A well-thought-out and well-written opinion piece on the Nevada Independent site is titled, "Vegas Isn't Greedy. It's Cruel." Here are a few choice quotes. "Vegas always took your money. That was never a secret. But the old version of the deal had a second half [comps, cheap buffets, great stories to take home] that made losing feel like a fair trade." "The old Strip made you feel like a high roller even when you weren't one. The new Strip makes sure you know exactly where you rank." "Vegas used to give you a story. The story brought you back, because the house always wins. But it used to have the decency to make you feel good about it." "The old Strip let you in on the joke. The new one makes you the punchline." The whole piece is worth a read; it takes only a couple of minutes. Of course, you can still do Vegas the right way; you just have to know how and where. That's where LVA comes in, but you've known that for a long time.
John Katsilometes, the Review-Journal's entertainment/gossip columnist, writes this morning that the Sphere climber we reported on yesterday was part of the new movie that will replace Wizard of Oz at the end of its run in December. The movie, titled From the Edge, is about extreme sports, including free diving, skiing, base jumping, and (now) Sphere-crawling. The most famous skyscraper free climber, Alex Honnold, actually lives in Las Vegas to take advantage of the year-round opportunities out at Red Rock, according to Kats. The climber hasn't been identified, but the helicopter with the huge camera on its struts that was assumed to be the cops was filming the climb for the movie. Kats believes we'll hear who the climber was in due time.
A new food truck park is getting ready to open downtown in the Arts District. The space, 7,000 square feet, is big enough to host 10 food trucks serving international cuisines. Interestingly, unlike most food truck parks, this space is indoors, a couple of blocks east of Las Vegas Blvd. near the corner of Wyoming and Commerce. Parking will be free (when no major event is taking place in the area) and the park is expected to open by June, after inspections and final signoff by the city.
The Powerball jackpot has just been accelerated by the potential addition of 53 million eligible new players. After years of negotiations, the Multistate Lottery Commission and its UK counterpart Allywn have opened up Powerball lottery sales to residents of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and Northern Ireland starting sometime this summer. The international expansion, the first time a non-U.S. lottery will contribute to a U.S.-based jackpot, is expected to increase the prize money significantly, reaching the $1 billion grand-prize mark in two months rather than the typical three without a winner. The ticket price remains $2 for U.S. residents (£2 or $2.70 across the pond) and the odds of winning remain exactly the same. American winners can take a lump sum, while UK winners must take their prize as an annuity. The lower-tier prize structure will remain unique to each group and more than half the ticket cost will stay in the local jurisdictions to fund public programs.
Several Instagram posts and reels show a man free-climbing (scaling without ropes or gear) the exterior of Sphere last week. They also show a police helicopter hovering nearby with a big camera mounted on a front strut. (Were the cops filming the stunt to use as evidence?) Early speculation as to who the climber was mentioned free solo legend Alex Honnold, who successfully climbed to the top of Taipei 101, the 101-story 1,667-foot skyscraper in Taiwan in January, using only the building's metal structural elements for holds. But the Sphere climber was later identified, though not confirmed, as Maison Des Champs (also referred to as a "Pro-Life Spider-Man" activist known for similar stunts on skyscrapers). You can see good videos of the ascents here and here.
The free concerts that Fremont Street Experience hosts every summer are returning for a ninth year starting May 15, when country artists Lee Brice, Austin Williams ,and Grace Tyler will take the FSE stages in conjunction with the Academy of Country Music awards show at MGM Grand Garden Arena on May 17. Also announced are Crossfade and Trapt on May 30, Fuel June 13, Finger Eleven June 27, George Birge July 4, Sleeping with Sirens July 11, Mayday Parade Aug. 8, Story of the Year Aug. 22, and Maggie Lindemann Oct. 10, all Saturdays. More shows will be revealed as they're booked.
Bellagio has introduced weekend late-night dining at two of its fancy restaurants overlooking the lake. From 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Lago now serves up food from a special late-night menu. If you have a hankering for hamachi, carpaccio, Caesar salad, puttanesca pizza, chocolate budino, and the like at 2 a.m., head to Lago. You can see the menu here; scroll down to the bottom for the late-night offerings (without prices, of course). On May 22, Yellowtail, the Japanese restaurant, will also open during the same late-night hours as Lago, serving crisp tofu, gyoza, rock shrimp, sushi rolls, a bento box, and desserts, according to the Review-Journal.
