VitalVegas beat the mainstream medium to the news that MGM Resorts International is bringing to the Las Vegas Strip something it’s 
been test-driving at MGM National Harbor and MGM Springfield: automated bartenders. As you might guess this is part of “MGM 2020,” CEO Jim Murren‘s big cost-cutting push. The official rationale is that MGM 2020 is a “company-wide, business-optimization initiative aimed to leverage a more centralized organization to maximize profitability and, through key investments in technology, lay the groundwork for the company’s digital transformation to drive revenue growth.” Trouble is, the company is already hand-over-fist profitable and is planning to pour $10 billion into Japan. This is just greed, made manifest in the form of robotic cocktail dispensation. At least it won’t be necessary to measure the amount of liquor in the bottles with a ruler at the end of the night. Less insidiously, MGM is looking into technology that would allow you to pay for your drink at your gaming position, another step toward a cashless economy.
One VV reader made the trenchant comment, “The problem I see is that there is no way these machines will be as quick and efficient as a real bartender, because a real bartender can make multiple drinks at a time and does not have menus to click through to access the catalog of beverages they know how to make. I foresee a queue of cocktail waitresses at the machine waiting to make their drinks and thus making this system less efficient.” (Apparently this is already happening at Beau Rivage.) Has MGM thought this through? Or is it mesmerized by shiny objects?
Not only will thousands of jobs be gone to “MGM 2020,” it’s just the leading edge of bad times to come. The Institute for Spatial Economic Analysis at the University of Redlands has run the 
numbers and estimates that Las Vegas will lose 65% of its jobs to automation by 2025. That’s real cause for panic. Our government had better rethink its cuts to social services in the face of the widespread unemployment that is to come. We are looking at becoming a welfare state through no fault but Wall Street‘s endless desire to squeeze six cents from a nickel. Zdnet.com reports that the brunt of the cuts will fall “in regions that have a preponderance of low-skilled jobs.” Say farewell to the “Las Vegas dream,” service workers.
* KTNV-TV reports that the City of Las Vegas is going to name a street after deceased local blogger Robin Leach, the only man who liked Surf! The Musical. If Leach merits a street then Steve Friess and Scott Roeben deserve superhighways.
* U.S. senators start earning their paychecks today when they call Marriott International CEO Arne Sorensen on the carpet about his company’s mammoth data breaches. Sens. Rob Portman (R) and Tom Carper (D) have summoned Sorensen before the Homeland Security & Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the first public accounting of Marriott’s complaisance. The total of breached Marriott records has reached 383 million, so let’s hope Portman and Carper give Sorensen a heated grilling.
* Sports betting hit a big roadblock in South Dakota. It had been voted out of the state Senate but a lower-house committee nixed the idea. However, invocation of a procedural tactic moved the bill to the house floor. If the full body still votes against it, supporters of sports betting could mount an initiative drive to place it on the 2020 ballet.
* In a thoroughly laudable development, online-gaming developer Pariplay is teaming with Save the Rhino International. Pariplay will donate 10% of the profits from its Rumble Rhino game to the charity, which is marking its 25th year of crusading on behalf of the noble, 
endangered animal. Pariplay and Save the Rhino hope to demonstrate “a shared commitment to the conservation of multiple populations of endangered rhinoceros located in Africa and Asia.” Last year, Save the Rhino raised $3.5 million toward rhino preservation in the wild. As Pariplay exec Richard Mintz said, “Our pledge to donate a part of the profits from our flagship title, Rumble Rhino, will support the funding of projects that will help prevent the rhino population from going extinct.” To that end, play of Rumble Rhino will be prefaced by a brief video on rhinoceros preservation. Rarely does gambling dovetail with consciousness-raising but Pariplay is to be praised for doing so.
* As tribal casinos continue to catch up with private-sector, Pechanga Resort & Casino has hired its first sommelier, Mark Amodeo — not to be confused with Nevada congressman Mark Amodei (R) — who will provide in-person aid with your wine selection. What can we say except ‘Bravo!’?
These “automation alcohol” robots are bad but since two casino companies in Las Vegas are run by accountants its possible that Carl Icahn has the same idea.
MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment own 18 hotel-casinos on the Strip and together have around 65,000 hotel rooms. These two casino companies have high end, middle class and economy properties and both companies have deep customer databases with millions and millions of customers.
There are also at least 20 hotels in Las Vegas that are 6 to 10 stories tall with 180 to 200 rooms. Tharaldson Hospitality Management owns 7 of these hotels; Gary Tharaldson owns this company and his net worth is around $900 million dollars. It’s possible that some more of these hotels will be built close to Raiders Stadium. In 2017 Las Vegas had around 6.6 million convention delegates and most people staying at these small hotels attend conventions in Las Vegas.