The long-anticipated opening date of the famed Peter Luger Steakhouse at Caesars Palace has been confirmed for November 1. That's the first night that reservations will be taken for the Las Vegas outpost of the beloved 146-year-old restaurant that opened in Brooklyn in 1887. And unlike the Brooklyn, Great Neck, and Tokyo locations, the Las Vegas Luger will accept credit cards. You can make reservations for November 1 and thereafter at Open Table.
“Zoo Station: A U2:UV Experience,” described as the "ultimate hub for U2 fans," will open at the Venetian on Sept. 28, the night before the superstar rock band christens the Sphere. The immersive experience will, according to the press release, "feature more than 12,000 square feet of interactive exhibit space" on two levels. Located next to the LOVE sculpture in the Waterfall Atrium at the edge of the Palazzo lobby, Zoo Station (the opening track on U2's classic 1991 album Achtung Baby) will be a "centralized destination for people to celebrate, congregate, shop, view exclusive U2 content, and immerse themselves in the band’s history.” It will be open Tuesday through Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and ticket information (to the movie screenings; the hub itself is free) will be released soon.
Still wondering when the good times in Las Vegas might stop rolling? Well, not anytime soon. In July, the Las Vegas Strip set an all-time record for gaming revenue in a month; the $834.9 million beat the previous record of $792.6 million set in July 2021, helped along by the third highest slot revenue in history and the highest baccarat hold since 2003. Statewide, Nevada also set an all-time monthly record of $1.4 billion in gaming revenue, beating the previous record of $1.35 billion, also set in July 2021. July was the 29th consecutive month that Nevada gaming revenue exceeded $1 billion. And there's no end in sight. Football season, the opening of the Sphere, G2E, the Formula 1 race, the Super Bowl, and plenty of residencies and concerts look to keep this stone gathering no moss for the foreseeable future.
Hurricane Hilary hit the Spring Mountains west of Las Vegas hard a week ago, flooding homes, knocking down power lines, and washing out portions of the two feeder roads from the valley. The road to Lee Canyon (NV 156) remains closed all the way down to US 95 and repairs won't start until next month. The road to Kyle Canyon (NV 157) is closed to all but residents and service people, including the road-repair crews who started working yesterday. It looks like Mt. Charleston, a popular high-elevation destination for Las Vegans and visitors who want a wilderness experience out of the heat, will be off-limits for some time.
Bellagio opened on October 15, 1998; thus, it will celebrate its silver anniversary this year. To commemorate the occasion, the hotel-casino is offering an "exclusive epicurean weekend experience," in which chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Michael Mina, and Julian Serrano are collaborating to create an anniversary dinner on Saturday Oct. 14, consisting of king crab and caviar, duck and foie gras, and Japanese A5 Kobe tenderloin, New York strip, and brisket, with numerous wine pairings (all starting with "Chateau"). Included are a warm-up with a bourbon tasting at the new uber-exclusive cocktail room, the Vault, and a Wolfgang Puck brunch on Sunday afternoon. All this for only $10,000 per person. You can make reservations by emailing [email protected].
We've been getting a lot of questions about the Sphere and some concern the safety issues around the light show, displayed on a 37-story-tall dome that's also almost twice as wide as a football field is long. And with 1.2 million hockey-puck-sized LEDs, this sucker is not only bright, but the resolution is downright astonishing. It's also a bit dangerous. It can be seen from many places in the tourist corridor and when people notice it all lit up, which it is frequently at night, they have a tendency to get distracted by it. Actually, that's putting it mildly. Some seem to lose their minds entirely. Drivers are reportedly slamming on the brakes in the middle of roads. Pedestrians are running into traffic. Drivers suddenly become pedestrians when they jump out of their cars. And traffic jams are occurring all around the arena. Just be extra careful, especially at night, on the east side of center Strip. The life you save might be our own.
The Mashantucket Pequot's epic Foxwoods Hotel-Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, just got even more legendary, opening its new 50,000-square- foot Pequot Woodlands Casino to the public today. The $25 million project encompasses 430 slots, 24 tables, a 40-seat slot bar and two regular bars, a high-limit room with 130 machines, and its own casino cage. Woodlands took over space that used to be a ballroom and looks out, via actual casino windows, on the Pequot's forested reservation with a zipline running right outside the glass. Gordon Ramsay's Hell's Kitchen opened last month next to the new casino; a Wahlburgers also opens today. Foxwoods occupies an unbelievable nine million square feet of space and plans to continue to expand over the next 10 years. A Great Wolf Lodge-branded indoor water park is slated to open in 2025.
A total of 4.94 million passengers passed through Reid International in July. It was the third highest passenger count in history, slightly behind the number-two total of 4.95 million posted in May and the 5.17 million in October 2022. The 290,546 international passengers were the most since January 2020 just prior to the pandemic, when 309,091 travelers came from abroad. The July total was also 1.7% higher than the 4.86 million in July 2022, with international jumping 13.5% year over year.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal has posted a video from Controlled Demolition, Inc., which has imploded 14 hotel-casino towers since bringing down the Dunes in 1993; the last was the Riviera in 2016 (with the Landmark, Sands, Aladdin, Desert Inn, and Stardust among them). It's well worth the 90 seconds (30 seconds for a commercial) to see the implosion moments for all 14. Could the Tropicana be number 15?
The Vault opens tonight at Bellagio, the latest in a long line of secret rooms on the Strip. This one is a little different; it's even more exclusive than usual. It's behind a completely unmarked "golden door" near the cage and you can make reservations only by following a link from an Instagram page. According to USA Today's coverage, you can also "hope for an open seat if you stumble on the entrance." But most customers "will have to know somebody to get in,” MGM's director of beverage said. "We want our highest-end customers." And with those prices -- cocktails starting at $55, chips and caviar $42 -- that's who they'll get. Maybe. It certainly leaves us out.
A piece in this morning's Review-Journal reports on the George, the sports book at the Durango, Station Casinos' new $750 million hotel-casino opening in mid-November. Here's the hype: "a complete re-imagination of the sports betting experience.” Is it? Let's see. The George Sportsman’s Lounge will be a 24/7 restaurant, bar, and entertainment venue adjoining the sports book, with "bartop gaming, sports viewing on 60-plus TVs and a 56-foot LED screen, full-service dining, a patio with games (cornhole, shuffleboard), bottle service, a stage for live entertainment, and on-premises betting kiosks." Some food from the George will be available at the sports book. As for the menu, it'll be soup and salad, flatbread, sandwiches and burgers, and entrees; weekends, a brunch will be served on the patio with live music. Sounds like a sports bar on steroids to us, but it could be cool and fun. Durango is getting some ink for being about "experiences" and we can say that $750 million for a 200-room hotel-casino could actually deliver them. We'll know in three months.
