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A torrential downpour that hit Las Vegas yesterday broke a 20-year record for rainfall in a 24-hour period: a quarter-inch at McCarran Airport. Other parts of the valley received up to 1.3 inches, which brought the total rainfall for the year to 3.8 inches, exactly double the annual average for this time of year. Flooding, numerous lightning strikes, and delays at McCarran eased up by early evening.
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R.U.N. will be the name of the new Cirque du Soleil show when it opens on October 24 at 7 p.m. in Luxor's R.U.N. Theater exactly a year after Criss Angel's Cirque show closed there. Designed to appeal to the younger action-adventure-movie audience (and what isn't?) and Esports fans (to complement Luxor's HyperX Esports arena), R.U.N. will be a distinct departure for Cirque in its seventh Strip show: a cinematic story, chase scenes, fights, stunts -- the whole action-adventure repertoire, complete with a scriptwriter who collaborated on several movies with Quentin Tarantino. R.U.N. will put on 10 performances per week, 7 and 9 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday; tickets will start at $69.
Harrah’s Northern California Casino in the small town of Ione in Amador County, 40 miles southeast of Sacramento in the foothills, held a soft opening yesterday at 4:30 p.m. The Northern California has 950 slot machines, 20 table games, one full-service restaurant and American, Asian, and Mexican fast food in a food court. The actual grand-opening celebration will take place May 17-19.
As of this Wednesday, the Wynn and Encore will eliminate paid self-parking for everyone. The gates at the self-parking garage will be removed. The valet parking situation won't change: Valet parking is free for hotel guests; non-guests who spend $50 or more onsite receive validation on their valet-parking tickets. The Wynn is the first hotel-casino to rescind parking fees entirely since the trend began three years ago; the Wynn started charging in August 2017.
Live Nation, the number-one events promoter and venue operator in the U.S. and partner to Ticketmaster, is sponsoring its fifth annual National Concert Week May 1-7. During that week only, concert-goers can buy more than two million tickets for nearly 3,000 summer concerts and events for $20, including fees. Las Vegas concerts include 10 dates for Lady Antebellum at the Palms, nine dates for Pitbull at Planet Hollywood, 15 Janet Jackson shows at the Park Theater, 16 dates for Christina Aguilera at Planet Hollywood, 21 for Gwen Stefani at PH, six for Billy Idol at the Palms, four for Florida Georgia Line at PH, and one-off shows including New Kids on the Block, Jennifer Lopez, Hootie and the Blowfish, Judas Priest, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and many more. Sales to the general public commence at 9 a.m. Pacific time on May 1 and end at 11:59 p.m. on May 7 at NCW.LiveNation.com.
It was inevitable and we wonder why it took so long for Harry Potter to have his own Vegas show. Potted Potter — The Unauthorized Harry Experience will open sometime in June in the small Windows Showroom at Bally's in the 8 p.m. slot. It will be a 70-minute parody that attempts -- and succeeds, if the reviews are any indication -- to condense ("pot" in British English) all three million words of the Harry Potter series (including the flying game, Quidditch) into what must surely be the fastest-paced show ever to hit Sin City. Potted Potter started touring the UK in 2007 and has traversed this world (and possibly others) ever since.
The grand opening of Kind Heaven, the $100 million 100,000-square-foot immersive Southeast Asian experience opening at the LINQ, has been pushed back eight months. The debut was originally announced for August 2019, but the new date is now sometime in April 2020. And it looks like the Treehouse, an ambitious dining-entertainment project downtown announced in August 2018, could be in trouble. The original March 2019 opening date came and went, construction appears to be stalled, and the unfinished building is up for sale.
The Sports Deli at MGM Grand closed yesterday. It was the Stage Deli for 23 years before the switch to the Sports Deli, but this is the end of the line for delis of any kind in that location; it will be replaced by a Starbucks.
Celestia, the tent-housed show at the Strat that was originally scheduled to open last January, is now selling tickets. The show will open on Saturday May 11 at 7 p.m.; 7 p.m. only shows will continue on May 12 and 15-19. A 9:30 p.m. show will be added on Fri., Sat., and Sun. nights starting May 24. Celestia will be dark Mondays and Tuesdays and there will be 7 p.m. shows on Wednesday and Thursday. Tickets start at $38.15, not including taxes and fees, and go up to $86.58.
Caesars Palace's 24/7 coffee shop, Café Americano, is opening a separate restaurant, Terraza by Café Americano, sometime this summer on the outdoor patio. The space will be climate-controlled with seating for about 100; reservations will be accepted for patio dining. The menu will feature Asian, Latin American, and Tex-Mex. Outdoor dining is a growing trend in Las Vegas and you can find a good list of options at our current reader poll; vote for your favorites while you're there.
Ronaldo Souza is a -240 favorite over Jack Hermansson in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Greg Hardy is -325 over Dimitrii Smoliakov.
Flights, a tapas restaurant with four locations in northern California, is opening a fifth restaurant at the Miracle Mile Shops in the space formerly occupied by Cheeseburger Las Vegas, right next door to the V Theater. The restaurant, with its aviation decor and servers outiftted in flight-attendant uniforms, is slated to debut on June 29. The Flights Mountain View restaurant earned the Best New Restaurant in Silicon Valley award for 2018.
Today and tomorrow mark the final two days of this year’s “Great American Foodie Fest” being held in the parking lot of Sunset Station. In addition to food from several vendors, the event features live entertainment, carnival rides, and a crafts show. For the first time, admission is free.
