In MGM's first-quarter earnings call, CEO Bill Hornbuckle hinted at a potential future for T-Mobile serving as the home arena for the imminent Las Vegas NBA team. We recently posted a Question of the Day on the many proposed sites for the NBA arena, concluding that T-Mobile could be a frontrunner, given that it's the only one that's built and the NBA has hinted that a Las Vegas team could play its first season in 2028, less than than two and a half years from now. Hornbuckle said, "T-Mobile is part of that conversation. Whether short-term or long-term, all roads lead to it for now, because the league has expressed interest in hosting a team as early as 2028." He added that he hopes to have a resolution by early next year.
Olivia Rodrigo, American singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as a Disney Channel star before becoming a Grammy-winning pop superstar, is making her second stop in Las Vegas as part of her upcoming "Unraveled" tour. This time, she's performing at T-Mobile, a big step up from her last appearance at the Chelsea at Cosmopolitan in 2022, when she was 19. The 62-date tour spans the U.S., Canada, and six countries in Europe between September and May 2027. She'll play two nights in Las Vegas: Dec. 19 and 20. The presale starts Tuesday and the general next Thursday, both at noon local time. If you want to catch her act, she's hosting "Saturday Night Live" this weekend.
The Boulevard Pool on the fourth floor of the Cosmopolitan overlooking the Strip will show movies on the 65-foot digital marquee again this summer. Doors open at 6:30 on Monday nights starting on June 8 and continuing though August 17; the movies start after dark around 8 p.m. They're all PG-13-rated, so it's a family night out. When we reviewed it several years ago, admission was free with a valid players card, but then MGM took over and now admission is $15, $10 locals (who can get their parking validated at the pool), free for hotel guests and MGM Rewards Gold tier members and above. Here's the schedule: June 8 A Minecraft Movie, June 15 The Mighty Ducks, June 22 Clueless, June 29 Rush Hour, July 6 Talladega Nights, July 13 Space Jam, July 20 How to Train Your Dragon, July 27 Superman (2025), August 3 Super Mario Galaxy, August 10 Ocean’s 11, August 17 Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
The Foundation Room on the 63rd floor of Mandalay Bay is transitioning to a new setting that will be called Vinyl Room. It will be similar to the old venue, an upscale lounge with tiered memberships offering enhanced access and amenities and insider experiences. The name represents the new theme: music memorabilia and thousands of vinyl records on display, all highlighting artists who’ve performed in Las Vegas. The analog audio is, according to the press release, "inspired by Japanese 1970s high-fidelity listening rooms" and the food served will feature Japanese and Asian flavors. The Vinyl Room is slated to open in August.
After a long, convoluted, and highly competitive process that started way back in 2013, New York City welcomed its first full-scale casino with live table games yesterday. The existing Resorts World racino, which was previously limited to slot machines (albeit 2,500 of them), kicked off table gaming with 240 blackjack, crap, baccarat, and roulette positions. Resorts World fast-tracked the expansion, hiring 1,250 new employees, including 950 dealers, most completing onboarding over the weekend. In addition, the Resorts World Dealer School has already trained and hired more than 400 local residents and another 500 graduates are expected by May. This casino is in Queens, next to Aqueduct Racetrack across the Belt Parkway from John F. Kennedy Airport; next up are Hard Rock, also in Queens near Citi Field in Flushing Meadows where the Mets play, and Bally's in the Bronx, though those are being built from the ground up and aren't expected to open for several years.
New York Times-owned sports-news website The Athletic reports that Major League Soccer is looking to relocate the Vancouver Whitecaps Canadian soccer team. The team has been up for sale for a couple of years and though Vancouverites strongly support the Whitecaps remaining in British Columbia, Canada Roy told us, "Barring a medium-sized miracle, this team will be leaving Vancouver. They've got the second-best attendance in MLS and made it to the League Final in 2025, but they they don't own their stadium, so they have extremely limited revenue streams. Governments in Canada are loath to spend public money to support wealthy owners of sports teams and there is no prospect of a new stadium of any type." He went on to give us a good laugh. "Next season, the Vancouver Whitecaps could morph into the Las Vegas Greenbacks." That's pro sports for you, folks -- and maybe the new soccer venue will be built between the A's stadium and the proposed NBA arena across from Mandalay Bay.
In a survey of the best late-night food spot In every state, foodie site Chowhound looked for restaurants that get "rave reviews for providing delicious food and good service at a time when many people might be drifting off to dreamland." We might take issue with their requirement of being open until at least 11 p.m.; late-night to us starts at midnight. Be that as it may, Nevada's best spot, according to Chowhound, is Starboard Tack, one of Las Vegas' original seafood restaurants. It set sail in 1972 out on E. Sahara near Pecos and was open 24 hours, known for its nautical decor, graveyard specials, and its status as a go-to bar for casino workers getting off all three shifts. The owner-landlord closed the restaurant in 1990 and leased the building, which turned into Gilligan's Hideaway. That bar had a respectable run of 27 years; after it closed, two locals revived Starboard Tack in 2017. Today, it's known for serving the best (self-proclaimed) Mai Tai in Vegas, good fish and chips, oysters, and a crab Rangoon dip. And yes, it's nothing if not late night: It's open again 24/7 in the original location.
Steven Patrick Morrissey, known mononymously as just his last name, is a highly acclaimed and controversial English singer, songwriter, and author who earned his fame as the frontman of the indie rock band the Smiths (1982-1987). Since the Smiths, he's had a successful solo career and is considered one of the greatest lyricists in British history. He's appeared in Las Vegas several times over the past few years, including two five-show mini-residencies at the Colosseum at Caesars in 2020 and 2021 and a couple of nights at House of Blues. The 67-year-old Morrissey artist will kick off a tour of the States on Aug. 14 at Encore Theater, then play three more shows on Aug. 15, 18, and 19. Tickets will first be available through an artist pre-sale tomorrow at noon. The general on-sale begins Friday at noon local time via Ticketmaster.
A study by real estate site Redfin finds Las Vegas to be one of the best markets for home buyers in the nation. Vegas comes in fourth for the ratio of sellers to buyers at 101%; only Miami (148%), Nashvillle (119%), and San Antonio (109%) have a higher percentage of sellers to buyers. Redfin notes that 38 of the largest metropolitan areas in the country are buyers markets, a nearly 30% increase from March 2025. Only five metro areas out of the 38 are seller’s markets, down from nine in 2025. Nationally, at the end of March, there were 43% more sellers than buyers, with a little more than 600,000 homes on the market; Redfin says this is the second biggest gap in history (the first was in 2013).
Here's a new one on us. A 33-year-old Washington state man is facing criminal charges for using a hidden vibrator to cheat on a Flip It coin-pusher machine at the Northern Quest casino near Spokane. He was charged with second-degree cheating and second-degree burglary after security and gaming agents "noticed the man keeping his hands deep in his sweatshirt pockets while pressing against the side of the games. Investigators say the machines and their contents began to vibrate, causing coins to fall into the dispenser and trigger bonus payouts." They were watching him, because he'd been trespassed from all Kalispel Tribal properties for 99 years over kicking and pushing the Flip It machines. He faces up a year in jail for cheating and significant jail time on the burglary charge, which entails unlawful entry (due to being trespassed) with the intent to commit a crime, such as theft.
After years and years of anticipation (mostly from relocated southern Californians), the 75-year-old Hat will open on May 6 in Las Vegas. The Hat specializes in pastrami and has 11 locations in southern California. The first location outside of California, it's located at 6125 S. Rainbow Blvd. between Russell and Sunset roads. It serves pastrami dips and pastrami burgers, roast beef, barbecue beef, and steak sandwiches ($10.49), eight other burgers ($4.79-$6.29), cold sandwiches, and three kinds of fries ($5.29-$7.19). It's a little ahead of schedule since the last announcement several weeks ago that pegged the grand opening for late May. We'll let all the hoopla die down before heading down to see what all the hoopla is about.
Miracle Eats at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood continues to expand. The newest addition is SoulBelly BBQ, which opened downtown in 2021 and has now come to the Strip. We reviewed it in the March 2022 LVA and liked it; it's the brainchild of Bruce Kalman, a James Beard-nominated restaurateur who has appeared on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and Food Network’s “Chopped” and “Beat Bobby Flay,” among others. In our review, we called it "high-end 'cue," so we're curious to see what parts of the extensive downtown menu are being served at Miracle Mile -- and how much they cost. Soulbelly is open now, seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and joins Carnegie Pizza, Dave's Hot Chicken, Chipotle, Tacotarian, Lobster Me, and Irv's Burgers in the Miracle Mile food court.
In a speech on Thursday to the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association, Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, touched on plans that the LVCVA, which owns the Las Vegas Monorail, has for the elevated transportation system. It was the first time we've heard that the tourism authority plans to incorporate the Monorail into the growing Las Vegas Loop subterranean transportation system. "The Vegas Loop makes a huge difference whether you’re using it or not in taking people off the streets,” Hill said. “It will incorporate the Monorail. We’ll take the track off, put a pre-cast two-lane road on top, incorporate it into the Boring Company system, and use the existing Monorail stations. When you get to the MGM station, we’ll tie it into the parking garage and use it as part of a station with ramps to get in and out of it.” In other words, the Monorail's guideway will be an aboveground extension of the underground Loop on the east side of the Strip between the Sahara and MGM Grand -- without the onus of having to dig a four-mile-long tunnel behind the hotel-casinos.
Youssef Zalal is a -135 favorite over Aljamain Sterling in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Norma Dumont is -185 over Joselyne Edwards.
A weeklong sale will offer $30 tickets to some of the biggest shows this summer in Las Vegas. The Live Nation "Summer of Live" promotion starts on Wednesday and runs through the following Tuesday (May 5). These are entirely for headliners, from Guns N’ Roses at Allegiant Stadium all the way down to Boys Like Girls at Brooklyn Bowl. Here are some others: Deep Purple (PH Live); Boyz II Men (Chelsea at Cosmo); Blake Shelton, Cyndi Lauper, Nikki Glaser & David Spade, and Rod Stewart (Colosseum at Caesars); Jonas Brothers, New Kids On The Block, and Sammy Hagar (Dolby Live at Park MGM); and Weird Al Yankovic (MGM Grand Garden Arena). Dozens of lesser names are also available. Book here.
Boyd Gaming is offering an all-inclusive package, including room, resort fee, food and beverage credit, and taxes. It's for one-, two-, or three-night stays between May 1 and September 30 and is good on weekends (!). The one-night costs $75 and gets you $25 in food credit; the two-night is $175 with $75 in food credit; the three night is $275 with $125 in food credit. So it works out to $50 per night, including resort fees and taxes, and Gold Coast has plenty of good food options for the credit. And it's refundable within 24 hours of your stay; otherwise you lose the first night ($50). You can book here. Prefer the Orleans? The almost identical deal is available there: one night $100 with $50 F&B, two nights $200 with $100 F&B, and three nights $300 with $150 F&B. Again, $50 per, including weekends. You can book there here.