As roadwork on the F1 race route continues, so do the traffic snarls at the south end of the Strip. At this point, we recommend that you avoid Harmon Ave. completely, regardless of the direction you’re traveling or the time of day. Even late-night, long back-ups are now common. Use any alternative available.
Formula 1 has opened the application process for the thousands of temporary employees needed to staff the race weekend. The first positions to be filled are strictly guest services: ticket sales and ticket resolution (the problems) agents; grandstand ushers and "ambassadors" (event experts), plus supervisors (10 ambassadors each); and food and beverage, including bartenders, barbacks, cashiers and catering staff. More positions will be listed soon for the Grand Prix, which is 12 weeks away.
Strangely enough, Hurricane Hilary made a beeline due north for northern Nevada after hitting land, the first time since 1976 that a tropical storm had any impact on Reno and vicinity. It dumped more than inch on the region, double the usual amount for the whole month of August. And it turned the Black Rock Desert playa into a muddy swamp, just as preparations for the annual Burning Man Arts Festival were getting underway. The gates were closed for three and a half days due to flooding, reopening on Wednesday and allowing only four days for setting up the festival that starts today. For a dozen very cool photos of the scene up on the Black Rock, click this link, supplied -- no surprise -- by Canada Roy. (Hint: Look for the arrows to the lower right of the photo; the captions change as the photos do.)
After big storms like last weekend's, we always receive a slew of questions about how the deluge impacted Lake Mead's water level. The answer is, as always: not much, if at all. According to the Bureau of Reclamation, the lake level rose four-tenths of an inch between the monsoon rain on Friday and the hurricane rain over the weekend. But even that can't be attributed to the recent precipitation; the lake level has been rising about that much over four-day periods lately, as water released from Lake Powell arrives at Mead. However, all the rain downstream has diminished demand from Mead, so the level is also dropping more slowly than normal for August. Mead has risen 14 feet since the Bureau started releasing Powell water in the spring.
The Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin has been selected to host the 2023 Minor League Baseball Triple-A Championship Game. It will take place between the two winning teams in the International and Pacific Coast leagues on Saturday Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. The Las Vegas Aviators are in the hunt with a record of 29-19, a single game out of first in the Pacific League behind the Round Rock (Texas) and one game ahead of Tacoma, with four weeks of regular-season games left to play. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster for $15 and $20.
Yesterday, the California Department of Transportation announced that starting tomorrow, the right shoulder on I-15 southbound will be open to traffic every Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The freeway is three lanes in Nevada right up to the state line, where the third temporary lane will open and ease congestion from there to the California agricultural check station.
Football is here and that means contests, baby! Anthony and Andrew talk about the big ones that are about to begin when the season starts in a couple of weeks; Anthony also recommends a proxy service for those who want to play, but won't be here every week to put in their picks. Then they give a rundown of the best steakhouses in Steakhouse City, both the most expensive ones, including three of the top five in the entire U.S., and the ones where the deals are better and the food is still fine, including one that dates all the way back to the 1950s. The Downtown Grand was the guys' destination for the blackjack tournament last night, but the big news is DTG will be starting up a video poker tournament next month. Tune in for the discussion of how the types of VP contests work. Finally, the Jackpot of the Week is a repeat from the luckiest video poker player in the history of all the universes in the metaverse. You won't believe your eyes when you see the photos! We're next! Click and get into it.
Las Vegas author Megan Edwards, our colleague in Las Vegas writing and publishing, has won the prestigious 2023 Silver Pen Award, issued by the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. The Silver Pen was established in 1996 as part of the Hall of Fame to honor the talent of Silver State writers who've shown substantial achievement. (Our own writers, John L. Smith and Matt O'Brien, won the award in 2010 and 2011, respectively.) Megan is the author of four novels, including two in the Copper Black mystery series, which features a young journalist in Las Vegas (our favorite is Getting off on Frank Sinatra); her latest is A Coin for the Ferryman, in which Julius Caesar visits the year 1999 for four days. You can see all her books here. Congratulations to Megan!
For the second year in a row, Death Valley has sustained major damage to roads, utilities, and wells from a deluge of rain. On Sunday, Hurricane Hilary dumped 2.2 inches, .2 inches more than an entire year's worth under normal conditions; the total broke the one-day record of 1.7 inches set last summer. All roads in and out of Death Valley National Park are closed as clean-up efforts continue and Scotty's Castle, one of the park's main attractions, won't reopen for at least two years. No timeline for reopening has been released, though a Park Service spokesperson indicated that it will happen in stages. Last year, the park was hit by a massive flash flood and mud on August 5, washing out roads and stranding about 1,000 visitors. The park didn't start to reopen until August 20 and didn't fully reopen for two months.
On the heels of Las Vegas Aces' superstar forward A'ja Wilson's WNBA record-tying 53 points in Tuesday's game against the Atlanta Dream on the road, the Aces will be looking for their 30th win of the season when they take on the Chicago Sky tonight. In a run that USA Today called "one of the greatest scoring performances we’ve ever seen," the six-four 27-year-old Wilson tied the record set by six-nine Liz Cambage, the Aces' center, in 2018 when she played for the Dallas Wings and is only the third WBNA player to break 50 points. She made 16 of 23 shots from the floor (1-for-1 on three-pointers) and 20 of 21 from the foul line. Wow! She also broke her own personal-best record after scoring 40 points on August 11. The Aces are 29-4, with one loss at home and three on the road. They have seven more games before the playoffs.
For months now, we've been getting regular questions about whether the Sphere will conduct tours of what's touted as the most technologically advanced entertainment venue on Earth. So far, the answer seems to be ... sort of, maybe, it's a little hard to tell so far. Long-time Las Vegas Review-Journal business reporter Rick Velotta tuned into yesterday's Sphere Entertainment Co. earnings call and emerged with the following description. Visitors entering the Sphere to see the movie Postcards from Earth will be guided through the “Sphere Experience,” which he describers as "a demonstration of the $2.3 billion building’s technology presented by robots and holographs." Getting into the details, Velotta writes, "It will begin with a replica of Gutenberg’s printing press and take you through the creation of the metaverse and the development of AI via holographs and a 50-foot translucent video." So we don't know how much of this tour will focus on the Sphere specifically, but it sounds like at least part of it will. Postcards from Earth opens on October 6; tickets start at $49 and are available here.
