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The New York Jets are -2.5 favorites over the Houston Texans in tonight's Thursday Night Football game. The total is 43.5.
The NBA has come to an agreement with the gambling companies it works with (FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM) that under bets will no longer be offered on the basketball players who make the least amount of money. The obvious reason is that these players are most susceptible to taking bribes that will affect a bet on their performances, specifically, by the players purposely playing poorly to keep their stats below the over/under thresholds (as happened in the Jontay Porter case). It makes some sense, if only for appearances sake, but implementing the ban at only three betting outlets, albeit the biggest, won’t eliminate the problem.
According to Yahoo News, Nevada has the lowest percentage of residents born in the Silver State. Only one in four current Nevadans were born here (27%), while nearly one in two (46%) were born in California and migrated one state east. Only two other states have less than 40% native-born residents: Arizona (39%) and Florida (35%). Louisiana has the most at 77%, followed by Michigan (75.8%), Ohio (74.3%), Mississippi (70.2%), and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (both 70.1%).
That was quick. “Wiseguys Live,” the third Wiseguys Comedy Club that opened in September at Westgate, has closed, barely lasting two months. The other two in the Arts District and at Town Square remain open.
The New York Yankees are -140 favorites over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the MLB World Series. The total is 8.5.
Norms Diner, the first of which debuted in 1949 near the famed Hollywood corner of Sunset and Vine and has since expanded to 23 locations in southern California, opened its first eastern outpost in Las Vegas this morning at 7 a.m. near Charleston and Decatur. This is as classic a diner as you'll ever see, with a huge menu of big food, including steak and eggs, Benedicts, omelets, pancakes, soups, salads, burgers, sandwiches and melts, pasta, chicken and steak dinners, meat loaf, seafood, desserts, and milk shakes. Everything is priced between $11.79 (for the breakfast burrito) and $23.99 (six-ounce sirloin, fried shrimp, and chicken tenders). Norms is open 24 hours.
Caesars Entertainment announced yesterday afternoon that it's selling the Linq Promenade for $275 million. The buyer is a new joint venture between TPG Real Estate, a private-equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Investment Management Platform of Acadia Realty Trust, a New York-based real estate investment trust. The sale is expected to close as early as the end of this year.
Carlos Santana has been appearing in annual residencies at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay for 12 years and the dates for his lucky 13th have just been announced: Jan. 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, and 30; Feb. 1 and 2; and May 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 24, and 25. Previously announced are shows on Nov. 2, 3, 6, 7, 9, and 10. Tickets for this year's shows are on sale now; next year's will go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
The New York Yankees are -130 favorites over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 4 of the MLB World Series. The total is 8.5.
Total Strip gambling revenue fell for the third month in a row, dropping 1.8% in September from $741.2 million in September 2023 to $727.6 million. The last time the Strip's gross gaming revenue decreased in three consecutive months was March through May 2019. Strip GGR was also down 7.2% in the third quarter and has dropped 0.2% year to date. The main culprit was high-end baccarat play, which has fallen statewide in four of the last five months. On the other hand, Nevada sports books won $80.9 million, up 30% compared to September 2023; that set a new all-time record, beating the previous high of $72 million set in November 2021.
If you're hereabouts two weekends from now, you can attend the popular annual Scandinavian Holiday Bazaar sponsored by the Sons of Norway Vegas Viking Lodge. The Holiday Bazaar will feature an array of crafts, handmade holiday ornaments, vintage Scandinavian merchandise, lefse (a traditional Norwegian soft flatbread made from potatoes, flour, butter, and cream) and warm waffles for sale. In addition, there will be T-shirts, mugs, stocking stuffers, homemade Norwegian Christmas cookies, and free coffee. The Bazaar will be held 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday Nov. 9 in the Fellowship Hall of Community Lutheran Church, located at 3720 E. Tropicana Avenue.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are -6 favorites over the New York Giants in tonight's Monday Night Football game. The total is 37.5.
The New York Yankees are -140 favorites over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the MLB World Series. The total is 8.5.
Our Vegas Golden Knights blog, Hockey Knights in Vegas, is holding a Flash Ticket Giveaway. You can win two tickets to the VGK game this Saturday against the Utah Hockey Club, plus two passes to the buffet at Goose Island sports bar. All you have to do is go to the most recent podcast, subscribe, and leave a comment, and the winner will be selected from new subscribers and commenters and notified on Friday at noon.
Art works by the likes of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Jerry Garcia, and Stevie Nicks will go on display next month at Animazing Gallery in the Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian. The exhibit and sale, starting on November 7, will feature sketches, drawings, paintings, guitars and other works from some of the biggest names in classic rock, the first time such a collection has been exhibited in one place together. The show will be streamed at AnimazingGallery.com.
The San Francisco 49ers are -6 favorites over the Dallas Cowboys in tonight’s Sunday Night Football game. The total is 48.
"Is election betting good fun, civic engagement, or a threat to democracy itself?" We addressed this question in a QoD last month and now a long examination of the issue by the U.S. edition of the British liberal-leaning newspaper, the Independent provides another good look. The piece notes that since Polymarket, which bills itself as the "world's largest prediction market," was permitted to open its platform to peer-to-peer betting on the presidential election when a federal appeals court ruled in favor of another exchange, Kalshi, on October 2, participants have already placed more than $1.2 billion in wagers on it, including at least two multi-million-dollar bets that Trump will win. The story presents the arguments for and against election betting in the U.S., describes how the prediction markets work, touches on the long history of election betting in the U.S, and compares Polymarket and Kalshi to regular financial markets with all their own issues. Worth a 10-minute read and you'll find it here.
The Las Vegas Raiders aren't looking so hot this year so far. After a thrilling win against the top-ranked Baltimore Ravens on the road in Week Two to bring their record up to 1-1, the home team lost four out of the last five games, a couple by substantial margins, for a season record of 2-5 and sitting last in the AFC West. Star receiver Davante Adams is gone, traded to the Jets, and several key players have been out with injuries and will return this week, though the starting quarterback remains on the sidelines and they'll need all hands on deck when they take on the two-peat Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs this afternoon at Allegiant. The Chiefs are 6-0 this year and are favored by nine points. According to TeamRankings.com, it's the first time this season that a road team has been favored by more than seven. Could those be "fighting words" for the Raiders to beat the spread, if not win outright? Stranger things have happened. The Raiders dominated the Chiefs last year on Christmas Day, winning by a score of 20-14.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are -135 favorites over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the MLB World Series. The total is 9.
