Phil Ivey may owe Borgata $10 million for cheating at baccarat but the casino’s not going to overlook the chicken feed 
he makes in other tourneys. Borgata has set its sights on the $124,410 Ivey won in the last World Series of Poker (plus $214,000). Since Borgata is owned by MGM Resorts International, it’s not like it lacks Vegas-based representatives to go after its money. In fact, the WSOP was hit up with a writ of execution. Next thing you know, they’ll be coming after Ivey’s Nevada pied-a-terre. Life’s not easy when you try to cheat Borgata and get caught.
* Dive bar Smuggle Inn got caught in the War on Drugs and paid with its livelihood. Last Dec. 18, Las Vegas Metro detectives bought cocaine from a Smuggle Inn bartender and Smuggle Inn could lose its gaming license for allowing the incident to occur. “Bartender #3” was carrying 69 grams of coke, 6 grams of meth and $6,222 (not what most bartenders would call “walking-around money”). The Nevada Gaming Control Board recommended an undisclosed fine for the felonious conduct. Incidentally, in case you were ever curious to read the NGCB complaint against Wynn Resorts that earned Wynn a $20 million fine, today’s your lucky day. Speaking of Wynn, it appears that slut-shaming is alive and well at Wynncore. Will CEO Matt Maddox never learn to clean house?
* It’s official: The Las Vegas Sun is suing Sheldon Adelson for allegedly trying to smother it in the crib. At issue is the joint-
operating agreement by which the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Adelson’s mouthpiece) props up the Sun. A particular bone of contention are the revenue-sharing payments to which the Sun argues it is entitled but petered out in 2017. Adelson is even accused of tanking the R-J‘s financial performance to keep profits away from the Sun. As always, there’s method to Adelsonian madness: Says Sun attorney Joseph Alioto, “It’s going to be an election year and [Adelson] wants to show his buddy, Trump, that he’s in charge in Nevada.”
* Kudos to The Eagles for playing a series of Hotel California shows at MGM Grand. A gratified eyewitness tells me the band played for three hours and 20 minutes, perhaps one of the few times Vegas concertgoers have received full value for their money.
* Those two big Os on the OYO marquee at the ex-Hooters make one think the owl never left. Indeed, four servers at the resident Hooters restaurant made the cut for the eatery chain’s 
annual Hooter Girl calendar. So it’s congratulations to Alexis McClendon, Taylor Cambridge, Mariah Kouyoumtjian and Essence Urquhart. The latter, perhaps feeling a bit of ancestral Scottish pride, said: “I am so excited and was not expecting to be chosen. I’ve worked for Hooters for over eight years, and this is an amazing experience to have this honor. I’m appreciative of Hooters for giving me this opportunity.”
* Speaking of the exploitation of women, even the BBC can’t resist reporting on the shutdown of peep-show parlor Showgirl Video. One former patron described some girl-on-girl action at Showgirl as “the worst consensual moment I’ve ever had with a naked person.” “Those windows that we danced behind provided a safe space for us to express our sexuality, to have fun with dance and to make a good living,” counters Erotic Heritage Museum Director Victoria Hartmann. As attorney Dayvid Figler puts it, “I don’t know if one could shed a tear for the type of establishment that Showgirl Video is. But I think on a larger scale, it was representative of a sort of libertine existence that Las Vegas, on some level, has always tried to achieve—but maybe never fully realized.”
