Bally’s Chicago lurches from crisis to calamity. Its latest misfortune would be aggravating were it not so perversely funny. Although Bally’s Corp. is shaking practically every tree in Christendom in its desperation for money, a group of cranks feels left out of this sucker bet. A couple of Texas crackers, Richard Fisher and Phillip Aronoff, are suing Bally’s, claiming their rights as white men are being violated by not being able to put money into this boondoggle. Fools and their money …
They keep trying to sound the death knell for buffets, but new ones just keep showing up. The latest comes from Genting Palace at Resorts World. This isn’t a dedicated buffet—there’s full menu service in the restaurant—but the buffet is available daily except Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday it’s $50.88 and Friday through Sunday it’s $60.88, with several seafood selections added. Unlimited wine is optional for $35/$40.
The Venue
Located inside the massive Resorts World resort, Genting Palace is one of the many fine-dining restaurants that sit directly off the casino floor. It’s a high-end place with high-end service and all ages are welcome. We went with a 13-year-old birthday boy, who received a small cake with a candle, gratis.
The Food
We went on a Sunday for the more expensive seafood selection. Upon entering the restaurant, the buffet doesn’t look very impressive and most of the customers are ordering off the menu, so there aren’t any lines. Don’t be dissuaded. There aren’t dozens of selections, but there doesn’t need to be. And the absence of lines is a definite plus. The cold seafood line-up is a good one—medium shrimp, snow crab, raw oysters, scallops, and whelks. What are whelks? They’re sea snails (you can pick them out from the photo below). There’s also a big selection of fresh fruit. The steam trays are all labeled: braised pork brisket, shrimp fried rice, seafood noodle, mussels in black bean sauce, siu mai, minced beef soup. At the end of the serving line is the Peking duck. A server carves it for you and the crepes and accompaniments are there for you to prepare as you like. Among those accompaniments is the hoisin sauce that goes with the duck, but strangely, it’s the only sauce available. No chili sauce, not even soy, you have to request those from your server (there’s cocktail sauce for the seafood). It’s a buffet, go back as often as you want.
The Verdict
This is a good one. The skinny snow crab was somewhat disappointing, but the rest of the seafood made up for it. The Peking duck ain’t no Wing Lei at Wynn, but you also won’t find that at any other buffet that we know of. Our favorites from the trays were the mussels and the soup. Drinks aren’t included and a Monkey Picked Oolong Tea was $8 additional. It was a perfect outing for our birthday scenario and we’d have to call it a bargain, given the near-$90 price tags at the gourmet buffets. We didn’t do the wine add-on, but will when we go back to try the non-seafood version.
Due to medical issues beyond my control, I missed the $160,000 two-day New Year’s Eve Bingo Spectacular at the Plaza. However! The Plaza does it every month and the room deal for $40 per night is available each time. No resort fee. That’s an incredible deal and the Plaza folks are fabulous.
My stay in the South Tower before the medical situation was very quiet, old school with a tub, and near self-parking, Bobby V style. You want a newer upgraded room with a view (and the noise) of Fremont Street? Stay in the North Tower.
The self-parking for hotel guests is free. Some of the video poker is full pay. Some roulette is single zero. The $500 royal flush Member Rewards Book coupon is back in 2025. Anthony values it at $142, making 9/6 JoB positive expectation. Go for it! Play 9/6 JoB in the very cool Sand Dollar Lounge. Tell ’em Bobby V sent you. Please. (I want to meet Jonathan Jossel, Plaza’s CEO, and tell him, “Thanks for making old school new school and cool again, JJ.”)
Pink Box, the lobby and always mobbed, has a special free birthday donut for you. Sign up on the Pinkbox app.
Speaking of birthday bonuses, we’re finishing up a super free birthday run to be posted on my next blog. But here are some highlights: $100 to $1,500 in free Play, three meals a day (yes, breakfast, lunch, and dinner), coffee, donuts, drinks, desserts and more during your birthday month. That’s right, month. Many of the deals extend out two weeks from your birthday or even the whole month, not just your actual birthday. Plan a birthday-month trip!
I can’t wait for you to see it. The blog will be set up as birthday runs for the Strip, Fremont, locals casinos, etc. And now that the 2025 MRB is available, you can stack your LVA coupons for even more fun, free play, and free food.
Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: This week’s breakfast buffet is Fri-Sun, 1 a.m.-12 p.m. is $19.95. Then their dinner buffet is Fri & Sat, 4 p.m.-10 p.m. is $24.95.
Excalibur – The Buffet at Excalibur: Brunch buffet prices went up $1. Weekday Brunch is Mon – Thur, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is now $32.99. Friday Brunch is 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is now $38.99. Mimosa Brunch is Sat & Sun, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is still $43.99.
MGM Grand – MGM Grand Buffet: All brunch buffet prices went up $1. Weekday Brunch is Mon – Thur, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is now $32.99. Friday Brunch is 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is now $38.99. Mimosa Brunch is Sat & Sun, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. is now $43.99.
Wynn – The Buffet: Seafood Gourmet Dinner buffet price went up $5. Gourmet Brunch is daily, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. is still $59.99. Seafood Gourmet Dinner is daily, 1 p.m.-9 p.m. is now $79.99.
For the first in the podcast’s history, Eddie and Chris recorded an episode live!
VGK Broadcaster Ashali Vise joined them for this fast-moving episode that covers social media-reactions, the (non) controversial collision between Mark Stone and Miro Heiskanen, the upcoming 4 Nations Tournament, and much more!
