Other cities have major-league sports teams for distraction and entertainment. Las Vegas has Clark County Commissioner Tom Collins (D). The latter has been much in the headlines of late. First, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Collins was “was drinking and shooting on his North Las Vegas property on the night of July 3″ … because nothing mixes quite so well with alcohol as live ammo and firearms. This peccadillo that didn’t make news until Aug. 15, when double-barreled misdemeanor charges surfaced. A bit fired up — and more than a little liquored up — from Independence Day celebrations, Collins did what any reasonable person would after consuming several cams of Coors and a bottle of whiskey: He took a chain saw to a cedar tree in the dark of night and — when the arbor proved recalcitrant — he busted a cap in its ass. Seven, actually, and a nearby post also sustained flesh wounds. “Allegedly,” y’know. Given their neighbor’s volatility, several witnesses understandably refused to give testimony. The cops did confiscate Collins’ pistol which, perhaps in emulation of the commissioner himself, was loaded.
North LV residents already had reason to be nervous, what with rampaging chimpanzees having gotten out and about not once, but twice. (The survivor was subsequently exiled to Oregon.) Well, ol’ Tom musta thought, “I’ll see you those chimps and raise you some livestock, pardner.” On Aug. 17, Continue reading
VegasChatter and S&G also have a slight difference of opinion regarding the likelihood of Caesars Entertainment finishing its Ferris while out back of what used to be O’Shea’s. While Howard Bulloch‘s erection — officially called SkyVue — makes the more impressive sight, VegasChatter sees modest evidence of activity and, digging more deeply, 
Sheldon Adelson couldn’t do it but Las Vegas Sun Publisher Brian Greenspun could. The hard-money-lending business in Las Vegas is a dodgy, high-risk one at the best of times and close scrutiny of it by Sun-related publications is especially touchy. Months of investigation by yours truly into Vestin Mortgage (which 
On the one hand, I applaud The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas for setting itself apart from the pack by centering much of its appeal upon leading-edge musical acts (
“No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.” — Mark Twain, greatest newspaperman in Nevada history, bar none. But he needn’t fear the 112th Congress, which has massively underachieved the notorious (
Every so often, when the economy fails to do their bidding, Wall Street analysts speak wistfully of “pent-up demand” among players. This unicorn-like phenomenon mostly romps in their collective imagination, although occasionally a gaming CEO or two falls into the trap of parroting such nonsense. So, do you wonder why — with all that demand just pent up and seemingly with no good reason for not manifesting itself — why Nevada‘s economic recovery has lagged expectations or why casinos in the Upper Midwest are in the doldrums? At Raving Consulting‘s recent Casino Marketing Conference, three resarchers — Glenn Goulet, Sue Johnson and Michael Meczka — each from a different firm, laid their collected wisdom on the audience. In a larger sense, it reflects the challenges facing America itself. But let’s stick to what Wall Street and the casino industry don’t want to hear. Since the magic year 2007, that apex of fiscal self-hypnosis, the metrics compiled by Johnson, Meczka and Goulet are as follows …
OK, let’s take a deep breath and remind ourselves that 
“You force me to talk about it. This should be a secret strategy to protect the nation.” — Cambodian despot, er, Prime Minister Hun Sen, huffily responding to opposition members of parliament who dared to question him (what sauce!) during a five-hour harangue on his defense policy. Which is … to secure Cambodia‘s border from Vietnamese incursion by building a barrier of casinos. Reasons Hun Sen, “One can remove border markers, but one can’t remove five-story hotels.” Damn! Why didn’t we think of this instead of erecting border fences to ward off invasion from Mexico and longtime archenemy Canada? Think of all the private-sector jobs it would create! Can you say, “Shovel ready”? (I thought you could.)
I always hate doing Nevada gaming numbers because A) it’s redundant with the coverage in the local dailies and B) almost every month you have to trot out the caveat that — as was the case in June — the month went out on a weekend, meaning that there’s unreported slot drop that won’t show up for another 30 days. So it’s a rare month when you’re not having to deal with some form of skewed revenue reportage. Ergo, when you hear that June manifested a 6% drop, partly due to low slot hold, how much credence can you put in that statistic? Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank 
were flat, however, despite 8% less money dropped. Even a lower slot hold (93%) couldn’t stave off slight declines in handle (-2%) and winnings (-8%). Where accounting quirks may really be creating mischief is in the seesawing, schizoid numbers coming from the locals and drive-in (more like “drive-by”) markets, although Mesquite 
“A swift letter from [Sheldon] Adelson‘s lawyers produced an apology, and the removal of the offending [Democratic Congressional Committee] blogs. That made Adelson happy, according to a spokesman, who added, ‘More broadly, this should serve notice to those who would attempt to smear Mr. Adelson by repeating the false and inflammatory statements of a fired employee – that is a very slippery slope.’
You’ll have to pardon me today if I enjoy a victory lap, having beaten the dailies to the announcement of Surf The Musical‘s demise by a good 97 minutes.* (Suck that, Thomas F. Mitchell!) However, if you set store by the fable of the tortoise and the hare, pay heed to John Katsilometes‘ autopsy of the $10 million dud. Kats says the show is closing Aug. 15 but Planet Hollywood is sticking with Aug. 19. (Ticketmaster hasn’t gotten the memo, still selling Surf tickets through Nov. 4) He also writes that the concert-in-drag received “reviews that ranged from tepid [that’d be the R-J‘s Carol Cling] to poisonous.” (
It’s all over for 
Since Garth Brooks has been a money-spinner for Wynncore, rival Venelazzo is seeing Steve Wynn one Tim McGraw and raising him one Faith Hill. So there! Sheldon Adelson was (understandably) absent from today’s big announcement, which was the worst-kept secret in town. (Sheldon’s current prominence in national headlines would have upstaged the event.) Let’s face it, Hill is the draw and McGraw is mostly along from the ride, despite the face-saving “Tim McGraw & Faith Hill” billing. “