Paid parking arrives at the Venetian and Palazzo on Tuesday, for hotel guests on September 5. Rates for non-guests are $15 for up to four hours, then $18 from four to 24 hours, Monday through Thursday; they're jacked up to $23 per day on Fri., Sat., and Sunday. For hotel guests, the fee is $18 per day, seven days a week. As far as we can tell, there's no freebie for the first hour, though locals get three hours comped. Next up: the Wynn and Resorts World?
As many LVA readers know, Joe Pane was a friend, life-long hockey fan and author of our book Vegas Golden Knights, and blackjack and poker player extraordinaire who passed away recently and unexpectedly. In his honor, local friends and players are inaugurating an annual poker tournament, which will debut on Saturday September 16 at 10 a.m. at the Space just across I-15 from the Cosmopolitan. For the $100 registration fee, players will receive 10K worth of chips (100 in unlimited rebuys until round 8), with a grand prize of entries into the World Poker Tour Prime Championship and the World Series of Poker Million-Dollar Mystery Bounty tournament along with a package at Caesars. The final table will be played on Sunday the 17th and the cash pool will be $5,000. There will also be some special events, such as a silent auction, celebrity bounties, and giveaways. The tournament is presented by Misfits Poker and Mondays Dark and you can sign up here.
Here are the details on the racing activities that will impact the tourist corridor over the Grand Prix weekend, November 16-18. Starting at 5 p.m on Thursday November 16, the entire circuit will shut between 5 and 7 p.m. These roads will be closed:
* The Strip southbound between Genting Boulevard and Aria Place
* Sands Avenue between the Strip and Howard Hughes Parkway
* Harmon Avenue between the Strip and Lamar Circle
* Koval Lane between Sands and Tompkins avenues
* Spring Mountain Road between the Strip and Mel Torme Way
* Flamingo Road eastbound between Via Del Nord and Linq Lane
The roads will reopen at 2 a.m., then close again on the same schedule Friday and Saturday nights.
If you don't have tickets, you probably won't be anywhere near them. If you do, you'll either have to walk in to your Zoned seats or catch a ride from one of two pickup-dropoff locations, one at Virgin, the other at Howard Hughes Center (near the Sphere). An app will be released before the race that will help ticket holders get to their seats.
We continue to receive a slew of questions about access by hotel guests and, especially employees, but to our knowledge, no information has been released about that, including how close the public buses will get. We're assuming that these details are being handled by the casinos, which will instruct their employees and guests about access.
The New York Post, which last month broke the story about Formula 1 demanding a $1,500-per-person fee from Las Vegas venues with sightlines of the race circuit, now reports that F1 has backtracked due to the backlash, slashing the fee to $50,000 per venue, down from the $3 million for which restaurants and clubs with capacities of up to 200 would have been on the hook. The LVCVA is on record as saying that the venue fee "is not going to happen" at all, so we're not sure whom to believe. But what also caught our attention is this quote from "a source close to restaurant owners," who told the Post, "This venue fee is much smarter. It’s much more in line with what the Super Bowl will charge” when it's played at Allegiant Stadium in February. Say what? Except for possibly getting a glimpse inside the stadium from the House of Blues Foundation Room (63rd floor of Mandalay Bay) or the Rivea/Skyfall Lounge (64th floor of the Delano), no Vegas venue has a view of the Big Game. And we looked far and wide for any indication that the NFL charges a venue fee, but couldn't find a thing. Yes, casinos and bars pay the NFL licensing fees to show games throughout the season, but this is the first we've heard of a venue fee for viewing the Super Bowl.
The alert folks at Casino.org read the fine print on the parking page on the Cosmopolitan's website, which reads, "Registered hotel guests receive self-parking at no additional charge for stays that begin before 9/20/23. Registered hotel guests are subject to applicable self-parking rates for stays that begin on or after 9/20/23.” In other words, people staying at the Cosmo will start paying for self-parking on Wednesday September 20. The Cosmo began charging for self-parking for non-guests in 2021, but for guests, it remained complimentary. But then, MGM Resorts took over and now, that comp's days are ending in four weeks. It's not particularly surprising, but it doesn't bode well for the transition from the Identity players club to MGM Rewards in February. The first hour of self-parking will still be free for everyone and locals will still get three hours free. For everyone else, the charges will be the same as at other MGM properties: 1 to 4 hours $20, 4 to 24 hours $23, daily rate for each additional day or fraction thereof $23.
The long-anticipated autobiography from 77-year-old sports betting legend Billy Walters is being released today. The book, Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk, has been getting an enormous amount of ink over the past weeks in the buildup to today's pub date, particularly for its revelations about pro golfer Phil Mickelson (and his gambling addiction). It also reportedly includes "masterclass sections" on sports betting for everyone from the average bettor to the most accomplished. Walters told the Las Vegas Sun that he "wouldn't have sold this information 10 years ago if he was paid $30 million, but the advancements and progress made in legalized sports betting have softened that approach." The 384-page Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk is available on Amazon as an ebook for $16.99 and hardback for $31.50. It's already number one on Amazon in Rich and Famous Biographies and number 37 for all books.
A press release from Caesars tells an unusual story. On Friday, an unidentified player at Caesars Palace hit five jackpots totaling $1,052,500. On Saturday, the same player hit another five jackpots for $1,020,331. Tally for the weekend: $2,072,831. Presumably, this was a high-limit slot player; the games weren't mentioned. So we wonder how much money went in for that much to come out.
A story in Saturday's Wall Street Journal reports that Macau has reclaimed the gambling-capital crown from Las Vegas, after having forfeited it during the pandemic. A total of 1.9 million mainland Chinese visited Macau in July, very close to the two million who showed up per month in late 2019, pre-COVID. That's compared to 7,000 visitors in July 2022, when the city was still essentially closed. Also, for the first six months of this year, Macau’s gross gambling revenue was close to $10 billion, while Nevada’s was $7.5 billion. And the GGR continues to rise, reaching $2 billion in July, the highest since the shutdown. (Thanks to Ken M. for sending the link.)
The state of emergency declared in Nevada by the governor in an abundance of caution notwithstanding, the tropical storm that was called Hilary up to last night mostly bypassed the valley. Winds, clouds, and cool temperatures were the bulk of the effects, with around an inch of rain since Friday, though some of that was monsoonal. Flooding was experienced in the LINQ parking garage (as always) and up on Mt. Charleston, which received upwards of eight inches over the past several days; Both canyons are closed, power was shut off to the area, and the National Guard is assisting in the cleanup. Today, it's expected to be cloudy into mid-afternoon, when the summer sun will emerge for the first time since last week, with a high of 86 or so. Temperatures are predicted to climb steadily, hitting 100 again on Friday.
The Maui Strong benefit that was scheduled to take place at Container Park today has been postponed due to the storms described earlier in this space. The event has been moved back a week to August 27.