New York-New York is holding its annual hot dog-eating contest today, with the male and female winners advancing to the Nathan’s championship in July. There's no charge to view the contest, which begins at 3 p.m. on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The number of visitors who came to Las Vegas in March was down 1.4% over March of last year. Hotel occupancy was down 1.2% (to 91.5%), total occupied room nights fell 0.9%, the average daily room rate was down 0.2% (to $133.95 a night), average daily traffic dropped 0.7%, and the gambling win was down 0.6%. The Las Vegas and Visitors Authority, which compiles the monthly stats, attributed the downturn to a 15.4% decline in convention attendance due to annual rotations of several large trade shows. All that said, for the first three months of 2019, visitation was up 0.8% over the first quarter of 2018, the average daily room rate was up 4.9% (to $141.77 a night), and citywide occupancy was up 0.7% over the same quarter in 2018.
Signs on construction walls at McCarran International indicate that a Shake Shack will soon open in Terminal 1, joining Great Steak and Potato Company, 360-Degree Bistro, PGA Tour Grill, along with Port of Subs and other fast-fooderies. It will be the sixth Las Vegas location for the fast-growing upscale hamburger chain, which has more than 200 outlets in 12 countries and 20 states in the U.S.
After a grueling two-year 200-show sold-out arena tour, American singer, dancer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer Bruno Mars returns to Las Vegas for an 11-date engagement at Park MGM: April 29 and 30; May 3 and 4; Sept. 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 13, and 14. Tickets are on sale now starting at $178 and going up to $3,700 plus taxes and fees.
Sanrio, the Japanese company that in 1975 created Hello Kitty, the cartoon character with a product line that includes clothing, toys, school supplies, manga comics, anime, a TV series, even two theme parks, is opening a Hello Kitty tea/dessert/merch cafe at the Park outside T-Mobile Arena in early June. The cafe is described as a "pink oasis" that will feature a "supercute" menu of freshly baked and highly themed cookies, cakes, donuts, seasonal specials (such as lemon tart and strawberry cake), along with lemonade, iced tea, espresso, smoothies, and hot chocolate, plus the most popular products from the line. According to Wiki, Hello Kitty is the second highest-grossing franchise in history, taking in $80 billion in retail sales over the past 45 years.
The Nevada Gaming Commission has approved the license for a new sports betting venture for Derek Stevens, owner of the D and Golden Gate and builder of Circa, the downtown megaresort scheduled to open in December 2020. The startup Circa Sports will manage the full-scale sports book at the Golden Gate, which is on track for a June 1 grand opening, as well as a satellite book at the D. Both will blaze the trail for Circa's sports book, which will be one of the largest in Las Vegas.
24/7WallSt.com, a news and opinion website, reviewed U.S. restaurants with AAA and Michelin ratings, 250 combined reviews on Google and Yelp, and editorial reviews, then identified the 30 best. Two Las Vegas eateries made the list: Restaurant Guy Savoy was ranked number 19 and Joel Robuchon number 11. San Francisco and Los Angeles restaurants garnered three listings each, while New York received eight, including the number-two (Eleven Madison Park) and number-one (Le Bernardin) rankings.
The iconic century-old American Coney Island will celebrate the family-owned restaurant's 102nd birthday on Thursday May 9 by offering hot dogs for a nickel at the outlet at the D downtown, the only location outside of Michigan. The dogs, known for their high-quality specially seasoned Dearborn Sausage brand in a natural casing and the secret-recipe chili sauce, cost five cents when American Coney Island opened in Detroit in 1917. The nickel dogs will be served from 11 a.m. to noon only with a limit of one per customer.
On Tuesday, Las Vegan James Holzhauer became only the second contestant in the 34-year history of "Jeopardy!" to break the $1 million mark in winnings -- on his 14th appearance. He also holds the top-five single-show scores. But in order to break Ken Jennings' 74-game winning streak, including tournaments and reruns, it won't be until September that we'll know whether or not he breaks the last record. (Holzhauer will know long before then; "Jeopardy!" tapes five episodes in a single day, two days a week.) Jennings himself is in Holzhauer's corner. "It’s just mystified me that nobody has made much of a run at it in fifteen years," he told Wired magazine. "As a fan of the show, I’m actually rooting for James or anybody who can take a swing at that record."
Las Vegas can now claim another first: It has the most Starbucks outlets per capita in cities of 100,000 or more. Apartment Guide, a website for rentals nationwide, ranked the top 10 Starbucks cities and Las Vegas placed first with one location for every 5,100 residents (or so), a total of 125 stores in the city, with its nearly 650,000 residents. Burbank, CA, placed second, Bellevue, WA, placed third, and Seattle, birthplace of Starbucks, came in fourth. Orlando was the only city in the top 10 east of the Mississippi. (The survey didn't include Starbucks locations inside other businesses, such as grocery stores or casinos.) Las Vegas placed seventh of the cities with the most Starbucks overall; New York City came in first with 241.
Tickets go on sale Monday April 29 for a 16-date mini-residency by Sting at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace -- even though the first show is more than a year away. The shows will run on May 22, 23, 27, 29, and 30; June 3, 5, and 6; August 15, 19, 21, 22, 26, 28, and 29; and September 2 (all dates in 2020). The least expensive tickets for the "My Songs" shows will be $59.
The winner of March 27's $768 million Powerball jackpot, which had been growing since late December 2018 and was the third largest in U.S. history, claimed the prize yesterday. The 24-year-old Wisconsin man, who admitted that his financial goal had been to achieve $1,000 in his savings account, opted for the lump sum of $477 million (42.2% of the grand prize). Wisconsin doesn't allow winners to remain anonymous.
The Treasures gentlemen’s club has unveiled a rare Premium Happy Hour, with top-shelf booze on special for four hours every night, seven days a week. From 4 to 7 p.m., domestic beers are $2, imports and well drinks are $3, call drinks are $4, and premium brands are $5. From 7 to 8 p.m., all drinks are half price. This is an especially strong deal for LVA members, who can parlay it with the Member Rewards offer for a 2-for-1 entrée in the Treasures Steakhouse. Get full details about this excellent HH at ToplessVegasOnline. (NOTE: ToplessVegasOnline is fully illustrated throughout and contains adult language and imagery. NSFW!)
The Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks are pick ’em in tonight’s deciding Game 7 of their first-round series of the NHL playoffs. It’s the first Game 7 ever for the VGK. The goal total is 6.
The sale of the shuttered 2.5-acre Lucky Dragon Hotel-Casino, which went bankrupt after less than two years in business, closed yesterday. The purchase price was $36 million, upwards of $14 million less than was owed on it. The buyer was Las Vegas-based Ahern Rentals, which has been in the construction-equipment rental business since 1953 and now has 81 locations in 35 states nationwide. Don Ahern, CEO, said that he will "absolutely" change the name of the property, which he plans to transform into a non-casino hotel; the casino will become meeting and convention space. No timetable or budget has been announced so far.
According to Climate Central, an organization of scientists and journalists researching and reporting on changing climate and its impact that studied data going back to 1970, North America's fastest warming areas are in the U.S. Southwest and at the top of the list is Las Vegas, where the average temperature has increased 5.76 degrees. El Paso, Tuscon, Phoenix, and Burlington, Vermont, follow with at least a 4.1-degree increase in temperature since 1970. Climate Central reports that temperatures have risen across the globe since the late 1800s, though most of the warming has occurred in the past 50 years, during which nearly 100% of cities studied by the group have seen temperatures increase.
Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club will open at the LINQ Promenade on May 2, with performances Thursday to Sunday at 8 p.m. and additional shows at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (the bar opens at 4 p.m.). The dual-level 8,000-square-foot venue has an expandable showroom that seats up to 300 guests and was designed by Kimmel, who grew up in Las Vegas and attended Clark High School. Tickets are $39-$69 before fees and are available at kimmelscomedyclub.com.
The Vegas Golden Knights lost a double-overtime Game 6 in their first-round playoff series against the San Jose Sharks 2-1, blowing a 3-1 series lead and forcing the first Game 7 in their (admittedly brief) history; it's also the first time in the Sharks' history that they've come back from a 3-1 deficit in a playoff round. And it was the first time in NHL history that a shorthanded goal determined the winner of a double-overtime game. Game 7 is tomorrow night at 7 p.m. PST in San Jose.
The Vegas Golden Knights are -185 favorites over the San Jose Sharks in Game 6 of their first-round series of the NHL playoffs. The goal total is 6.5.
Special Easter dinners are being served in the buffets and restaurants all over town. We haven't seen any casino promotions advertised, but Home Plate bar is running a $20 matchplay all day.
Criss Angel's “Mindfreak Live” at Planet Hollywood has canceled all 9:30 and 10 p.m. performances due to a deteriorating condition with the illusionist's shoulder. He'll perform five 7 p.m. shows per week only, Wednesdays through Sundays, till further notice -- probably until he's recovered from rotator-cuff surgery early next year. Angel announced that his show will remain at PH through 2024.
As professional sports bettor James Holzhauer continues to add to his Jeopardy exploits, the media fascination grows. The NY Post ran a story this week focusing on the gambling tie-in to his success and USBets.com ran an interview where some of those tie-ins are reinforced. And speaking of tie-ins, Huntington Press authors were involved in both accounts. Blair Rodman, author of Kill Phil, provided analysis in the Post article and Eric Raskin, author of The Moneymaker Effect, conducted the USBets.com interview. Look for Blair's upcoming book, tentatively titled All About Sports Betting, due out this year.
For the first time since September 30, Las Vegas hit 90 degrees yesterday, 11 degrees higher than the average high for the day. Today could also hit 90, though it might be short by a degree or two, before a cooling trend moves in and drops temperatures into the low 80s for a couple of days.
The two-car 100-passenger tram that has run between the Mirage and Treasure Island since TI opened in 1993 is back in service. The 25-year-old transportation system closed early last year for a complete renovation. It reopened late last year, but ran for only three weeks before a two-ton steel wheel broke; it took months for the seven-foot-tall part to be be custom fabricated and reinstalled. But all's well that ends well and you can again park for free at TI, tram it to the Mirage, and take your act down the Strip. The tram runs 9-1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.
An article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal lays out the potentially exorbitant charges for misusing minibars in upscale suites at Caesars Palace, the Cromwell, Aria, Bellagio, and Mandalay Bay. Caesars charges up to $75 for removing items from the mini-fridge to store personal goods and MGM Resorts dings you for $50. The mini-fridges have a sensor that registers when an item for sale is removed for more than 45 seconds, "enough time for a person to read the label and decide whether to consume it. The charge remains even if the item is placed back in the minibar" after the given time. A number of hotels provide mini-fridges either free or for $15-$25 (Flamingo, Luxor) or $25-$40 (Wynn, Aria). Given that minibar items come with a high convenience cost to begin with, if you're not desperate or if you just hit a nice jackpot, it's probably best to ignore minibars entirely.
As it does every year, Station Casinos is offering traditional Passover foods at its 10 buffets, including both Fiestas and the Palms. Selections include matzo-ball soup, chopped liver, brisket, kugel, and tzimmes (a sweet potato, carrot, and dried-fruit casserole), plus macaroons for dessert. The Passover brunch, lunch, and dinner buffets start today and continue through April 27.
Caesars Entertainment has filed plans for a 33-foot-tall dome to be installed on the third-floor deck of the LINQ promenade that will house a virtual-reality experience. Details from the filing with the county are sparse, but the dome looks to contain 2,000 square feet of floor space with 60-odd movie-style seats to accommodate viewers of cinematic productions of up to 10 minutes. The dome would be surrounded by LEDs and be a screen for animated advertising. No costs, timetable, or name including in the filing.
The Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks are pick ’em in Game 5 of their first-round series of the NHL playoffs. The goal total is 6.5.