Ilia Topuria is a -280 favorite over Max Holloway in today’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Khamzat Chimaev is -225 over Robert Whittaker.
With apologies about the title to Carol King, many Las Vegas residents felt earthquakes late Thursday and early Friday. Three quakes centered around Death Valley traveled to Vegas: 4.2 magnitude around midnight Thursday, followed by a 4.7 about 1 a.m. and a 4.3 about 8 a.m. No damage was reported.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are -120 favorites over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the MLB World Series. The total is 9.
The Fremont Street Experience has announced the three-stage entertainment lineup for the "Time of Your Life" party on Fremont Street on New Year's Eve. The main headliner will be rapper singer-songwriter Flo Rida; the other acts include Bow Wow, LoCash, Dylan Marlowe, Trick Daddy, and Mike Jones. The party starts at 7 p.m. and culminates at midnight in a pyrotechnic countdown and digital fireworks on the Viva Vision screen. Early-bird tickets are on sale now for $50, 21 and older only.
KTNV last night reported that the Sahara, with 1,613 rooms, hasn't had running water since Wednesday. The reason: Survey work on the property breached a water main, and when guests in all the rooms turn the tap, nothing happens. Sahara has been providing complimentary bottled water, along with "refreshments and breakfast items," since the restaurants also closed. Of course, that didn't help in the shower department. But according to reports this morning, the hotel's efforts to resolve the problem have been successful and the water is back on at the north Strip hotel-casino. In a separate development, the Sahara will shut down its seven-table poker room on November 16 and the tables will be replaced with a slot area featuring new-game releases; it's expected to open in December. The Sahara room had a long history of locals play, dating back to even before the early 2000s' poker boom.
The Minnesota Vikings are -2.5 favorites over the Los Angeles Rams in tonight's Thursday Night Football game. The total is 47.
A fine article on GQ.com is titled, "How Las Vegas Became the Weirdest, Wildest, and Most Futuristic City in America." The long, detailed, and well-written piece asks the rhetorical question: "No place in America is more prone to reinvention, but is this Vegas, the great American city of the future, the best version yet?" You can read the answer, such as it is, here. (And thanks once again to Canada Roy for finding it.)
LVA's YouTube Beer Fridays episode will take place today at 4 p.m Pacific Time. You can tune in live at this link. This takes you to the Live page, then click on the video in the upper left.
Last year, Las Vegas attracted 41 million visitors, down from the 42.5 million in 2019 and the record 42.9 million who arrived in 2016. But the number continues to climb -- from 19 million in 2020 due to COVID and 38.8 million in 2022 -- and so far in 2024 through August, the last visitation numbers to be reported, we're on a pace to get very close to the 2019 count. Through the first eight months of the year, visitor numbers are up 3.1%. If that percentage increase holds for the remainder of the year, aided by Formula 1, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve, total visitors will come in at 42.3 million, just a couple of hundred thousand short of pre-pandemic. The decrease after more than four years continues to be pegged to international travel. In 2023, visitors from Canada and Mexico were down a mere 4% and 3%, respectively, but our North American neighbors make up only half of international arrivals. Visitors from the UK were down 26% in 2023 and fewer travelers arrived from the next seven-highest countries. Conventioneers are also lower than previously; in 2023, six million attended trade events here, compared to 6.6 million in 2019.
An article in the Review-Journal reports that Bally's is "working pretty hard" to develop a plan that will ensure what the company is calling Phase One of the hotel-casino project it wants to build on the Oakland A's stadium site. That phase would include the full casino complement and one hotel tower -- meaning three different construction projects going on at the same time on the 35-acre site. Also, in order for the stadium to open in time for the 2028 baseball season, construction will need to commence in April 2025, only four months after the financing for the project is scheduled to be revealed at the next Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting in early December.
The Helldorado Days Rodeo returns to downtown Las Vegas Nov. 8-9 at the CORE Arena at the Plaza. The event, fully sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys and the Women’s Professional Rodeo associations, will feature bull riding, barrel racing, team roping, tie-down roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, and bareback riding, with prize purses totaling $40,000. General admission to the rodeo is free, though registration is recommended. For the first time this year, the Plaza is selling VIP seating for $20 per ticket plus taxes. The Helldorado Days Rodeo also features related western-themed events, like mutton busting, a Whiskerino contest, and a historical exhibit.
The dates for Latin superstar Shakira's rescheduled North American tour have been announced and she'll play one night at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday June 28. The tour, dubbed "Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour" ("Women Don't Cry Anymore"), was rescheduled after the unrivaled demand for tickets prompted a move from arenas to stadiums; almost one million tickets to 18 stadium shows in Mexico and Central and South America were sold in a record two hours. The demand is through the roof due to this being the first tour in six years for the 47-year old Colombian, who's sold 100 million records worldwide in her 30-year-career. Registrations for the initial pre-sale has started and will run until midnight tonight; further presale options will continue until the sale of tickets to the public starts on Friday at noon Pacific Time.
Delano, the 43-story 1,117-room all-suite non-casino hotel located next to Mandalay Bay, opened in 2003 as THEhotel. In a partnership with Morgans Hotel Group, THEhotel was rebranded as Delano (adopting the middle name of Franklin Roosevelt, a high-end brand owned by Morgans) in 2014. The rooms were remodeled and the amenities (bars, lounge, and the restaurant and nightclub on the top floor) refurbished. Now, Delano will be rebranded again, in a partnership with Marriott International, as a W Hotel. The press release is anything but hyperbolic: "W Las Vegas will allow our guests to access a new luxury-lifestyle experience recognized worldwide for its distinct personality, dynamic programming, and elevated service culture.” We can't wait. Actually, the timetable for the conversion wasn't included, though some news outlets are reporting that the conversion will take place through the end of the year and additional plans for the tower will be forthcoming.
