The F1 street conversion has now moved to the corner of the Strip and Flamingo, with work taking place in front of Bellagio. Traveling south on the Strip in that area is challenging. Traveling east on Flamingo is a nightmare. Avoid it at all costs. We’ll try to keep you up to date as the work affects other areas.
Despite the field of 18 horses instead of the usual 20, which tends to reduce betting pools, the handle on this year's Kentucky Derby, $180.2 million, broke last year's record of $168.8 million by nearly 7%. The straight-pool total was $89.2 million, also a record, while betting in the win, place, and show pools was up $13.8 million or 18%; trifecta and superfecta pools declined 2.1% and 7.3%, respectively. The record betting reflected that this was the first year FanDuel customers could bet directly on the Derby. Five horses were scratched from the field Saturday morning, including late favorite Forte; the last time five horses were scratched from the Derby was in 1936. Mage, a 15-1 longshot, won the race by a length, but it was almost anticlimactic, given the unprecedented seven racehorses that died at Churchill Downs in the week leading up to the race, two of them in races on Saturday.
How many Grands Prix can the U.S. support? So far, the answer is two, but that might change, given that the Miami race apparently suffered from the Las Vegas' race later this year. Formula 1 is a distinctly upscale spectator sport, many fans can afford only one a year, and it seems that a number of them opted out of the Miami race, which took place on Sunday, in favor of Las Vegas. The official attendance count hasn't been released, but in contrast to Las Vegas tickets, which have sold out within hours of being offered, organizers were discounting available tickets up to 40% before the Miami race. It's also possible that even well-heeled fans were balking at the high ticket prices, which received fairly vocal criticism in the run-up to the race. Last year, the Miami race was the highlight of the F1 season and sold out quickly; we'll see what happens next year.
BeerInfo.com cites a study by The Beer Institute that compares the consumption of beer state by state as measured by the number of residents. Nevada ranks sixth per capita at 35.8 gallons, exactly 10 gallons less than the number-one state, North Dakota, followed by New Hampshire (43.9 gallons), Montana (41), South Dakota (38.9), and Wisconsin (36.2). Utah consumes the least (20.2), with Connecticut (22.1), New Jersey and New York (22.4), and Maryland (24.2) rounding out the bottom five. The national average is 28.2 gallons per person per year or about 10 ounces per day, roughly one six pack every week of the year. It's unclear how the averages were calculated, so we can't tell if Nevada's 50 million annual visitors skew the metrics for the state.
More players selected in this year's NFL Draft went to high school in Las Vegas than any other jurisdiction in the nation. And one Las Vegas high school was the only one to send three players. An NFL press release indicates that 243 high schools saw 259 of their football players selected in the seven rounds of the draft, which took place last week in Kansas City. Las Vegas' own Bishop Gorman accounted for the three players, while a second Vegas school, Desert Pines, claimed two, along with 13 other schools nationwide. Faith Lutheran and Liberty sent one each; Faith Lutheran's Dalton Kincaid was a first-round draft pick. It should be noted that none of the players is going directly from high school to the NFL; they were all selected from their college teams. Six-four tight end Kincaid, for example, was selected by the Buffalo Bills after playing college ball in San Diego and Utah. To be eligible for the draft, a player must be "three years removed" from high school.
Lee Canyon Ski Resort will close for the season this Sunday May 14. This year's ski season has been extended several times, thanks to record snowfall in the Spring Mountains over the winter (260 inches, beating the previous record of 255 set in 2005). It's the latest date skiing and snowboarding have taken place at Lee Canyon since the resort opened in 1968.
"Stranger Things" is an uber popular science fiction-horror-mystery series on Netflix that's now going into its fifth and final season. It involves a group of youngsters in Indiana in the 1980s who "witness supernatural forces and secret government exploits and, searching for answers, unravel a series of extraordinary mysteries." A retail store owned by Netflix that's based on the show is opening at the Showcase Mall on Friday May 26, where fans can interact with some "iconic locations," such the Palace Arcade, Vecna's attic, Starcourt Mall and Joyce Byers' home. The store will be open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday till 8 p.m.