First, the good news. Statewide, gambling revenues in Nevada were up 2% last month, halting a five-month skid. However, there was no relief from decline on the Las Vegas Strip, where the take was down 2.5%. If you’re searching for a silver lining in that, Deutsche Bank had expected an 8% drop. Whew. The main culprit for the Strip’s continued declivity was baccarat. That notoriously volatile game saw house winnings plummet 10% on 4.5% less money wagered and looser hold.
You enter the Discoshow bilevel sanctum through a door off the casino and pass through a mirrored anteroom.
Out the back door is 99 Prince, the first-floor bar that’s as dark and sinister as a New York subway station. You walk up the stairs, down a long hall, and wait in the lounge outside the showroom. The Disco (drag) Queen, Mother, regales you for 10 minutes or so from a book of disco fairy tales, then the doors open.
You show the wristband you’re given upon checking in and file into Glitterloft, the theater, such as it is: a square space with no seats, a catwalk above and around the perimeter, and huge video panels encircling the room with non-stop scenes from ’70s Manhattan and Chicago. The Gloria Gaynor tune “I Will Survive” is playing — and you hope you’re not supposed to take it literally.
Looking around, you’ll note that a goodly portion of the audience is dressed in Vegas-disco outfits, ready to rock ’em and sock ’em.
And it’s hard not to rock at this $40 million show, especially if you were into the disco music and scene 40-50 years ago. You stand throughout the performance, which consists of a six-segment dance lesson from Ake (“Okay”) Blomqvist, modeled and named after a Finnish actor and dance instructor — bright white suit, Scandinavian accent, fun moves, and all.
The 10 dancers gyrate, luxate, and roller skate on the catwalk, backed by the intense videos.
At several points during the show, they come down to the dance floor and climb atop “dumpsters” rolled in and out to get up close and sweaty with the audience. The floor lights up with X-mark-the-spots rectangles and crowd managers with small paddles prod the audience out of the way of the portable stages.
It’s all as highly choreographed and produced and risqué as you’d expect from Spiegelworld, especially if you’ve seen Absinthe or Atomic Saloon. Also, it’s nothing if not high energy, revving up the crowd to a soundtrack of Chic’s “Le Freak,” “Good Times,” and “Everybody Dance,” The Trammps’ “Disco Inferno,” and the finale, “We Are Family,” the disco anthem from Sister Sledge, accompanied by — what else? — a strobe effect.
Then DiscoShow slams shut, the doors fling open, and you shuffle out after 70 minutes of standing, dancing, shoving, and swiveling to take it all in.
If this sounds kind of chaotic and a bit indiscriminate, that’s because it is. DiscoShow isn’t your grandfather’s Vegas entertainment. It’s immersive, participatory, and strenuous, so it’s not for everyone. But if you’re up for more of a party than any other Las Vegas production show in recent memory, this is an experience you won’t soon forget.
Perhaps 10 years ago, I was playing $10 NSU Deuces Wild alongside “John,” a player I had known for quite a while. He was dealt four aces with a three, and complained bitterly, saying he’s playing the wrong game. He’d been playing $10 Double Double Bonus (DDB) not long before and that hand would have been worth $20,000. Playing NSU, it was worth $200, or maybe $800 if he could pick up a deuce after he threw away the three.
I commented that he’s lucky he wasn’t imagining he was playing Triple Double Bonus (TDB). In that game, he would have missed out on $40,000 instead of the measly $20,000 he missed out on while speculating his payout playing DDB.
He was not amused.
Later he ended up with AKQ of spades alongside two deuces. That was worth $1,250 in this game and wouldn’t have been worth anything had he been playing DDB or TDB. “Maybe the video poker gods are trying to make it up to you,” I teased.
John didn’t enjoy my mocking him, but he took it in stride. We had a relationship in which teasing the other was par for the course.
John was not a professional player. He had basic strategy down pretty well and didn’t bother with the fine points. He often played games returning less than 99% even if he played perfectly, which he didn’t. He owned his own business and even if he lost $50,000 or $100,000 a year gambling, it didn’t make a lot of difference to his lifestyle.
He believed that he was the unluckiest video poker player ever and periodically found evidence to support this belief. If he was playing Hundred Play and drew to three of a kind, he knew connecting on four separate quads was the average result.
From here, it was a small step to believe he “deserved” four quads and whenever he ended up with three quads or fewer, he felt he was being cheated. Even when he drew five or more quads from this starting position, he felt it was a case of “too little too late.” In his mind, these occasions barely made a dent in his overall “unluckiness.”
These beliefs took the sting out if his losing sessions. After all, in his mind it wasn’t his fault! He was mostly playing correctly, and the machines weren’t cooperating.
While he had attended some of my classes, he didn’t want me correcting him while we were playing. Which was perfectly fine with me. He believed my strategies were developed for people with average luck, or better than average luck.
He was correct, of course. The strategies I use and sell assume that every unseen card has an equal probability of being drawn next. The strategies also assume that all players have average luck over a long enough time period. We all have lucky days and unlucky days. Just because a person believes he or she is luckier or unluckier than average doesn’t make it so.
Convincing John of this was impossible, of course. His theories allowed him to continue to lose year after year and still believe it wasn’t his fault.
So, our teasing was mostly lighthearted. He always claimed that I was a “luck sack.” I’d counter with “luck favors the prepared.” While neither of us ever convinced the other, we remained friendly for decades.