How about this hot? Lisa, one of the four members of Korean pop group Blackpink, sold out her four-show residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, “Viva La Lisa,” within 10 minutes of the tickets going on sale to the public yesterday. Let's see, 16,000 tickets, 10 minutes, carry the 1, that's 26.6 tickets per second. It's perhaps not so surprising, considering that the 29-year-old has the largest Instagram following among K-pop artists, with 107 million followers (South Korea’s population is just under 52 million) and is the bestselling K-Pop female with her 2021 solo album, Lalisa. Seems to foreshadow additional dates at the Colosseum.
Climate Central, "a nonpartisan group of climate scientists," has issued its annual Earth Day report on the 245 fastest-warming locations in the U.S. and Reno maintained the dubious distinction of placing first, which it has for the past several years. Las Vegas ranked second. Reno's average temperature has increased 7.8 degrees since 1970, Vegas 6 degrees, based on official temperatures recorded at Reid Reno-Tahoe airports. El Paso ranked third at 5.9. Tyler, Texas, and Burlington, Vermont, tied for fourth at 5.3 degrees. The report found that winter is the fastest-warming season for 76% of U.S. locations. The warming is linked to increased greenhouse gas concentrations, which are 31% higher than in 1970, and urban heat island effects.
Aria's Poker Classic Summer Series will kick off on May 29 to compete, along with the Wynn Summer Classic and the Venetian DeepStack Championship Series, among others, with the World Series of Poker. In addition, it was just announced that the BetMGM Poker Championship will take place in Aria's poker room starting Monday June 29 and running through Saturday July 4, with a $3,500 buy-in and $4 million guaranteed prize pool, a $1 million increase from last year’s event. The Poker Classic will finish up on July 13. The complete schedule is available at ARIA Poker on X.
A local hit a jackpot for $1,159,768 while playing Dragon Link at Durango’s high-limit slot room on Tuesday night. The player, who chose to remain anonymous, made a $25 bet to win the progressive jackpot, which reset to $1 million. The high-limit room at the Durango opened on December 15; this is the largest jackpot hit there since then.
A new Pew Research Center study surveyed people in 25 countries, asking if gambling is morally acceptable, morally unacceptable, or not a moral issue. Here at home, 20% of adults say gambling is morally acceptable and 50% don't consider gambling a moral issue; the rest feel that gambling is morally unacceptable. Canadians were similar: 27% unacceptable, 30% acceptable, 41% not a moral issue. (The rest don't have an opinion.) Americans and Canadians were least likely to find gambling wrong. Contrast that with the other side of the survey, where 89% of Indonesians, 83% of Indians, 78% of Turks, 72% of Nigerians, and 71% of Italians consider gambling morally unacceptable. There were gender, age, and religious differences as well; you can see the whole survey here.
Thomas Dolby, the English synth-pop musician, producer, and technology entrepreneur, will play the Sahara Theater on July 25. Classic rock band Little Feat will blow out the International Theater at Westgate on August 6. Karol G, the globally renowned Colombian singer-songwriter, widely recognized as a premier figure in reggaeton and urban pop, will make a stop at Allegiant Stadium on her 40-date world tour that kicks off in July; she'll play Vegas for one night on August 7. And Chayanne, the renowned Puerto Rican singer, dancer, and actor, will perform at Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay on October 17.
Whoever climbed Sphere the other day while being filmed for the venue's new movie From the Edge (we still don't know his name) is fortunate he had permission. A Las Vegas local who climbed to the top of the arena in February 2024 without authorization was sentenced yesterday to 45 days in jail, a year of probation, and $77,000 in restitution for damages. The local, who calls himself "Pro-Life Spider Man," pled guilty last October to charges of willful or wanton disregard of the safety of persons or property; he could have been given a year behind county bars. It's not the first time this character has been arrested for similar charges. He scaled Aria in August 2021, the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco in May 2022, and the New York Times Building to days later.
Caesars and Westgate have inked a deal for Caesars Sportsbook to take over the Westgate SuperBook. The name will remain Westgate SuperBook, but with the official addendum "powered by Caesars Sportsbook” (if anyone bothers with it; we probably won't). Pending approval by regulators, the transition will be completed in time for football season. Per the press release, "Caesars will oversee race and sports book operations and technology, expanding wagering options and access while preserving the identity, scale and atmosphere that have defined the SuperBook for decades." Westgate's SuperContest will remain in place for the 2026-27 NFL season.
One of the most nebulous press releases we've seen in some time emerged from the ether this morning. It concerns the putative Las Vegas Diamond Arena, a 21,212-seat venue intended for an NBA expansion team. It's full of all the indisputable reasons that this project, which would be located directly across the Strip from Mandalay Bay, is the perfect site to "deliver everything needed to define the future” of a long-term home for a Las Vegas pro basketball team. For example: immediate access to I-15 and I-215, visibility to 60,000 daily vehicles on I-15, proximity to Reid International (with over 55 million annual passengers), and 18,460 existing parking spaces nearby. That kind of thing. As for who might be behind Diamond Arena, whether or not whoever it is has a deal for the land in question, whether or not there's any funding in place or in the pipeline, what the parking situation might be like when both NBA and MLB teams are playing home games within a half-mile of each other, and when these little details might be forthcoming, interested parties can contact the Letizia (PR) Agency.
Hosted at Allegiant Stadium for the second year in a row, Wrestlemania attendance was down by nearly 15% from last year, according to the just-announced totals. WrestleMania 42 attracted 106,072 for the weekend, down from last year's 124,693 attendees. Observers doubt that the WWE will bring it back for a third consecutive year, though by most metrics, this year's event was a success for both the wrestling organization and Las Vegas.
Allegiant Stadium was named the 2026 U.S. Stadium of the Year at the 37th Annual Pollstar Awards last Wednesday in Hollywood. The venue was honored for its "exceptional programming, world-class guest experience, and significant contributions to the live-entertainment industry, hosting major artists and events." The award was peer-voted and competed against major venues, including SoFi Stadium (L.A.), Fenway Park (Boston), and MetLife Stadium (New Jersey).
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.
James Siva, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, announced yesterday that the Golden State tribes are getting ready to introduce a ballot measure in 2028 to legalize sports betting. Siva, speaking at the Indian Gaming Association’s annual conference in San Diego, told the audience that the tribes will propose both retail and remote sports betting, which would be a switch from the tribes' stance in 2022, when they battled the big sports books with a retail-only referendum. Both proposals, the tribes' retail and the sports books online, were soundly defeated after hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on the campaigns.
Classic rock acts Deep Purple and Kansas will make one stop together in Las Vegas on Sept. 10 to play the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood. Deep Purple is known for its big hit "Smoke on the Water," along with "Hush," "Soldier of Fortune," "Child in Time," and (our favorite) "Lazy (You Just Stay in Bed)." Three original members of the band, Ian Paice (drums), Roger Glover (bass), and Ian Gillan (vocals, harmonica) will be on this tour; Ian Gillan was also the original Jesus in Jesus Christ Superstar and it's his voice on the album, which has sold upwards of 10 million copies. Kansas' big hit is "Carry On, My Wayward Son"; along with "Point of No Return," "Icarus," and "Song for America." Presale tickets are available now; general public tix go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. local time.
The National Football League announced yesterday that Las Vegas will be the host city for Super Bowl LXIII in February 2029 at Allegiant Stadium. The announcement came from Phoenix at the NFL Annual Meeting, after "a review by the NFL's Fan Engagement & Major Events Committee and a vote by all the owners," according to the press release. When Las Vegas hosted the Big Game in 2024, it drew 330,000 people and generated upwards of $1 billion dollars' worth of economic impact and "63 in '29" is expected to do just as well, if not better. Also, it's yet another big event in the late 2020s for the city, with the new Hard Rock opening in 2027 and the A's stadium scheduled for completion in 2028.
Yes, all the attention is on March Madness hereabouts, but another college sports tournament is underway and the championship will be played at T-Mobile next week. The Frozen Four hockey final, North Dakota vs. Wisconsin and Michigan against Denver, will start on Thursday April 9; the winners will face off on Saturday for all the marbles. It's the first time the men's NCAA ice hockey championship final is being held in Las Vegas.
Lisa (Lalisa Manobal), the main dancer and lead rapper of the K-Pop girl supergroup Blackpink, will do a solo mini-residency, "Viva La Lisa," at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Nov. 13, 14, 27, and 28. it's not unusual for K-Pop superstars to perform solo, but Lisa will be the first stage a Las Vegas residency. The presale starts Wednesday April 22 at 10 a.m. PT and ticket hopefuls can sign up starting tomorrow at 10 a.m. and running through Sunday April 19 at 10 p.m. PT.
With eight games left in the regular season, the Vegas Golden Knights yesterday abruptly and somewhat unexpectedly fired head coach Bruce Cassidy. On Saturday, the VGK lost their third game in a row and the sixth out of their past seven. Since the Olympics break, they've lost 10, tied 2, and won five. For the first time, the VGK will finish a season with more defeats than victories, though they're still in third place in the Western Division and on track to make the playoffs. Cassidy led the Knights to the Stanley Cup championship in 2023 and was the longest-lived head coach in the history of the team at almost four complete seasons; the new head coach, John Tortorella, will be the fourth in the franchise's nine seasons.
Two of the five White Castles in southern Nevada are closing permanently. The locations at Casino Royale on the Strip and on Marks Street in Henderson will close in the next few days. The other three, one on Paradise at Harmon, one downtown, and one out in Jean, will close for a few days as they transition from being locally licensed (by Terrible Herbst) to company owned, then resume operations. Terrible Herbst licensed all five stores over the past years, but offered them back to the company, which is taking over the three and closing the other two. When that transpires, all 340 White Castles will be company owned.
Las Vegas broke the record for the highest temperature in March, ever, on Wednesday when the thermometer hit 98 degrees. On Thursday, the high reached 93, tying the record for the date, but Friday's 92 broke the previous record of 88 set in 2022. Yesterday's 92 broke the record of 91, also set in 2022. Today's forecast is for a high of 92, which would beat the old mark of 89 set in 2015. If it does, it will be the 12th straight day of either tying or beating the previous record highs. Tomorrow's is 90, which would end the month on 14 straight days of highs in the 90s, 11 days longer than the record three in a row. Tuesday starts a relatively cool string of five or so days in the low 80s.
Israel Adesanya is a -135 favorite over Joe Pyfer in tonight’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Maycee Barber is -200 over Alexa Grasso.
We didn't know this until now, but the Downtown Grand is in receivership and has been for a couple of months, according to the Review-Journal. The report is that the owners defaulted on a $90 million construction loan from Banc of California and the receiver "has already begun a formal effort to sell the hotel-casino." The loan was taken out in 2019 to finance construction of the third (ill-fated) tower and Banc of California sued DTG on Dec. 23, nine months after the property stopped making interest payments; in addition, DTG "failed to pay the loan in full when it matured on Aug. 19, 2025." According to the R-J, the receiver is in full control of DTG and has "stabilized" the property with some additional funding help from Banc of California.