Live Nation's $25 Concert Week, which it sponsors every year, is on hand. The concert promoter is offering tickets to more than 3,800 shows throughout the U.S. and Canada for $25, which includes fees, but not taxes. The applicable shows will be posted for sale on Live Nation's website starting on Wednesday and continuing through Tuesday May 16, first-come first-served. In Las Vegas, $25 shows are expected to be available at the three arenas, plus the theaters at Caesars, Park MGM, Planet Hollywood, Palms, Venetian, Cosmo, and Flamingo, and the House of Blues and Brooklyn Bowl.
The Clark County Commission has approved plans from The Boring Company to extend the Vegas Loop by 25 miles and 18 new stations. The subterranean transportation system will grow to 65 miles of tunnels and 69 stations, including several at UNLV, Chinatown, Town Square, and Blue Diamond Road (where the Oak View hotel-casino and arena are planned). Sample fares have been revealed: from Reid International to the Las Vegas Convention Center $10 and from the Convention Center to downtown $6. And TBC isn't finished envisioning expansions; further stations could encompass El Cortez, Palace Station, Symphony Park, World Market Center, and Las Vegas Premium Outlets.
Aljamain Sterling and Henry Cejudo are pick’ em in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Gilbert Burns is -155 over Belal Muhammad.
The current odds for the Kentucky Derby make Angel of Empire the favorite at 7-2, followed by Tapit Trice at 9-2 and Derma Sotogake at 8-1. The long shots are Jace’s Road and King Russell at 31-1. Five horses, including the morning-favorite, Forte, were scratched.
Here we go again. Traffic woes on I-15 arising from work at the Tropicana interchange will be compounded over the next week by two complete closures of the freeway. From 9 p.m. on Monday May 8 to 5 a.m. on May 9, I-15 northbound will be closed to all traffic between Blue Diamond and the 215 Beltway; then, between between 9 p.m. on Monday May 15 and 5 a.m. May 16, I-15 will be closed at the Russell Road exit. Ten dynamic driver-assisting message boards will be installed during the closures between Blue Diamond and Russell roads. Detours off and back on to the freeway will be clearly marked, but expect delays.
Las Vegas had two restaurants in Yelp’s list of “Top 100 Burgers in America.” Gordon Ramsay Burger at Planet Hollywood occupied the #4 spot and Veggy Street, with locations in Summerlin and Henderson, was at #54. We’ve had the Ramsay burger (LVA 1/14) and it’s excellent. We haven’t tried Veggy Street, which serves plant-based burgers.
The 149th Kentucky Derby, the race that's often referred to as "the most exciting two minutes in sports," will be run today just before 4 p.m. Pacific Time. NBC will begin its coverage at 9 a.m. PT, broadcasting the early races leading up to the Triple Crown contest. Upwards of 150,000 people are expected to see the race in person at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky; nearly $300 million will be wagered on the race (compared to the $275 million handle last year). Interestingly, tickets are quite reasonable, considering the magnitude of the event, starting at $69, between 25% and 15 times less the cost of high-end Kentucky Derby hats, which 90% of female spectators wear. We've seen estimates that more than a half-million cans of beer and 150,000 hot dogs will be eaten by spectators. (Our headline refers to a couplet in the classic 1971 Rolling Stones tune, "Dead Flowers" that this event always brings to mind: "Well, when you're sitting back in your rose-pink Cadillac/Making bets on Kentucky Derby Day ..." The rest of that verse concerns guitarist Keith Richards' epic journey as a junkie, so we'll leave it at that.)
The Las Vegas Lights will open their sixth season tonight at 7:30 at Cashman Field and will celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the process, with live singing and dancing acts, special promotions and food and beverage specials. The Lights take on the Charleston (SC) Battery in the first home game of the seasons. Tickets start at a reasonable $20 and are available at the lasvegaslightsfc.com.
Daeho Kalbijjim, a Korean restaurant out of San Francisco, opens this month in the Sahara Pavilion South complex (2620 S. Decatur). Also opening in the same shopping center next year is the first Nevada location of the Korean grocery store chain H-Mart.