VitalVegas posts this morning that M.Y. Asia, the Las Vegas debut of Martin Yan, has closed suddenly after only six months in business. Yan, the star of the PBS cooking show "Yan Can Cook" for the past 41 years, winner of an Emmy and several James Beards, and cookbook author among other claims to fame, owned the restaurant and leased it from Caesars Entertainment, according to VitalVegas, as opposed to the usual licensing deal that celebrity chefs cut with casino companies. On the hook for expensive renovations and little time to establish the brand, M.Y. Asia was in jeopardy from day one, in March. You can read the whole story here.
On the edge of the path of Hurricane Hilary, now a tropical storm, Las Vegas is bracing for high winds and lashing rain this afternoon through tomorrow. Tornados in the Las Vegas Valley are also a possibility. Upwards of 20% of flights (134 inbound, 131 outbound) at Reid International have been canceled. The entire Lake Mead Recreation Area closed yesterday at 5 p.m. US 95 was closed around Searchlight in both directions due to downed power lines and I-15 eastbound was closed 60 miles north of Las Vegas due to flooding. City officials have been working feverishly to clear the storm drains of homeless residents, are warning of power outages and flooding, and are advising everyone to hunker down and make good decisions.
England and Spain are pick ’em in today’s women’s soccer World Cup final. The total is 2. The match starts at 6 a.m. EST.
Aljamain Sterling is a -300 favorite over Sean O’Malley in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Weili Zhang is -360 over Amanda Lemos.
September has been designated "Wedding Month" in Las Vegas to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the city being considered the Wedding Capital of the World. On September 23, 1953, the London Daily Herald dubbed it as such in a story about weddings here, the article that launched five million nuptials; every year, Las Vegas conducts more destination weddings that anywhere on Earth. As part of the festivities, on Friday September 3, Caesars will present a special production show, Las Vegas Will You Marry Me?, billed as "a memorable musical journey through Las Vegas’ seven decades of love stories, featuring iconic Las Vegas performing artists." In addition, several hundred couples will tie the knot and venerable Carlos' Bake Shop will recreate the iconic six-tier cake from Elvis and Priscilla's 1967 wedding at the Aladdin: yellow sponge, Bavarian-cream and apricot-marmalade filling, and decorated with red marzipan roses at a cost of $20,000 in today's dollars. The full description of and tickets for the event are here.
Rain. Lots and lots of rain. And wind. That's the forecast for the next 48-72 hours, as the first-ever tropical storm watch has been issued by the National Weather Service for southern California and Nevada. "Historic" is the word forecasters are using to describe the amount of rain Hurricane Hilary, aiming at the Southwestern U.S., could dump here through Monday -- three to six inches with up to 10 inches in some places. To complicate matters, a monsoon system from the southeast has been hanging around since yesterday. Winds of up to 60 mph and flash floods are anticipated, the National Guard has been activated, and residents and visitors are warned to take precautions. Las Vegas has an extensive storm-drain system (more than 600 miles' worth), necessitated by similar situations in the past. For a graphic look at the worst ones, Fox 5 News has posted several photos of their aftermath. You won't believe your eyes.
This week's edition of the LVA YouTube Update is up and at 'em. Anthony and Andrew start out with "the Durango," Station Casinos' newest project opening in November, along with a discussion of Station's pivot away from locals casinos. Then they compare the two least expensive shrimp cocktails in town, both of which just raised their prices. Andrew appeared at the OYO last night, James Grosjean's book has a quick-and-easy option, the Jackpot of the Week is another progressive for nearly $6K, and that leads into Anthony's greatest bartop pickup line (hint: It involves video poker, natch!). Click the arrow and enjoy.
If you're in town and seeing pink everywhere, including the Welcome sign, the Eiffel Tower, the High Roller observation wheel, and the downtown Gateway arches, it's to recognize the concert at Allegiant Stadium tonight by K-pop group Blackpink. One of three "encore" appearances (the others are in San Francisco and L.A.), the girl group is winding up its world "Born Pink" tour after stops on three continents. Then, next Saturday, Beyonce will play Allegiant for one night on her "Renaissance" tour. Tickets are available for both concerts on the reseller sites.
Ellis Island is located right next door to the Formula 1 paddock facility and at the end of Turn 4, where the race cars come out of the savage U-turn just past the starting line. As such, it has some of the best sightlines of the race on the entire circuit and the venerable little family-owned joint will be taking full advantage of them. The Ellises have announced that they'll build grandstands on the property; the renderings show them along the surface parking that fronts the motel. Access to those seats, along with food and soft drinks, will cost $1,500 per person; with the entertainment tax and service and processing fees, the total price is $1,701.18 for the day before, day of, and day after the race. The grandstand and a three-night room package will go for $5,000, including food and drinks, alcohol extra. Rooms at the hotel without race tickets are $1,000 for each of the three nights. Get all the details and buy tickets and packages at the EI website.
A story on ReviewJournal.com reports that some tickets for U2's "UV Achtung Baby Live” residency, which will christen the Sphere starting on September 29, are still available on Ticketmaster and, presumably, the ticket-reselling sites. The first four shows are sold out and shows in October are selling for as high as $1,500, though shows in December can be attended for as low as $375. Tickets for the highly anticipated "Postcard from Earth" movie, which starts on Friday October 6, are readily available, not surprisingly, considering they start at $59 and go as high as $99 depending on the day and time.
The Co-op Frosé & Eatery, a small but growing chain out of South Carolina that counts Peyton Manning as an investor, is getting ready to open at Resorts World; Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL quarterback Sam Bradford is an investor in the Las Vegas franchise. The Co-op at Resorts World, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, will occupy 1,000 square feet and serve up to "10 frosés at a time from a rotating seasonal menu of 50 flavors." The menu for the chain, which has five locations in South Carolina, two in Tennessee, and one in North Carolina, offers a dozen or so sandwiches and a couple of salads (in the $10 to $13 range, though we suspect the RW prices will be higher). Frosé is short for "frozen rosé," a kind of smoothie mix of rosé wine, lemon juice, sugar, and fruit (strawberry is the default), which apparently is all the rage with the younger generations. Resorts World will also sell frosés from kiosks in the casino, from an Airstream trailer by the pool, and delivered via room service.
Entertainment news continues its march into next year, with Kylie, Shania, and Madonna announcements just in the past couple of days. Now comes word that R&B superstar Usher has added 12 new shows to his "Usher: My Way" residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM. The shows will take place on: November 3, 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 22, 24, 25, and 29; and December 1 and 2. These will be the final dates for the residency that began in July 2022 and has sold out every date since. Presale sign-up starts this Friday, with general-public tickets going on sale Friday Aug. 25.