In the second of tonight's simultaneously played Monday Night Football double-header, the Los Angeles Chargers are -1 favorites over the Arizona Cardinals. The total is 50.5.
In the first of tonight's simultaneously played Monday Night Football double-header, the Baltimore Ravens are -4 favorites over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The total is 44.
The bridge spanning Koval Rd. across E. Flamingo opened Saturday evening after the intersection was closed for nearly a week. This year's bridge is half the size of last year's, occupying two lanes instead of four, both traveling eastbound from the Strip, with left- and right-turn lanes at street level to give drivers access to Koval. The three westbound lanes remain the same as always. However, during race weekend, the bridge will be converted to one lane in each direction. It will be dismantled over a six-day stretch just before Christmas, when the intersection will be closed again. It's a much shorter period than last year, when the bridge wasn't completely removed until February 1.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are -120 favorites over the New York Yankees to win the MLB World Series. It’s the first time for this classic matchup since 1981. Game 1 is Friday.
The New York Jets are -2.5 favorites over the Pittsburgh Steelers in tonight’s Sunday Night Football game. The total is 40.
Online-casino gambling is legal in seven states: New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, West Virginia, Delaware, and Rhode Island. The big three account for roughly 85% of the total month after month. In all three states, igaming is responsible for a significant portion of the total gross gaming revenue (GGR), which includes brick-and-mortar casinos, sports betting, and racetracks with casinos and sports betting. In September, it reached its highest percentages: In New Jersey, internet-casino gambling was $208.1 million, 37% of the state's GGR; Michigan generated $202.5 million, a full 55% of GGR; and Pennsylvania's $176.7 million amounted to 35%. The percentages have been going up steadily for a number of years and show no sign of slowing; the great expansion of casino gambling across the country since the 1990s is moving steadily into the gamblers' offices, living rooms, bedrooms, and bathrooms.
A study conducted by CanadaSportsBetting.ca finds that fans of the Vegas Golden Knights are the most profane in hockey. The site analyzed Reddit threads of all 32 NHL teams’ fans to find out which fans are the most foul-mouthed, based on the proportion of swear words used in their communications. In total, from 927,774 comments, CanadaSportsBetting found over 41,000 comments that included profanity. VGK fans used swear words in 6.3% of comments, the highest percentage of all the teams. That was followed by Dallas Stars, NY Islanders, L.A. Kings, and Colorado Avalanche, all with percentages higher than 5.7. The least profane were Utah Hockey Club, San Jose Sharks, Carolina Hurricanes, and Anaheim Ducks, at at 3.2% or lower. We're a little surprised that Vegas fans are the swearingest; sports fans here are generally so genteel and polite.
In this week's LVA YouTube Update, Anthony and Andrew discuss Cone City in the run-up to F1 next month, Bazaar Meat moving from the Sahara to Palazzo, a $5 burger and beer deal in the Arts District, a great big-band show at Ellis Island for a $20 food and beverage spend, a big change in the line on the presidential election, and the Circa Survivor update. The Question of the Day is about a blackjack machine that pays 2-for-1 on naturals and the Jackpot of the Week is a royal flush on a free play coupon from the Member Rewards Book. A jam-packed episode that goes by in a flash.
Originally announced in April, the expansion at Ellis Island is starting to take shape. The budget was reported in the Review-Journal at $35 million, with which the casino will be enlarged by 6,500 square feet that will stretch, like Front Yard, out to the sidewalk, with a center bar, sports book, and back-of-the-house audiovisual area, and a new south service entrance. Much of the expansion will take the place of the shuttered micro-brewery that was demolished earlier this year. New details include the renovation of the Village Pub & Café and the karaoke lounge and a new rooftop event space. The project was initially expected to be completed early next year, but it looks to us like the timetable will be extended.
Tickets are now on sale for Swingers Las Vegas, the adults-only crazy-golf club and immersive entertainment experience that opens on Friday Nov. 8 at Mandalay Bay. This venue is the latest in a line -- Atomic Golf at Strat and Pop Stroke extreme mini-golf at Town Square -- of golf attractions arriving here. The 40,000-square-foot Swingers will include four crazy-golf courses, several bars and a street-food eatery, arcade, and a two-story English country house attraction (Swingers was founded in London and claims to have pioneered the "competitive socializing" golf experience). A round of crazy golf starts at $35 per person and ticket packages are available for purchase that include cocktails, street food, crazy golf and reserved seating. Carnival pricing starts at $15 for 80 credits (or five games). You can buy tickets here.
We don't mind strange, peculiar, eccentric, or even aberrant; we've been writing about Las Vegas for more than 40 years after all. But we do tend to draw the line at incomprehensible and unintelligible, which is why we never visited or even wrote about Particle Ink and its House of Shattered Prisms that opened at Luxor six months ago. Try as we might and we did try on a number of occasions, searching for new shows to review, we never could get a handle on this "mind-bending portal into a 2.5th-dimension that unveils the deepest secrets of a new universe." We're always a little sad when a new experience doesn't make it in Las Vegas, but we're not surprised that Particle Ink will be closing on October 28. Even the reasonable $39 ticket price ($48.17 inclusive) wasn't enough to keep this attraction alive.
At yesterday's meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority with an executive from the putative Las Vegas A's in attendance, a rendering of the master plan for the Tropicana property was unveiled. It shows the stadium as the centerpiece for three 495-foot hotel towers on the northeast and southwest corners of the grounds with 3,005 rooms. On the opposite northwest and southeast corners are two parking garages, with a surface lot near the southwest corner -- in total, space for 2,500 cars. The 90,000-square-foot casino will house around 1,500 slots, 75 table games, a poker room, and a 12,000-square-foot sports book, along with several food-and-beverage offerings and meeting space. As is the norm for stadiums here, an additional 4,400 spaces will be needed for a sold-out event, including for 1,500 employees; these will be offsite and mentioned were the MGM parking garages nearby. It was estimated that upwards of 10,000 fans will walk to the stadium. No timetable or budget was specified for either the hotel-casino or stadium, though the project's biggest booster on the County Commission doubted that the resort would "open the day the stadium opens." He's confident that Bally's, the operator, and Gaming & Leisure Properties, the landlord, will "get after rounding up the financing." If you're curious, you can see the (purposely vague) rendering, along with four others of the stadium, here.