We posted this week's video update early, due to last week's circumstances, which ironically included the one-millionth view of our channel. All of that out of the way, Anthony and Andrew have a nice long discussion about the Mirage/Hard Rock's just-announced plan to go local, attempting to attract notoriously Strip-shy Las Vegans down to the Boulevard through the back door with lots of specials, including free parking. Then they're off on some talk about the pool season, which you won't want to miss; Anthony reveals the time that he went topless! The HOV lanes open up, several significant restaurants shut down, and the Jackpot of the Week is three royals in one trip by a video poker player who obviously knows exactly what she's doing. Click, sit back, listen, and smile.
A story on NevadaIndependent.com reports that Dreamscape, the owner of the Rio, is in the conceptual phase of a "landscaped pedestrian skybridge" over Interstate 15 to connect the Rio to the Strip at the back of Caesars Palace. The article compares the pedestrian bridge to the High Line in New York City, where Dreamscape is based, that extends one and a half miles from Gansevoort Street in the Chelsea District of Lower Manhattan up to 34th Street near Hudson Yards, all on an elevated track that used to be part of the New York Central Railroad. According to the Independent, it was part of the incentive package that Dreamscape offered the Oakland A's to build their stadium in the Rio's parking lot and it could survive as part of Dreamscape's plans to renovate the Rio over the coming years.
The Las Vegas Advisor's Weekly YouTube Update launched in mid-December 2020. So it took less than two and a half years for the popular videos to surpassed the milestone of a million views, which it did a few days ago. Congrats to Anthony and Andrew for hitting on the right combination of vlog elements (after some behind-the-scenes trial and error) and a big thanks to all the viewers without whom this breakthrough wouldn't have been possible.
A couple of weeks ago, the National Football League suspended five pro-football players for violating the league’s anti-gambling policy. Three of the five bet on NFL games and were banned indefinitely; they can petition to be reinstated by the league after the end of next season. The other two were suspended for six games for betting from an NFL facility on other sporting events. The New York Times reported, "The league released no specifics about the bets placed by these players or how the violations were uncovered, but said its investigation did not turn up evidence that any inside information was used or that any game was compromised in any way.” Okay, but how were the violations uncovered? According to a post on NBCSports.com, the NFL Players Association sent an email to all players' agents warning them that the "suspensions arose from players using mobile apps on their phones, either while at work or while traveling with their teams." In other words, a sports-betting platform (FanDuel was the only one mentioned in the post) or platforms alerted the league that the five players were violating the NFL Gambling Policy. The post concludes, "It’s obvious that the NFL is catching players who gamble in violation of league policy not by any high-end sleuthing activities, but by having the proof fall into its lap, thanks to one or more sports-book partners."
Laguna Pool House & Kitchen has reopened at Palms Place. It’s located in the sixth-floor space that looks out onto the pool area and operated briefly before the pandemic shutdown.
When rapper LL Cool J headlines a star-studded show at MGM Grand Garden Arena on September 2, he will be in the midst of his first arena tour since the height of his career in the early 1990s. The 55-year-old LL (which stands for "Lady Love") will be the main attraction of The F.O.R.C.E. Live Tour, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, start on June 25 in Boston, and end on September 3 in L.A. Appearing with LL at all 24 shows will be The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and DJ Z-Trip; a number of acts, including Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, De La Soul, Rick Ross, Rakim, Common, MC Lyte, Method Man & Redman, Big Boi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ice T, Juvenile, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Goodie Mob, Jadakiss, and more, will rotate in and out of the lineup. Tickets are available now on StubHub.
A year ago, the old-new owners of Fontainebleau (the project was reacquired in 2021 by the original developer, who went bankrupt during the Great Recession) announced their intention to complete the long-delayed and much-traded property by the end of this year and on Monday, it became official. No date has been set yet (it's still seven-eight months away), but Fontainebleau Las Vegas announced that the megaresort will indeed open before the calendar rolls around into 2024, sometime in December. We imagine the owners and contractor are shooting for as early in the month as possible, in order to be through with the shakedown cruise before accommodating the massive holiday crowds. Too bad they can't open a month earlier in time for the Grand Prix.