James Holzhauer, who probably no longer needs any introduction for running away with "Jeopardy!" over the past couple of weeks, set a new one-day record yesterday: $131,127. Holzhauer has now beaten the old record of $77,000, set in 2010, four times in his 10 appearances on the game show.
The NHL Awards Night is returning Las Vegas, but it's moving to Mandalay Bay from the Hard Rock, where it was held last year. The event will take place on June 19 and tickets go on sale today on nhl.com. This will be the 10th year the event has been held in Las Vegas; the other venues were the Palms (2009-2011), Encore (2012, 2014), MGM Grand Garden Arena (2015), The Joint (2016, 2018), and T-Mobile Arena (2017).
A Little White Chapel, one of the oldest and most popular wedding venues in Las Vegas and the first to offer drive-through nuptials, is on the market. The chapel, which opened in 1951, is located on an acre of land Las Vegas Blvd. S., just south of Charleston Boulevard. Charlotte Richards, perhaps Sin City's most prominent chapel owner, has presided over the weddings of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Michael Jordan, and Britney Spears; she's asking $12 million for the business and property.
Oklahoma now has the third most casinos in the U.S. with 141, trailing only Nevada and California. This includes the giant WinStar Casino in Thackerville near the Texas border, that advertises itself as the world’s largest casino with 600,000 square feet of floor space.
After dropping $40 into a Megabucks machine at Sunset Station and playing for two minutes, a player from Arizona lined up the three Megabucks symbols on a Triple Red Hot Sevens slot machine to take down the jackpot of $13,154,723.
One of Las Vegas’ most renowned bookmakers has left town. Jimmy Vaccaro—a native of Pittsburgh who ran sports books all over Las Vegas, including Barbary Coast, Mirage, and recently South Point—has joined Rush Street Gaming, which runs casinos in Pennsylvania. Vaccaro is prominent in our new book, Then One Day.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Blackstone Group, the New York-based investment firm that owns the Cosmopolitan, is "exploring a sale ... the rare instance of a major casino on the Las Vegas Strip coming to the market." The Journal predicts that the property will "attract the attention of a variety of potential buyers in the industry," including Wynn, MGM Resorts, and Genting. Blackstone purchased the Cosmo in 2014 for $1.7 billion, then invested a half-billion dollars in upgrades. It could sell for $4 billion or more, especially considering its prime location and its commanding $330 average daily room rate, one of the highest on the Strip.
The owner of the Drew Hotel-Casino has announced that the opening of the former Fontainebleau has been postponed by a year and a half. The delay in opening the 67-story 3,800-room tower that was mothballed in 2009 at the height of the recession is due to the amount of design work that went into the building's opening, along with the pricing and schedule of construction. The Witkoff Company purchased the empty shell from Carl Icahn in 2017 for $600 million (netting Icahn a cool $450 million) and is investing $1.2 billion in construction costs, plus hundreds of millions in pre-opening expenses. Originally scheduled for a late 2020 debut, the grand opening has been moved back to the second quarter of 2022.
The Vegas Golden Knights are -170 favorites over the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of their first-round series of the NHL playoffs. The goal total is 6.5.
In a nod to the Vegas Golden Knights/San Jose Sharks NHL playoff series, anyone showing up in VGK gear will get free entry to Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef when a game is played in Las Vegas. That’s today and possibly April 21. Show up in Sharks gear and get $5 off entry. The offer is good three hours prior to the start of each game, which means the promotion will begin today at 4:30 p.m.
As of April 1, considered the peak of the snowpack in the west, the Silver State was almost completely drought-free; only a tiny corner in northeastern Nevada remained abnormally dry. Thanks to record precipitation the first 15 days of March in the Colorado Basin, the snowpack is well above the seasonal peak in many areas that feed Lakes Powell and Mead (from which Las Vegas receives 90% of its water) and has reduced the possibility that federal water managers will declare a shortage in 2020. Still, Lake Powell is 37% below capacity and Lake Mead is 42%. One good year and even two out of three (2017 broke precipitation records) don't change the trend.
The Hard Rock's the Joint celebrates 10 years as the hotel-casino's major entertainment venue; it opened on April 17, 2009. Since then, the 4,700-seat venue has sold 1.14 million tickets and hosted 709 events, including 392 rock concerts and 14 residencies (Santana, Rascal Flatts, Motley Crue, and Guns N' Roses among them). The Joint will undergo a slight transformation when the Hard Rock is transformed into a Virgin hotel: the VIP suites will be redesigned.
James Holzhauer, the Las Vegas professional sports bettor appearing currently on "Jeopardy!", has been on the show only eight times so far and is already breaking records all over the place. He now holds the record for the first- and second-most money earned on a single show ($110,914 and $89,158, respectively) and is second in overall winnings with $460,479, for an average of $57,560 each. He's 257 for 268 (95.8%!) in correct answers, including 16 for 18 on Daily Doubles ($147,104) and 7 for 8 in Final Jeopardy. Phew! We have a strong feeling that this is just the beginning. Look out, Ken Jennings.
Only a few days after the announcement that Hyde nightclub at Bellagio will close and be replaced with a new concept this year comes word that Intrigue nightclub at the Wynn will close and not be reopened as a club. It hasn't been officially announced, but Scott Roeben of VitalVegas.com, who has the inside track on Sin City entertainment developments, says that the demise of Intrigue has been "confirmed by multiple sources."
The rock band Journey will play nine dates this fall at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace: October 9, 11, 12, 16, 18, 19, 23, 25, and 26. Ticket prices start at $69 and go on sale to the general public on Friday. Journey completed an epic 60-show tour last October, co-headlining arenas and stadiums with Def Leppard and selling a million tickets.