Apparently, the world can't get enough Eagles concerts. For the fifth time since the original announcement of the superstar band's residency at Sphere, dates have been added. The new shows will be on March 7, 8, 14, and 15. Tickets go on sale October 25. Tickets are also still available for the current shows, though only on reseller sites like StubHub and Vivid. The reviews of the shows are uniformly excellent; we've heard the highlights are a long spacey instrumental in "Take It to the Limit," spectacular underwater choreographed visuals during "The Boys of Summer," and a long Joe Walsh solo during "Life's Been Good" with kaleidoscopic images of the Eagles through the decades. Only Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmidt remain from the original band; Joe Walsh, Glen Frey's son Deacon, and Vince Gill round out the current lineup.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the agenda for the meeting today of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority with the prospective Las Vegas A's MLB team does not, as had been expected, include the plan for financing the phantom building where the team would play its home games. This is, of course, a crucial detail, one of the several agreements that need to be approved before any public money is forthcoming for the project. The R-J also wrote that the Stadium Authority's Chairman Steve Hill, also the president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, "looked over the financials and declared that the Fisher family (which owns the A's), 'has the ability to provide the financing for the stadium, period.'" As Sports Illustrated commented, "Having the ability to do something and actually doing it aren't the same thing -- for those keeping score at home." John Fisher told the R-J that he'll have "the financing plan out for everybody to see soon." The next scheduled meeting of the Stadium Authority and the team is scheduled for December 5. In Sports Illustrated's words, that's "presumably the 'soon' Fisher is likely talking about for when he'll unveil this financing plan." However, "The longer we wait until this unveiling, the less time that anyone will have to look over the plan itself before giving it the green light, which is undoubtedly the plan. It's always the plan for Fisher and company."
The Denver Broncos are -3 favorites over the New Orleans Saints in tonight's Thursday Night Football game. The total is 37.
An article in yesterday's Review-Journal went into some detail about the policy at Binion’s and Four Queens of allowing dealers to "go for their own," meaning keep their own tips, rather than pool them, the norm at almost all other casinos in Nevada. The R-J reported that the policy has been in place at Binion's for three months and will start at the Four Queens on October 28 and changed from pooling when "they found casino dealers would earn more." Initially, Binion's lost 10% of its dealers, who preferred the pool, but when tokes increased from an average of $50-$60 a shift to $150 (swing shift), it attracted enough dealers from other properties to cover every shift. Still, most dealers prefer tip pooling, which evens out the volatility.
Possibly as a result of the restaurant's sudden shutdown (for non-payment of rent), then equally sudden reopening last month, Ocean One in the Miracle Mile Shops has raised the prices of its lunch special from $5.99 to $7.99 and its all-day every-day 3-for-$12-cocktail deal to $14. It's the second price raise in a couple of years; the lunch special was originally $4.99 and the cocktail deal $10 when the prices were raised in August 2022. Considering the amount of food you get and the across-the-board price you pay for it, it's still a pretty good deal. You can see the full lunch menu here.
NFL owners yesterday voted unanimously to allow Tom Brady and a partner to purchase a 10% stake in the Las Vegas Raiders. The Raiders were valued at $3.5 billion and Brady and company's share will be about $220 million, plus a 10% flip tax that's divided among the 31 other owners in the league, bringing the total outlay to $330 million. According to CNBC, the Raiders are actually worth $7.8 billion, the NFL's fifth most valuable franchise, so Brady got a roughly 50% discount on his share. Brady, who has a $375 million broadcasting deal with Fox Sports, will be the fifth former NFL player to become a team owner; he also has a small share of the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces, which is owned by Raiders' owner Mark Davis.
Eater Las Vegas reports that the Venetian will open a food hall in "mid-2025." The Via Via Food Hall will be located "in the former quick-service dining section near the Grand Colonnade area of the resort’s casino floor." Tenants so far include Las Vegas' second location of All’Antico Vinaio, the specialty sandwich shop from Florence, Italy, whose first shop is across from Durango (you can read our review here). Other outlets will be Turkey and the Wolf, a New Orleans-based sandwich shop (ham and cranberry sauce, fried bologna, collared-green melt, headcheese taco) and Molly's Rise and Shine quick breakfasts, both from James Beard Award-nominated chef Mason Hereford; Howlin’ Ray’s, hot chicken from L.A.; Scarr's Pizza from New York; B.S. Taqueria, lately of the shuttered Sundry Food Hall out at the Uncommons; Ivan Ramen and izakaya; and a bar, Close Company.
The intersection at E. Flamingo Road and Koval Lane has closed for the construction of the temporary bridge over Flamingo for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. It won't reopen until late Friday night. So we strongly recommend you avoid E. Flamingo and Koval in both directions between now and then.
The Rio opened its Palazzo Villas in 1998 amidst a lot of high-end action in Las Vegas (Bellagio debuted that year, with the Venetian, Paris, and Mandalay Bay putting on their finishing touches to open in 1999). The nine-unit complex, the first high-roller suites to be separate from the hotel, cost $55 million, a princely sum at the time. The suites range from 2,000-square-foot one-bedrooms to a 14,000-square-foot six-bedroom super suite (reportedly, all nine palazzos can be combined to create one 18-bedroom mansion). Ironically, the Palazzo Villas were built by Marnell, the original developer of the Rio, and opened mere months after Harrah's (now Caesars) Entertainment bought the Rio for $880 million, then quickly divested the place of its whale business. Caesars finally shut down the Villas in 2019, but now new-owner Dreamscape has reopened them. The one-bedrooms start at $3,500, the three-bedrooms $5,000, and the six bedroom $6,000. Not bad prices for these gigaroller digs.