It's come to light, so to speak, that Vegas Vic, the 70-plus-year-old neon sign that sits atop the former Pioneer Club and has been the symbol of downtown Las Vegas for decades with his cowboy hat, red bandana, and perpetual cigarette, hasn't been illuminated for several months. The city has issued a citation for being in violation of the municipal sign code -- to wit, it must be fully illuminated from at least one hour before dusk until one hour after dawn." The owner of the sign, an Atlantic City-based real estate business, has yet to respond to the correction notice. (And thanks to Canada Roy for the headline!)
According to a story in the Nevada Independent, the owners of the Rio offered the Oakland A's 22 acres of its 90 acres of parking lots for its 35,000-seat stadium. Total asking price: one dollar. The team management turned it down in favor of paying a speculated price of $149,999,999 more. The article indicates that the A's really wanted the Las Vegas Festival Grounds at the corner of Sahara and the Strip, but that the owner, Phil Ruffin, "cut off discussions that had been ongoing for several months" for no stated reason. "The team finalized the agreement with Red Rock Resorts because of time constraints in getting the tax-incentive package in front of the Nevada Legislature." Taxes proposed so far would be borne by consumers, namely, sales tax and other fees at the stadium and within a potential stadium district. In addition, the story reports that the A's will probably "keep the gaming entitlements on the former Wild Wild West property, meaning taverns and restaurants that are part of the district could offer restricted gaming — 15 or fewer slot machines — through a slot route operation" and slot revenue could help pay for the A's home field.
The price of the 49-acre portion of the 100-acre former Wild Wild West site that the Oakland A's are buying from Red Rock Resorts (dba Station Casinos) for their $1.5 billion 30,000- to 35,000-seat MLB stadium hasn't been revealed, but a story on the Nevada Independent's website speculates on the number. Based on other recent land sales, one analyst pegged the price at $150 million. Based on the initial jump of Red Rock's stock price to within 45 cents of its 52-week high, the analyst doubled his estimate to $300 million. Quite a range -- but given that Red Rock is publicly traded, the company is required to disclose the price of the land when the deal closes. One thing's for sure: Red Rock benefits not just from the funds it will receive from the sale, but also in innumerable ways from the potential development of the other 50 acres it still owns next to the stadium site.
The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils are pick ’em in Game 7 of their first-round NHL playoff series. The total is 5.5.
The Clark County Commission has approved plans to redo one of the Horseshoe hotel towers by adding a Paris-style facade to match its next-door neighbor. The front Jubilee Tower of the Horseshoe will be transformed into the Versailles Tower, which will, apparently, become part of Paris, leaving the Horseshoe's back Resort Tower to carry on with the Horseshoe theme. The $100 million project will also renovate the front-tower rooms, attach 5-foot by 11-foot balconies to select rooms, and add a skybridge to connect the Versailles Tower to Paris. Assuming that the 765 rooms of the Jubilee Tower are transferred to Paris, the Horseshoe will wind up with approximately 2,050 rooms and Paris with 3,680. The interior renovations are scheduled for completion by the end of this year, with the facade and pedestrian bridge in the first quarter of 2024.
The Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant, which has been operating at the corner of Paradise and Flamingo roads since 1996, locked its doors last night at 10 p.m. for the last time. Reportedly, the landlord raised the rent so high that staying in business was unworkable.
May starts out pretty warm, with a normal high temperature of 83 and a low of 61 on the first day of the month, then climbs steadily to a high of 94 and a low of 71 on the last. The record high temps, however, are causing us to sweat just writing them down: 109 in 2003, 108 seven times (including May 3, 4, and 5, setting three other record highs on May 1, 2, and 6), and 107 four. The record lows start at 38 (May 3, 1942) and go up to 50 (May 26, 1980, and May 28, 1971). The high temperature has never hit 100 in April; the first time the thermometer broke into triple digits was on May 1 in that hot hot year of 1947 when it hit 102. Typically, about a quarter-inch of rain falls in May, tied with October for the third lowest month of precipitation.