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Atomic Golf Drone Show


Las Vegas’ first “residency” drone show is sponsored by Atomic Golf on Thursdays at 9 and 11 p.m.

We’ve read various accounts of the number of drones that perform the show. It’s somewhere between 200 and 1,000; it varies from week to week. But no matter how many there are, it’s an impressive display of coordinated flying and technology.

In formation, the drones assemble themselves into intricate images. Like the number of drones, the images change from show to show. For ours, they comprised words and logos, golf clubs and tees, a U.S. map with Las Vegas starred, the Vegas Golden Knights symbol, and more.

The show lasts exactly 10 minutes.

It all takes place just beyond and above the driving range, so when viewed from inside Atomic Golf, the towering posts holding up the fencing that encloses the range obstruct the view somewhat, as you can see in the photos. But that matters mostly for photographers (like us); for spectators, it doesn’t really interfere with the entertainment. The best view from Atomic Golf is bay 402 in the far north corner of the fourth floor.


The best view overall is probably from the top of the STRAT parking garage, but unless you have Nevada license plates (free for locals), parking will run you $20. No grace period. There’s free parking at Atomic Golf, but none was available when we drove in.

It was our first drone show, so we thought it was pretty cool and impressive. It’s definitely worth seeing for a quick cheap thrill and you can take in the grand new entertainment venue while you’re at it. The shows are scheduled to run Thursday nights through the middle of October.

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Gambling at the Airport

Bob Dancer

About 2½ years ago, McCarran International Airport underwent a name change to Harry Reid International Airport. Under whichever name, it’s a major portal to and from Las Vegas, with 57.6 million passengers passing through it in 2023 — probably more this year. In terms of passenger arrivals and departures, it’s the19th busiest airport in the world (8th busiest in the U.S.).

Because it’s Las Vegas, there are legal slot and video poker games to be played at the airport. The slot machine concession at the airport is owned by Michael Gaughan, who also owns the South Point casino in Las Vegas.

The South Point, of course, is one of the best places to gamble in Las Vegas. At the airport, maybe not so much. Michael Shackleford, the Wizard of Odds, estimated that the airport slots are as much as 8% tighter than slots in Vegas casinos. Why this is so is because the airport has a captive audience. If your plane is delayed by an hour or two, very few of us would hop into an Uber to go to the South Point or elsewhere to receive a better gamble. If you have the urge to gamble (and that’s not so rare among passengers in the Las Vegas airport), you gamble in the airport as you’re killing time. 

As a video poker player, I’ve always avoided gambling at the airport — just as I usually avoid gambling at video poker on cruise ships. When casinos have captive audiences, the odds are not in the players’ favor. And since I live in Las Vegas, I have good games available to me 24/7 and do not need to play bad games to scratch any gambling itch I might have.

That all changed when I started playing slot machines a few years ago. Certain slot machines store up value. Although there are many formats for beatable slots, a common one has three or four meters, which rise with coin-in and eventually, randomly, give you however many spins are on the meter. And the meter is then reset to a lower number. Players learn that on such and such a game, if the mini meter is 20, or the minor meter is 30, or the major meter is 40, or the mega meter is 140, it’s a winning bet to sit down and play. You don’t always win, of course, but you’re playing with an advantage. If you find these games at the airport, you probably want to bump your strike numbers up to 22, 33, 44, and 155. The lower return to players (RTP) means that you do not get as much per spin in the bonus round as you do in casinos with a higher RTP.

In regular casinos, when the meters get high enough, players continue playing until the meters go off. But at the airport, if they call your flight and you HAVE to get home today, most players will leave the machines and get on the plane — no matter how high the return percentage currently.

As you might expect, this has given rise to airport slot hustlers. Some players will buy refundable tickets in order to get past airport security, and then walk (and take free shuttles where available), from one terminal to the next. I’m guessing it’s three or four miles of walking to check every machine in all of the terminals. If you have a refundable ticket, once you’ve checked all the machines (and played the ones you believed were positive), you leave the airport without even getting on a plane. And then you do it the th e next day. And the next.

As a general rule, casinos do not like the idea of certain players always beating them. Casinos in Nevada are allowed to 86 such players — for virtually any reason at all that doesn’t involve discriminating on the basis of sex, skin tone, national origin, or a few other categories.  Harry Reid International Airport, however, is United States Federal property. MJG Airport Slots does not have the right to 86 players from the airport. 