One of Nevada’s oldest bars, the Delta Saloon in Virginia City, was destroyed last month by a gas-leak explosion. The bar that opened in the 1860s was known for its “suicide table,” a table that is said to have caused three owners to commit suicide after sustaining big losses at faro and blackjack. It’s not known whether or not the Delta will be repaired and reopened.
An unnamed sports bettor from Las Vegas bet $85,000 on Tiger Woods to win the Masters championship at 14-1 at the William Hill sports book at SLS. When the 43-year-old Woods, who hadn't won a PGA Major tournament in 11 years, shot a 2-under 70 for a single-stroke victory to win the fifth Green Jacket and 15th major of his career, the gambler walked away with $1.19 million. It was by far the largest payout on a golf bet in Will Hill history.
The Vegas Golden Knights are -155 favorites over the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 of their first-round series of the NHL playoffs. The goal total is 6.5.
For the 25th consecutive year, Las Vegas was named the country’s number-one trade-show destination by the Trade Show News Network. According to TSNN's “2018 Top Trade Shows” list, Las Vegas hosted 48 of the largest shows held in U.S. last year. It boasted the largest of them all, CES, which occupied nearly 2.8 million square feet of exhibit space throughout the city; it also claimed seven of the top 20 largest conventions. Orlando and Chicago tied for second place on the list, followed by Atlanta at number three and New York at number four.
With today’s final round of the Masters golf tournament starting early to avoid play-disrupting weather expected later today, two-stroke leader Francesco Molinari is a +165 favorite to win. Tiger Wood is +250, Brooks Koepka is +550, and Tony Finau is +650. Note that this line was posted with the round in progress.
Max Holloway is a -220 favorite over Dustin Poirier in today's UFC main event. In the other featured match, Israel Adesanya is -170 over Kelvin Gastelum.
The Nevada Department of Transportation has released its new rules for the 22 miles of uninterrupted high-occupancy-vehicle lanes on Interstate 15 from Silverado Ranch Boulevard in the south valley to Elkhorn Road on US 95 (one exit north of the 215 Beltway). When Project Neon, which began in April 2016 and is the largest public works project in Nevada history, is officially opened on May 16, the two express lanes will be restriped; one will become the HOV lane, the other an all-purpose express lane. The HOV lanes will be restricted 24/7, which changes from rush hour currently (crossing the solid-double-white HOV line is illegal; motorists can enter enter and exit the lane only at dotted lines). In addition, only vehicles with two or more occupants are allowed; babies count, but large gorilla stuffed animals and the like don't. Motorcycles are allowed; trucks with two rear-axles aren't. Electric cars are allowed, but only with two or more occupants.
According to a report issued by Telsey Advisory Group, a research and consulting firm focused on the consumer sector, AirBnB is having a noticeable impact on Las Vegas room revenues. In 2018, 718,000 AirBnB renters cost Strip hotels up to $150 million. The number of renters could hit one million this year. Resort and parking fees alone can equal the entire cost of a short-term private rental.
The eight-year-old Hyde nightclub at Bellagio will close on July 6. The 10,000-square-foot indoor-outdoor space with a prime view of the Bellagio fountains will remain closed till sometime toward the end of the year, when it will reopen with a new concept and a new name.
The San Jose Sharks are -135 favorites over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their first-round series of the NHL Playoffs. The goal total is 6.5.
The Las Vegas Aviators Triple A baseball team beat the Sacramento River Cats yesterday by a score of 11-3, sweeping the three-game series and improving their record to 7-1. It's the first time since 2006, when the team was the 51s and an L.A. Dodgers affiliate, that they've logged seven wins in their eight games. The Aviators will play a four-game series against the Washington Nationals-affiliated Fresno Grizzlies in their brand new stadium; the first game is tonight at 7 p.m.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's annual "Visitor Profile Study," conducted every year since 1975 by surveying 3,600 random visitors, has been released for 2018. Here are a few of the findings relevant to us. First-time visitors dropped to 18%, down 9% from 2017 and only 1% of first-time visitors came primarily to gamble, as opposed to 7% of visitors overall. Only 6% of visitors had someone younger than 21 in their party. The average number of annual trips was 1.5, lowest in the past five years. Among those
who gambled, the average bankroll was $527.05, down from $619.01 (-15%) in 2016. The average expenditure on food and drink was $314.96, down a substantial $62 (-18%) from last year. A little less than 20% of visitors were from southern California, down from 26% in 2017; Californians accounted for 23% of all Vegas visitors in 2018. The average age of visitors was 45.1 years old, five years younger than in 1998; 43% were 21-39, 33% 40-59, and 24% 60 and older.
One judge and upwards of 20 attorneys met in a courtroom in New Hampshire yesterday to begin the legal wrangling over the U.S. Justice Department opinion that reversed a 2011 memorandum that the 1961 Wire Act applied only to sports betting, paved the way for Internet and interstate gambling in the United States. Assistant U.S. attorneys and lawyers representing groups such as the Coalition To Stop Internet Gambling and the National Association of Convenience Stores faced off against counterparts representing the states of Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, siding with New Hampshire, which initiated the lawsuit against the federal government. The District Court judge declared that the Wire Act is a grammatical mess; denied the government's move to dismiss the case, which will proceed; announced that the issues are "the most challenging he has seen in his 26 years on the federal bench"; and said that he expects that the case will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court.
A new travelers' lounge has opened at McCarran International Airport. Club LAS is a 6,900-square-foot space in the D Concourse, which is a satellite gate area accessible from Terminal 1 via an automated tram. The lounge features complimentary food and drink in a kitchen, a full bar, and separate areas for napping, computer work complete with printers, and newspaper and magazine reading; there are also private showers. So far, no reservations are accepted, but the concessionaire claims to be "working on it"; the club is open to all travelers for a $40 admission fee, though free for members of Priority Pass, Diners Club International, and AAA, and children under 12 accompanied by an adult. Hours are 5-12:30 a.m. daily.
