In case you've never seen it, or want to see it again, or were looking for it on Netflix and couldn't find it, Martin Scorsese's 1995 classic film Casino, starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesce, and Sharon Stone, is available for streaming on Netflix again. From what we understand, Casino was taken off Netflix due to the standard cyclical nature of streaming licensing agreements. Netflix's contract with Universal Studios expired, but since the movie is so popular, the streaming service paid to re-license the content, allowing it to return to the library. Casino is always worth seeing again, if only to catch the cameo from our guy Frank Cullotta.
Here's a new one. After announcing an eight-date residency at Sphere last week after a nearly year-long buildup, Metallica posted a note on X yesterday that "due to unbelievable demand (wow, guys!)," six more dates have been added. The other reason it's new is that the presale will open tomorrow at 10 a.m., but the dates haven't been identified. Also, tickets for the first eight dates (October 1, 3, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29, and 31) don't go on sale until Friday. Is the band, ticket distributor, and/or Sphere trying some kind of marketing experiment? Who knows? But we've never seen this approach before.
The U.S. commercial (non-tribal) gaming industry hit a record high for gross gaming revenue (GGR) in calendar-year 2025, generating $78.7 billion, a 9.2% increase over 2024's total, according to the American Gaming Association’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker. Casino games earned $50.9 billion, up 2.3%, sports betting won a hair under $17 billion on a total handle of $167 billion (a hold of 11%), and igaming hit $10.7 billion, a 22.8% increase year over year. All 38 commercial gaming markets recorded annual revenue increases in 2025. All told, casinos, sports books, and online gambling paid $18.1 billion in taxes. Tribal casinos, meanwhile, generated their own record in GGR, $43.9 billion, for fiscal year 2024 (reported in July 2025), marking a 4.6% increase over the previous fiscal year. This revenue, derived from 532 gaming operations in 29 states, was the fourth consecutive year of record-breaking performance. Gambling in the U.S. is a $125 billion or so industry.
Average Las Vegas temperatures in March start out a bit cool and rise steadily, but not too high. From an average high of 66 degrees on the 1st, temps top out at 74 on the 31st. The lows go from 47 to 52. The record temperatures can, of course, be much more extreme: 92 is the highest (set on the 21st in 2004) and 19 the lowest (set on the 2nd in 1939, brrr). March historically has the second highest rainfall during the year at .59 inches.
Las Vegas Strip gross gaming revenue plunged in January, dropping 11% from $840 million a year ago to $747.6 million last month. Baccarat, as usual, was blamed; revenue from the baccarat tables shed 44% year over year, from $214.3 million a year ago to $118.5 million last month, despite an increase in drop of 14%. It's a difficult comparison, given that the hold went from an unusually high 27% in January 2024 to 13% in January 2025. That said, all other reporting jurisdictions, except one, were also down: Boulder Strip casinos by 7%, downtown 5.1%, and locals casinos 4%. Only North Las Vegas was up, by nearly 5%. Statewide gaming revenue fell 6.5% year over year.
The Review-Journal reports that LPM, the French-Mediterranean restaurant the Cosmopolitan, will close on March 31. Though we love French food and this place looked good, it wasn't on our review radar. It opened in late 2023, a little more than a couple of years ago, and prices were très cher, mon frère: escargot $30, three-course small-bite bar menu $45, brunch $85 per person, (very) small plates $13, and the like. No word on what might replace LPM or when.
A story in USA Today, "Vegas feels busy on weekends, but the midweek slump is real," reports that U.S. carriers "have trimmed schedules as demand has softened." It quotes data from Cirium, a provider of aviation data and analytics, showing that airlines have cut their scheduled seats into Reid International by 7% in the first quarter from a year earlier. Canadian airlines have cut 30% from the available capacity, as our brethren to the north continue to travel everywhere except the States. We agree with the summary of the story: "On Fridays, it still feels like peak Vegas, but by Monday, it's a whole different vibe."