Due to high demand (and small showroom), Australian pop star Kylie Minogue has added 10 dates to the original 10 for her residency at the Venetian's renamed Voltaire Theater, which sold out in a matter of hours. The new dates are: December 15 and 16; March 8, 9, 15, and 16; April 26 and 27; and May 3 and 4. Tickets for the new shows will be available starting at 7 a.m. tomorrow PT.
Madonna's "Celebration" tour, delayed once (October) due to her hospitalization and a second time (January) due to a scheduling problem, will now take place on March1-2. Tickets for the October shows will be honored for the new dates; questions should go to Ticketmaster. And Shania Twain has just announced her third Las Vegas residency in the last 10 years ("Still the One" 2012-2014 and "Let’s Go!" 2019-2022). The new show, "Shania Twain: Come on Over – The Las Vegas Residency – All The Hits," is a little longer than the name, with 24 dates at Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood between May and December: May 10, 11, 15, 17, 18, 23, 25, and 26; August 23, 24, 29, and 31); September 1, 4, 6, and 7; November 29 and 30; and December 4, 6, 7, 11, 13, and 14). Presale tickets are available as of 10 a.m.
Station Casinos' newest hotel-casino, Durango, has opened up its hiring websites, as evidenced by a billboard campaign around the city. Station hopes to hire upwards of 1,500 employees to populate the staff of the property, which opens on November 20. Station will be competing for help with Fontainebleau, which needs more than 7,000 employees, and numerous Strip casinos, which are still short-staffed and holding job fairs from time to time.
Online media company Insider.com has posted a blog about José Andrés' é restaurant. é has only nine seats, is hidden by Andrés' Jaleo tapas room at the Cosmopolitan, has two seatings per night, and reservations are generally three months out. The blog post gives an up-close-and-personal and in-depth look at a $3,350 dinner for nine consisting of a couple dozen courses prepared by five chefs, complete with photos. It's definitely worth the four minutes to consume this story and get a look at one of the best shows in town. And thanks, for the 100th time, to Canada Roy for the link.
Nevada consistently ranks in the bottom 20% states when it comes to public-education metrics and now it has earned another dubious distinction: It has the fewest teachers filling available positions. A new study by Scholaroo, a website dedicated to helping students pay for college, found that the ratio between working teachers and enrolled students is the nation's worst. Bad working conditions and low salaries were mostly to blame. The Clark County Unified School District is the fifth largest by enrollment in the U.S. and has been mired in controversy after controversy for years. Utah (49), Arizona, California, and Florida round out the bottom five.
It's not a residency, just one concert on November 8 at the Venetian Theater, but this is a special pair to team up for even a single performance. Hall is half of the duo Daryl Hall and John Oates, the most successful pair of rock performers of all time, even more than the Everly Brothers and Simon & Garfunkel, with 29 Top Forty singles and 18 best-selling albums. Hall is also a television personality and owner of Daryl's House, a performance venue and restaurant in New York. Todd Rundgren will be the featured special guest with Daryl Hall's House Band, playing any number of instruments, singing, and featuring his own many hit songs. At this point, it's unclear if this is a one-off for the band and guest or if a tour is in the works or what. Tickets will start at $59 when they go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.
Kentucky is on deck to start sports betting in three weeks. Retail locations are scheduled to open on September 7 and mobile betting will launch on September 28. Kentucky will become the 35th state, plus Washington, D.C., where sports betting is legal and live; in three other states (Maine, Vermont, and Florida), sports betting is legal, but not yet live. And it looks like Rhode Island will become the seventh state with legal online slots and table games when they go live on April 1. Bally's, which holds a monopoly on casino gambling in its home state with Bally’s Twin River Lincoln and Bally’s Tiverton, will be the sole igaming operator with third-party partner Stakelogic.
With Atomic Range Golf under construction next to the STRAT (expected to open by November) and Swingers Crazy Golf, an adult miniature-golf chain recently announcing a new 40,000-square-foot three-story venue that will open sometime next year at Mandalay Bay, a third mini-golf venue might start to sound like overkill, but this one has a strong hook. Namely, Tiger Woods. Popstroke was founded in 2018 by Woods and a former Wall Street executive. It's a family-oriented golf and dining experience that features two 18-hole putting courses designed by Woods himself. The courses, built with synthetic turf, incorporate the fairways, bunkers, and roughs of traditional golf courses, but can be played by anyone regardless of skill or experience. Popstroke currently has five locations in Florida, two in Arizona, and one in Texas and is expanding to 13 more locations, including Las Vegas. Ground will be broken on Wednesday for the two-story venue next to Town Square on the south Strip, slated to open in early 2024.
Friday's livestreamed LVA YouTube is available for viewing and reviewing on our channel and you should tune in if you have some extra time. It features two special guests. Deke Castleman is first; Deke's been the senior editor at Huntington Press, which produces the LVA, all the books, and this website, since 1992. He also wrote Whale Hunt in the Desert. Deke's appearance gives you a rare opportunity to get a glimpse of the long editorial partnership and friendship between him and Anthony. Then Mike Weatherford shows up. Before retiring, Mike was the long-time entertainment reporter/columnist for the Review-Journal; he also wrote our fabulous book Cult Vegas, about the era of Las Vegas entertainment that made this town the Entertainment Capital of the World. Check out the two guests and the usual banter by clicking the white arrow.
The Australian National Rugby League (NRL) will open its 2024 season with a double-header at Allegiant Stadium in late February and/or early March (dates to be announced soon). The games are intended to "showcase rugby, the league, and Australia to the U.S. market," as well as to "increase broadcast exposure and wagering turnover," by being on a "stage the sport has never been on before." The four teams will be the Sydney Roosters, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Manly Sea Eagles, and Brisbane Broncos; the Rabbitohs are co-owned by actor Russell Crowe. The games will be part of an "entertainment blitz" that will include other Aussie sporting events and entertainers.
With less than 100 days to go until the Las Vegas Grand Prix, construction of the $260 million 300,000-square-foot four-story paddock building, where the race will start and end, is making the final turn onto the home stretch. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports this morning that the 1,000-foot-long building, going up on 39 acres at the corner of Harmon and Koval, is 80% complete and according to the project manager, will "absolutely" be ready in time for the race, though the last three months will be "very hectic." Upwards of 450 workers are onsite, racing to finish not only the paddock building itself, but also the five grandstands within the East Harmon spectator zone. You can read about the paddock facilities and amenities in a recent Question of the Day.
Rafael Dos Anjos is a -125 favorite over Vicente Luque in today's UFC main event. In the other featured match, Hakeem Dawodu is -250 over Cub Swanson.