Two more eateries have been announced for BLVD, the giant shopping center on the south Strip. Tenshou, a Japanese fine-dining restaurant designed specifically for BLVD, will host an outpost of Tokyo's Bar Centifolia, which we're told is one of the finest bars in the world. The reservation-only intimate Centifolia features theatrical cocktails -- smoke, fire, liquid nitrogen, oversized ice cubes cut with a sword, and the "mixological wizardry of bartender-owner Yuzo Komai." The second restaurant will be Las Vegas' second location of Silverlake Ramen, originally from the L.A. neighborhood of the same name. Vegas' first Silverlake Ramen opened in Chinatown in 2023; the chain now has 30 locations in seven states, most in California. Tenshou should open by September and Silverlake by the end of the year.
The World Series of Poker has answered two questions that have lingered since its announcement last month of the 2026 schedule. First, as to which network will broadcast the tournament in its various forms, that will be ESPN, which resumes the partnership that ran from 1988 until 2021, when CBS took the reins. Second, the Main Event final table will take place starting on August 3, four weeks after the nine players are determined on July 13. It's a return to the pause between the Main Event and the final table, known as the November Nine, which was contested in that month from 2008 to 2016. The WSOP is referring to this pause as a "Cliffhanger" break.
The Hat, a 75-year-old eatery from southern California that specializes in pastrami, is finally imminent. It's been a long time coming; here's what we wrote on May 4, 2019, nearly seven years ago: "The Hat World Famous Pastrami, with 11 locations in southern California, has announced plans to build a 4,000-square-foot branch in southwest Las Vegas. The Hat, which serves a pastrami dip and pastrami burger, roast beef, barbecue beef, and steak sandwiches ($10.49), eight other burgers ($4.79-$6.29), cold sandwiches, and three kinds of fries ($5.29-$7.19), will open on S. Rainbow Blvd. between Russell and Sunset roads. No opening date has been announced." And we posted an update in June of last year after indications were a "spring 2026 opening." The chain is now hiring for the Vegas location, which is nearing completion, and the latest opening date is pegged at late May-early June.
MGM Resorts is "addressing the silly narrative about Las Vegas being overpriced" with a two-night deal that bundles room and resort fee, dining, entertainment, and parking into a single upfront price at Luxor ($337) and Excalibur ($329), plus tax. In addition to the room and RF, you get three meals per day per guest at 10 restaurants at Luxor, Excalibur, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, and New York-New York (including two buffets); two tickets to one of six MGM shows per stay (including Mac King and Fantasy); two rides on the Big Apple Coaster at New York-New York; and free self-parking at any MGM property. The offer starts on April 6. This is, actually, a good package. The resort fees and parking ($135) and two tickets to Mac King and Blue Man Group ($200) alone more than cover the cost of the package. Then throw in the room, six meals for two, and the roller coaster and you've got yourself a deal.
A report by ESPN says that NFL owners will most likely select Las Vegas to host Super Bowl LXIII in February 2029. The vote is expected to take place at next week's annual meeting in Phoenix, though one source told ESPN that settling the Vegas question is just a formality.
On Tuesday, the WWE held a one-day-only ticket sale: With 25 days left to Wrestlemania 42, the 25Days sale took 25% off the price of the remaining tickets, which the seating chart shows are plentiful. The discount dropped the cheapest nose-bleed seats to $120 and the closer seats to around $400. Could this be further indication that the WWE might have made a slight strategic miscalculation in returning to Vegas for the second consecutive year of Wrestlemania?
In yet another Yelp list, the Best Seafood Restaurants in Every State, Nevada's best is, not surprisingly, Bajamar Seafood & Tacos. It's the latest recognition for the restaurant at 1615 S. Las Vegas Blvd. that opened in 2017 and ranked number two in Yelp's Top 100 Seafood Spots 2024 and 19 in the Top 100 Taco Spots 2023. The seafood tacos include octopus, shrimp, and marlin tuna, the ceviche is spicy, citrusy, and fresh, and the Surf N Turf Fries are loaded with carne asada and shrimp. A second Bajamar location opened in downtown Henderson about a year ago.
The big news this morning is that the NBA's Board of Governors yesterday voted for the league to explore bids and applicants for expansion teams -- exclusively in Las Vegas and Seattle. The bidding process is expected to generate offers in the $7-10 billion range for each team. and and likely starting play in the 2028-29 season.
Today is opening day for Major League Baseball. The Seattle Mariners are the favorite to win in the American League at +420 and the Los Angeles Dodgers are the favorite to win the National League at +100 (even money). The Dodgers are a +200 favorite to win the World Series.
Luke Combs kicked off his latest national tour at Allegiant Stadium on Saturday night and proceeded to set two significant records. It was the largest crowd to attend an event at Allegiant; the 70,921 fans surpassed the attendance of 70,482 for the Canelo Álvarez vs. Terence Crawford boxing match in September. It was also largest indoor attendance for any concert or event in Nevada history. The wildly successful country singer and songwriter, Combs is known for his powerful raspy vocals and everyman appeal, but still; he drew more people than Taylor Swift, Garth Brooks, Rolling Stones, BTS, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Sting, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, the Raiders, Wrestlemania, and all the rest. For the crowd, the stage rotated, with four runways, so that all the seats could be sold.
Boyd Gaming will hold the official grand opening of Cadence Crossing Casino today. Boyd senior executives and Henderson elected officials will gather for a brief event, including remarks and a celebratory ribbon cutting, at 10 a.m., then media and VIPs will mill around until the doors open to the public at 12 p.m.
Vanderpump Hotel, the rebranded Cromwell, is now taking reservations for overnight stays starting May 29. Opening night's rate is $499, plus a $55 resort fee; rates in June are as low as $139 and rise as high as $399, plus RF. The hotel is reality TV star and entrepreneur Lisa Vanderpump's first foray into lodging. She has three restaurant/bars in Las Vegas: Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace, Vanderpump à Paris at Paris, and Pinky’s by Vanderpump at the Flamingo. The Cromwell is undergoing an extensive renovation in preparation for the rebranding; the casino, Giada's, and Drai's will remain open through the transition.
One of the most eagerly awaited culinary events of the year in Las Vegas will come to fruition next month. Maroon will launch April 24 at the Sahara in the space formerly occupied by Bazaar Meat. Bon Appetit magazine ranked this new Caribbean steakhouse among the 10 most anticipated restaurant openings of 2026. The third restaurant (Dogon in Washington, D.C., and Tatiana in New York City) from James Beard Award winner, author, and "Top Chef" star Kwame Onwuachi, Maroon according to Bon Appetit will be "the first black-owned concept to hit the Vegas Strip." Named for the Maroons of Jamaica, descendants of Africans who escaped enslavement and created self-sufficient communities in the country's Blue Mountains, the restaurant will "reimagine the classic American steakhouse through the lens of Caribbean cuisine with jerk rubs and dry-aged cuts, live-fire cooking, scotch bonnet-infused sauces, grilled seafood, and vibrant sides rooted in West African, Jamaican, and Creole traditions," Travel & Leisure writes. As we noted when it was announced last May, Maroon is definitely a coup for the Sahara after losing Bazaar Meats to Palazzo.
Taking a cue from Stadium Swim at Circa, the Daylight Beach Club at Mandalay Bay has been reimagined and renamed Tailgate Beach Club. The centerpiece is 125 feet of LED screens that will broadcast not only sports, but also must-watch TV shows. An executive from Clique Hospitality, which created the venue, told the Review-Journal that at Tailgate Beach Club, "Sports energy and shared fan culture will come together in a way that feels uniquely Las Vegas." The dayclub's three heated pools will allow it to stay open year-round, ending Stadium Swim's hegemony on that front. Tailgate opens May 16 with a bang: Snoop Dogg takes the stage.
The average price of a gallon of gas in Las Vegas today is $4.81, $1.11 higher than it was at the beginning of the month. The lowest (cash) price, according to GasBuddy, is $4.19 at a Sinclair station on Pecos Road, the highest $5.19 at a Chevron station on W. Sahara. Nevada's average price is the fifth highest in the country, behind California ($5.76), Washington ($5.27), Hawaii ($5.21), and Oregon ($4.84). The war in Iran and seasonal changes (scheduled refinery shutdowns in California and the transition from winter- to summer-grade gas) account for the rapidly rising prices.
As it’s done for the past several tournaments, starting with this week's Sweet 16 games, South Point will deal -105 on all NCAA tournament games through to the championship game. The discount is for “straight bets only,” which implies the pointspread and the total. Bets must be made at the sports book (not available on the app).
After breaking high-temperature records on Tuesday (96°), Wednesday (97), Thursday (94), Friday (91), and Saturday (92), another record fell yesterday when the thermometer reached 91. The Review-Journal reported yesterday that between 1937 and 2004, March registered a single 90-degree day -- 67 years! Then, between 2004 to 2025, there were 12. This year, six and counting. Today's high is expected to be 94, then above 90 through Sunday. We're thinking this forebodes a long hot summer, especially considering that so far, we've skipped spring.
The latest in out-of-the-blue closings takes place tonight. Jokers Wild on Boulder Hwy. will close permanently tonight at 10 p.m. It had been known that Jokers Wild would close this year, but the date wasn’t made public until today. The casino is closing to coincide with the opening of neighboring Cadence Crossing on Wednesday. The Jokers Wild building is expected to be demolished, possibly to add a Cadence Crossing hotel. According to vitalvegas.com, decks of logoed cards are being given away at the cage for as long as they last.
This week's YouTube is one of our semi-monthly updates, with a lot to talk about. First, of course, is the heat, which we've been covering daily in the News, with record-breaking high temperatures a daily occurrence. Then, Anthony and Andrew launch into March Madness and some of the betting involved and the new Cadence Crossing opening on Wednesday; Anthony discusses the myths surrounding slot jackpots at new joints. From there, they go to the closing of Tony Roma's at the Fremont, with a brief detour as to why the other Tony Roma's in Vegas, which has been closed for a long time, was "infamous." Finally, Anthony talks about our new book, Breaking the Slot Code, which is at the printer and should be back in mid-April, plus the companion website with hundreds of videos of advantage slots, SlotSlayer.com, which is also coming soon.
Yesterday, the official Weather Service thermometer at Reid International fell three degrees short of hitting the century mark, but the high of 97 crushed the record for the day of 90, set in 2004. It was also the third consecutive day of record high temps and today and tomorrow will extend the streak. Today's high is forecast to be 96, which would break the record of 92, also from 2004. Tomorrow should reach 94, which would beat the 2004 record of 91. The extreme heat warning, which was issued on Wednesday, expires tomorrow at 8 p.m., though why is unclear. High temperatures Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are projected to be 95-96 and not until a week from Monday might they fall below 90. The previous record for consecutive 90-degree days in March was three (2004, of course); it could be 12 or 13 by the time this heat wave passes.
Movsar Evloev is a -250 favorite over Lerone Murphy in today’s UFC main event. In the other featured match, Luke Riley is -200 over Michael Aswell.