Rory McIlroy is the favorite at +700 to win golf's Masters tournament, which began today. He’s followed by Dustin Johnson at +1000, Justin Rose at +1200, and Tiger Woods at +1400.
The Colosseum at Caesars Palace will undergo its first remodel since opening in 2003. The 4,400-seat theater will close after the last Reba McEntire and Brooks & Dunn show on July 6 and reopen for Rod Stewart on September 18. The seats, carpet, video screen, and sound system will be upgraded, VIP bottle service will be available, and a general-admission section for standees will be built in front of the stage. Sounds like more of a party atmosphere to us.
Sun Country Airlines will launch 13 new nonstop flights per week to and from Las Vegas to four cities on September 5: San Antonio, TX; St. Louis, MO; Providence, Rhode Island; and Redmond, Oregon. Sun Country's hub is Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Las Vegas is its number-two airport. The airline flies nonstop between McCarran and Anchorage, Alaska; Dallas-Fort Worth, TX; Portland, Oregon; Santa Rosa, California; Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta in Mexico; and of course Minneapolis.
The San Jose Sharks are -135 favorites over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 1 of their first-round series of the NHL Playoffs. The goal total is 6.
The Vegas Golden Knights and the San Jose Sharks are pick 'em in the first round of the NHL playoffs. Follow the action on Joe Pane's Knights on Ice blog.
Monday night marked the first construction milestone for Circa, the megaresort that's the first to be built from scratch downtown in nearly 40 years (since the 33-story Sundance was completed in 1980, which turned into Fitzgeralds, which become the D, owned by Derek Stevens, who's also building Circa). Commencing at 9 p.m. and continuing through yesterday morning, a convoy of 205 concrete trucks delivered more than 2,050 cubic yards of cement to set the foundation for the casino-resort, slated to open in December 2020.
A branch of the Roaring Twenties-inspired restaurant and lounge Delilah will open at the Wynn in the space previously occupied by the Michelin two-star restaurant Alex, which closed in 2011. The Las Vegas version will, reportedly, be like the original located on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood: hosts in full white tuxedos, waitresses in 1920s' flapper costumes, a Great Gatsby dinner-party vibe, with a live band playing background music. As the evening grows later, the band and music "will get livelier and the full experience will turn from dining into hanging and socializing.” If the original's menu is any indication, this place will be perfectly priced for the Wynn, with $25 chicken-tender appetizers and $27 shrimp cocktail, $36 crab Louie, $30 veggie burger, $65 New York Strip, $12 fries, and $10 bottled water. Delilah is scheduled to open sometime in the first six months of 2020.
The 34-year-old Las Vegas sports betting pro smashed a nine-year-old single-day cash win on the game show "Jeopardy" yesterday.
James Holzhauer won $110,914 during his fourth consecutive victory on the show. The previous record of $77,000 was set in 2010. Holzhauer's winnings total more than $244,000, an astonishing average of $61,000 per show.The Original Broken Yolk Café opened 40 years ago in Pacific Beach in San Diego and was an immediate sensation for its large portions of house-made food. After being featured on a 2009 episode of The Travel Channel’s "Man vs. Food," the Cafe attracted investors and launched an expansion through franchising. Today, the Broken Yolk has 14 locations in San Diego County and 28 nationwide. The first Las Vegas location will open on April 15 at Town Square. The Broken Yolk, expected to be open 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., serves breakfast and lunch, specializing in omelets, Benedicts, skillets, breakfast burritos, burgers and sandwiches, salads, and soups. The BYC Challenge is a dozen-egg mushroom-onion-and-cheese omelet smothered in chili, with home fries and two biscuits, served on a 15-inch pizza pan; finish it within an hour and it's free, plus receive a BYC Challenge T-shirt.
Tomorrow night, the Downtown Events Center kicks off its series of Vegas Golden Knights playoff-game watch parties. The game will be broadcast on 72 feet of high-def LED screen enhanced by a stadium sound system and attended by Chance the Mascot, the Knightline drummers, and the Golden Aces promo team. Food and beverage, outdoor activities, the VGK merchandise truck, and reservable premium tables for four to 20 people round out the festivities. All watch parties are free and accessible to all ages. For tomorrow's game, doors open at 6 p.m. with the puck drop scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
James Holzhaeur, a Las Vegan who's been betting sports professionally since 2006, is on a major tear on "Jeopardy!" On his first two appearances last week, he won $82,606 and yesterday he won $50,845, for a three-day total of $133,451. On the first show, Alex Trebek introduced him by saying, "James Holzhauer is from Las Vegas. He's a professional sports gambler. What does that mean, exactly?” “Oh, I’ll bet on anything,” Holzhauer told him. “Why, are you looking for a little action on the Cup this year? I like the Lightning.” In an interview on USBets.com, Holzhaeur was asked if he considered concealing his profession. “Not at all. I’m very proud of my work,” he replied. “Every sports book in town already knows my name, so I doubt I’m burning any bridges.” He added, “I had no hesitation betting big when I needed to — and felt no extra pressure knowing how much was at stake — because I gamble all the time.”
Virginia is a -1.5 favorite over Texas Tech in the NCAA Basketball Championship game. The total is 119.
South Point is offering a good instacomp that it runs periodically and is possibly even better now given recent upgrades at the buffet. Earn 300 points ($300 coin-in) Mon.-Thurs. in April to get a comped lunch buffet and earn 600 points for dinner. This is an exceptional deal with an expected loss of about $1.50 for lunch and $3 for dinner for expert play on SPs good video poker schedules. There are some procedural requirements, so check at the club booth before playing.