I’m not sure of exactly what legal rights MJG Airport Slots has to prevent unwanted players from playing their machines, but it definitely takes actions. They know the slots that the pros commonly examine and if you show up several times a week checking those machines, in all the terminals, you will be noticed. The airport has security cameras all over the place. Perhaps MJG Airport Slots has access to that camera feed — or has its own cameras which it uses.

If they believe you are an advantage slot player, you will be approached and told not to play the airport machines anymore. Your picture will be taken. You will be told that if they catch you again playing these slots, the police will be called.

If we still had the Gambling with an Edge podcast, I’d ask Bob Nersessian to tell us what rights players have and what rights MJG Airport Slots have. 

I fly in and out of this airport a couple times a month. Sometimes I’ll allow time for a slot run before or after the flights. Since MJG Airport Slots senior personnel used to work for Michael Gaughan and have paid me hundreds of jackpots over the years, I assume I’m recognized on sight and considered an advantage player. Making extra trips to the airport to check these slots wouldn’t be worth it to me. I’d be picked off for sure. For me, if I were asked not to play there and the police would be called if I did, that would be sufficient grounds for me to cease. 

The Reno Airport, which is much smaller than Harry Reid, also has slot and video poker machines. I assume there are slot advantage players there as well. I don’t know how they are dealt with in that airport.

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Atomic Golf


Atomic Golf is the $75 million 100,000-square-foot four story golf-entertainment mega venue that opened in March next to the STRAT. It’s an ambitious undertaking, with 101 golfing bays spread from one end of the four floors to the other, all using the 216-yard driving range. Each has a video box that you face as you play, loaded with seven proprietary games; you can battle aliens or another team’s space ship, play blackjack by hitting cards, aim for a bull’s-eye or the longest distance, or just practicing your swing.

There’s also a “putting district” with eight bays, mini-golf meets video games, where the clubs and the ceiling use sensors to track where the golf ball goes. The central Astrocade watch-party area features a 40-foot LED screen, a DJ spinning very loud music, and games such as cornhole. Six bars include the exclusive Tap Room on the third floor and a full menu of drinks and sports bar food is delivered to your bay by waitresses. Bays are $60 to rent.

Atomic Golf has experienced well-publicized problems since it opened. The driving range faces west, so when the sun is setting, it not only gets very very hot, but you’re looking straight into it as you play; portable a/c fans and misters provide little relief. The lack of early business forced the venue to lay off 33% of its workforce.

But on a Thursday night in late July when we visited, the place was jam packed with golfer-partyers drinking, eating, and slicing, hooking, shanking, and whiffing golf balls all over the range. The parking lot was full, so we had to park at the STRAT (covered elsewhere in the newsletter).


Frankly, we didn’t play. We were just there to see one of the two drone shows performed on Thursday nights at 9 and 11 p.m. After dark, the sun wasn’t in anyone’s faces, though it was good and toasty in the open 100-degree air and the kids retreated to stand in front of the fans from time to time to get some relief.

But the golfers were having a blast, people were watching the big screen in the Astrocade, and when the drone show started at 9:01 p.m., no one noticed. They barely knew to look out at it over the fence posts. That’s the best advertisement we can imagine for the place.

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Buffet Update – August 2024

buffet, fries

Circus Circus – Circus Buffet: This week’s buffet schedule is: Weekend Brunch is Friday, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. for $24.95. Weekend Dinner is Friday-Sunday, 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. for $24.95.

Luxor – The Buffet at Luxor: Brunch buffet prices went up $1. Weekday Brunch is Wed & Thurs, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. for $31.99. Weekend Brunch is Fri-Sun, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. for $37.99.

Palms – A.Y.C.E. Buffet: New times and prices expected by early August.

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Palms A.Y.C.E. Brunch Buffet

The validation at Club Serrano took five minutes. The wait to get into the weekday brunch buffet (served 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1 p.m. on Wed. and Thurs.) also took five minutes — plus an hour.

The line wasn’t especially long, but it moved in fits and starts, stalling when people waiting for a table backed up to the cashier. Yes, it was a drudge, especially looking into the room and seeing half the tables empty, but dirty. Eventually, however, you pay (more on that below), get seated, fill your plate and then your face, and all is forgiven and forgotten — unless you have to write a review.