The cafe at Aquarius in Laughlin, a Golden Entertainment property (Arizona Charlie's, STRAT), has good specials year round; they change every month or so. We tried a great turkey dinner that was available through December and a double cheeseburger in February; those reviews will be published in the April Advisor. Here are the specials that will be available from April 1 through June 30: the Sunrise Breakfast, with three pancakes, hash browns, two eggs, and a choice of bacon or sausage, $5.99; a double smashburger with lettuce, American cheese, tomato, onion, and special sauce on a brioche bun, served with French fries, $6.99; and a breaded pork chop plate featuring two pork chops and country gravy with potatoes and vegetables, soup or salad, $7.99. Each dish includes a choice of coffee, soft drink, or iced tea. Then there's the Belly Buster, a 16-ounce bone-in ham steak served with two eggs any style, hash browns, and toast or biscuits and gravy, and drink, $6.99. All will be available 24/7.
Scuttlebutt on the Vegas message boards purports that R&G Lounge, a celebrated Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, is coming soon to the Forum Shops at Caesars. We understand that some signage has gone up at the Forum Shops to that effect, though we haven't seen anything else mentioned about it. "R&G" stands for "Roots & Generations," reflecting its mission to honor the roots of Chinese culinary traditions by passing it down through the generations. Established in 1985, the restaurant has become an iconic symbol of Chinese heritage and culinary excellence and the menu boasts more than 150 dishes, including signature crab and Peking duck and lychee martinis. We'll keep an eye out for further developments on this front.
Jeezy is an American rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, and pioneer of Southern trap music, a subgenre of hip-hop that emerged around Atlanta in the early 2000s whose lyrics focus on drug dealing ("trapping") and survival on the street. Atlanta-based Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins, known for his gruff voice and hits like "Soul Survivor" and "Put On," will play 10 dates at the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood on May 1, 2, 23, and 24 and June 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27. The presale (code: SNOWMAN) started this morning; general-public tickets go on sale Monday at 9 a.m. PT.
Here's a story that was somewhat controversial several decades ago, then dropped from view, then resurfaced: Catholic church services held in Don's Celebrity Theatre at the Riverside n Laughlin. Services are conducted by St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, with Mass typically celebrated on Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings, offering a unique "church in a casino" experience for residents and tourists. The story, resurrected (so to speak) by Fox 5 Vegas recently, finds that Father Charlie "Ernie" Urnick has been officiating the entire time and puts on a performance worthy of a casino showroom, which keeps parishioners coming back -- on a heaven-dispensed comp.
After setting a new high-temperature record on Wednesday (94 beat the four-year-old record by one degree), Las Vegas hit 95 yesterday. That broke the record high for the day set in 2017 of 90 degrees. And on the first day of spring, there's no end in sight to the summer-like heat. Today, the high is predicted to be 98 degrees and according to the National Weather Service, there's a 50% chance we'll hit a hundred. If that actually happens, it'll be the first time southern Nevada has seen triple digits in March ever. It's never happened in April either; the earliest 100-degree day was on May 1, 1947. And it's not just us. The Review-Journal reports that Martinez Lake, Arizona, registered 110 degrees yesterday, breaking a record for the highest-ever March temperature in the entire country. In addition, record highs have been set across the west "in dozens of locations," including Phoenix, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Prescott, Arizona.
Ninety-five years ago today, March 19, 1931, Nevada lawmakers legalized gambling. The bill passed the Nevada Assembly by a vote of 24 to 11 and the Senate 13 to 3. In the early years of the Great Depression, it was hoped that wide-open casino gambling would boost the state's economy, forge a tourism industry, and create jobs. All in all, it did exactly what was intended -- and more. The new law, along with the construction of Hoover Dam that started a month later, helped ensure that our very own Vegas would be unique on this Earth.
Wednesday set what's expected to be the first of several high-temperature records over the next several days. It was the hottest-ever day in March in Las Vegas, with the thermometer hitting 94 degrees to break the previous record of 93 set on March 26, 2022. That record could fall today, with a predicted high of 94-95, but will almost certainly be broken tomorrow at 96. And it's still winter (at least until around 8 a.m. tomorrow)!
Two new fast-food outlets have opened at the food hall at Resort at Summerlin (formerly Rampart), For the Win and Tacos 1986. Both are imports from -- you guessed it -- southern California, veritable institutions dating as far back as 2020 and 2018, respectively. We've heard good things about both, but best of all is that today starting at 11 a.m., the first 500 For the Win customers each get a free smashburger, made with grilled onions, along with pickles and "fry sauce" on a toasted potato bun, a $9 value. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, get there early; locals are rabid about free smashburgers.
Vital Vegas reports this morning that Tony Roma's will close at the Fremont on May 9. It will be the end of an era for this chain in Nevada; the Fremont's is the last location in the state. VV writes, "A new concept will open in the space in September (we’ve heard the footprint will expand to include the now-closed Second Street Grill area)." As of last count, there were 86 Tony Roma's locations worldwide, though only about 11 in the U.S. When this one closes, there will be 10 or less. The chain is entirely franchised.
The press release describes '80s hard-rocker Billy Idol as "headlining a limited run," which we generally label a "mini-residency." Whatever you call it, the 70-year-old Idol will play five “Hot in the City” shows at Fontainebleau, marking his first return to Vegas since 2023. As always, he'll be joined by super-dynamic guitarist Steve Stevens. Dates are August 28 and 29 and September 2, 4, and 5. The presale starts today at 10 a.m. PT (password HOTINTHECITY). The public onsale starts Friday at 10 a.m.
In today’s World Baseball Championship final, the United States is a -250 favorite over Venezuela. The total is 8.5, with over juiced to -150.
The NBA is reported to be taking the next and perhaps final baby step toward identifying two expansion teams next week at the league's Board of Governors meeting. The team owners will vote on initiating the formal expansion process, with a focus on adding teams in Las Vegas and Seattle. After years of hints, mentions, winks, and intimations about an expansion team for Vegas, the meeting could make it official, paving the way for new franchises to begin play as early as the 2028-29 season. That would add an NBA team to the MLB's A's planning to start playing home games in Sin City in 2028. First, of course, a three-fourths majority of governors will need to vote in favor, meaning 23 of the 30 teams would have to approve the expansion plans.
Rod Stewart will perform six additional dates for his "Encore Shows" residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Stewart, who has announced the end of the residency several times, particularly after his 200th show at the Colosseum since 2011, has also unretired and this is the latest in that line, which includes six upcoming shows in May and June. The new dates are August 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, and 29. The pre-sale starts this morning; general-public tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
Will the Las Vegas thermometer hit triple digits this week? Currently, the forecast is for highs of 96 on Wednesday, 99 on Thursday, and 100 on Friday and Saturday. Even the high 90s will shatter all-time records. Let's put it this way: The average high throughout March is in the low 70s, so 96 would be nearly 25 degrees above normal. Also, the earliest 100-degree day of the year for almost 100 years was May 1, 1947, so 100 on Friday would be six weeks earlier than that. An extreme heat watch goes into effect Thursday morning; just a little nudge upwards from the current forecast would hit the century mark. And Friday will be even hotter.
The Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Garden spring display was unveiled on Friday. As always, the good folks at VegasChanges were there to photograph the carousel, Easter eggs, stained glass, birds, boat, ballerina, and flowers galore. You can see the photos here. This display runs through May 16.
Fogo De Chão, the popular Brazilian steakhouse that has been in operation on E. Flamingo since 2011, has opened a second location at the Venetian. From what we hear, it's the same as the original, with a 360-degree open churrasco grill, big salad bar, and Bar Fogo. This gives the Venetian-Palazzo-Grand Canal Shoppes more than 40 eateries within their extensive walls.
Michigan is the favorite to win the NCAA Basketball Championship at +320, followed by Duke (+350) and Arizona (+400). The longshots are Lehigh and Prairie View A&M, both at +600000 (6,000-1). The tournament begins with Tuesday’s two First Four play-in games.
In tonight's Academy Awards, One Battle After Another is the -370 favorite for Best Picture, with Sinners the second favorite at +200. Michael B. Jordan is -165 to win Best Actor for Sinners, and Jessie Buckley is the biggest favorite on the board at -20000 to win Best Actress for Hamnet. Sean Penn is the -650 favorite to win Best Supporting Actor for One Battle After Another and Amy Madigan is -200 to win Best Supporting Actress for Weapons.
The WWE has rescinded its ban on the 50-mile-radius TV blackout it announced about a month ago on Wrestlemania 42 in an effort to stimulate ticket sales. So local bars, sports bars, and sports books can show the matches after all at watch parties around town. Apparently, Circa and others continued to negotiate for the broadcast rights and ultimately cut a deal with the WWE; the news of the ban rescission was confirmed on Friday by Circa, which will show the events on its massive Stadium Swim screen.
On Friday, the Bureau of Reclamations issued one its spring prognosis for Lake Mead and the Colorado River watershed. It's not good. According to projections, the water level of Mead is "likely" to drop to 1,032.76 feet (above sea level), which would be nearly eight feet lower than the record low of around 1,040 feet set in 2022. If that happens, water releases from Lake Powell to Mead could be in jeopardy, unless the feds move water from upstream reservoirs into Powell. Moving water all the way down from Wyoming, primarily Flaming Gorge, would be a critical short-term "drought response operation" to protect Glen Canyon Dam's hydropower generation and is anything but sustainable in the long or even medium term.
Kevin Vellejos is a -550 favorite over Josh Emmett in tonight's UFC main event. In the other featured match, Gillian Robertson is -265 over Amanda Lemos.
Resorts World is closing its 29-table poker room on Monday March 30. This marks the second poker room to close this year; Planet Hollywood's closed in January. In addition, Poker Palace, when it reopens as Club Fortune North soon, won't have its namesake game. Eight poker rooms remain on the Strip: Aria, Bellagio, Horseshoe, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Caesars Palace, Venetian, and Wynn.
For the first time in memory, Reno has supplanted Las Vegas as the number-one-searched destination for Californians looking to relocate to Nevada. A study by Realtor.com found that last year, nearly half (43%) of views of online listings in the Reno area came from Californians, the highest percentage ever, while only 25% of views of Las Vegas area listings came from California users. In fact, Californians made up a larger percentage of potential homebuyers in Reno than locals, who accounted for only 30% of views on Realtor.com. Locals looking for houses to buy in Las Vegas accounted for 38% of views, 12% higher than Californians.
Join Anthony and Andrew for today’s Beer Friday livestream starting at 4 p.m. PST. Watch the show live, interact online, and have a drink or two with the guys, while they field questions about all things Las Vegas. Join at LVA YouTube live channel.
STRAT is marketing hard with an "All-In Package." It includes the room, Tower admission for two, and a $25 daily dining credit. Rates start at $49 weekdays and $99 weekends and dig this -- there's no resort fee and the rates include taxes. Travel must be completed by October 31 (blackout dates may apply). You can book your rooms here.
We have it on good authority that Siegel's 1941 at El Cortez will close on April 5. It hasn't been announced, but our inside word is that five months of construction will follow, during which time the restaurant's staff will collect unemployment or find other work. The new eatery will reopen as a coffee shop for breakfast and lunch, then morph into a steakhouse later in the afternoon. More details are expected to be confirmed soon.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Tilman Fertitta has been in "exclusive" talks to acquire Caesars Entertainment "for roughly $7 billion." Fertitta's $34 per share was $1 more than investor Carl Icahn had offered; Caesars' shares closed Wednesday at $29.07, up nearly 12% on the news. Currently, according to the WSJ's inside sources, "An announcement isn’t imminent and it is possible the talks won’t result in any deal." But apparently, Caesars is entertaining at least two offers for the company to change hands again.