A compound owned by Steve Wynn (years ago) on Lake Tahoe just fetched $62 million, setting a record for the highest-priced property ever sold at the lake. The five-acre estate, known as Old Forge, is located on Lakeshore Blvd. in Incline Village, the scenic road along the north lake that's come to be called Billionaire Row. Wynn built the 12,661-square-foot main house in 1994, on 212 feet of lake frontage, with a deep-water pier, a boat hoist, and a jet ski platform, plus a three-bedroom guesthouse. He sold it in 1998 for $17 million. Biotech billionaires bought it in 2017 for $32 million, spent $5 million in renovations, and listed the property for $76 million in September 2023. The price dropped to $69 million last May and went into escrow for $62 million a month ago.
The Buffalo Bills are -1 favorites over the New York Jets in tonight's Monday Night Football game. The total is 42.
If you're transiting Reid International today through Friday, you might see some fire, smoke, big red trucks, and rescue personnel scrambling around. Rest assured, nothing happened and nothing's wrong. The airport's Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting crew is holding live training and practice drills on the airfield as part of their routine preparation for anything that might transpire and need their skills.
If you're around this weekend, there's a party going at the Marriott/Rampart Casino in Summerlin to celebrate its 25th anniversary, having opened in 1999. On Friday 9-10 p.m. there will be free cake and champagne. On Saturday, the bingo room will hold $2,500 sessions. And on Sunday 3-8 p.m. is a 25th Anniversary Fireworks Festival with a live DJ, food trucks, and a 10-minute fireworks show starting at 7 p.m.
The Cincinnati Bengals are -3.5 favorites over the New York Giants in tonight’s Sunday Night Football game. The total is 45.5.
At the Global Gaming Expo, the world's largest gaming-industry trade show that just concluded on Thursday at the Venetian Expo, the expansion of gambling in the U.S.' two most populous states was a major topic of conversation. In terms of the second-most populous state, Texas has a big enough budget surplus, according to panelists at a session on legalizing gambling in the Lone Star State, that lawmakers aren’t as concerned about raising revenue as elsewhere. Still, the issue surfaces at every legislative session and the panelists agreed that all the progress made in the 2021 and 2023 sessions built enough momentum that gambling has a "fighting chance" to succeed in 2025. California, on the other hand, is still recovering from the bruising battle over sports betting in the 2022 election cycle, in which $500 million was spent by the tribes, commercial casinos, and sports books in the ultimately losing battle for both sides. Several panels at G2E addressed the subject and the consensus, at least among the tribes, is that after skipping the 2024 cycle, sports betting will come up again, either in 2026 or, more likely, 2028. Four years from now might seem like a long time away, but any campaign to approve sports betting in the country's most populous state will have to start gearing up sooner than later and the tribes say they're in frequent and active discussions on doing just that. The stakes are enormous; based on a comparison with New York, which has half the population of California and hit $20 billion in handle in 2023, California could easily generate $40 billion in its first year. By comparison, that's the entire annual gross domestic product of Iceland and Cyprus and more than four times as much as Las Vegas Strip revenue in 2023.
Tatsuro Taira is a -325 favorite over Brandon Royval in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Jun Yong Park is -215 over Brad Tavares.
TheKnot.com conducted an extensive survey of the costs of weddings nationwide and found that Nevada is the fifth least expensive state for getting married in the U.S. at $21,000. Kentucky, Idaho, and Montana came in at $20,000 and Utah was lowest at $17,000. New Jersey is the most expensive at $55,000, while tied for second are Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island at $44,000. Curiously, TheKnot determined the average cost of getting married in 20 major cities and while it ranged from $63,000 in New York to $28,000 in Orlando, they didn't include Las Vegas, the wedding capital of the country. Another search turned up a report from 2022 on Cactus-Collective.com that pegged the average cost of a Las Vegas wedding at $24,000, compared to the national average of $29,000 (in 2022). We figure that's pretty high, considering that a wedding-chapel ceremony in Las Vegas can run as low as $150, while the high end, according to prices quoted on five chapel websites we looked at, topped out at $15,000.
In today’s deciding Game 5 of the American League Division Series, the Detroit Tigers are -110 favorites over the Cleveland Guardians. The total is 6.
Imagine staying in a rented room and waking up to find yourself covered with bug bites. It's not too hard to picture at an East Fremont motel, but how about paying $300 for the night, plus resort and parking fees? After complaints from guests, between February and August of this year, inspectors for the Southern Nevada Health District confirmed Cimicidae insects, better known as bed bugs, at Bellagio, Resorts World, Cosmopolitan, and Hilton Grand Vacations. In addition, in a lawsuit filed last week, a woman claimed that bites from bed bugs at the Strat left her with "permanent scarring." Bed bugs are nocturnal, can live up to 10 months, and go can weeks without a meal, which is blood. They're found just about anywhere, but they especially like mattresses and box springs, headboards and baseboards, and carpet. Evidence includes dried-blood stains, tiny and pale-yellow eggs and eggshells, and pale-yellow shed skins. No matter where you stay, low end or high, it's a good idea to check for these bitsy blood-sucking pests.
In tonight’s deciding Game 5 of the National League Division Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers are -145 favorites over the San Diego Padres. The total is 8.
In this week's YouTube, Anthony and Andrew start off on the implosion of the Tropicana. Then they launch into the Global Gaming Expo (G2E), the world's largest gaming-industry trade show that takes place in Las Vegas every year and just ended yesterday; find out why Anthony hadn't attended in 10 years and why he went to this one and check out some videos taken by Andrew, who loves to look at the new machines and table games. From there, the guys yak about the latest odds on the presidential race, Circa Survivor that continues to be a slaughter (221 entries remain with 11 weeks to go), and the two new books that we've just brought out. One of them launches Anthony into a story about a long-ago girlfriend and a Hollywood movie he was part of, and a photo of him in his 20s flashes for a moment. The Question of the Week is an "easy" one about video poker and the Jackpot of the Week is a little different: a 10-cent sports bet on a five-team parlay that took down a $13K payout.