Filling your plate is easy. The good stuff: steamed snow crab (worth the wait alone), six-ounce steak (grilled to perfection), carved bone-in ham, pork loin, and chicken breast, dill salmon, medium peeled shrimp, bagels and lox, cooked-to-order eggs, and two types of Benedicts. You’ll also be tempted by Middle Eastern choices (baba ghanoush, Fattoush salad, falafel/tzatziki), scrambled eggs and Tex-Mex scramble, bacon, sausage, several potato dishes, hot and cold cereal, parfait bar, melons, salads, lobster roll, fajitas, tamales, several pizzas, and chicken and waffles.

steamed snow crab
steak, lobster roll, Benedict, chicken and waffles
parfait, melon, lox and bagels, peeled shrimp
bacon/sausage, scrambled/Tex-Mex, breakfast potatoes

For dessert, there’s scooped sorbet, soft-serve, and assorted pastries cakes, and pies.

As you eat, you’re secure in the knowledge that with our MRO coupon, you’re getting the best buffet deal in town, without a doubt, and one of the best deals in town overall. With the 50%-for-one option, you pay $21.50, for two $42.99. (The brunch buffet price was raised $10 on August 12; dinner Sat.-Tues. is $46.99, an increase of $10. Snow crab and prime rib on Fridays is now $52.99, up $10 and the all-you-can-eat lobster dinner on Wed. and Thurs. is $79.99, up from $64.99.) With a $5 toke, a couple is out of there for $50.

As we say, this deal is so strong, it erases the memory of standing around for an hour.

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Toasted Gastrobrunch

Wow. How is it that we never even heard of this place until Yelp named it the number-one brunch restaurant in the entire country? Talk about under the radar.

In May, Yelp compiled its annual list of the 100 top brunch restaurants in the U.S. based on reviews on the site. Though California had the most brunches at 15, followed by Florida (11) and Texas (9), Las Vegas had the number-one-ranked restaurant. Toasted Gastrobrunch moved into the top spot after being ranked #22 last year.

It’s been in business in Las Vegas for five years and has two locations, both out in the western valley near the Beltway (9516 W. Flamingo right at the Beltway and 7345 Arroyo Crossing Parkway just south of the Beltway a bit west of Buffalo), plus three in San Diego.

With that kind of recommendation, we ran out to the one on Flamingo to see what all the fuss was about. We saw!

To start with, it’s an Interesting place, full of farm-animal decor.

The brander/decorator also has a distinct sense of humor.

It also has a seven-seat counter, outdoor patios on two sides, and plenty of tables inside, but the word is out. When we arrived at 11:30 on a Monday morning, Toasted was less than half full, but by the time we left at 12:15, every inside table was taken (the counter had availability).

The menu is extensive and creative to the point of innovative, no mean feat for breakfast/brunch.

Eggs start with the Plain Jane — two eggs, bacon or Portuguese sausage, truffle potatoes, and a roasted half-tomato ($17) — then go off on flights of fancy all the way to Eggs in Purgatory, a sunnyside egg in a sourdough bowl with shakshuka sauce, scallions, and mint ($18). They also come with smoked brisket, veggie, or ABC (avocado, pork belly, and cheddar) hash, steak ($28), just the whites, omelet, and scrambles. Benedict fans (like us) choose from short ribs, fried chicken, regular bacon, and veggie with nut-free pesto hollandaise ($17-$19.50). Then there are four French toasts ($12-$18), four south-of-the-border breakfasts, three toasts including salmon and lobster ($17-$18), plus sandwiches, burgers, and desserts.

The drink menu features eight mimosas, including a four-drink flight ($22), three Bellinis ($11), cocktails, wine, beer, flaming coffees, and all the lattes, capuccinos, and espressos you’d expect.

We went for the regular bacon Benny. The bacon was thick (good), the asparagus was thin (better), the eggs runny (perfect), the English muffins crisp (they barely got soggy throughout the meal), the hollandaise creamy (beautiful), and the roasted half-tomato with parmesan juicy (excellent). It also came with a big bowl of truffle potatos, similar to tater tots, but round, with a stainless-steel cup of ketchup. Trust us when we tell you that it was an astounding meal, both in quality and quantity, and we had to consciously stop ourselves from moaning in culinary rapture from start to finish.