A mere 45 years after opening at the Fashion Show Mall, Saks Fifth Avenue will close at the end of May. Saks was one of the anchors that opened with the mall in February 1981, but Saks Global is shuttering 13 Fifth Avenues and three Neiman Marcus locations around the country. The Neiman at the Fashion Show will remain open for now, according to a company spokesperson.
The details are a bit sparse and we haven't checked out the practicalities, but M Resort is advertising premium drinks, such as Flecha Azul Reposado tequila, Blanton's single-barrel bourbon, Remy Martin VSOP, Woodford Reserve bourbon, Glenlivet 12 single-malt scotch, and Tito's handmade vodka, for $5 each. The ad says, "All day. Every day. All casino bars" (M Bar, Vue Bar, Knight Time Hockey Bar, and AMP'D). See the M website page here and thanks to Canada Roy for sending it along.
"All In: Vegas Matt" is a six-part docuseries that follows slot mega influencer Vegas Matt around as he lives the livestreamed dream. Matt signed on as an ambassador for FanDuel in 2024 and FanDuel is producing the series. The first episode, "The Rise of Vegas Matt," goes into his background and is available for viewing on YouTube after being released last Thursday. You can also read a review of the episode. And you can see our own YouTube interview with Matt, his son EJ, and his sidekick WBG here.
Sometimes things go right. The phones and Internet are back up at LVA, well ahead of the estimated repair time. Thank you for your patience.
If you're trying to call in or email us today, our phones and Internet aren't working. We've been told that the outage is expected to end around 4 p.m., though you know how those things go. We'll post an update in the space when everything is back to normal.
Guns N' Roses are hitting the road later this month on a world tour, spanning Mexico, South America, and Europe before returning to tour the States. The U.S. dates throughout the summer will be the band's first in three years and they'll be making a stop for one night in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium on August 22. From there, it's on to New Zealand and Australia through the end of the year. Tickets are on sale now starting at $59.
Utah-based low-cost-carrier Breeze Airways is now flying nonstop between Reid International and California Redwood Coast Humboldt County Airport (ACV), Santa Ana John Wayne Airport (SNA), Provo Municipal Airport (PVU), and Magic Valley Regional Airport (Joslin Field/TWF). Airfares start at $39 one way.
A warming trend in progress could drive the thermometer to 90 degrees or more this weekend. Today's and tomorrow's high of 80 will rise to 85 on Thursday, 88 on Friday, 89 on Saturday, 90 on Sunday, and 92 on Monday (March 16). If those highs don't nudge at all upwards, records won't be broken through Friday; the record high for the 12th, Thursday, is one degree higher and for Friday two degrees. Saturday's 89 would tie the record for March 14, while Sunday's 90 would beat the record by two degrees and Monday by three. Typically, Las Vegas doesn't hit 90 for the first time until April 15 and the record for the earliest 90-degree day was set on March 13, 2007.
Boyd Gaming will open its new Cadence Crossing Casino on Wednesday March 25. It's located at 920 N. Boulder Highway, right next to the existing Jokers Wild, which will be torn down to make way for a hotel. The new casino has 450 slot machines (no table games), two restaurants, a center bar, and a lounge.
As the partial government shutdown continues unabated, the lines at security checkpoints at Reid International and airports around the country stretch for what some observers call "hours." Funding for the Department of Homeland Security was cut off a little less than a month ago and the impact is showing up now bigly. TSA workers will miss their first paycheck this week and increasing numbers of them are taking unscheduled time off. Plan on leaving an extra two hours for domestic flights at the busiest times, mostly 6-10 a.m., to get through security, three hours for international flights.
The Southern Nevada Art Museum opened downtown on Friday at 1029 S. Main St., just north of E. Charleston next to the Arts Factory. The 10,000-square-foot exhibit space features more than 500 pieces from 88 artists dating as far back as the 1400s. According to the press release, the collection was assembled through a nonprofit organization and artwork personally acquired by the executive director/curator. Works include art by Picasso, Dalí, Goya, Rembrandt, Renoir, Ziggy, Michael Godard, Donovan Fitzgerald, Kat Taz, and many more, covering modern, abstract, cubism, and impressionism. The Friday door unlocking was the soft opening; the grand opening will take place sometime in May. Admission is $10 and hours are Sun.-Thurs.10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fri.-Saturday till 6.
The Athletics' owner John Fisher told the Review-Journal, in an article published this morning, "We’re absolutely running on time and on budget,” referring to the stadium build. He added, "I hope it stays that way, because these things are sometimes unpredictable.” Fisher was in town to attend Big League Weekend, with the A's playing the L.A. Angels at Las Vegas Ballpark. Of course, a major construction project is unpredictable, but was he hedging his bet? He also said that the majority of the "final pricing" was completed in January, which ostensibly means that the $2 billion price tag shouldn't change. The last piece of the puzzle is the $1.1 billion that Fisher will be paying out of pocket, unless he can attract additional investors in the team, which so far he hasn't been able to do, at least that's been announced.
When Zero Bond opened in New York in 2020, "it quickly became the city's definitive power room," writes Forbes in a story about the Las Vegas branch of the venue opening on Tuesday night. "No photographers. A members-only door. An eclectic room where the city's most influential voices in entertainment, finance, and tech feel comfortable enough to actually talk to each other." The founder of Zero Bond told Forbes, "The place feels as intimate and design-driven as Zero Bond in New York, while embracing the scale and energy that only Vegas can offer. Vegas is often about spectacle, but the most meaningful moments happen in private." At the invite-only 20-person event last night at the Wynn, the glitterati were out in force: Kevin Costner, Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom, Ryan Phillippe, Grace Van Patten, Jackson White, Corey Gamble, Jeffrey Beacher, Ashley Benson, Brandon Davis, and Crayton Carrozza. Costner, 71, raised paparazzi eyebrows by staying close to Brooks Nader, 29, model (think Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue) and actress. In case you're interested, Zero Bond charges $1,000-$5,000 in initiation fees (based on age and tier), $2,750 to $4,400+ annually for standard membership, and $50,000 initiation fee and $7,500 annually for a Founding Membership that allows access to both the New York and Las Vegas clubs.
The Savannah Bananas, known as the "Harlem Globetrotters of Baseball," will play three games at Las Vegas Ballpark on April 30 and May 1 and 2. Celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, the barnstorming exhibition baseball team plays a fast-paced entertaining version of the game called "Banana Ball," featuring choreographed dances, backflip catches, and fan-focused antics. The scoring celebrations are epic, the world's tallest hitter stands 10 feet over the plate (on stilts), the umpire twerks and does a robot dance, among others, after every strike three call, hitters are escorted to bat by the likes of the Backstreet Boys, Tony Hawk, Joey Chestnut, Johnny Bench, Eli Manning, and Mickey Mouse. Tickets aren't cheap, starting at $256, and the games last a time-limited two hours (to ensure the fast pace), but it sounds very entertaining.
Don’t forget to move your clocks ahead by one hour for Daylight Savings Time, which began at 2 a.m. this morning. Making the change is especially important if you want to bet today’s early games.
Max Holloway is a -200 favorite over Charles Oliveira in tonight's UFC main event. In the other featured match, Caio Borralho is -235 over Reinier de Ridder.
The World Baseball Championship has begun and the United States is the -110 favorite to win the tournament. They're followed by defending champion Japan at +340 and the Dominican Republic at +380. The championship game will be played on March 17.
Another day, another extension of the Metallica residency. After playing coy for almost a year about its shows at Sphere, the heavy-metal band has extended the original eight-show residency three times now, twice in the last two days. Thursday's dates included two weekends next February; yesterday's is four dates a year from this month: March 4, 6, 11, and 13. (Next, we expect tickets to go on sale for shows two years out.)
The median price of existing single-family homes in February was $482,000, down a half-percentage point from February 2024 and a bit below the record high of $489,000 set last November. The median price of condos and townhomes in February was $285,000, down just under 6% year over year. Curiously, prices remain near record levels as inventory continues to rise. At the end of last month, listed single-family homes were up 17% over last year and condos/townhomes were 24% higher. Meanwhile, sales were down. Houses dropped nearly 10% year over year and condos 8%.
And the dates keep coming. Originally announcing eight shows for its Sphere residency on Feb. 25, Metallica quickly added eight more dates on March 3 and even more quickly tacked on six more yesterday. The count is now up to 20 and shows extend out a full year. The new dates are February 4, 6, 18, 20, 25 and 27. Tickets for all shows are on sale now. We're bringing earplugs and aspirin.
David Copperfield has announced the end of his 25-year residency at the MGM Grand. His last performance will be on April 30. The most commercially successful stage magician in history, according to Forbes, isn't exactly retiring. The 69-year-old Copperfield wrote in a social-media post, "I'm excited to announce the largest and most challenging project I've ever tackled." Could it be making the moon disappear, which he announced in 2023 and scheduled for 2024? He claimed he's been working on it for 30 years. We'll see.
Sartiano's Italian Steakhouse, a reportedly popular restaurant on Prince Street in the SoHo district of Lower Manhattan, opened yesterday at the Wynn adjacent to New York-based social club Zero Bond, which is opening next Tuesday. The restaurant looks out over the 18th hole of the Wynn Golf Course and Sphere -- quite the view. According to the Review-Journal's "first look" coverage, the Wynn and Manhattan menus are mostly the same, though the steak program has been expanded for Las Vegas. Amazingly, the Vegas menu with prices is posted: Caesar salad $25, meatball appetizer $28, jumbo prawn cocktail $36, pastas $39-$55, with a tableside fettucine alfredo for $75, seafood salad with caviar $125 ($455 for a large), steaks $87-$235, side dishes $20. Obviously, these minimum $250-per-person dinners are meant for whales on comps. If that's you, we'll join you if you like.
The Eastside Cannery, shuttered since the pandemic, was imploded last night around 2 a.m. You can see a three-minute video of the event here. The tower is dropped in the first 30 seconds, then it's two and a half minutes of dust and wind and rubble. Still, it's always cool to watch a (vacant) building cave in.
North America's largest construction trade show, CONEXPO-CON/AGG, has overtaken the town and continues through Saturday. Held every three years, the trade show is "a global gathering platform for the construction, aggregates, and ready-mixed concrete industries." More than 130,000 attendees, including upwards of 2,100 equipment manufacturers, are flooding three million square feet of exhibit and classroom space, mostly at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline in Las Vegas rose 12 cents, more than 3%, from yesterday to today as the effects of the war in Iran start to show up. The national average increased by 12.1 cents per gallon between Monday and Tuesday, the largest single-day increase since 2022 and the fourth-most in a single day in history, according to AAA. A gallon of unleaded now averages $3.84, up 15 cents since a week ago and 32 cents in the last 30 days. The petroleum analyst for GasBuddy told the Review-Journal that a gallon of gas in southern Nevada could increase by up to 60 cents in March, due to the war and the typically seasonal change from winter to summer gas.