Zippy's, the popular Hawaiian restaurant that opened its first location beyond the islands on the mainland a year ago yesterday (to be exact), is already opening its second location. On its first anniversary in Las Vegas, Zippy's announced that its second restaurant will open at 4590 S. Hualapai Way, just south of Summerlin and north of Tropicana Avenue, early next year. (Though hiring is "now underway," according to the press release, we'll take the over; the first Zippy's didn't debut for almost five years after it was initially announced.) You can read our review of the original restaurant in the south valley restaurant here.
The Nevada State Railroad Museum held its first ride from Boulder City to Henderson since the completion of Hoover Dam yesterday evening. The historic train took the restored track that ran over Railroad Pass (get it?) during the construction of the dam, but was discontinued in 1935 upon its completion. The train runs roundtrip from the museum in downtown Boulder City, over the track at Railroad Pass that was restored during the I-15 Boulder City bypass project completed in 2018, and all the way to Paradise Hills in Henderson at the base of Mt. McCullough. It's a one-hour return, leaving at 5:30 p.m. The schedule and ticket situation is still up in the air, at least as far as the museum website being updated, but that should occur soon and we'll let you know when it does. In 2026, the Nevada State Railroad Museum will open its new 9,000-square-foot visitor’s center, including a new passenger loading platform, museum exhibits, classroom space, and a research room.
The San Francisco 49ers are -3.5 favorites over the Seattle Seahawks in tonight's Thursday Night Football game. The total is 48.5.
After a video taken yesterday morning, you can watch a great 13-minute promo film for Las Vegas circa 1955, recently unearthed and converted to digital, so the quality of the video and audio is superb. Check out airplane travelers in suits (with the narration touting "the informal casual manner of Las Vegas living"), the '50s cars, the Desert Inn inside and out, Valley of Fire and a very full Lake Mead complete with bathing beauties, the cigarette-smoking culture, and the closeups of the town of 38,000 in one of the biggest years for expansion in Las Vegas history. And thanks to Canada Roy for finding and sending it.
We're still looking at all the videos of Wednesday morning's implosion of the Tropicana and this one is the best we've seen, especially of the fireworks. The perspective is interesting, way above the towers, with MGM Grand and Sphere in the background, and it's fun how the camera starts vibrating from the force of the explosives. The other interesting thing about this page on FieldofSchemes.com, the companion website for the book Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit, by Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause, is a new term on us for the A's planned project on the Tropicana property: vaporstadium. If you like, you can read the two paragraphs of text about the phantom funding for the vaporstadium, in which de Mause describes LVCVA President and Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill as "moonlighting as an unregistered A’s lobbyist."
Bazaar Meat by José Andrés will be moving to Palazzo from the Sahara, where it's been since it opened in 2014. The new restaurant will open "in 2025," according to the press release, which didn't get any more specific than that. It was too busy with the breathless prose. "In this off-the-charts interpretation of a steakhouse, everything from steak and poultry to fish and hearty vegetables is grilled or roasted to perfection in the restaurant’s 'fire stage.' The menu of carefully curated shared plates consistently wows guests with ingeniously innovative cuisine, thoughtfully created cocktails, theatrical presentations, and attentive yet unfussy service." Bazaar Meat has been one of the most expensive restaurants in Las Vegas and that's at the Sahara; prices can only go up at Palazzo. We'll keep you posted.
Oof. Sorry for the headline. But the venerable Tropicana was imploded early this morning (and we couldn't come up with anything that made sense with Montana, Havana, or Hannah). Anyway, the deed was done, the Trop is gone, and we were sound asleep. Ballys, the A's, the LVCVA, and the county put on a nice show for themselves, since the public wasn't allowed within a half-mile. A 60-second video with a good look at the drone show is on the Las Vegas Review-Journal's site. You can see a good collage with some aerial views, plus a lot of historical footage, interviews with principals, and some fireworks, in the 2:30 feature on Today.com. CBSNews.com gives a great view of the twin implosions themselves. And if you want to see what it looked like from the average Joe's perspective, check out USAToday.com; it appears they didn't have a press credential. Now the fun part starts. Will the A's actually build a stadium? Will Bally's actually build a new resort-casino? We hope to see both in our lifetime.
We'd been hearing rumors for a couple of weeks that In-N-Out Burger will be opening at the BLVD, the huge mixed-use retail, dining, and entertainment development going up on the east side of the Strip across from City Center. We now have confirmation that the popular burger outlet will occupy 8,000 square feet on the third floor (of four) at the BLVD, with an additional 2,000 square feet of outdoor space on the third-floor patio. This will be the second Strip location for In-N-Out; the other is in the Linq Promenade just up the street. Reportedly, this will be the world's largest In-N-Out. We couldn't find the square footage, but it's generally agreed that the biggest In-N-Out is the one off Interstate 15 in Barstow, California, at roughly 4,500 square feet. This one will be almost twice as big, not including the patio. No timetable for the opening has been announced, but the BLVD is slated to debut in early 2025. In-N-Out says it takes up to nine months to open a new location.
British supergroup Coldplay will play Allegiant Stadium on Friday June 6 as part of its "Music Of The Spheres World Tour," which will hit 10 countries in May, June, and July. The shows in Australia, New Zealand, India, and England are sold out; tickets for the new shows in the U.S. and Canada go on sale on Friday at 10 a.m. PT. As we reported a couple of weeks ago, Coldplay lead singer and songwriter Chris Martin made a surprise appearance, heavily disguised, at Dino's karaoke one night after the band appeared at a Vegas music festival and sang "All My Love" from their new album Moon Music. You can see the YouTube video of that performance here. And you can see the new music video for "All My Love," in which Martin walks around Las Vegas in the disguise and hands out red balloons to strangers, here.
