Look for ex-Mandalay Resort Group boss Mike Ensign to play a supporting role in Nightline‘s Nov. 23 exposé of, among other things, the 96 dimes in hush money he channeled to the cuckolded husband of his son’s mistress.
You’ve got to wonder how many orders for new Class II and Class III games manufacturers picked up at G2E when California tribes are refraining from new expansion opportunities. Much like Vegas locals players, Californians are dropping less coin at the casinos and gravitating toward lower-denom games (not entirely a bad thing for the house if you consider the higher hold percentage that penny games enjoy). As a result, revenues are falling back toward pre-bubble (i.e., 2004) levels.
The money quote, literally, is from a player who glumly discloses, “I just came here for the free food.”
What’s that smell? Did you know that Las Vegas has an official smell — or will, as of SCENTWorld 2009‘s dinner gala? According to our LVA news bureau: Top executives from the Las Vegas business community, the City of Las Vegas, and the Vegas Airport Authority were asked to assist in “capturing everything the city stands for,” while the actual creative task was performed by Christophe Laudamiel, the “enfant terrible of contemporary perfumery” whose produced fragrances for Estée Lauder, Ralph Lauren, and Abercrombie & Fitch.
If they have a sense of humor, these people will make our Official Odor that of stale cigarettes … or maybe whatever that chokingly sweet stench is that’s pumped into the air system at Palazzo.
What fragrance would you nominate as The Smell of Vegas?
Switchover at Isle: After three years as general manager/veep of Isle of Capri Black Hawk, in Colorado, it appears that John Bohannon is out and Brian Watts is in, newly arrived from Kansas City. Whence goeth Bohannon? That remains unclear.
Un-burned Bridges. Former Playboy cover girl Angelica Bridges has returned to Fantasy at Luxor, which is being treated like major news around here. (Besides, it’s good to see Richard Abowitz‘s byline online again.) Personally, I thought Bridges’ vocalism so meager in quantity — and little better in quality — that her sudden departure hardly felt like a loss. If you’re going to a topless show for the vocal talent, Lorena Peril of Sin City Bad Girls has it all over anybody else in town. I suppose “rock ‘n roll lounge act” is a contradiction in terms but if it’s not, Peril ought to be headlining one. That dame’s got some serious pipes.
A touch of class. Tall drink of water Allison Janney passed through town lately. She’s got a bit of free time on her hands, following the untimely demise of the 9 to 5 musical on Broadway. So C.J. from The West Wing sings too? Some people have all the luck (read: talent).
Signs of the Times: I awoke to the news that the drugs which killed Michael Jackson were bought from some dump of a Vegas pharmacy. I mean, I’d trust a drug store whose signage is handwritten, wouldn’t you?
Can you explain what the differences are between Class II and Class III game machines? I’ve heard these terms tossed about, but I am a bit unclear what they mean.
That’s an excellent question, John, one which the courts have had a tough time unscrambling. I punched the buttons on a few Class II machines at G2E and, to the casual eye, they’re indistinguishable from Vegas-style (i.e., Class III) slots. I’ve nominated your question for a lengthier answer in LVA’s “Question of the Day” section, because if we haven’t addressed it already in QoD then we really should. Thanks.
“What fragrance would you nominate as The Smell of Vegas?”
Since all my Vegas trips are limited to Downtown hotels, my suggestion might be too limited from others’, but…
I nominate the smell of fresh popcorn. Silly, ain’t it? Still, as I stroll up and down under the canopy, I keep thinking of it as a grownup mall.
Then again, I and a (non-smoker) friend just spent 3 nights in the same hotel: I in a “smokers” room; he in a “non-smokers” room on a different floor. He said that when he exited the elevator on my floor he “was hit in the face by the smell of cigarette smoke” – so he would probably choose that aroma as “the smell of Vegas”.
I think the scent they use at El Cortez fits the bill for me. I bought a couple shirts at their gift shop last month and the scent stayed in them for 4 or 5 days after we got home (I had put them in a plastic bag and tied the top shut, however).