A lot of classic rock, oldies, and pop acts will be appearing in Las Vegas in the coming months; here are our favorites: Cheap Trick at the Venetian April 17 and 18; Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight at the Palms April 25; Nora Jones at the Venetian May 9; Pablo Cruise and Pure Prairie League at Westgate June 20; Firefall, Atlanta Rhythm Section, and Orleans at Westgate July 4; and best of all, Pat Benatar and (guitarist husband) Neil Giraldo at the Palms Aug. 21.
Illuminarium, the 360-degree, digital, immersive entertainment venue located at AREA15, will close permanently on Friday. This was announced in a stealth Facebook post on February 13 and posted via a one-line banner on the venue's website (unearthed by Canada Roy). We've reviewed several shows there ("Space," "Lite-Brite," "Amplified") and generally liked them, though the Las Vegas landscape for immersive and digital art is highly changeable. Perception Las Vegas, a standalone building on the North Strip that featured a digital show on Leonardo DaVinci, closed with no fanfare last year. Paradox Museum is being taken over by TJ Maxx. Arcadia Earth, Lighthouse Art Space, Museum Fiasco, immersive Van Gogh, and immersive Disney have all come and gone in the past few years. No doubt the high-rent Illuminarium will be replaced by something even more high-tech.
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."
Brandon Moreno is a -200 favorite over Lone’er Kavanagh in tonight's UFC main event. In the other featured match, David Martinez is -290 over Marlon Vera.
One of the event contracts on prediction markets this week was the length of the State of the Union address by President Trump. Traders who bet the over 100 minutes cleaned up when the SOTU speech went a mind-numbing 107 minutes, which topped the previous record of 87 minutes set by Bill Clinton in 2000. Was there insider trading from any number of people who knew the length of the speech before it was given? You make the call.
The Backstreet Boys band has added six more dates to its Sphere residency: August 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22. Since launching the "Into the Millennium" shows, the group has performed to more than 575,000 fans at 35 sold-out dates, with 18 more to go through the summer. Tickets for the new shows are on sale now.
Reid International reported a nearly 8% decline in the passenger count in January from January 2025, down by 350,000 people passing through. The number of domestic travelers, 3.68 million, was down from 3.95 million, a decline of 6.8% from a year ago. The 272,145 international passengers represented a decrease of 19.2% from 336,734 in January 2025. The two major Canadian carriers, Westjet and Air Canada, reported drops of 28% and 34%, respectively, over January 2025.
Yesterday afternoon around 3:15, the official thermometer at Reid Airport hit a high of 81 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. It's the first 80-plus-degree day since November 8 and it comes more than two weeks early; temperatures breaking into the 80s typically don't occur until mid-March. The 81 didn't come near the record of 87 set on Feb. 26, 1986, but the forecast is for warmer through the middle of next week, with highs around 83 on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
It's just a rumor at this point, but someone seems to have leaked something to the Financial Times, the British broadsheet that focuses on business and economic news. FT reported yesterday that Tilman Fertitta, owner of the Golden Nugget brand and Houston Rockets and currently ambassador to Italy, "is considering" acquiring Caesars Entertainment. Fertitta, according to the report, is "one of multiple parties expressing takeover interest," including a potential management buyout. If a buyer emerges, it will be the biggest casino deal since the last time Caesars was acquired, in 2020 by Eldorado Resorts. It will also be expensive. Though Caesars cleared $12 billion in revenue last year, the company carries $20 billion in debt.
In this month's YouTube interview, Anthony and Andrew chat with Dave and Marc of GambleSmart.net. Founded by the two in October 2023, Gamble Smart is a YouTube Channel focused on the "everyman" aspect of gambling, providing tools to become smarter with game selection, budget control, and knowing when to walk away -- accurate, truthful, and transparent information for the average gambler. Marc and Dave talk about their frugal, common-sense, fun approach to casinos, ranging from budgets and tipping on comped drinks to repairing slot machines. It's an enjoyable and informative 25 minutes.
Comedian and TV and movie actor Damon Wayons Jr. will perform three shows May 22, 23, and 24 at Wiseguys in Town Square. Also at Wiseguys, Luis Elizondo will appear on June 2; Elizondo is one of the biggest names in UFOs and UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). American punk rockers Social Distortion will play Cosmopolitan on Sept. 25. And acclaimed American hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age will appear at Allegiant Stadium on September 26.
Qantas Airlines has announced that it will become the first airline to offer non-stop flights between home-country Australia and Las Vegas. Qantas has flown charter flights between the two before, but this will be the first scheduled service. Flights will be seasonal, between December and March, on Boeing 787-9s for 236 passengers -- 42 in business, 28 in premium economy, and 166 in economy. Tickets are on sale now for the inaugural flight on December 29 through March 12 between Kingsford Smith in Sydney and Reid starting at $783 (AU$1,099). These will be epic airplane experiences: just under 14 hours.
Bob Taylor’s Ranch House has been named a recipient of this year's James Beard Foundation "America's Classics" awards. The award recognizes "locally owned restaurants with timeless appeal that serve quality food and are beloved by their communities.” Bob Taylor's joins the Peppermill, which won in 2024. The restaurant opened in 1955, three years before Golden Steer, and is the oldest continuously operating eatery in Las Vegas. You can read all about it in our Question of the Day.
One of the biggest buildups we've seen recently has been for the Metallica residency at Sphere. The rumors started last summer and the band has been "hinting" for at least six months, but the dates have finally been announced. The band was founded in 1981 in the thrash-metal genre, but has mellowed (a bit) over the years, perhaps since it moved to San Francisco. That said, Metallica is widely regarded as the biggest and most successful heavy metal band in the world, maintaining massive popularity for more than four decades. They've sold over 125 million albums worldwide and won 10 Grammy Awards and consistently sell out stadium tours, grossing over $1.4 billion in ticket sales since 1982. The dates for the eight-show (so far) “Life Burns Faster” residency at Sphere are: October 1, 3, 15, 17, 22, 24, 29, and 31 and feature "no repeat weekends," in which no songs are repeated in the Thursday and Saturday dates. Tickets go on sale a week from Friday, March 6, at 10 a.m. PT.
EPIC stands for "Elvis Presley in Concert" and this movie looks fantastic. It's not a traditional biopic, but a cinematic experience that combines never-before-seen and restored archival footage of Elvis, primarily from his legendary 1969-1970 Las Vegas residency, along with outtakes from older concerts. Baz Luhrmann, the filmmaker behind the 2022 biopic Elvis starring Austin Butler, discovered some of this long-lost material (including negatives stored in Warner Bros. vaults in Kansas salt mines), while researching his earlier film, and he restored it for this project. It also incorporates candid interview excerpts where Elvis narrates parts of his own story, covering his military service, Hollywood years, and more, making it feel like he's telling his tale directly. But mostly, it showcases Elvis at the peak of his showmanship in those iconic jumpsuits, delivering electrifying performances. It had an exclusive IMAX run starting last Friday and will open in theaters worldwide this Friday. It's 100 minutes long and you can see a fabulous trailer for it here.
Previously an obscure betting event relegated to offshore and for-entertainment-only lines, tonight’s State of the Union address will draw plenty of action due to the expansion of the prediction markets. Both Kalshi and Polymarket have markets on everything from the chances of a person attending to what words Trump will utter. For example, the markets say there’s a 72% chance he’ll say “affordability,” an 83% chance he’ll say “hottest,” and a 93% chance he’ll say “Trump.” A hot prop is the length of the address, which has an 86% chance of going more than 90 minutes. See more of the prediction-market odds here.
VisualCapitalist has posted a chart, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data, showing job growth or decline in all 50 states between December 2024 and December 2025. Nevada ranked at number 47, fourth from the bottom and one of 14 states that sustained job losses during that period. Nevada's employment rate fell by .05%, reflecting the disappearance of a total of 8,600 jobs over the year. Missouri recorded the fastest growth rate at 1.7% (52,200 jobs), while New Hampshire saw the steepest decline at 0.8% (minus 6,000 jobs).
According to several cybersecurity publications, the Wynn has been attacked by a "computer hacking extortion group," which is claiming it stole 800,000 records related to company employees. The cybercriminals are demanding $1.5 million by Monday or they'll release the records, which include employees' names, email addresses, phone numbers, positions, salaries, start dates, birthdays, and other personal information. The company hasn't issued a statement as of this writing, but "there's no indication" that the stolen data involves the personal information of Wynn guests and players.
Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather will fight a rematch on Sept. 19 at Sphere. Mayweather, now 49, beat Pacquiao, 47, by unanimous decision in May 2015. Mayweather retired in 2017 with a 50-0 record; Pacquiao retired in 2021 (68-8-3). Both have come out of retirement to fight professionally and in exhibitions and in this fight, Pacquiao hopes to add a loss to Mayweather's perfect record. It's not known in what weight class or in how many rounds the fight will be contested. The event will be streamed on Netflix.
The 61st Academy of Country Music Awards return to Las Vegas for the first time since 2022, after three years in Texas, for the May 17 ceremony at the MGM Garden Arena. Associated events, such as the ACM Next Wave: Country's Beach Bash, are scheduled for May 16 at Mandalay Bay Beach. The show will be livestreamed on Prime Video. Tickets are $200 for VIP early access and $150 for general admission and benefit Lifting Lives, the academy’s philanthropic partner that provides financial aid to those in need. They go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
Alinea, one of the most influential and celebrated fine-dining restaurants in the country, will do a "residency" at Bellagio from April 16 to May 31, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Alinea, which debuted in Chicago in May 2005, isn't a restaurant in the traditional; it's "a full sensory journey" of avant-garde, modernist, and molecular gastronomy focusing on multi-course tasting menus "that blur the lines between food, art, and performance." It had three Michelin stars from 2011 until 2024 and has won too many accolades, including a James Beard Award for Outstanding Restaurant, to begin to list here. The restaurant is traversing the country on a 20th anniversary tour, following residencies in Brooklyn, Miami Beach, Beverly Hills, and Big Sky, Montana; Las Vegas, specifically the Michael Mina space at Bellagio, is its last stop. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at 9 a.m. PT at bellagio.mgmresorts.com/alinea.
The mayor of Hitchcock, Texas, a small town near Galveston, was arrested last week for running an illegal gambling business in the back room of his coin-operated laundromat, Comfort Zone Washateria. After an undercover cop ran $20 through a machine and exchanged a TITO for cash, police returned and seized five gambling machines, "devices that they deemed to be too similar to slot machines," according to a report in GamblingNews. Slots and almost all forms of gambling are illegal in Texas. So is the "washateriaring" of cash.
So much has been happening this year that Anthony and Andrew put out a second monthly update yesterday. They cover the implosion of the 16-story Eastside Cannery hotel tower, the openings of Club Fortune North (the former Poker Palace) and Cadence Crossing, the Super Bowl numbers in Nevada, the 30th anniversary of Wheel of Fortune slots, and the biggest news of all, the $1 bottled beers at Stage Door are no more. Sob! But they're still a good deal, so tune in to find out the latest on that.