Every year, Restaurant Business issues a report ranking the 100 top-grossing restaurants in the U.S. We watch for it to see which restaurants here are the most popular, at least by revenue. For comparison purposes, the number-one restaurant in the U.S. was Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach at $45.3 million in sales, nearly 285,000 meals served (nearly 800 every day), and an average check of $120. Four of the top five restaurants were in Florida, three in Miami Beach and one in Orlando. The highest-grossing restaurant in Las Vegas came in at number 9: Alexxa's at Paris, $28.8 million in sales, about 600,000 meals served, and an $80 average check. The other Vegas restaurants were: #16, Cafe Americano, Caesars, $26.1 million, 767,853, $32; #17, Top of the World, Strat • $26.1 million, 200,000, $125; #31, Bazaar Meat, Sahara, $22.7 million, 210,000, $156; #49, Cafe Americano, Paris, $18.9 million, 661,611, $28; #54. Barry’s Downtown Prime, Circa, $18 million, 240,900, $140; #57, Delmonico Steakhouse, Venetian, $17.1 million, 135,231, $137; #69. Beauty & Essex, Cosmopolitan, $14.7 million, 163,628, $154; #79. Chica, Venetian, $13.1 million, 74,730, $104, and #81. Cabo Wabo Cantina, Miracle Mile Shops, $12.9 million, 230,000, $55. As you can see, nine of the Vegas top 10 were on the Strip, with the 10th downtown. Bazaar Meat had the highest check at $156, while Cafe Americano at Paris was lowest at $28. The other Cafe Americano, at Caesars, served the most meals; the 768,000 divides out to a whopping 2,100 meals every day.
Forbes.com analyzed gas prices from February 2024, plus car-repair costs, car-insurance rates, and used-car prices for all 50 states and found that Nevada is the second-most expensive state for owning a car in the country. The average price of a used car in the Silver State is $34,859, while the average annual cost of full-coverage insurance is $2,496. California has us beat, though not by much: $35,759 for a used car, $2,768 for insurance. Tied for third are Florida and Montana, followed by Alaska, Georgia, and Louisiana. Seven of the 10 most expensive states for car ownership are in the Pacific and West, while five of the 10 least expensive states are in the Midwest: Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Minnesota. New Hampshire is lowest at $31,833 and $1,390. Florida has the most expensive insurance at $3,865.
The Kansas City Chiefs are -5 favorites over the New Orleans Saints in tonight's Monday Night Football game. The total is 43.
The Las Vegas Aces' bid for an unprecedented third straight appearance in the WNBA Final was rejected yesterday by the New York Liberty in the fourth game of their best-of-five-game semi-final series. League MVP A'ja Wilson's 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks went for naught as the Liberty dominated the Aces in the 76-62 victory, winning three games to the Aces' one.
According to a story on Covers.com, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) examined 48 million tax returns submitted in 2018, 2019, and 2020 after sports betting was legalized and started to expand around the country. The TIGTA found that upwards of 150,000 taxpayers failed to claim sports betting winnings of more than $15,000. In addition, hundreds of tax forms submitted by sports books lacked taxpayer ID numbers. TIGTA estimated that taxpayers won $13 billion plus over the three years and amounted to a shortfall of $1.4 billion in unpaid taxes. The Inspector General's report concluded with five recommendations that the IRS implement to crack down on the tax scofflaws, notably, "begin appropriate enforcement actions for nonfilers." You can read the full 32-page report (or just the one-page synopsis) here.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are -2.5 favorites over the Dallas Cowboys in tonight’s Sunday Night Football game. The total is 43.5.
According to a story on Newsweek.com, a woman traveling alone was stunned to see a $566.90 cleaning charge on her hotel bill for a one-night stay at the Westgate after the room's smoke detector had registered smoke at 6:15 in the evening. The only problems were she doesn't smoke and she wasn't in the room at the time. When she inquired about the charge, she was told that "the Westgate smoke detectors are super accurate and that once the charge is on there, there's not much they can do." And not much was done, except immediately sucking the extra money "out of her bank account." The hotel promised to send a locksmith to corroborate her claim that she wasn't in the room at the time, but that it would take several days. When nothing continued to happen, she took to social media and posted a video about it, also "pointing to several reviews on TripAdvisor from fellow travelers who claimed to have also been erroneously charged for smoking in their rooms." Westgate, apparently, got wind of the 1.3 million views on Tik Tok and refunded the money to her and the other travelers. One question we have about the story is that the Westgate had access to the woman's bank account. The only way for that to happen is if she paid with her debit card. To us, that's not recommendable. As this case demonstrates, it's much better to pay with a credit card, so you can work with the credit card company to intervene.
When they say "no public viewing areas," it turns out they mean exactly that. Roads and pedestrian access to any potential locations for seeing the implosion of the Tropicana on Wednesday morning will be off-limits, shut down starting at 11 p.m. and completed by 12:30 a.m. before the 2:30 a.m. event. The Strip will be closed south of Park Avenue, between Park MGM and New York-New York, and north of Mandalay Bay Road. To the east, access will be denied all the way to Koval Lane and to the west from Frank Sinatra Drive. Police and security will enforce the safety perimeter. The fireworks and drone shows should be very exciting for the handful of dignitaries from Bally's Corp. the Oakland A's, the LVCVA, and Clark County, along with accredited media.
Alex Pereira is a -490 favorite over Khalil Rountree in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Raquel Pennington is -160 over Julianna Pena.
Generally, we don't promulgate rumors; so many of them swirl around and so few come to fruition. But this one's too juicy -- and close to our hearts -- to resist. We hear from a number of different sources that Oak View, the Denver-based sports-arena and commercial real estate company, is abandoning the 25-acre site near Silverton it picked up a couple of years ago for $100 million with the intention of building a $10 billion resort-casino-arena-entertainment district, the most expensive development in Las Vegas history. Now, this rumor has it, Oak View is looking seriously at the vacant acreage behind the Rio, just as the Oakland A's reportedly did before selecting the Tropicana as the site for its phantom stadium. The vast parking lots at the Rio, right across the street from our office, can support a 25-acre development and then some. And wouldn't it be inexpressibly cool to walk from our front door to an NBA arena, plus the surrounding dining and entertainment district, in 10 minutes flat? Here's hoping!