Another one bites the dust. In a two-sentence announcement, MGM wrote, "MGM Grand Buffet will close permanently after business on May 31, 2026. There are no immediate plans for the space at this time; however, any future venue details will be shared once confirmed." We wonder how many people have booked the MGM all-inclusive deal announced a couple of weeks ago for beyond May 31 that included both the Excalibur and MGM Grand buffets. Oh well, no great loss; we haven't been fans of this buffet since it opened in 1993. But it leaves only Excalibur, Main Street Station, Rampart, and South Point as (relatively) low-priced buffets in Las Vegas (and don't write in to tell us that we forgot Circus Circus; if you've been there recently, you'll know why it's not even up for consideration.)
For many years during March Madness, 8 News Now, the local CBS affiliate, has held a "restaurant bracket," pitting 64 Las Vegas eateries against one another in the same elimination format as the NCAA basketball tournaments. This year's cuisine was pizza. The Final Four pizzerias came down to Dom DeMarco's, which won the last pizza bracket in 2022, but was knocked out by Metro Pizza, Pizza Rock, and Napoli. Napoli emerged victorious over Metro with 53% of the vote to take the grand prize (publicity). Napoli arrived in Vegas in 2006 from Boston and has since expanded to four locations, with a fifth on the way to downtown. The huge menu features 10 lunch specials like a 10-inch pizza and soda ($9.99), 20 or so appetizers, a dozen salads, wings, burgers, wraps, plenty of pasta, 10 desserts, and pizzas from 10 to a giant 36 inches ($122.99). We've never tried Napoli, but we will.
Have you heard about these new hybrid performances? Called "live docu-concerts," they combine a live tribute concert with documentary-style narration, interviews, archival footage, and multimedia displays to chronicle a music artist's life and career. Recent iterations include The Simon & Garfunkel Story, R.E.S.P.E.C.T. – The Aretha Franklin Story, and The Life and Times of George Michael. A fourth docu-concert on Phil Collins, originally of Genesis and then a superstar solo artist, will make a stop on its 55-city North American tour at Resorts World on September 26. Collins was the drummer for Genesis and penned and sang such hits as "Invisible Touch," "Turn It On Again," "Mama," "Follow You Follow Me," and (our favorite) "Home by the Sea." In his solo career, he made the charts with "In the Air Tonight," "Easy Lover," "Against All Odds," and "One More Night." Should be an interesting multi-media show in Resorts World's newly renovated 4,850-seat theater. Tickets are on sale now.
The podcast Low Rollers by CasinoReports talked to Blair Rodman, author of our recent book All about Sports Betting. Host Eric Raskin and Blair discuss sports betting in the ‘90s and today, poker, casino tournaments, writing books, and more. It's a 38-minute podcast; Blair shows up right at minute five. Just click the white arrow and you're in.
Soul and R&B superstars Chris Brown and Usher are joining up for the "R&B Tour," in which they'll co-headline at stadiums throughout North America. The 33-date itinerary will stop in Las Vegas for two nights at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday Sept. 5 and Sunday Sept. 6. The tour will partner with Global Citizen to provide access to quality education for children around the world by donating $1 for every ticket sold to the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund. Brown is particularly hot these days; his last tour, which ended in October, was the highest-grossing ever by a solo Black American male artist, earning nearly $300 million and drawing two million fans to stadiums in North America and Europe. Presale tickets will be available on Tuesday and Wednesday, while the general on sale starts on Mon. April 27 at noon.
Magician Jen Kramer will celebrate her second milestone of the year when she performs her 1,000th show a week from tomorrow. The only female magician headlining her own show in Las Vegas, Kramer's show blends sleight-of-hand magic, storytelling, and audience interaction, with charm and energy that never quit, even after doing it a thousand times. Her first milestone was in February, when she transformed her fiancé into her husband in a wedding ceremony that also took place at the Westgate.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a roundtable discussion in downtown Las Vegas today. The event will be held at the non-casino AC Hotel in Symphony Park, which opened in September at 330 South Grand Central Parkway. The visit is part of a tax-week event focusing on no tax on tips and overtime. The time hasn't been announced yet, but the president's visit is expected to cause traffic disruptions downtown in the early afternoon and flight restrictions starting at 3 p.m.
