{"id":23738,"date":"2019-03-19T06:59:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T14:59:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=23738"},"modified":"2019-03-19T06:59:56","modified_gmt":"2019-03-19T14:59:56","slug":"heavy-action-prophesied-for-march-madness-death-at-bellagio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/heavy-action-prophesied-for-march-madness-death-at-bellagio\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavy action prophesied for March Madness; Death at Bellagio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cUnlike any other sporting event in the country, March Madness<\/strong> attracts millions who fill out brackets, make casual bets with friends or wager at a legal sports book, which Americans can now do more than \"\"ever before.\u201d With those words American Gaming Association<\/strong> President Bill Miller<\/strong> strove to throw a light on the rampant nature of illegal betting in this country. Using a Morning Consultant<\/strong> study, the AGA estimates that 47 million Americans will bet on the NCAA<\/strong> roundball tourney, with only $3.9 million of the estimated $18.5 million wagered going through sports books and other legal channels. According to the AGA, 2.4 million will go to the neighborhood bookie while 5.2 million will use illegal offshore sites.<\/p>\n

Sticking to legal sports books and Web sites, PlayNJ.com<\/strong>‘s Zack Hall<\/strong>\u00a0estimated that $300 million would be wagered in Nevada<\/strong> and $75 million in New Jersey<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cIn Nevada, the NCAA Tournament trails only the Super Bowl<\/strong> in popularity for sports bettors and actually generates more bets because of the number of games,\u201d added TheLines.com<\/strong>‘s Dustin Gouker<\/strong>. \u201cBasketball has drawn a higher share of wagering in New Jersey than it has in Nevada this season, and that will likely translate well to the NCAA Tournament.\u201d At present, Duke<\/strong> is the heavy favorite to win, receiving 29% of bets to date, followed by Gonzaga<\/strong> (9%), North Carolina<\/strong> (8%), Kentucky<\/strong> (7%), Virginia<\/strong> (5%) and Michigan<\/strong> (5%). Our condolences to anyone whose school didn’t make the list.<\/p>\n

* Bellagio<\/strong>‘s status as a soft target for robbers had fatal consequences last weekend. A gunman robbed the poker room and was making off with the cash. However, four Las Vegas Metro<\/strong> officers happened to \"\"be on the premises, on an unrelated human-trafficking bust. When the robber tried to commit a carjacking in valet parking, Metro pounced. Shots were exchanged, the robber was killed and a Metro cop’s life was saved when a bullet struck a providentially placed cell phone in his vest. It’s almost too Hollywood to be true. It also reinforces the debate about the apparent laxity of security at MGM Resorts International<\/strong> properties, which eschew a visible ‘prowl’ and risk incidents like this one, which may have been the gunman’s second strike<\/a> at wide-open Bellagio. How much worse do things have to get before MGM takes action?<\/p>\n

* As reader Mike Zidik<\/strong> reports, developer Bart Blatstein<\/strong> wants an Atlantic City<\/strong> casino. Since Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> took the \"\"gaming entitlement off his Showboat<\/strong> hotel, he’s going to get around that by building his gambling hall on vacant land next door, across the street from Ocean Resort<\/strong>. The latter would certainly benefit from a critical mass of casinos in the immediate area. Blatstein is brave to enter the Boardwalk market and should be applauded for his enterprise.<\/p>\n

* Lady Gaga<\/strong> is rocking the retro-glamour image with her “Jazz & Piano” show at Park MGM<\/strong>, as seen here<\/a>. The accompanying feature doesn’t say anything you don’t really know but Her Ladyship’s fibromyalgia is to be thanked for bringing her to the Strip on a long-term basis. Thankfully she and it have been a match made in box-office heaven.<\/p>\n

Amidst the gaggle of Gaga-related and other celebrity news from the Strip, the question has to be asked: Is Las Vegas<\/strong> entering another golden age, one in which Celine Dion<\/strong>, Janet Jackson<\/strong>, Gwen Stefani<\/strong> \"\"represent an estrogen-fueled Rat Pack? While we ponder that, the New York Times<\/em> goes in search<\/a> of yesterday’s Vegas and constructs an itinerary that begins at Atomic Liquors<\/strong>, bends an arm at Dino’s<\/strong> and ends up at the Neon Museum<\/strong>. Somehow they missed the Golden Steer<\/strong>. If the story has a Downtown<\/strong>-centric twist (with a side trip to M Resort<\/strong>), it’s because “I found the Strip a hard place to like. I felt a poignant sadness sink in when I came downstairs from my room at the new Park MGM\u00a0to get a cup of coffee and saw, at 7:30 a.m., the slot machines full of people, some clearly nearing the end of their all-night marathons.”<\/p>\n

Still, writer Sebastian Modak<\/strong> has kind words for the new-look Palms<\/strong>: “I had been put off by some of Vegas\u2019s in-your-face glam, but it\u2019s hard not to be excited when walking through a hotel you encounter Warhol<\/strong>, Basquiat<\/strong>, Murakami<\/strong>, and more Damien Hirst<\/strong> than you\u2019d find at most contemporary art galleries.” That’s one for the Fertitta Brothers<\/strong>‘ clipping file.<\/p>\n

* Las Vegas had a UFO sighting<\/a> last week. Could we have a few more, please? Think what it would do for Sin City tourism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cUnlike any other sporting event in the country, March Madness attracts millions who fill out brackets, make casual bets with friends or wager at a legal sports book, which Americans can now do more than ever before.\u201d With those words … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[249,23,244,28,18,51,4,140,37,189,245,207,248,257,159,231,74,243,57,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23738"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23739,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23738\/revisions\/23739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}