Speaking of finish, we couldn’t. It was a ridiculous amount of food, especially for the price ($18). All the dishes we spied at tables around us were the same. It seems that it doesn’t matter what you order or how big an appetite you have, you probably won’t be able to eat your entire meal.

We can easily see how Yelpers rated Toasted Gastrobrunch the nation’s number one.

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Boyd controversial; Sands shortfall

“Much better than a quarter ago,” J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff said of Boyd Gaming‘s second-quarter numbers. The company had arguably shocked Wall Street with its 1Q24 underperformance, so this week’s news was salutary. While Greff, for one, didn’t move off his “Neutral” rating, he did add a dollar to his $67/share price target. “Importantly, its Las Vegas Locals properties showed better/less-bad results,” he wrote of Boyd, adding that Downtown was trending nicely and even the Midwest/South casinos outperformed his estimates … with a last-minute boost from crazy-busy Treasure Chest, whose new iteration debuted in June.

Continue reading Boyd controversial; Sands shortfall
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WHAT IS RETURN IN VIDEO POKER & HOW CAN IT BE CALCULATED?

This post is syndicated by the Las Vegas Advisor for the 888 casino group. Anthony Curtis comments on the 888 article introduced and linked to on this page.

AC says:

If you’re interested in figuring out what the return percentage was for a particular playing session or period of time, this article gives you the correct formula to do that. However, I’m not sure what the value is in doing so. Players like to whine about losses, so calculating that you just played for three hours with a return of 68.5% provides good ammunition for the woe-is-me tale, but it doesn’t give you information you can act on to improve future results. In fact, letting a bad session on a good game dissuade you from playing it again is a big mistake. Far more important is knowing going in what the long-term return percentages are for the games you have to choose from, then, in most cases, playing the game with the highest return. 

This article was written by Jerry Stich in association with 888Casino.

WHAT IS RETURN IN VIDEO POKER & HOW CAN IT BE CALCULATED?

Most serious video poker players understand what elements define a good game. These elements include return, variance, and strategy complexity. For most serious players, return is the main element considered when choosing a video poker game to play.

Many video poker players understand what return is. Fewer understand how video poker return varies during play. Fewer still know how to calculate their actual return for a session, day, trip, or year. This article addresses these topics.

Keep reading …

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Junior’s Cheesecake, Resorts World

Junior's Cheesecake, Resorts World

Junior’s Cheesecake was founded in 1950 in the heart of Brooklyn on Flatbush Avenue (and DeKalb). The original restaurant remains in place 74 years later; Junior’s has four other locations: two in Times Square, one at Foxwoods, and the 300-seat venue that opened at Resorts World in late February in the space formerly occupied by the Kitchen. Junior’s is, essentially, Resorts World’s new coffee shop.

Junior’s is renowned for the best cheesecake in New York City and beyond, with 25 varieties, plus rich and fancy cakes and pies, along with pastries, brownies, cookies, and more.

It’s also a full-service deli and New York-style diner, with a huge menu of breakfast items and soups, salads, sandwiches, steaks, seafood, barbecue, and chef’s specialties.

On our visit, we opted for the cup of soup and half-sandwich ($19.95), in order to try the matzo ball and corned beef. But the half-san comes on a roll (on the menu, it’s actually called a “plain roll”) and you can’t substitute for bread.

We weren’t about to have a Jewish-style-deli corned-beef sandwich on a hamburger bun (it’s against our religion), so we got the full sandwich (also $19.95, with the soup at $7.95).

We snuck a photo of the half-san on a bun from the table next to ours. Pretty weak.

The sandwich was big, as expected, but not among the better corned beefs we’ve known and loved — dry and tasteless. It comes on marbled rye (so much for good Jewish caraway-seeded rye, let alone double baked) and the house-brand mustard was bland. Likewise, the matzo ball was big and light, but the soup was really salty, indicating the lack of chicken-soup finesse. And the $29.15 (before tax and tip) left us even more unimpressed.

We also got a slice of cheesecake to bring back to the office. That did live up to its reputation. Everyone agreed: rich, creamy, sweet with a little tang, firm rather than full of air, with a soft crust. Redemption!

We’ll probably give Junior’s another chance in the breakfast or all-day-dining department, but so far, we’re considering it go-to place for a decadent dessert.