Henderson Little League, a team consisting of 11- to 13-year-olds, is going to the Little League Baseball World Series after beating Utah yesterday afternoon to clinch the Mountain Region championship. It's only the second time a Nevada Little League team has been to the World Series; the first was in 2013. Henderson LL defeated Utah soundly 10-0, with the pitcher striking out 11 batters, throwing a no-hitter for four innings, and shutting out Utah over the six-inning game. Henderson LL will face the winner of the Metro Region at noon on Wednesday in a game in Williamsport, Penn., the birthplace of Little League baseball. The game will be televised on ESPN.
KLAS 8 News Now posted a report yesterday that Southern Nevada Health District inspectors have found bed bugs at a number of Las Vegas Strip hotels after receiving complaints of guests being bitten. Bed bugs were found twice last year at Circus Circus, along with Caesars Palace, Planet Hollywood, Palazzo, Tropicana, MGM Grand, and the Sahara over the past 18 months. A pest-control expert told the TV station, "Hotel rooms don't come with bed bugs. People bring them in with luggage and the like." He recommends that guests inspect their rooms, especially around the bed, for signs of an infestation, such as dark spots and carcasses. Spokespeople for MGM Grand and the Trop told 8 News Now that as soon as they receive a complaint, they isolate and treat the room or rooms.
All 10,000 tickets to the 10-date residency of Australian pop superstar Kylie Minogue at the Venetian's 1,000-seat Voltaire Theater sold out within a few hours of going on sale on Wednesday. There was so much demand that the Voltaire website crashed; the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that before the announcement that no tickets were left, the wait time was more than 3,000 hours long. All show-and-suite packages sold out on Ticketmaster quickly the day before. The few tickets on the secondary sites were going for $1,620 (minimum two) and $1,800 apiece. The R-J also reported that more dates are in the works. Does she have that many American fans? Or are they Brits and Aussies on bucket-list trips (as Canada Roy wonders)? Both?
"For many reasons, the gaming industry is miles behind other businesses when it comes to the smoking issue." So writes our friend and author John L. Smith (No Limit, Of Rats and Men, Quicksilver, and On the Boulevard) in a commentary posted yesterday on CDCGamingReports.com. John is commenting on the recent announcement that there will be a panel discussion at the upcoming G2E in Las Vegas in October, which is, as he notes, something of an anomaly for the biggest gambling-industry conference and trade show of the year. You can read the whole post here.
A lucky slot player from California hit the Megabucks jackpot at Aria yesterday. The good news is the $5 bet netted $10.16 million. The bad news, if you can call it that, is that the jackpot had reset after being hit for $10.5 million in early July at the Cannery.
Luke Bryan, the 47-year-old country singer-songwriter and long-time judge on "American Idol," has been performing a residency at Resorts World since February. Now, with 144 days left until New Year's Eve, Bryan has announced the final shows of his stint at the RW Theater. Six new dates have been added: Dec. 29, 30 and 31; and Jan. 3, 5, and 6. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday Aug. 18.
We've confirmed that the D is providing complimentary Molson beer for people checking into the hotel. The tap and handle are physically located at the north end of The D's front desk. This is a promotion for the D's BarCanada; Molson, of course, is Canada's oldest beer and the oldest brewery in North America, founded in Montreal in 1786 by John Molson, whose quote about an honest brew is on the bottles. And in 2023, we can add, "And a free one makes even more!"
A slot player from Florida was firing up a Panda Magic machine at the Wynn last Friday at 11 a.m. when he or she hit the progressive jackpot for $1,614,758. Panda Magic is an Aristocrat Gaming machine and the photo of the jackpot screen shows a $750 bet off of almost $32,000 in machine credits and the glorious three panda mugs lined up vertically on the bonus line. Obviously a slot whale who got very lucky.
At long last, the book that all of us have been waiting for! The Ultimate Report -- "the Book" for Casino Carny Games is finally back from the printer and going into the mail as we type. Written by advantage player extraordinaire James Grosjean, The Ultimate Report covers the "carny" games: Three Card Poker, Caribbean Stud, Let It Ride, Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Mississippi Stud, Crazy 4 Poker, Four Card Poker, Flop Poker, Heads-Up Hold'em, Jackpot Hold'em, Criss Cross Poker, and Cali Lowball, all mainstays on the casino floor. If you play these games, you'll save thousands with the book's abbreviated player-friendly instructions alone and much more with Grosjean's in-depth pinpoint basic strategies. In addition to improving your play, The Ultimate Report provides a fascinating look into the mind and methods of a world-class advantage player, whose previous books have sold for hundreds of dollars (and thousands on the secondary market). The Ultimate Report is available now for $29.71; regularly $34.95, the discount nearly saves you the shipping cost ($7).
The intensely disruptive repaving of the Las Vegas Strip and several other heavily trafficked nearby thoroughfares is heading into the home stretch, as crews lay down the final race layer, the last inch and three-quarters of dense paving. The public-roads project will be completed by the end of next month, after which the paving will be done on private land (around the paddock area). In a report on KTNV13 this morning, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority called it "the most difficult thing this city has ever done from an event standpoint," but the job should hold for six years, barring circumstances, such as a utilities break or water-main rupture. The LVCVA also denied that F1 will impose per-head charges on venues along the circuit for views of the race. Advertising painted on the streets and "dasherboards" (that separate the circuit from the spectators), however, will be allowed, given that the economic impact of the race will be more than $250 million, according to the policy. The LVCVA estimates the impact at more than $1 billion (though how much of that will trickle past the casinos wasn't mentioned).
A Florida lottery player hit Mega Millions in last night's drawing to scoop the largest MM jackpot and third largest lottery jackpot in history: $1.58 billion, give or take a few million. The lump sum payout will be $783.3 million; after Uncle Sam withholds his 24% (Florida has no state income tax), the take-home will be around $595 million. It was the first time the Mega Millions jackpot was hit in nearly four months; it now resets to $20 million.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports this morning that the water level in Lake Mead is 20 feet higher than where it was last year at this time. That's a full foot higher than June projections. However, Mead remains at 32% of its full capacity and the Bureau of Reclamations predicts that the lake level will drop about nine feet, down to 1,052, by this time next year. Lake Powell, however, is at 40% of capacity, after rising 44 feet over last year's level, thanks to a ferocious winter in the Colorado watershed, where reservoirs are as high as 90% of capacity. Water managers have been sending water from Powell down to Mead, so Powell is dropping a bit as Mead rises.