The Las Vegas Aviators (formerly the 51s) are tied with the Albuquerque Isotopes for first place in the Pacific Southern Division of the Triple A Pacific Coast League at 3-1 after snapping a three-game winning streak with a loss to the El Paso Chihuahuas yesterday. The Aviators return to Las Vegas to open their home season tomorrow against the Sacramento River Cats at the 10,000-seat Las Vegas Stadium, the newest and nicest ballpark in the minor leagues. The Downtown Summerlin stadium is taking an "elevated approach" to baseball food, featuring offerings from Giadia De Laurentiis, BBQ Mexicana (the Border Grill's fast-food outlet), The Goodwich and Capriotti’s sandwiches, Ferraro’s Italian Restaurant, Tenaya Creek Brewery, and the classics: jumbo Hebrew National hot dogs on a potato bun, sweet-potato tots, and giant soft pretzels (all $6); popcorn ($4), and 16-ounce domestic beers ($9).
James Taylor headlines the Colosseum at Caesars Palace for six dates this month and six more in May: April 17, 19, 20, 24, 26, and 27; May 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, and 11. Tickets are still readily available and start at $66 for the second-to-last row in the mezzanine, going up as high as $895 for the second row in the orchestra, depending on the show.
Baylor is a -2.5 favorite over Notre Dame in the NCAA Basketball Championship game. The total is 150.5.
The Vegas Golden Knights played their last game of the regular season in L.A. last night, losing to the Kings 5-2. Their record over the past eight games is a lamentable 1-5-2. (Read about the game in Joe Pane's blog.) The VGK face the San Jose Sharks in Round 1 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 10 and 12 in San Jose; the series then moves to T-Mobile on April 14 and 16. As of now, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the favorite to win the Cup (2/1), followed by the Boston Bruins and defending-champs Washington Capitals (9/1), Calgary Flames and San Jose Sharks (10/1), and Nashville Predators and VGK (12/1).
As part of the 110-city Wings of Freedom Tour to honor veterans of WW II, three bombers and two fighter planes used in the war, the “Nine O Nine” B-17 Flying Fortress, the “Witchcraft” B-24 Liberator, and the “Tondelayo” B-24 Mitchell, along with a P-51 Mustang and a P-40 Warhawk, will pass through Las Vegas next week for a stop at Henderson Executive Airport. From April 11 to April 14, you can view the B-17, one of only nine in flying condition in the U.S., and the B-24 Liberator, the world's last remaining example still flying between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.; tickets are $15 adults, $5 children under 12. You can also fly on any of the five planes for a donation of $450 per person for the 30-minute experience.
Not according to Caesars it's not, but it might be out of the company's control, due to pressure from corporate raider, Carl Icahn. Is it possible that the giant casino business could change hands? And if so, how would it affect the gambling landscape? You can learn how we see it in this month’s Las Vegas Advisor. The April issue also features our 28th annual ticket-price survey (no surprise: Ticket prices are up again, for the 23rd time) and gives you the scoop on reduced juice for the NCAA tournament, a buffet with “time-traveler” pricing, a new $1-oyster play, the end of the line for Donnie & Marie, two-dozen lunch specials for $4.99, the best way to get free parking at the Wynn, the first new announced Strip casino in a decade — even a pizza parlor in a pot dispensary. Never a dull moment in Vegas or the LVA.
Michigan St. is a -2 favorite over Texas Tech in today's second Final Four game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The total is 132.5.
Lisa Vanderpump, a British restaurateur and actress who appears on two Bravo reality series, “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “Vanderpump Rules” (which follows the staff at her L.A. restaurant SUR), has opened Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace. The lounge is carved out of the slot floor and done up in Vanderpump’s signature English-country-garden décor, opulent chandeliers, and pink swaddling. A wrought-iron fence juts out into the casino, with trees and ornamental foliage pervading the space and family photos adorning the walls. The bar serves drinks with such names as Please Her Caesar, Cold-Blooded, Rome Is Burning, and Giggy Tonic (named after Vanderpump’s ubiquitous Pomeranian); small dishes of shareable food include tuna and salmon tartar, plantain tacos, grilled steak skewers, ahi tacos, the signature goat-cheese balls (a fixture at SUR), and lots of desserts. Vanderpump Cocktail Lounge is open daily 4 p.m. to midnight.
Virginia is a -6 favorite over Auburn in today's first Final Four game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The total is 132.
Fly LINQ, the 1,100-foot zipline from the Strip to the High Roller observation wheel, now claims to be the only zipline in the world to offer four ride styles on 10 lines. You can ride seated or superhero-style (horizontal and face-down) facing forward as usual, but also both ways facing backwards. (We're waiting for the superhero-style face-up option.)
Construction is now under way at Park MGM on the Crack Shack, a gourmet fried-chicken chain with five locations in southern California. Crack Shack is fronted by celebrity chef Richard Blais of "Top Chef" fame, another restaurant that "reimagines" classic comfort food "with a fine-dining flair in a warm and fun environment." The three-meal menu (yes, chicken for breakfast) consists of five- and ten-piece fried-chicken plates, six sandwiches and bowls, chicken "oysters," Mexican poutine (jalapeno cheese wiz replaces the cheese curds and gravy in the traditional Canadian poutine), and schmaltz (Yiddish for chicken fat) fries. When it opens sometime this summer, the Crack Shack will be located right on the Strip next to Eataly.
Only one month into a scheduled six-month run at Excalibur, the Fuerza Bruta tent show will close after Sunday's performance. Though the show has reportedly been seen by more than six million attendees in the past 16 years, the lack of ticket sales for the Las Vegas iteration has brutely forced the show to move on (to Macau). The grand opening of the tent show on deck, Celestia, at the Strat has been postponed a number of times since the original opening date in late January; tickets will be available "soon" for the putative opening night, May 1. Absinthe, Vegas' original tent show at Caesars, just celebrated its eighth anniversary, with sold-out shows nearly every night.
