blackjack, and baccarat. You must be a member of the Unity players club to win.
Low-cost-carrier Breeze Airways has announced a new non-stop route between Las Vegas and New Orleans starting on February 5 of next year. Breeze will fly six roundtrips a week, one each on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on Airbus A220-300s. The flights will leave LAS shortly before midnight and land at Louis Armstrong International in New Orleans at 6 a.m. It flies back at 8:30 p.m., landing at 10 o'clock. Fares haven't been announced yet, but they're expected to be competitive with Southwest, Spirit, and Frontier's, the other airlines that fly direct between the two cities.
Over and above the endless construction at Interstate 15 and Tropicana Avenue, six miles of I-15 will close completely later this month and early next for a marathon repaving project. All northbound lanes of the freeway between Warm Springs and Flamingo will shut down at 9 p.m. on Friday July 26 and reopen at 5 a.m. Monday July 29. The following weekend, August 2-5, the southbound lanes on the same stretch will close and reopen on the same schedule. Obviously, the project is attuned to the flow of commuters, not visitors, but traffic along the detours will be ferocious over those weekends.
The Broadway smash hit Jersey Boys, based on the story of Frankie Valli the Four Seasons, will close at the Orleans after its performance tomorrow night. The $10 million production opened in the 850-seat Showroom at the Orleans in January and struggled to attract an audience, though by many accounts, the cast was the most talented of the many that performed over the years and it was the original Broadway length, 30 minutes longer than the last Vegas version at Paris. But Broadway musicals have been a tough sell for years on the Strip (see our Question of the Day on the subject) and this was an off-Strip location; indeed, it was the first resident show of its kind at the Orleans. Also, the tickets were expensive, averaging $100, not including fees. This experiment -- a Broadway show off the Strip -- probably won't be repeated.
An Oakland Athletic's petition to "intervene" as a co-defendant in the lawsuit over a Nevada teacher's political action committee challenging public funding for the team's Las Vegas stadium was denied by a Carson City District Court judge. The A's argued that it has a material interest in the outcome of the suit and could suffer monetary harm if the funding bill, passed by the state legislature last year, is repealed, as the plaintiffs are seeking. The judge, however, ruled that the existing defendants, the state of Nevada and Clark County, "can adequately represent the interests of their constituents and have the same goal as the A's." After the ruling, some observers noted that instead of spending energy on a lawsuit it's not even involved in, the team might better invest its time and money focusing on meeting overdue planning requirements, coming up with realistic architectural plans for the stadium, and securing the private financing needed to seriously pursue the project.
Forbes reports that the average ticket price for Adele’s shows at Caesars Palace was the most expensive in the U.S. for the first half of 2024. Concert-goers ponied up $1,462 per ticket to see Adele perform at the Colosseum. The second-most expensive ticket was more than $200 less; the Phish residency at Sphere cost $1,228 on average. Las Vegas also claimed the third-highest average ticket price for U2, also at Sphere, for $831. The data was obtained from second-hand ticket seller SeatGeek, which is projecting that Taylor Swift's Eras tour will bump Adele from the top spot when it returns to the U.S. in the fall. The Eagles at Sphere will also most likely wind up in the top five and possibly the top three, with Taylor and Adele.
This week's video starts with the topic that's on everyone's mind here this week: the heat. Hot hot will it get? Looks like we might set an all-time high-temperature record sometime in the next few days. Watch this space. Then, out of the blue, the "big" Crown & Anchor British pub on E. Tropicana up and closed. No warning and right in the middle of some big soccer tournaments. Find out why and what might be coming in its place. Of course, the Mirage is closing too. When? No one knows. Anthony has some inside info on it, though. Every July, LVA does a room-rate survey to find the lowest rates during one of two Vegas low seasons. This is a subscriber-only deal, but listen in and get it for free. The WSOP is in full swing; in fact, the Main Event is underway. Some big names have surfaced in the winners circle; Anthony gives the rundown. The Question of the Week involves the difference between the house edge and the hold at blackjack, but the Jackpot off the Week is a real heart warmer, one you don't want to miss (A.C. shows his sentimental side).
The National Weather Service has extended its excessive heat warning for Las Vegas by two days, from late Monday to late Wednesday.
Along with this 10-day stretch of temperatures above 110, which we're halfway through, and the potential to tie the record high temperature of 117 on three or four upcoming days, the forecast also calls for a high of 118 on Sunday and Tuesday. If that happens, it will break the old record by a degree for the first time in the city's history. In fact, one model we've seen is calling for a high of 119 on Tuesday. The 10 consecutive days of 110-plus occurred for the first time in 1962, in June no less (17-26), and again last year, July 14-23. This ferocious heat dome has made itself comfortable over the Southwest and is in no hurry to alleviate the discomfort it's causing; the closest front that could push it on its way is more than 10 days away as a monsoon event tries to set up and move in from the southeast and southwest.
More than 330,000 visitors are expected to hit Las Vegas for the 4-day Fourth of July weekend. Fireworks will take center stage tonight around 9 p.m.; scroll down to see the earlier post with the list of locations that will have displays, or just look up. This isn’t a big promotions holiday, but Silverton is awarding 10X points on slots and 2X on video poker and Eureka is awarding 4X points on slots and video poker.