If you're flying soon, you'll want to leave a little extra time to pass through security. Due to the ongoing partial government shutdown, the TSA PreCheck program has been suspended. So PreCheck travelers now have to wait in the regular line, which will delay the whole TSA security process.
Canada is a -120 favorite over the United States in today’s Olympic Gold Medal Game. The total is 5.5. The game starts early at 8 a.m. EST.
Anthony Hernandez is a -265 favorite over Sean Strickland in tonight's UFC main event. In the other featured match, Geoff Neal is -200 over Uros Medic.
Continuing a wave of recognition, Ada’s, Las Vegas’ most awarded wine-and-food venue, has been recognized by Mashed.com as the Best Wine Bar in Nevada in its national roundup highlighting the top wine bar in every state. The recognition follows Ada’s semifinalist nomination for the 2026 James Beard Foundation Awards in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category. Late last year, Ada’s was also recognized by the World of Fine Wine in London for the second year in a row as having the “Most Original Wine List” worldwide; Ada's also won Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence for the past two years. Finally, it was one of the Las Vegas Review-Journal's Top 100 Restaurants of 2025. Ada’s is a wine-centric restaurant from James Beard Finalist chef and local celebrity James Trees, also of Esther's Kitchen, Al Solito Posto, Bar Boheme, Petite Boheme, and High Steaks Vegas fame.
An interesting story on InGame.com, "10 Sports Moments They’d Swear Were Rigged These Days due To Betting," discusses the tendency of "today's jaded sports fans to see corruption in every bad call or play." The 10 events "that would have wrecked" fans include some doozies: the Jets beating the Colts in Super Bowl III, Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson, Nick Anderson missing four free throws in a row, Appalachian State besting Michigan in 2007, and number 16 UMBC trouncing number one Virginia in 2018, among some other fine dubious outcomes. It's worth the four-minute read, which you can do here.
The latest social media outrage over a ridiculous expense is a Snickers bar for $13. According to GamblingNews, "A Hollywood television producer known for shows like "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" and the Billboard Music Awards, posted a 31-second TikTok on February 15 while standing in the hotel’s gift shop. In the clip, he holds up a Snickers bar and tells viewers it costs $13." The video initially garnered 15,000 likes, then blew up on X to 1.2 million views. Some commenters noted that it was an imported Cherry Whip Snickers, though others pointed out that it usually costs $3 in the U.S., only $1 more than a standard Snickers. MGM's CEO has been touting the company's "restructuring" of its overpricing for several months, but apparently, someone in the gift shop at MGM Grand didn't get that memo.
ESPN reports this morning that the A's stadium has reached a milestone: The foundation work has been completed and work is moving to the lower suite level and main concourse. The A's vice chairman told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority yesterday that $300 million has been spent on the $2 billion project -- without dipping into the $380 million in public financing. The team starts its second of three seasons in Sacramento in April and will play two pre-season games against the L.A. Angels at Las Vegas Ballpark on March 7-8. The A's will return to play six regular-season games there in June against the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies. The team told the Stadium Authority that work is on schedule to open the stadium by the beginning of the 2028 season.
Las Vegas experienced its first rain of the year on Monday and in three consecutive storms received exactly a half-inch. The precipitation total is still down by a little less than half; typically at this time of the year, with February being the wettest month, the average is .92 of an inch. The Red Rock Canyon loop road is closed this morning due to snow and ice creating hazardous conditions. Cool temperatures will linger today, with a low of 35 degrees and a predicted high of 53, 10 degrees below normal. It starts to warm up tomorrow with a high of 58, then Sunday returns to normal at 67. Next week the highs will all be in the 70s, except for Saturday, which is expected to hit 80.
In the face of some red ink, both in revenue and media coverage, the CEO of Caesars Entertainment dismissed the negativity with the flick of a wrist. “There’s really no crisis happening in Vegas,” Tom Reeg told analysts on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call on Tuesday. "This is normal economic-cycle activity. The city’s and all of our properties are doing quite well.” Caesars' Las Vegas revenue number for the full year 2025 was down 4.7% from 2024.
It's official: For full-year 2025, Las Vegas recorded its worst decline in annual visitation since 2020, the shutdown year, and the most precipitous plunge (excluding 2020) since the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority started tracking these numbers in 1970 -- 55 years. Wow. It was a 7.5% drop from 2024, representing 3.1 million fewer visitors last year. Hotel occupancy fell 3.3% year over year, the average daily room rate dropped 5%, and revenue per available room was down 8.8% Reid International reported a 6% decline in passenger traffic in 2025.
After a completely dry six weeks to start the year, Las Vegas got caught up in a major storm system moving east from southern California. The cold and wet front brought snow down as far as Mountain Pass, prompting the closure of southbound I-15 near Primm for several hours; on Mt. Charleston, enough snow fell that the ski resort up there is already speculating that the season could be extended. Southern Nevada will dry out today, but a second storm will start moving through tomorrow, with rain showers and a rain/snow mix in higher-elevation neighborhoods. The weekend's forecast is dry and sunny with highs in the upper 60s.
A Netflix animated adult-comedy series called "Strip Law" will premiere on Friday night. The description is of an uptight lawyer who teams up with flashy Las Vegas magician "to bring some pizzazz to the city's stupidest cases.” The Review-Journal's TV and movie critic Christopher Lawrence says the show “has slot machines that pay out in painkillers, a gun range where you can blow up cows, and something called 'Circumcisions by Elvis.'” The show's creator told ABA Journal, “It’s how Vegas feels to everyone more than what it’s actually like and satirizes the city’s reputation as the one place where you can do whatever.”
The 57th annual World Series of Poker has released its schedule for the summer extravaganza. The dates are May 26-July 15, with the Main Event July 2-9. There will be 100 live bracelet events of all varieties, though with a focus on mixed-game and mid-stakes tournaments, and the final table for the Main Event will be delayed, though for how long will be announced later (could it be a return of the November Nine?). A free livestream on the WSOP YouTube channel will run through the start of the Main Event, providing much more exposure than usual for the players and games. The WSOP-home Horseshoe is hosting a promotion starting March 1 and running until May 24, in which 25 winners earn a seat in the Main Event and another 200 win entries into the smaller events; players can qualify by logging at least 100 hours in live cash games at the Horseshoe.
The annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Running Series half-marathon and 5K races will take place throughout the weekend, which will lead to road closures downtown and on the Strip. The 5K race starts at 5 p.m. Saturday downtown and the 13-mile half-marathon will begins at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, covering from Sunset Road to downtown and back to Flamingo Road. If you're in the vicinity, be prepared to be rerouted along with a lot of other traffic.
The hard-rock and heavy-metal German band Scorpions is returning to Las Vegas for a third residency at the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood. The Scorpions played nine shows, all sold out, in Vegas in 2022, then again with nine sold-out shows in 2023. To celebrate the band's 60th anniversary (founded in Hanover, Germany, in 1965), they'll perform seven shows: Sept. 17, 19, 23, 25, 27, and 29 and Oct. 1 and 3. Tickets go on sale to the public on Saturday at 10 a.m. PT.
The Eastside Cannery, closed since the pandemic, will be imploded in the wee hours of Thursday March 5. The event, the first implosion of a casino since the Tropicana dropped in October 2024, will take place at 2 a.m. It won't be a public event, with no dedicated viewing area. Boyd Gaming is in the process of selling the land to a residential developer.
Remember the fully operational miniature roulette-wheel wristwatch, the Astronomia Casino, we publicized in this space a few years ago? Only $625,000. Well, compared to that, this fully operational slot machine watch, a Girard-Perregaux 1945 Jackpot Tourbillon, is a bargain at $299,000 -- if you could buy it. Problem is, it's sold out. But you can see the sales page here, some great photos here, and a two-minute Vimeo demo here. Not surprisingly, the discovery of this watch, as well as the roulette wheel one, and all the links here are credited with our deepest gratitude to Canada Roy.
The 2026 Lunar New Year (Year of the Horse) will be celebrated around the city starting Tuesday and running through the week. The major event is the 15th Annual Chinese New Year in the Desert, one of the largest Lunar New Year festivals in the U.S., which will take place Thursday through Saturday. In Chinese culture, the horse symbolizes speed, freedom, and vitality, all traits that will be represented in several parades, the biggest being downtown and in Downtown Summerlin, featuring traditional lion and dragon dances, fan dancers, stilt walkers, and drummers. Many Strip resorts, notably Resorts World, Aria, and the STRAT, will feature dances, special menus, and elaborate installations. Of course, you can't go wrong by celebrating in Chinatown, with its red-lantern decorations, festive displays, lion dances, and cultural performances, centered around the original Chinatown Plaza.
A report yesterday on 8NewsNow provided an update on the long-planned pedestrian bridge over Sahara Avenue and the Strip. Originally proposed in 2021 at a cost of $40 million, the bridge was supposed to break ground in 2024 and be completed two years later -- i.e., now. But at a City Council meeting earlier this month, plans for the bridge were pushed back until 2030 at the earliest. “Like all capital improvement projects, [the bridge project] can move forward only if and when funding is available,” a spokesperson for the city told the 8NewsNow reporter. Obviously, the projected cost has risen from the $40 million, which apparently the city couldn't afford years ago, and now it's anyone's guess "if and when" even more funding might become available.
In yet another new NBA All-Star format, in which three teams are involved, the World is the +160 favorite to win the tournament. USA Stripes, made up of NBA veterans, is +175, and USA Stars, made up of younger stars, is +200. Each game in the round-robin competition will have its own line.
Right on the heels of the WWE's announcement that it will impose a television blackout within 50 miles of Allegiant Stadium, where Wrestlemania 42 takes place April 18-19, ticket sales for the big weekend are lagging significantly behind last year's pace. Reports peg sales down nearly 20% compared to the same time frame for Wrestlemania 41, which also took place at Allegiant. Though a company meeting was held on Wednesday to address the the underwhelming sales, no price reductions are planned, at least so far. The cheapest seats costing $270, along with a second year in a row in Las Vegas, are being blamed for the slowdown. Meanwhile, a number of local bars are "frustrated," according to the reports, about the blackout after planning watch parties and now having to refund tickets.
Denny Hamlin is the favorite to win today’s Daytona 500 auto race at +850, followed by Kyle Busch at +900 and Ryan Blaney and Loey Logano, both at +1000. Two-time defending champion William Byron, going for the first-ever Daytona threepeat, is +1500.
Rental rates continue their slow but steady decline in Las Vegas. According to a report on Zumper, an online rental marketplace that connects renters with houses, condos, and apartments, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city last month was $1,195, down from $1,299 in January 2025, a drop of 8%. Two-bedrooms fell from $1,550 to $1,500 year over year and three-bedrooms dropped from $2,025 to $2,000. Why? A surge in new multifamily apartment construction has significantly increased supply and elevated vacancy rates, outpacing demand and forcing landlords to lower prices, offer concessions, and compete for tenants, resulting in Las Vegas having
one of the fastest rent declines in the country.
Comedy club "Laugh Factory" has launched a new 250-seat comedy club at the Horseshoe. It reopened at the Horseshoe after closing in October 2024 at the Tropicana. It takes over the upstairs Imagine Showroom, while Frederick da Silva's paranormal show will continue there in its 4 p.m. time slot.