The 10-day old fire that ravaged upwards of 100,000 acres of Joshua trees in eastern California and sent a pall of smoke and haze over Las Vegas Valley has been all but put out; only some smoldering and hot spots remain. A little more than 9,000 acres in Nevada were charred, but it was California's largest fire so far this year. Joshua trees are particularly susceptible to wildfires, which spread rapidly in the desert, and are extremely slow to recover, if they ever do. Nearly 1.3 million Joshua trees were burned in the Preserve's Dome fire, which also spread quickly and lasted for 10 days, in mid-August 2020.
The median price of a single-family house in southern Nevada jumped $9,000 in July, back up to $450,000. That's 2% higher than June's $441,000, but still 3.2% less than the median of $465,000 in July 2022. It was also a decline of 7.2% from the record high of $485,000 set in May 2022. Condo prices aren't moving around as much, with the median at $273,500, up a half-point year over year and down only 4% from the record high of $285,000, also set in May 2022. Inventory remains tight, so prices are rising a bit, even in the face of rising interest rates.
With only 146 more days to go, the first NYE entertainment announcement has arrived. Perennial Las Vegas headliner Bruno Mars is adding five performances in December to his 10 dates in August, September, and October at Dolby Live at Park MGM. He'll perform on December 22, 23, and 28, with the fourth and fifth shows on the 30th and New Year's Eve. Tickets start at $100 and go on sale on Friday.
Should the Oakland Athletics move to Las Vegas? Plenty of fans in northern California and pundits in southern Nevada are dead set against it, but a detailed look at the A's history in Oakland in the Nevada Independent presents a strong rebuttal. Even in the A's glory years, winning the World Series in a three-peat in 1972-1974, attendance at the over-sized Oakland Coliseum was dismal. According to this opinion piece, it was a situation that dated all the way back to the 1930s and never really got better. The piece also argues that nine acres are plenty for an MLB stadium, that if Las Vegas didn't extend corporate welfare to the team, plenty of other cities were prepared to do so, and that the Vegas Golden Knights and Las Vegas Raiders have proven both locals and visitors will attend the home games. It concludes, "It’s a no-brainer the A’s will be a major hit on the Las Vegas Strip." You can read the whole story here.
The high-speed train planned to connect Las Vegas and southern California has surmounted an environmental-impact challenge and can now move forward again. The Federal Railroad Administration determined that the train would not impact a 50-mile corridor between Victor Valley and its southern terminus in Cucamonga, thus freeing developer Brightline West from conducting a formal environmental-impact study and producing a statement. The company has now accumulated all the required permits and rights of way and has announced ground breaking on the line for later this year. The plan is to complete the $12 billion 218-mile track and start service by early 2028 in time for the summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Sports Illustrated's website has a photo story on Formula 1 race cars showing up inside some of the hotels that they'll be speeding past outside on race night. The Wynn has one in the lobby; another is near Hells Kitchen at Caesars Palace. A third is at the North Premium Outlet Mall in the Formula 1 pop-up store, Racing Miami. You can read the one-minute text and see three photos here.
In a study by Forbes Health, Las Vegas ranks high for the amount and kind of noise that causes hearing loss. Out of 100 geographic areas surveyed, per 100,000 businesses, Las Vegas comes in at number one for noise created by casinos, three for concerts, eight for bars and nightclubs, nine for spectator sports, and 15 for restaurants. In total, Vegas places seventh for noisiest in the U.S., with a scaled score of 82 (out of 100). Riverside-San Bernardino is worst at 100, while Connecticut's Bridgeport, Stamford, and Norwalk metropolitan area has the lowest potential risk to hearing health. And thanks for Canada Roy for unearthing this study, suggesting that Las Vegas is an excellent place for audiologists.
Death Valley is a mere 110 miles from Las Vegas as the crow flies, but it's a world away in terms of temperatures. Las Vegas tied a record in July for consecutive days hotter than 110 degrees at 10, but also in July, Death Valley set a new record for consecutive days higher than 120 degrees -- yow! Seventeen days in a row, July 14-30, the thermometer breached 120, rising as high as 128 on one day. It was the third longest heat wave in the history of the valley, with the record set almost 100 years ago (1929). It was also the second hottest July on record, with an average temperature of 107.6 degrees; the hottest was in July 2018 at 108.1.
Cory Sandhagen is a -400 favorite over Rob Font in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Tatiana Suarez is -370 over Jessica Andrade.
Anthony and Andrew cover a lot of ground in this week's LVA YouTube Update #102. Will the Rio's famous Carnival World Buffet return? Find out if and what Anthony thinks about that. Then they discuss the ongoing traffic nightmare on the Strip caused by the epic F1 repaving project, a fabulous oyster deal right at center Strip, Anthony's long-promised Megabucks story, the Question of the Week that compares football contests, and the Jackpot of the Week actually comprising three jackpots, with interesting commentary about the different machines, including Multistrike. It's all here with a twitch of your index finger on the mouse.
The planet Uranus is roughly 1.6 billion miles from Earth and it took Voyager 2 nearly 10 years to fly there from here. Well, if you laid out that distance in dollar bills, that's how high the Mega Millions jackpot would reach. (Of course, each bill would have to stretch a mile and you'd have to figure out some way to hold them together, but you get the idea). With no winner in last night's drawing, the total for Tuesday's is an estimated $1.55 billion; if it hits that number, it'll be the largest jackpot in Mega Millions history. The last time the jackpot was hit was on April 18.
Celebrity chef Michael Mina has announced the opening of a new restaurant, Orla, at Mandalay Bay this winter. It might look like Mina is jumping on the Middle Eastern bandwagon moving all over Las Vegas lately, with Shalom Y'All (Proper Eats Food Hall at Aria), Mother Falafel (new kosher restaurant out on Rainbow Blvd.), Shawarma Vegas (two locations), halal restaurants (everywhere), and Miznon and HaSalon (Palazzo) showing up recently, but Mina was born and grew up in Cairo, so when he says he's "bringing the captivating flavors and vibrant energy of the Mediterranean and Middle East to life with dishes inspired by my upbringing," he's not just whistling Dixie. Certainly, the "seafood-focused" restaurant will be upscale, like the new Mediterranean-Israeli HaSalon at Palazzo, but whatever Mina, who owns and operates Stripsteak, also at Mandalay Bay, and the eponymous restaurant at Bellagio comes up with, it should be interesting.
STLV: The 57-Year Mission is being hosted by the Rio this weekend -- STLV standing for Star Trek Las Vegas. For Trekkies, this all-things-Star Trek is a major event, with appearances by 165 actors and behind-the-scenes people, including perennial favorites Brent Spiner (Data), George Takei (Hikaru Sulu), LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge), Nana Visitor (Kira Nerys), and yes, William Shatner. The convention runs through Sunday and for all the relevant information, go to the website.
