The Boston Celtics are -4.5 favorites over the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 7 of their first-round NBA playoff series. The total is 204.5.
The current odds for the Kentucky Derby make Renegade the favorite at 5-1, followed by Commandment at 6-1 and Further Ado at 7-1. The long shot is Albus at 55-1.
Low-cost Spirit Airlines shut down all operations early this morning after suffering through two bankruptcies in two years with no bailout in sight. It was the second busiest carrier at Harry Reid International after Southwest, which, along with United, Delta, and JetBlue, is accommodating stranded Spirit passengers with $200 limited-time fares. All 16 Spirit destinations from Las Vegas are served by other airlines.
Hard Rock Las Vegas hosted a topping off ceremony Friday to commemorate the installation of the final beam on its Guitar Hotel tower. We like what an executive from the lead construction company said at the ceremony. "Topping out this project represents far more than a construction milestone. It marks a defining moment in reshaping the Las Vegas skyline and introducing a new city icon.” Construction began in summer 2024 and has employed more than 5,000 workers. The new resort-casino will feature 3,700 rooms, a redesigned casino and pool, a new pool at the Guitar Hotel, an additional pool for the guitar tower, a 175,000-square-foot casino, more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space, new restaurants, bars, lounges, and retail outlets, and employ about 6,000.
The Review-Journal reports this morning that the site of the failed SkyVue project across the Strip from Mandalay Bay has been sold to a local real estate developer for $70 million. At 12 acres, that comes to $5.83 million per. SkyVue was an observation wheel project that got as far as raising two concrete columns before going bankrupt; the columns have been scraping the sky in place since 2014. The developer has big plans for the acreage, including a heart-shaped 874-room hotel-casino, giant heart-shaped LED marquee, Fremont Street Experience-like covered pedestrian plaza, and theater; reportedly, a 265-foot-high "midair restaurant" will incorporate the smokestacks into the property. No financing or timeline details were divulged.
A group from Las Vegas led by local businessman Grant Gustavson submitted a bid earlier this week to Major League Soccer to buy the Vancouver Whitecaps and relocate the team to southern Nevada. Gustavson is the 30-year-old grandson of B. Wayne Hughes, who co-founded Public Storage; he's also the son of Tamara Gustavson, who owns 11% of Public Storage and is ranked #251 on the Forbes 400 with a net worth of $8 billion. A report out of Vancouver this morning puts the offer at $500 million to buy the Whitecaps and the Gustavson group has proposed building a soccer-specific stadium here. No details about the site or the specific terms of the buyout offer were disclosed, except that the stadium would be built completely with private financing -- no public funding needed.
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Las Vegas today is $5.19, up nearly 25 cents since April 1. That's roughly $1 higher than the national average of $4.23 per gallon. Statewide, the average is $5.12 and Reno topped $5.35. Diesel is down from its record of $6.49 set last month, but not by much; today it's $6.18 a gallon. Of course, the Middle East disruptions are to blame, with a barrel of crude oil nearly doubling in price since January 1. The historic high in Las Vegas is $5.61 per gallon, set in June 2022. And there's no relief in sight. According to AAA, the U.S. Energy Information Administration doesn't expect prices to ease until "later in 2026."