The Las Vegas Strip will be blessed for three nights in August, as Tony 
Bennett returns to The Venetian. He’ll play the 12th, 14th and 15th, with an assist from Antonia Bennett. Tickets start at $50, with a portion of the proceeds going to Exploring the Arts Inc. As New York Magazine said of the ageless songster, “no one else on Earth can make a lyric written eight decades ago sound as natural as a conversation at a coffee shop.” Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.
* In the meantime, Christina Aguilera is calling it quits on her Planet Hollywood residency. The final six shows will take place in November, although what’s more newsworthy than Aguilera’s exit is the bizarrely staggered manner in which tickets will go on sale. Tomorrow through Thursday evening there will be a “fan pre-sale.” You’d better buy your tix in the first two hours because at noon tomorrow (Strip time), an American Express pre-sale begins. Then there’s a 10-to-10 presale on Thursday for Caesars Rewards members, Live Nation and Ticketmaster customers. After that it’s every fan for himself.
* Fans of Scott “Woody” Butera will enjoy this clip of him celebrating BetMGM‘s alliance with Boyd Gaming in Indiana. The question of what this means for Boyd’s Hoosier State alliance with FanDuel is begged.
In a bit of progress for Las Vegas, the Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Tournament comes to Mandalay Bay, another sign that college sports and Sin City can healthily coexist. And MGM posts impressive metrics for its GameSense application. Well, actually, GameSense was a product of the allegedly corrupt British Columbia Lottery Corp. (Uh-oh.) But it may be the only good thing to come out of B.C. casinos lately.
In news that MGM Resorts International is less eager to promulgate, its MGM Grand Garden Arena is being pimped out to honor Sheldon 
and Miriam Adelson for their so-called “philanthropy.” Fawns Michael Shulman, the evening will be in part “a tribute to their immense contributions to medical research, education, and Jewish causes, both in the US and abroad.” Yes, if persecuting drug addicts and helping to deny Florida patients access to medical marijuana are “immense contributions,” let’s by all means tip our hats to these two ubiquitous figures on the American landscape.
* Today is National Breathing Day, a day of advocacy against the dangers of secondhand smoke. Smoke-free casinos are still the exception rather than the rule but there are some hopeful signs. Ho-Chunk Madison recently celebrated five smoke-free years. A smoking ban implemented in New Orleans five years ago has not produced the revenue cataclysm that was predicted—most loudly by Caesars Entertainment. Big Gaming will tell you that good HVAC systems are all that’s needed but very few of them (Aria‘s being excepted) are either well-designed or energy efficient. There’s a lot of work to be done.
Jottings: Coronavirus-derived revenue decline at Macao casinos in March is now being estimated at between 80% and 90%. Operators wanting to stay in Ho Iat Seng‘s good graces will have to forego cost-cutting 
measures … Rival gaming destination Singapore, incidentally, is getting high marks for its containment of the virus … Congratulations to Aristocrat Technologies, which cleaned up at the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Slot Awards, taking home eight prizes. Everi (formerly Shufflmaster) and Scientific Games each bagged three prizes and International Game Technologies won two. A complete list of winners is here … Sports betting is a flop in Oregon. A projected $6 million profit for FY20 swung to a $5 million loss, prompting uncomfortable questions for the Oregon Lottery … The 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act was a pretty lopsided agreement—thank you, President Jimmy Carter (D)—which Passamaquoddy Tribal Government Chief William Nicholas Sr. says has “hindered and oppressed our people.” Global Gaming Business has an excellent breakdown of how a Maine task force aims to amend the Act to make it more equitable to tribes. As expected, fretful Gov. Janet Mills (D) is against it.
Woody!