The Bureau of Land Management has resurrected the reservation system for entering Red Rock Canyon in a vehicle. The requirement was initially imposed during COVID, when the Canyon was overrun with visitors. The system is in effect now though May 5 and reservations can be made at Recreation.gov. Tickets are released for at least 30 days in advance, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.; gates open at 6 a.m. for those without reservations. The cost is $20 per four-wheel vehicle, $10 for motorcycle/scooter, bicycles are free, plus a $2 fee. An alternative to the managed area, on the east side of the canyon, is Calico Basin and is covered in this Question of the Day.
With seven full weeks to go until this year's Las Vegas Grand Prix, the traffic disruptions are gaining steam. Two southbound lanes of the Strip and the sidewalk in front of Bellagio have been closed for a couple of weeks already. Now, the installation of track lighting and barriers and other work are shutting down all but one lane of Koval Lane and Harmon and Sands avenues from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sundays through Fridays along the F1 circuit. In addition, the Strip will shrink to one lane in each direction between Spring Mountain Road and Harmon Ave. starting Monday and continuing through Friday between midnight and 9 a.m. until November 1.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the court that ordered New York startup company Kalshi to stop booking bets on outcomes of this year's election, has changed its mind; it's now allowing election betting to resume. Kalshi took roughly $50,000 in wagers over an eight-hour period last week before it was abruptly shut down by the Appeals Court, but only on which political party would control the House and Senate after next month's elections. In dissolving the original order, the court ruled that the plaintiff, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, didn't prove "that irreparable harm was likely to result from the resumption of election betting," but invited the Commission to "provide new evidence of serious harm to the public interest in the coming weeks." For a discussion on this issue, refer to our recent Question of the Day.
Mötley Crüe, the American heavy-metal band formed nearly 45 years ago, will take the stage for its third Las Vegas residency next spring. The 11-show "Las Vegas Residency" will be performed at Dolby Live at Park MGM on March 28 and 29; and April 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, and 19. The pre-sale begins Monday at 10 a.m. PT and general tickets go on sale Friday October 11, at 10 a.m. PT. And here's one we don't often see publicized for residencies: A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will be donated to Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth, a Las Vegas-based organization that provides for thousands of young people experiencing homelessness in southern Nevada. Good on the Crüe.
The Atlanta Falcons are -2.5 favorites over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in tonight's Thursday Night Football game. The total is 44.
As a reminder if you're here over the weekend, starting tomorrow night at 9 p.m., I-15 southbound will be closed from the 215 Beltway to Hacienda Avenue; the freeway won't reopen until Monday at 5 a.m. Traffic will be detoured from Tropicana Avenue and back onto I-15 after the 215 interchange. This is an extension (repaving) work of complete overhaul of the Tropicana Avenue interchange at I-15 that's been going on for nearly two years now.
A comprehensive and fascinating story posted yesterday on TheGuardian.com does a deep dive into Denise Coates, who founded Bet365 in 2000 and by 2017 was the highest-paid executive in the UK and is now also reportedly the country's richest woman. Coates worked in the betting-shop business founded by her father Peter, then borrowed 15 million pounds at the age of 33 to develop Bet365's sports betting platform and trading team, including what the Guardian story says is "the development and perfection of in-play betting." The company is still family-owned (brother John is the co-CEO and Peter is the chairman of the board) and directly supports roughly 12,000 jobs in Stoke-on-Trent, a city of 250,000 in central England between Manchester and Birmingham. Of course, the article asks, and attempts to answer, the question on the opposite side of the coin: "Is there a wider human cost to her huge success?" Decide for yourself here. (And thanks to Canada Roy for sending the link.)
The Eagles have added four new dates to their residency at Sphere: February 14, 15, 21, and 22. That brings the total number of shows to 24, all on 12 Friday and Saturday nights. You can sign up for pre-sale tickets at Eagles.com; public on sale starts at 10 a.m. PT on Friday October 11.
Anargyros Karabourniotis, better known in Las Vegas, poker, and high-roller circles as Archie Karas, died a few days ago after battling poor health for several years. Karas created a legend for himself by winning and losing fortunes. In particular, after amassing $2 million at poker, then losing $1,999,950 back, he arrived in Las Vegas in 1992 at the age of 42 with $50 to his name. With that and a $10,000 loan, he went on one of the most incredible winning streaks on record, starting with $17 million at the poker tables, then moving to the crap and baccarat tables at Binion's and building his bankroll to what many believe to be $40 million; the streak is remembered today as, simply, "The Run" and is immortalized in our book The Man with the $100,000 Breasts. Of course, live by the sword and all that; within a couple of years, he'd lost it again. Archie estimated that he gambled more than $1 billion, just in the days surrounding the Run, and claimed that he gambled more money in casinos than anyone in history. He was convicted of cheating at a blackjack table in a San Diego casino in 2014 and sentenced to probation; he was also invited into Nevada's Black Book, banning him from ever stepping foot in a Nevada casino again. His official cause of death hasn't been announced. He was 73.
The Venetian has initiated a tier-matching program, beginning Oct. 1 and running through the end of the year. Details about what they’re matching haven’t been revealed, but it’s a first for the casino.
The Major League Baseball playoffs begin today. The Dodgers are the favorite to win the World Series at +350, followed by the Phillies (+380), Yankees (+450), and Astros (+800).
The Neon Museum will relight the Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel & Casino “Debbie” sign on Wednesday October 9. That date marks the 31st anniversary of the opening of the Debbie Reynolds Showroom. The fuchsia 24-foot-long piece is being brought back to life for the first time in decades, funded by donations from YESCO, Debbie's son Todd Fisher, Friends of the Debbie Reynolds Estate, and others.
The month of October presents a nearly perfect weather picture after the summer snapshot that drips with sweat. Normal high temperatures range between 87 on the first of the month and 74 on the last, normal lows between 65 and 53. The record highs for the month have come in the first few days over the years: 103 on Oct. 1 in 1978 and 100 on Oct. 2 and 4 in 1980 and 1947, respectively. It can get pretty cold at night (perfect sleeping weather with the windows open and the air-conditioner finally shut off); the record lows range from 44 (Oct. 3, 1950) down to 26 (Oct. 30, 1971). In general, Vegas sees no precipitation in October, with clear sunny skies all the livelong month.