The West Wind Drive-In Theater in North Las Vegas will host its bi-annual Free Movie Night a week from tomorrow, April 23. Gates open at 6 p.m., with movies starting at 8 p.m. Admission is completely free for everyone. Parking is first-come first-served with limited capacity, so arriving at least an hour early is recommended. The theater will screen double features on its screens, including Zootopia 2, The Bad Guys 2, Wicked: For Good, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, KPop Demon Hunters, and Anaconda (2025 version). Before the movies, there will be free family activities like an obstacle course, bungee trampoline, balloon artists, movie characters, and music. The snack bar will offer a $2 special on nachos (full menu also available).
After yesterday's News item about Reid International ranking fourth least stressful out of the 20 largest airports in the U.S., this revelation makes that an even more impressive feat. According to Airports Council International, the primary global trade association for airport operators, Reid is the fifth busiest airport in the world for the number of aircraft landings and takeoffs; its 586,046 takeoffs and landings to and from 170 destinations in 2025 placed it behind Chicago's O'Hare, Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson, Dallas Ft. Worth, and Denver. Shanghai at number eight was the busiest internationally. Atlanta ranked first for total passengers at 106.3 million, followed by Dubai at 96 million, and Vegas didn't place anywhere near the top with a mere 40-plus million last year. Total airline passengers worldwide were estimated to be just under 10 billion and the top 10 busiest airports for passengers represented 9% of the total.
Country superstar Kenny Chesney has canceled his two July 4th weekend shows at Sphere. The reason? He wants to spend more time with his family. Seriously. Refunds will be automatically processed, along with a promo code for ticketholders for a future Sphere date.
Chesney will perform at Sphere on 11 other dates in June and July. We say, we know plans change, but if he didn't want to perform over July 4th, why did he schedule two shows to begin with?
One of Las Vegas' most beloved French restaurants, Le Cirque, will close at Bellagio on August 23. Le Cirque opened when Bellagio did in 1998, so it's been here for nearly 28 years. It was also one of the most popular French restaurants in Manhattan, opening in 1974. That closed 2017, leaving the Bellagio Cirque as the last location for the brand. A new restaurant will open in its vacated space in mid-2027, though what kind has yet to be determined.
A study by Mozio, a global ground-transportation search and booking platform specializing in airport transfers and "last-mile" travel, found that Reid International is the fourth least stressful out of 20 major U.S. airports (determined by passenger counts). Mozio analyzed how frequently flights are delayed, how much it costs to park for a day, and how long it takes to reach the city center. Minneapolis-St. Paul International came in as least stressful, with a total score of 1.76 on a scale of 10. Phoenix Sky Harbor (2.28) and San Francisco International (2.98) also placed below Reid (3.16), which had 76.4% of flights departing in less than 15 minutes of the scheduled time, $36 daily parking rate, and nine minutes to the city center (actually, CityCenter on the Strip). The most stressful was Chicago O'Hare (8.42, 24%, $43, and one hour), then LaGuardia (7.5) and John F. Kennedy (7.19), both in New York.
Another grandiose plan for a resort centered around an arena for the incoming NBA basketball team was announced yesterday. This one joins a long list of proposals that we covered in a recent Question of the Day. "Starr Vegas" would be what the developers call an "ecosystem for year-round sports, entertainment, and luxury living" near the intersection of S. Las Vegas Blvd. and W. Starr Ave, roughly two miles south of South Point. The 63-acre site would host a kitchen sink full of attractions and amenities, including a 25,000-seat arena; a 50,000-seat soccer/concert stadium with retractable roof; a 1,000-seat rooftop dome (which looks to us like a venue for watch parties); a cultural and entertainment district complete with theater, comedy club, boxing museum, and Combat Sports Hall of Fame; and hotel, casino, sports book, retail, office, and residential components. The announcement also mentions a new proprietary ticketing system. The developers have long ties to ticketing, sports venues, and Las Vegas real estate and claim to have already secured $6 billion in funding for the project, which is budgeted at $10 billion. We'll see.