For those driving in and out of Las Vegas for the long weekend, renting a car to get around, or leaving town, there's good news on the gasoline front: The average price of a gallon of gas is below $4 in Las Vegas, a rare event. The Nevada average is $4.03 and Las Vegas is usually at or above that. But today, it's $3.91 -- and lower at Costco, Sam's Club, and some independent stations. That should be a relief for Californian road trippers, who are paying an average of $4.79 (a little lower in San Bernardino and Riverside on the way in and out). The national average is $3.50, down from the peak of $5.02 in June 2022. Generally, gas prices soar in the summer with demand, but this year to lower prices, the federal government sold 42 million gallons of finished gas on the open market, a one-shot deal that will keep prices below average in the coming week or so.
With 16-time winner Joey Chestnut disallowed from competing due to a contract dispute with event organizers, Geoffrey Esper is the +110 favorite to win today's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. The over/under for dogs downed is 51.5. Miki Sudo is the prohibitive -900 favorite to win her 10th straight title. The over/under on Sudo is 40.5.
With 4th of July falling on a Thursday, there’s no shortage of events to attend to over the weekend:
Look, up in the sky! It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Frecce Tricolori! The Italian Air Force's precision demonstration team, La Penisola's equivalent of the U.S.' Thunderbirds, is flying over the Strip today between 1 and 2 p.m. You'll probably recognize it: up to 11 jets, flying in formation, making a major ruckus, and emitting contrails in red, white, and green (in case you weren't sure you were seeing it ...). The team is on its first North American tour since 1992, making 17 flyovers and stopping for nine events around the country.
An article in today's Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that plans were submitted last week to county planners that call for "a dozen new retail spaces, several food and beverage outlets, and viewing spaces overlooking the fountains." An MGM spokesperson told the R-J that no other details were available, but more news about the expansion should be forthcoming in the "coming weeks and months."
Unlike New Year’s Eve, the Las Vegas celebration for Independence Day is somewhat muted, but only in the sense that there isn’t a coordinated fireworks display from multiple Strip casinos. There’ll still be plenty going on in the sky, with fireworks shows emanating from Caesars Palace, Plaza, Red Rock Resort, Green Valley Ranch, Durango Casino, M Resort, and other non-casino entities around town, e.g., the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lake Las Vegas, and Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin. Most are scheduled to go off around 9 pm. And as previously reported here, Sphere will be putting on an extravagant Independence Day show on the exosphere, consisting of different segments: fireworks, Nevada history, and features from the venue’s first year. A soundtrack, dubbed XO Audio, will be synced with the visuals.
Those of us of a certain age (ahem) remember the Gulden's Diablo Mustard commercial, in which a talking pepper shaker says the Diablo is "hotter than hell," but the mustard cuts it off before the "h" word, saying "Ah ah ah!" Well, it's going to be hotter than ah ah ah for the next several days. The National Weather Service yesterday issued an excessive heat warning for Las Vegas Valley that starts at 11 a.m. tomorrow and continues all the way through the long weekend, ending on Monday at 11 p.m. The NWS is calling the heat wave "dangerous for an unusually long period," with the highs between 110 and 115 and the lows in the 90s. This heat wave comes right on the heels of the hottest June on record; the daily average temperature for the month was 94.6 degrees, nearly two degrees hotter the 92.8 set in 2016. The average daily high was 106.2 and average daily low was 83, temperatures more typical of deeper in the summer.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is projecting 332,000 out of towners arriving over the next couple of days for the four-day July Fourth weekend. That's a little more than 3% higher than last year's visitor count. The airport expects to handle 430,000 passengers between Wednesday and Sunday. Hotel occupancy should reach nearly 92%, meaning the town isn't quite full, but prices reflect the demand. The Las Vegas Review-Journal conducted a survey and found that the average room rate is $322 from Thursday to Sunday and that doesn't include resort fees and taxes, so count on more than $400 per night if you're coming and don't have reservations.
Typically, July temperatures don't fluctuate too widely, with normal highs between 103 and 105 and lows between 79 and 82. Record high temperatures, however, have risen all the way to 117 three times (in 1942, 2005, and 2012), hitting 116 ten times and 115 another ten. Record lows have dropped to 56 degrees twice (1937 and 1940) and 58 twice (1938 and 1940). Last July, however, was the hottest month since Las Vegas started keeping temperature records nearly 100 years ago, with an average daily temperature of 97.3 degrees, beating the previous record of 96.2 degrees set in 2010. In addition, the last two weeks of the month were even hotter, with the daily average temperature at 100.7, the average high 112.3, and the average low 89.1. As for precipitation, nearly a half-inch of rain falls during a normal July, (fifth-highest total by month of the year), but it depends on the severity of the monsoon season.
The population of Las Vegas' Clark County is projected to breach the three million mark in the next 18 years, according to an annual study conducted by UNLV's Center for Business and Economic Research. As of this year, the population stands at 2.41 million residents. The county is expected to add nearly 40,000 this year and next, then grow at a rate of approximately one percent through 2039 to hit 2.9 million. Of course, the hospitality and leisure industry is the primary driver of the burgeoning population, but the number-two factor for growth and employment will be health care as of 2028. The study's author told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that southern Nevada is, thus far, unprepared for the rapid aging of the population and the number of people working in the health-care industry is "far less" than comparable cities like Phoenix, San Diego, and Salt Lake City. All grist for the mill if you're thinking of retiring here.