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The Other Nugget
April 30, 2010
I had a few things to take care of near Cashman Field earlier this week, and while there, I saw the large Jerry's Nugget oil well sign in the distance. Jerry's Nugget is officially in the city limits of North Las Vegas, but its location of only 1.5 miles north of Fremont Street is enough to consider it a pseudo-Downtown property. Even though this is the case, I've only visited Jerry's a handful of times in the last decade. Today, I decided to add another visit to that meager total. As I drove through the dusty nothingness that is the Las Vegas/North Las Vegas border and approached the entrance to Jerry's, my passenger yelled "There it is!". Assuming he had lost his damn mind getting this excited about a locals casino, I turned toward him to level a well-placed insult when I saw him pointing out the window at the Palomino Club. "That's the only ... Read the full blog post...
Greeding The Meter
April 27, 2010
Recently, several green parking meters have popped up in and around Downtown Las Vegas, but since I don't pay to park, I didn't realize what they were until they began making headlines. Las Vegas has set up refurbished parking meters as "donation stations" where people can donate spare change to help the city's homeless people. Mayor Oscar Goodman and City Council members Steve Wolfson, Ricki Barlow and Lois Tarkanian christened one of the stations in front of City Hall on Monday. Wolfson, who said he frequently gives money to panhandlers around the Regional Justice Center, said the program is a better way to give money to homeless people. "It's going to guarantee that the money ... provides for the real needs for our homeless," he said. The city of Las Vegas will maintain the meters, with the money passing through the city's Homeless Services program to pay for shelter, transportation and other needs. The meters ... Read the full blog post...
Las Vegas on $12 a Day
April 26, 2010
Another weekend has come and gone, and even though it got off to a rough start, this one was still enjoyable in a pathetic kind of way. On Friday night, I had planned to meet a few people at the Sahara "Elvis Suite". That is not the official name of the suite, I only call it by this name because this was the room where Elvis (supposedly) filmed one of his many movies. That particular meeting fell through, however, and I ended up having dinner with some homeskillets from back east. I had not seen these people since last year, and one of them brought a wallet that she had forgotten to send me for Christmas. There is something about getting a Christmas present in April that's kind of cool because it's so unexpected. Being very pleased with my new gift, I decided to christen it with a few crisp bills, with the ... Read the full blog post...
Blame It On Rio
April 25, 2010
I didn't see this coming, but it seems kind of promising: Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., the casino company owned by Apollo Management LP and TPG Inc., is seeking bids for the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, people with knowledge of the situation said. Starwood Capital Group LLC and Colony Capital LLC are among the companies that are weighing bids for the resort, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are private. Some bids value the Rio at about $500 million, two of the people said. Harrah’s, the world’s biggest casino company, is exploring a sale of the off-Strip property two months after buying Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Las Vegas is coming out of a two-year slump that took casino operators to the brink of bankruptcy. Chief Executive Officer Gary Loveman cut Harrah’s debt by $4.2 billion in 2009 by offering creditors new bonds at a discount. ... Read the full blog post...
Was It Something I Said?
April 23, 2010
I would like to take some personal responsibility for the following story: "Casino magnate Steve Wynn said he plans to build a third major casino in Macau and will consider relocating the Las Vegas headquarters of publicly held Wynn Resorts to the Chinese gambling hub. Wynn, during an interview Wednesday to promote the launch of Encore Macau, told CNBC he is looking at shifting the company headquarters to Macau, without providing details." Now, there has always been speculation over my "hatred" for Steve Wynn, but the true reasons behind my good-natured ridicule varies ... and I think you have to live here to understand some of it. You see, Steve Wynn is the closest thing we have to God in this town, and like all gods, I think that his omnipotence is overstated. I maintain that it requires very little "talent" or "genius" to build a nice property with $2 Billion. Hell, it might take ... Read the full blog post...
MGM/Mirage: What’s in a Name?
April 22, 2010
To those of you who went out and got "MGM/Mirage" tattooed on your ass after your last successful vacation at Circus Circus, well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news: Las Vegas casino company MGM Mirage plans to change its corporate name to MGM Resorts International, the company disclosed in a filing Tuesday. "This name better reflects the fact that we are a family of hotels," spokesman Alan Feldman said. Mr. Feldman said some people misinterpreted MGM Mirage name to mean the company owned just two hotels—MGM Grand and Mirage. The company also wanted to add "International" to the name to reflect its intention to grow its presence internationally, Mr. Feldman said. Honestly, I'm not sure exactly what to make of this. First of all, if people misinterpreted MGM/Mirage to have owned only two hotels before the name change ... won't they misinterpret that they only own one hotel now? I mean, the ... Read the full blog post...
A Game of Skill
April 21, 2010
Is it gambling, or a game of skill? This debate is probably as old as poker itself. The state of Massachusetts is currently pondering this very issue, and it appears that they are leaning toward the "skill" conclusion. For a few brief moments, it looked as if the Commonwealth of Massachusetts would become the latest jurisdiction to criminalize internet gambling and online poker. A bill introduced by House Speaker Robert DeLeo legalizing casino gambling read in part, “Any person who knowingly transmits or receives a wager of any type by any telecommunication device, including telephone, cellular phone, internet, local area network… or knowingly installs or maintains said device or equipment for the transmission or receipt of wagering information shall be punished.” The penalty for firing up an online poker room was set to be up to two years in jail and a $25,000 fine. Effective grassroots lobbying proved to be the difference-maker ... Read the full blog post...
Kicking It Old School
April 19, 2010
The past several days have been spent traveling back and forth to the south strip, and yesterday, I decided to change intersection corners. After working on my base tan at the Luxor (don't laugh, it's necessary to prevent painful burning in May), I walked over to the Tropicana. About 15 people from my site are coming into Vegas this weekend, and they are contemplating making the Tropicana one of their stops. As such, I decided to see how things were coming along. After looking around the Trop for a bit, the answer to my question was: very quickly. The crotch port is still under construction, as is the area at the end of the Tropicana Ave pedestrian bridge, but the gaming pit is looking pretty nice. It's certainly a huge change from just a couple of weeks ago when I last visited. The pit has higher ceilings, it's quite ... Read the full blog post...
This Is How I Roll
Today marks three weeks since the ACE Gold Line began running, and in that time, I've put the bus to reasonably good use. I live only a short walking distance from an ACE stop, and so far I have used this new transit option numerous times to quickly shuttle me back and forth between The Strip and Downtown. While the ACE looks kind of silly, it's more or less door-to-door service in the world's longest limo for yours truly. Compared to the Monorail, it's fairly cheap too, and it actually ... you know ... goes places. Although a 24 hour pass for $7 probably would have saved me money over the weeks, I usually just purchase a $3 ticket that's good for two hours since I use so many different ways to get around. My own private car, the private cars of others, the Monorail, cabs, buses, a bicycle, my own two feet ... Read the full blog post...
Timberrrrrrr!
April 18, 2010
Well, it's that time of year. The first 90-degree weekend (or close to it), and the first reality check that the hellish Vegas Summer is only a few weeks away. While this realization stresses me, I am consoling myself with the following fact: In only 5 short months, it's once again going to be October. If I can make it through the next 150 days, then I will have a solid 180 days as a reward (October through March in Vegas is really quite livable). Since I have a few people staying on the "Mandalay Mile" (the string of continuous MGM/Mirage properties south of Tropicana Ave.) this weekend, I have made the trip back and forth to this area a couple of times already, and I will make the trip at least once more before the weekend is over. Now, every cloud has its silver lining, and in Las Vegas, the silver lining to ... Read the full blog post...