Here's a story that might wind up in The One That Got Away file. A winning ticket was sold for the Texas Lottery's November 14 drawing for a grand prize of $78 million. Winners have 180 days to claim their jackpots and this one has yet to be claimed. With exactly a month to go, Texas media outlets are issuing clarion calls for the winner to step forward before the ticket, worth approximately $44 million, expires on May 14.
A local player hit a jackpot for $1,689,909 Thursday on an Aristocrat Gaming slot, Dollar Storm, at The Resort at Summerlin. The winner, who chose to remain anonymous, won the grand prize on a $30 spin.
It appears that the WNBA's Las Vegas Aces will retain the team's core players, who together have won the league championship three out of the past four years. The Aces have reportedly signed superstar guard Jackie Young to a deal for the maximum regular salary of $1.19 million, making her the first player in WNBA history to earn more than $1 million over a single season. (Prior maximum salaries were much lower; the highest in 2025 was around $269,000). Point guard Chelsea Gray is reportedly finalizing a three-year multi-million dollar deal, while forward/center A'ja Wilson, widely considered the WNBA's GOAT, will soon sign a "supermax" deal for $1.4 million to return to the Aces. The regular season starts on Friday May 8.
The WWE will invade Las Vegas next weekend for Wrestlemania 42 and the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood is putting on a drink promotion to draw fans in their off hours. Starting Friday and ending Sunday, those of drinking age can join the $5 Drink Bar Crawl through the mall. Per the press release, "This self-guided tour takes visitors through participating bars and restaurants, each pouring a specialty drink for just five bucks. No wristbands, no cover, no catch. Just show up and drink up." Here are the participating venues and their $5 drinks: Buffalo Wild Wings, tall Coors Light; Carnegie Pizza, 24-ounce Truly Hard Seltzer; Flights tall Beer cans and hard seltzers; La Salsa Cantina, 16 ounce house margarita; Lobster ME, 16-ounce Bloody Mary; Nacho Daddy, house margarita; Pampas, 12-ounce spicy margarita; Rosa Mexicano, mini frozen margarita; Tacotarian, 12-ounce margarita.
Going into today’s final round of the Masters golf tournament, Rory McIlroy is a +175 favorite to win. Cameron Young is +250, Sam Burns is +625, and Scottie Schefler is +1000.
Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg are pick 'em in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Azamat Murzakanov is -240 over Paulo Costa.
At least for the rest of the month of April, the Downtown Grand is serving up a barbecue brisket sandwich and a can of White Claw mango hard seltzer for $5 at Lucky's bargain food cart near the entrance. In addition, after you earn 300 points, you're eligible for a comped barbecue rib dinner at Freedom Beat Thursdays through Sundays.
Due to a meager snowpack in the Upper Colorado Basin this winter, the surface level of Lake Mead has dropped more than six feet since the beginning of March. It's now at 1,060 feet, a mere 20 feet higher than the record low of 1,040 set in July 2022. And though this is typically when the snowmelt starts to raise the lake's level (peaking in early July), authorities expect the lake to fall even lower between now and then. Mead is at 35% capacity and could drop another 16-17 feet by the end of the year. A spokesperson from the Southern Nevada Water Authority told Fox5Vegas, however, that the local water supply is "secure," thanks to pumping stations drawing water from the deepest parts of Lake Mead.
Anthony and Andrew discuss the opening of Cadence Crossing and the closing of Jokers Wild, plus changes in management at two of our favorite joints, Downtown Grand and Rio. Anthony reviews LVA's latest Las Vegas show-ticket survey, then launches into the best shrimp cocktail, video poker upgrades at Virgin, and Bert's rebate deal, while Andrew got lucky at -- are you sitting down? -- sic bo. That segment alone is worth the price of admission to the 22-minute update.
A new page on HarryReidAirport.com lists wait times to pass through TSA security checkpoints at all gates. You can select A/B, C, and C/D gates at Terminal 1 and the D/E gates at Terminal Three and the boxed graphics show the estimated wait times for both the standard and TSA Pre-Check lines. Scrolling down a bit shows the expected wait times by the hour and day of the week in a bar chart with the average and maximum wait times. The inevitable disclaimer reads, "Note that these estimated TSA wait times can fluctuate by the minute and should not be used to plan a later arrival to the airport," but at least there's now a place to go online for current estimates.