Southwest Airlines will launch direct daily service between Reid International and Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José, Costa Rica, beginning October 1. It will be the first-ever nonstop flight between the two destinations and Southwest's first-ever international redeye flight. Outbound from Vegas, the flights will leave late at night, arriving in San José early the next morning after approximately seven hours in the air. Return service from Costa Rica will depart around midday, allowing same-day onward connections within the United States.
Join Anthony and Andrew for the livestream starting at 4 p.m. PST. Watch the show live, interact online, and have a drink or two with the guys, while they field questions about all things Las Vegas. Join at LVA YouTube live channel.
Circus Circus has opened a bingo hall, bringing the game back to the Strip for the first time since the Riviera's room closed in 2015 (the second-to-last bingo hall closed at the Frontier in 2007). Circus' room can accommodate 255 players per session and there are five sessions, starting at 3 p.m. Thursday to Sunday. In addition, coin-operated slots have been added to the slot floor, joining Slots A Fun as the only casinos on the Strip to offer the vintage games.
Our newest release, All About Sports Betting by Blair Rodman, is back from the printer and shipping. If you purchased prior to publication, your book has been shipped; new buyers will get immediate delivery. Our pre-pub offer of a 25% discount and free shipping extends through this weekend. AASB is one of the most comprehensive books on sports betting ever written, ranging from how to read the lines and make a bet to a 97-page “book-within-a-book” on sports betting strategy, including substantial contributions from Anthony Curtis and noted sports betting expert Frank B. Order here or from Amazon.
"Because Saturdays are for dancing." So begins the announcement from Spiegelworld about Club Honey, "a Saturday‑night-only situation where the music hits and the crowd actually dances." Starting at 9 p.m. in the Glitterloft, the space that formerly housed DiscoShow at the Linq, Club Honey provides the opportunity to "dance to the music you love until you can’t anymore and when you need a break, grab a drink, find a couch, and have a lounge." This refers to the comfy sofas outside Glitter Loft, the 99 Prince Bar, and Diner Ross in case an appetite has been worked up -- an all-in-one night out. And it's free, but you need to get on the guest list, which you can do here.
The global dance music festival company Insomniac has unveiled its lineup for the milestone 30th anniversary of Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) Las Vegas. Returning to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway May 15-17, the festival will welcome more than 500,000 attendees for three days and nights of music, art, and community. On the multiple stages, the following acts will perform: Kaskade, John Summit, GRiZ b2b Wooli, Martin Garrix, Underworld, San Holo, Seven Lions, San Pacho, MPH, Interplanetary Criminal, MALUGI, Snow Strippers, The Prodigy, Hannah Laing, Chris Stussy, Tiësto, Levity, Lilly Palmer, Beltran, Nico Moreno, KETTAMA, Time Warp, Factory 93 Experience, Joseph Capriati, Eli Brown, Indira Paganotto, Klangkuenstler, Prospa, Peggy Gou, ATLiens, GHENGAR, HOL!, AHEE b2b Liquid Stranger, INFEKT b2b Samplifire, Holy Priest, Restricted, Sub Zero Project, Lil Texas, Kuko b2b Johannes Schuster, GRAVEDGR, Noizu, OMNOM, Wax Motif, BOLO, Luuk van Dijk, Luke Dean, Josh Baker, Gareth Emery, Paul Van Dyk, Darude, Ilan Bluestone, Paul Oakenfold, Tinlicker, Eli & Fur, DJ Tennis b2b Red Axes, MCR-T, Paramida, SALUTE b2b Chloé Caillet, BAUGRUPPE90, Heidi Lawden b2b Masha Mar, and HAAi b2b Luke Alessi. More will be announced as the festival comes closer. All tickets are currently sold-out. To join the waitlist for three-day GA, GA+, and VIP tickets, visit the EDC Las Vegas 2026 website.
As it's been doing since 2013, the downtown Denny's at Neonopolis is marrying couples at its only wedding chapel in the country. But on Valentine's Day, two people with a marriage license can get married there for free, saving the usual $199 ceremony fee. The catch: Parties must sign the company's "toast-nuptial agreement," vowing to stay together through the next morning. The one-day promotion is available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday with a reservation made on Denny's website. Newlyweds will receive an “Over-Easy Overnight” kit that includes branded “Slammy” pajamas, eye masks, and pillowcases for the morning after; couples who remain together until noon on Sunday, then post a “Just Married” photo on Instagram, Facebook, or X tagging @DennysDiner and using the hashtag #DennysToastNup by 1:59 p.m. PT will receive a $100 Denny’s gift card as a “breakfast-in-bed” reward.
The CEO of Truckee Gaming told the Nevada Gaming Control Board yesterday that the former Poker Palace, which the company bought in October, will reopen no later than mid-April. It will be renamed Club Fortune North, to brand it with Club Fortune (South), a Truckee Gaming property in Henderson. “If Circus Circus and Excalibur had a baby, that was Poker Palace,” said Truckee Gaming's Ferenc Szony. He elaborated that Poker Palace received a "total gut job" and is being rebuilt from the floor up. The Control Board forwarded its recommendation to the Gaming Commission that the company receive its gaming license for the North Las Vegas property, along with approval for a Boomer's sports book to accompany the reopening; Boomer's will also have a race book, but unlike Poker Palace, no table games.
A post on X from Derek Stevens takes us into the beer walk-in refrigerator at Circa. From the looks of it, it's bigger than our the entire downstairs of our office. Derek tells us that for the Super Bowl, Circa, the D, and the Golden Gate have nine parties running simultaneously. He also learns from the reefer crew that they have at least 1,000 kegs of beer and hundreds of pallets of bottled brew to go around. He's told, "There's a zero percent chance that they'll run out of beer." Derek says, "That's the lock of the day." It's worth 30 seconds to click here and take the behind-the-scenes tour -- if only to see Stevens in his hot-pink suit.
Due to "overwhelming demand," the Eagles' long-running residency at Sphere has been extended by two more shows, on Friday April 10 and Saturday April 11. This is the 10th time the band has added dates to the residency that began all the way back in September 2024 and they'll be the 57th and 58th shows, by far the longest-running stint of any act since Sphere opened. The general on-sale for the two new dates begins on Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
Realtor.com reports that wealthy Californians are moving to southern Nevada in droves to escape onerous taxes and capitalize on the disparity in housing prices. In January, Realtor's analysis showed that 23% of listing views for Las Vegas properties came from Los Angeles, with another 8% from San Jose and 4% from Riverside. Meanwhile, the median price for a single-family house in L.A. is $1.03 million and San Jose $1.12 million compared to $465,000 in southern Nevada. In addition, California has proposed a one-time 5% tax on anyone with a net worth of $1 billion or more (estimated to be 200 people), while Nevada has no state income tax at all. It's been basically the same story for many years: Nevada welcomes high-net-worth refugees from California and there are plenty of mansions to go around.
The Four Seasons has been named the number-one Best Hotel in Las Vegas and in Nevada in the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Hotels Rankings. U.S. News cited "the city's only non-gaming non-smoking luxury resort" in ranking Four Seasons the best hotel, "offering a refined alternative to the energy of the Strip. With its signature On The Strip, Off the Grid ethos, the hotel delivers a sense of calm and escape, while remaining seamlessly connected to Las Vegas’ most iconic entertainment, dining, and sporting destinations." The Four Seasons PR department couldn't have written it any better and maybe they did, considering that Four Seasons Hualalai and Four Seasons Lanai were the number-one and -two hotels in the nation, while the Las Vegas location ranked #23.
The total sports betting handles for 2025, ranked by states, have been calculated (by Chris Altruda, long-time gambling-revenue reporter). Nevada placed eighth at $8.07 billion, barely a third of the handle of first-place New York at $26.3 billion and half of Illinois at number two and $15.7 billion. New Jersey came in third ($12.2 billion), Ohio fourth ($10.3 billion), and Pennsylvania fifth ($8.9 billion). Even Massachusetts ($8.5 billion) and Arizona ($8.3 billion) bested Nevada. Of note is that all seven states with higher handles than Nevada's allow unfettered remote sports betting via mobile app, unlike Nevada's hybrid model -- mobile betting is available, but only after first appearing in person at a sports book location or partnered casino to complete account registration, ID verification, and often initial funding/deposit.
Last Thursday a slot player from New York was at the Venetian was playing Three Card Poker and was dealt a spade royal flush, activating the mega tier of the resort’s Millionaire Progressive. By making the $5 side bet, the player won $1,661,451. The Millionaire Progressive is available on multiple table games throughout the Venetian and the Palazzo casino floors, including Ultimate Texas Hold’em, Three Card Poker, Crazy 4 Poker, and Mississippi Stud. The New Yorker is the 17th millionaire since the progressive was introduced in 2018.
According to VisualCapitalist, Nevada's population growth between April 2020 to July 2025 ranked 10th in the nation, growing by 5.7% with 176,595 new residents. Idaho placed first at 10.4% and 190,610, followed by Florida (8.9%/1,924,311) and South Carolina (8.8%/452,024). Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee rounded out the South's representation in the top 10, with Utah and Arizona in the west and Delaware the anomaly in the northeast. West Virginia lost the most residents percentage-wise (-1.5%), with New York and California losing the most residents in total (both more than 200,000). Nationwide, the population grew by 3.1% or nearly 10.3 million in the half-decade.
Various media outlets report this morning that the WWE will impose a television blackout within 50 miles of Allegiant Stadium, where Wrestlemania 42 takes place April 18-19. That means local bars, sports bars, and sports books won't be showing the matches, even if they pay a licensing fee. The only option now is to buy tickets to see the event live; one-day entry generally ranges from $271 to $322 for the worst seats in the house, two-day $652–$738. But you won't believe how high tickets go from there. Premium seats are running $9,000 and the most expensive we found are $92,000 for top-tier, front-row, VIP experience packages.
Government Wash is a once-popular and previously unmanaged recreational shore area on the northwestern edge of Lake Mead near where the lake’s water level has receded, exposing more shoreline and opportunities for water access. It historically served as a site for camping, fishing, beach access, and boating. But the National Park Service closed the area in July 2024 to clean it up after years of trash build up, long-term encampments, and off-roading vehicles damaged the land. In the restoration process, crews cleared more than six tons of litter, repaired areas affected by erosion and compaction, defined 51 campsites, and improved infrastructure and access roads that now allow small-boat access to the lake. Hosts oversee the campground, which, even after all that work, remains free. To get there, take Lakeshore Road (NV 167) a mile or so past the junction with E. Lake Mead Blvd., then turn right at the Government Wash sign.
The Seattle Seahawks are -4.5 favorites over the New England Patriots in tonight's Super Bowl. The total is 45.5.
Get your phones ready to time the singing of the Super Bowl's National Anthem. The over/under on how long it will take Charlie Puth to sing it is 1:56. Last year’s time was 2:00, making it 9 of the last 13 years going 2 minutes or more. This bet isn’t offered in any U.S. sports books that we know of, due to legal restrictions, but it's fun to track to start the game.