A new attraction at the District at MGM Grand will feature all things The Hunger Games, the dystopian four-movie series that has grossed more than $3 billion worldwide in the past seven years. The exhibition, which will open on May 1, will feature costumes, props, recreations of sets, interactive content and behind-the-scenes technology, and an immersive 60-foot-side archery-training experience. Tickets are $35 for adults, $25 for children (4-11) and are on sale now.
Earn 300 Boarding Pass points for playing slots, video poker, and/or table games at any Station or Fiesta casino on April 10, the first day of the National Hockey League playoffs, and receive a bet voucher redeemable if the Vegas Golden Knights win this year's Stanley Cup Championship. Station says the aggregate payout could go as high as $1 million. In related news, VGK superstar goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who was injured on March 15 and hasn't played since, could appear in the net for the first time tonight against the Arizona Coyotes in the VGK's last home game of the 2018-2019 regular season.
Kaos, the Palms' 73,000-square-foot dayclub and 29,000 square-foot-nightclub, opens today. According to the press release, Kaos "boasts the highest number of pools of any resort in North America," though it doesn't give the number. It also features three sculptures by Damien Hirst, a 270-foot-tall LED wall that runs the length of the eastern exterior of the Ivory Tower facing the Strip (largest video screen in town), a Tesla coil ceiling that adds to sound and production special effects, two cannons that shoot streams of water more than 100 feet in the air, and a champagne vault complete with personalized butler service. The lineup of talent for the grand-opening weekend includes Alicia Keys, Marshmello, Cardi B, and Travis Scott. The Palms is touting the $690 million remake of the Palms as the "most expensive renovation in Las Vegas history."
Lee Canyon, the ski resort high up on Mt. Charleston an hour northwest of downtown Las Vegas, has announced that this year's ski season will be extended for a week. Originally scheduled to close on April 7, Lee Canyon will now close on April 14. The POWDR property experienced the biggest snowfall in nearly a decade, nearly 18 feet, more than double the yearly average of 8.1 feet.
Las Vegas chalks up another first in live-music entertainment (for others and the long fascinating history of the Las Vegas concert business, see our book Rock Vegas) when the remaining Eagles perform their 1976 album Hotel California in its entirely for the first time in history at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Sept. 27 and 28. As they have since the 2016 death of founding member Glen Frey, Deacon Frey, Glen's son, and country singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Vince Gill will team up with Don Henley, Joe Walsh, and Timothy B. Schmit for the Eagles' only performances in North America in 2019. The album, which has sold 42 million units, runs 43 minutes, so another set will feature the band's greatest hits. Tickets go on sale to the public on April 12, starting at $179, through Ticketmaster.
The Goodman mayoral era in the city of Las Vegas will now span an entire generation. Carolyn Goodman overwhelmingly won a third and final term in office; her 12 years will match the three terms served by her husband Oscar. Yesterday's vote came in the primary election against six challengers, but Goodman received 83.5% of the vote; she needed only 51% in order to skip the general election in June.
Reports indicate that the Alliance of American Football (AAF) is suspending operations, which might mean that the final two weeks of its inaugural season will be scrapped. The new league had intended to be gambling-friendly, but opened too far in front of widespread legalization and hasn’t caught on with current sports bettors. The AAF Championship game is slated to be played in Las Vegas next month if the league is able to complete its schedule.
Between next year's Super Bowl and presidential election, Virgin Las Vegas will do the rebranding work on the Hard Rock. Originally scheduled to start early this fall and be completed in the spring of 2020, the scope of the project expanded to the point that construction needed to be postponed for 10 months. The property will remain open for the first few months of disruption, then close sometime in the second quarter of 2020 and reopen shortly after the election (to avoid all that hoopla), four to six months total.
West Virginia has become the fifth state to legalize online casinos or poker (both were approved there), joining Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Online sports betting is already underway in West Virginia, but casino and poker won’t begin until prospective operators—likely the state’s existing bricks-and-mortar casinos—have been issued online licenses.
Bricia Lopez will open a mezcal-and-tequila bar at Park MGM in late July. Lopez comes from a long lineage of Mezcal craftsmen in Oaxaca, Mexico; her family's L.A. Oaxacan restaurant, Guelaguetza, won the prestigious James Beard "America's Classics" award in 2015. She was named L.A.'s official Mezcalera by Mayor Eric Garcetti and has been one of Zagat’s 16 Power Players in L.A.’s dining and drinking scene. Mama Rabbit Bar is named for Mayahuel, the goddess of agave and fertility, who is said to have had 400 rabbit children and nourished them with mezcal and tequila. The bar will combine "the dynamic atmosphere of a Mexican taverna with the intimate allure of a speakeasy," with an art program that celebrates Oaxaca's vibrant culture.
After a hard-hitting game Saturday night between the two teams (for which Ryan Reaves and Joe Thornton were fined $2,500 apiece for high-sticking each other), the Vegas Golden Knights will start the post-season against the San Jose Sharks, who'll have home-ice advantage. The playoffs begin on April 10; the Knights and Sharks will face off on that night or the next.
Taking a cue from Disneyland's "World of Color" water show, last night the Bellagio fountains unveiled a dramatic new concept: Images and colors are projected onto the normally all-white liquid screen. The new show is promoting the final season of HBO's medieval fantasy epic "Game of Thrones," with scenes such as snow falling, the Night King, a fire-breathing dragon, and an eruption of fire all choreographed to a score from the show, "Winter Is Here." The new show appears at 8 and 9:30 p.m. nightly through April 13, leading up to the premiere of Season 8 of "Game of Thrones" on April 14.
Starting today, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area will be open an hour later, till 8 p.m., through September. The extended closing time is observed every year due to longer daylight hours. The scenic loop opens at 6 a.m. as usual and the visitor centers hours are the same year-round: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission fees are $15 per car, $10 for motorcycles, $5 for bicycles, and $5 for hikers who park at the entrance. The best deal is an annual pass for $30.