MGM and Caesars recently introduced all-inclusive packages comprising room, food, parking, and entertainment, but Circa launched this trend last summer and its All-In package is back for a second year. Available for two-night midweek stays in a king room, the $400 bundle includes $100 in dining credit at Barry’s Downtown Prime, 8 East, Saginaw’s Delicatessen, Victory Burger & Wings, and Project BBQ, along with $100 in beverage credit at the bars and lounges, including the Legacy Club on the 60th floor and four other bars. The package also comes with a reserved daybed at Stadium Swim. You can book here.
If you're around on Saturday, feel like taking a ride out to the 'burbs, and are in the mood for some cake, you can't go wrong at The Art of Cake at Uncommons, the mixed-use development right off the Beltway across the street from Durango Hotel-Casino. This free outdoor cake exchange will transform UnCommons into a dessert-filled community celebration starting at 11 a.m. and running through 2 p.m. Upwards of 500 cakes will be on display from local cake makers, either bakeries or homemade, and complimentary slices will be available while supplies last.
Insomniac, producer of the epic EDC music festival, will launch this year's festivities with the inaugural World Party Parade on the Strip. The event, a free and all-ages immersive dance party, will start at 6 p.m. on May 14, the Thursday before the weekend festival, at the Sahara and continue down to Circus Circus. "This vibrant parade will transform the Las Vegas Strip into a celebration of love, unity, and dance-music culture, featuring over 30 art cars equipped with large-scale sound systems, DJs, and hundreds of colorful performers," per the press release, plus anyone who wants to join in. The announcement adds, "P.L.U.R. strictly enforced." In case you're not familiar with the acronym (we weren't), it stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect.
Scottie Scheffler is the favorite at +550 to win golf's Masters tournament. He’s followed by John Rahm at +950 and Bryson DeChambeau at +1000. Tiger Woods and Phil Michelson are not playing; it’s the first time since 1994 that at least one of them is not in the field.
Victor Glover, one of the four astronauts on NASA's Artemis II Moon-flyby mission, mentioned Las Vegas yesterday. Watching the solar corona through the capsule's window, Glover commented, "If you’ve ever seen the spotlight off the top of the Luxor at night in Las Vegas, this looks like what that wants to be when it grows up.” The solar corona is the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere. Typically invisible due to the brightness of the Sun, it's the pearly glow you see during a total solar eclipse. Though several astronauts have commented on the brightness of Las Vegas as seen from space, this one is the most clever. Isn't it? C'mon! Victor Glover just made the most dazzling light show in history sound like it's jealous of a hotel on the Strip. Or how about this? The solar corona just looked down at the Luxor beam and said, 'Cute. Call me when you grow up.'" By the way, "cislunar space" refers to the region between the Earth and the Moon.
How long does it take for the slots to start ringing again after a truck crashes through the front doors of a casino? You can see for yourself in this news coverage of a pickup truck ramming through the front of Main Street Station yesterday in the early afternoon. Luckily, no one was injured and the driver wasn't officially impaired, though the police said he was "confused" about the crash.
Here's a cool one. Bruno Mars, who by now needs no introduction, will be honored with a parade on the Strip on Friday. The event will celebrate Mars' impact on Las Vegas and the kickoff of his new tour at Allegiant Stadium that night. The parade will start at Bellagio and end at Toshiba Plaza outside T-Mobile, where Park Avenue will be renamed Bruno Mars Drive. Governor Joe Lombardo will be there to present Mars with a state flag.
We were surprised by the selection of "20 iconic dishes" served in Las Vegas restaurants in a story on TastingTable. We actually agree with most of them. Also, the write-ups are informed and informative; in short, this is a piece worth scrolling through to see what you've missed, mostly because the picks are at expensive Strip restaurants, such as StripSteak, Guy Savoy, Prime, Wing Lei, and Delilah. On the lower-priced side, TastingTable chose the burger at Fukuburger, the pan roast at the Palace Station Oyster Bar, adobada tacos at Tacos El Gordo, French toast ambrosia at the Peppermill, crispy duck at Lotus of Siam, and lobster eggs Benedict at Eiffel Tower. What's for lunch!