The VitalVegas blog reports this morning that the Federal Aviation Administration has approved a 699-foot tower for the site currently occupied by distinctly low-rise Casino Royale, which sits next to Harrah's to the south. The post also cites information from employees at Casino Royale's Outback Steakhouse that the restaurant "will be closing" and that Casino Royale isn't taking any reservations for the Grand Prix weekend. Of course (for anyone who knows how media averse the Elardi family, owners of Casino Royale, are), no official announcement has been made about a closure or who might be applying to build a 70-story tower on the property, but it sure looks to us like this little Strip oasis' days are numbered.
In Red Rock Resorts' second-quarter earnings call yesterday, it was announced that the $780 million Durango Station, Station Casinos' newest locals joint in the southwest valley, will open on November 20. Just a few hours later in the evening, the 60-feet-high-by-55-feet-wide wide Durango sign was illuminated for the first time. The grand opening will take place on the Monday right after F1 race weekend, when all attention will be on the Strip, but just before the long Thanksgiving weekend. Situated on a 50-acre site in the fastest growing area in the valley with no casino competitors within a five-mile radius, Durango Station should do well for the locals casino company that's moving in a decidedly upscale direction.
The Cleveland Browns are -1.5 favorites over the New York Jets in tonight's Hall of Fame Game that opens the NFL season. The total is 33. Note, this line was posted with the game in progress.
The new owners of Lee Canyon ski resort have announced a $7 million upgrade to the facilities. Mountain Capital Partners, which acquired the property in April, will invest in a brand new quad chairlift that will serve beginner and intermediate skiers, a new 500-foot "magic-carpet" conveyor lift (a moving belt) for the bunny slope, and new parking with 450 spaces. Lee Canyon set a record last winter for the most snow in history (nearly 22 feet), which prompted an influx of first-time and young skiers, and the resort seems to be focusing on them with these upgrades. Powdr Corp., which sold the resort to MCP, opened a new 10,000-square-foot base lodge for the 2019 season.
Move over Vegas Golden Knights. The WNBA Aces, first pro-sports team to win a championship for Las Vegas, has made the 2023 playoffs with 14 games to go in the 40-game season. On Tuesday, the Aces smashed the Atlanta Dream 93-72, becoming the first team to clinch a playoff spot. In addition, the Aces improved their record to 24-2, which ties the league record set by the Houston Comets in 1998 for the most wins in the first 26 games and they'll no doubt break the record for most wins in a season, 29, set by the Phoenix Mercury in 2014. They also extend their winning streak to eight and are now looking to cement home-court advantage. With a four-game lead on the second-place New York Liberty, it looks likely, though three of the 14 remaining games are against New York, so that could change, but probably won't!
July was, in the end, the hottest month ever in Las Vegas, with an average daily temperature of 97.3 degrees. It beats the previous record of 96.2 degrees set in 2010 and sets the new high for the 87 years that temperature records have been kept here. In addition, the last two weeks of the month were even hotter, with the daily average temperature at 100.7, the average high 112.3, and the average low 89.1. Phoenix finally ended its streak of 110 degrees or higher on Saturday, when the high temperature reached "only" 108, setting the new record for consecutive 110-and-higher days at 31, 12 days longer than the previous longest streak.
Directly on the heels of 73-year-old Whataburger's announcement of its first location in Las Vegas in recent memory (next to the Waldorf Astoria) comes word that the 46-year-old Bojangles fried-chicken chain will open up to 20 stores in the valley by the time they're through expanding here. Bojangles was founded in 1977 in Charlotte, North Carolina, and has roughly 800 outlets in 15 states, the farthest west being Louisiana. No timeline has been announced for this invasion, but Bojangles has signed a "multi-unit development agreement" with a local restaurant group and investment firm.
Originally announced in March 2018, with the location pinpointed exactly a year later, Zippy's is finally opening on Tuesday Oct. 10 at 10:10 a.m. The beloved 57-year-old Hawaiian restaurant chain's first venue on the mainland is now hiring for staff to operate the 9,000-square-foot restaurant at 7095 Badura Avenue near Rainbow Boulevard and the 215; Zippy's in Hawaii are open 24/7. The chain has 24 restaurants on Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island and is looking to open more around the "ninth island," as Vegas is called by Hawaiians. Zippy's is known for its Hawaiian take on chili (its signature dish), fried chicken, oxtail soup, saimin, loco moco, mahi sandwiches, and Zip Pac bentos.
Though this Mississippi Stud jackpot, hit last Friday at Caesars Palace, was for $203,600 (we generally cover them only if they're in or near seven figures), this one has a few elements that caught our attention. First, the player from South Dakota has been returning to Caesars and firing it up at this exact same table since 2008; it took 15 years to land the royal flush in hearts and take down the progressive. Second, the jackpot covers the cost of the car he was in town to buy, a 2018 Rolls Royce Ghost, with $10,000 left over. And third, he told a floorperson that he plans to use the remainder to go back to the table and try his luck again.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board has released the total loss sustained by state sports books on hockey wagers in June: $6.6 million. The loss doesn't come as a surprise, as the books were on the hook for a ton of bets on the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup, some futures at sizable odds. But the size of the loss does; it's the largest monthly hit to the books' bottom lines on hockey ever. And it was all due to the VGK, since the only hockey action in June was the Stanley Cup Final.
Tickets for Oakland A's home games are normally pretty cheap; the average lowest price of $9 is 10th lowest in the MLB. But for the "reverse-boycott" game scheduled for August 5 against the San Francisco Giants, for which fans are organizing a big crowd to protest the move to Las Vegas, ticket prices were suddenly jacked up to $44, nearly double the price of the Giants game on August 6 ($27) and more than four times that of the Texas Rangers' tickets the night after that ($10). Writer Ian Miller for sports-culture sight OutKick.com, comments, "By raising ticket prices, [Oakland A's owner John] Fisher either discourages fans from attending and avoids further embarrassment or takes in huge profits from a near sellout. Either way, he wins and A’s fans lose." That's the same team receiving hundreds of millions in public funding from Nevada taxpayers.
Typically, August temperatures start out hot and begin a slow transition to cooler. Normal highs for the first week are 104, then fall to double-digits (99 degrees) on the last day of the month. Normal lows start at 81 and drop to 77. Record high temperatures, however, have risen all the way to 116 three times (twice in 1970 and once in 1940), with 115 three times and 114 another four. And this year is shaping up to be a repeat of those. The record low hit 54 (1937) and has gone as high as 66 (1940). Nearly half an inch falls during a normal August, but that can rise quickly if a monsoon storm or two hits hard.