The median price for existing Las Vegas single-family homes sold in March dropped to $480,000, according to the Las Vegas Realtors Association. That was a slight decline of 1% from last year's $482,000. Condos and townhomes also took a dip of nearly 4% to $295,000. Inventory, meanwhile, rose for the umpteenth month in a row. The nearly 6,500 houses on the market represented an increase of 19% year over year, while the nearly 2,600 condos were up 17%. Sales of houses were up 7% year over year; sales of condos were down 9%. Rising interest rates and fears of an oil-based recession were blamed for the numbers, though as always, the realtors quoted in the coverage insist that the fundamentals of the southern Nevada market remain strong.
Michigan is a -6.5 favorite over Connecticut in the NCAA Basketball Championship game. The total is 146.
A good story in the Review-Journal this morning commemorates T-Mobile Arena's 10th anniversary, having opened on April 6, 2016, with local-boy-made-good Jimmy Kimmel introducing the debut act, local-boys-made-good The Killers. Since then, the $375 million 20,000-seat venue has hosted more than 1,000 events, sold more than 12.6 million tickets, "and poured five million fountain drinks and served one million hot dogs and bags of popcorn." The 111 basketball events, including Pac-12 Conference championships, USA basketball, the Las Vegas Aces' biggest games, the Harlem Globetrotters, and NBA exhibition and Cup games, could foreshadow T-Mobile becoming the home arena of a Las Vegas NBA expansion team, which might even happen in our lifetimes. The majority owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, Bill Foley, owns a minority share in the arena and would, if necessary, pour $300 million into renovating it for an NBA team.
Yes, but they had plenty of room to drop at the Buffet at Bellagio. Prices were reduced $5-$15, resulting in a range of $44.99 (weekday brunch) to $69.99 (Sat. seafood dinner). This buffet was one of the best spreads in Buffet City when it first opened nearly 30 years ago, but it has been a second-tier AYCE for a long time, and definitely since the pandemic, and MGM seems to have woken up to that fact, since it's now at a price point more in line with the Palms and Cosmopolitan. Truth be told, we'll take the Cosmo's Wicked Spoon brunch buffet any day at $49.99 weekdays and $54.99 weekends.
South Carolina is a -4.5 favorite over UCLA in today's NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game. The total is 128.
Visual Capitalist mapped the percentage of 18- to 34-year-olds who still live with parents in all 50 states, based on 2025 U.S. Census Bureau data. As would be expected, the states with the highest housing costs and the tightest supply dominate the list. In New Jersey, almost half of that age group lives at home (44.1%), topping the list, while six out of the rest of the top ten are in the northeast, with California the west coast high-cost entry: Connecticut (41.3%), California (39.1%), Maryland (38.5%), Delaware (37.0%), Florida (36.6%), New Hampshire (36.5%), New York (35.9%), Massachusetts (35.7%). Illinois and Nevada are tied for 10th (35.1%), just a little above the national average of 33%.
The Megabucks Triple Red Hot 7s Spitfire Multipliers jackpot for $10,486,432 was hit at Mandalay Bay last Wednesday. It wasn't an April Fools hoax and the player, who wished to remain anonymous, bet the max $5 to qualify for the jackpot. It would've been a joke if he/she hadn't.
Michigan and Arizona are pick ’em in today's second Final Four game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The total is 157.5.
Illinois is a -2 favorite over Connecticut in today's first Final Four game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. The total is 139.
VitalVegas reports this morning that Dreamscape, the New York real estate firm that bought the Rio from Caesars in 2019, has been relegated to a minority ownership position. Private-credit company Kennedy Lewis Investment Management seems to have "purged" some of the executives and minority shareholders and has "quietly taken over." Kennedy Lewis has let the contracts with the CFO, VP of marketing, and VP of sales expire and VV gives the CEO 60 days to follow them out the door. It's yet another transition for the struggling Rio and we'll pay closer attention to the big off-Strip hotel-casino directly across the street from our office to see what the new future has in store.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Las Vegas has breached $5 for the first time since October 2023. It was $4.98 yesterday and it rose two cents overnight to hit the new threshold. The highest price for a gallon in the valley, according to GasBuddy, is $6.34. A year ago, the price was more than $1 less. Diesel, meanwhile, hit $6.39 on average per gallon today, up four cents from yesterday. It's the highest price for diesel in southern Nevada history.
Another immersive "digital museum" is on its way to Las Vegas. This one reproduces all 34 of the 500-plus-year-old frescoes painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican in Rome. Life-size representations of Michelango's famous sculptures, David, Moses, and Pietà, are also part of the display. The 25,000-square-foot attraction is on the third floor of the Shops at Crystals at CityCenter in the space that previously hosted two “Immersive Van Gogh” attractions, which is next to the “Princess Diana & The Royals” museum; the Sistine Chapel attraction comes from the same team. It opens on April 24 and tickets start at $32, available here.
Following in MGM's footsteps, Caesars has introduced an all-inclusive package available at Harrah's, the LINQ, and Flamingo. Unfortunately, this one pales in comparison. Whereas MGM's is for two nights at $330, Caesars is for one night at $200, but only for one guest; each additional guest is $100 per night. Sheesh. And while MGM is offering three meals a day, the Caesars deal is for two. MGM's gives you two tickets to two select shows and Caesars' is good for "bottomless" well drinks, house wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages at select bars (heavy drinkers will get more value out of this one). Two tickets to the High Roller observation wheel and 20% cabana and daybed rentals the LINQ's pool round out the package. You can book here (though good luck with Caesars' asinine booking engine).
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports this afternoon that Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley has a Zoom call scheduled with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver next week, during which she plans to propose a 20-acre vacant lot downtown for an arena for the putative Vegas team the league is considering. The lot is located near City Hall and the World Market Center and is owned by Blackstone asset-management group. So the city is officially throwing its hat into a ring that has seen more than a fair share of ups and downs, with at least four proposed sites either dead or in abeyance.
The James Beard Foundation yesterday released the finalists for their 2026 chef and restaurant nominees. From a slate of 14 Las Vegas semi-finalists announced in January, three nominations made the cut. For Best New Restaurant, Tamba is Vegas' representative; this is a highly acclaimed, upscale, contemporary, Indian fusion restaurant located in Town Square known for its modern take on traditional flavors, live-fire cooking, and a dedicated raw bar. Sarah Thompson of Casa Playa is up for Best Chef Southwest; Casa Playa is an upscale coastal-Mexican restaurant at Encore. Brian Howard of Sparrow + Wolf is also a finalist for Best Chef Southwest; Howard, a semifinalist in 2024, is known for live-fire cooking, sustainable ingredients, and a "neighborhood-cookery" approach that has made Sparrow + Wolf a popular industry hangout. The winners of these awards will be honored at the James Beard Award ceremony on June 15 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
How many weather records were set in March? Let's count them. First, between March 18 and March 30, Las Vegas saw 12 consecutive days of record heat, all the high temperatures in the 90s. To show how unusual that was, between 1937 and 2003, 66 full years, March had one -- not two, not three, but a single -- March day that surpassed 90 degrees. One day, March 25, hit 98. Second, the median daily temperature was 73 degrees, an astounding 12.2 above the typical median and 6.3 degrees higher than the previous record of 66.7 set in 2015. Also, 2015 was the last time Vegas experienced 0 inches of precipitation, like it did this year; the monthly average is nearly a half-inch. And it wasn't just March. February was the second warmest month on record in Las Vegas and January was the fifth. And it wasn't just southern Nevada. According to the Weather Service, upwards of 1,100 daily records were tied or broken throughout the country, most in the west. So far, April is back to normal, whatever that is anymore.
We use the term “trailer casino” to describe a space that offers temporary gambling to preserve a company’s gaming license. Typically, these spaces are in a trailer or even a tent. We don't know what structure Bally’s is using for its trailer casino, but the company is running one on the site of the former Tropicana from 9 am to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow.
With apologies to Simon and Garfunkel for the headline, April is a gorgeous month weather-wise hereabouts. It's dry and mostly sunny, with daily high temperatures rising from around 74 degrees on April 1 to around 82 on April 30 and lows ranging from 52 to 61. However, after March, all high-temperature bets are off. A record high of 99 degrees was set on the 24th in 2012, the 27th in 2000, the 29th in 2013, and the 30th in 1981. A record low of 31 degrees was set on the 2nd in 1975 and the 3rd and 4th in 1955. Typically, April is the second driest month of the year, receiving an average .15 of an inch of precipitation; June is driest with .08.