Club Palms

Sh*t You May Have Missed: Palms is Sold, Wynn’s Fantasy Island, Mandalay Blackout, Donny Might Go…and more

Hey, all….news and updates for the week ending Friday the 13th of May 2016.

1. First up, LasVegasAdvisor dropped this a day earlier than publicly announced (see May 9, 2016, 13:09 entry) so they get the Holy Cow award as no one knew that Red Rock Resorts was even in the purchasing mode as they just had the IPO. Here is the official announcement “The Palms Casino and Resort has been sold to Red Rock Resorts (previously Stations Casino) for $312.5 million. Will close in 3rd Quarter of 2016. Interesting location figuring they own Wild Wild West and that Days Inn as well (read Vegas Today and Tomorrow for the “Viva Resort” they were going to build on that land). Probably easier to buy than build right? Fun rumor item in the Twitterverse was Red Rock was going to bring back Maloof to manage the resort. Nothing officially announced there (true or false no one knows).

2. Wynn announces further items for that Fantasy Island in the middle of the lagoon (yup still hearing “Boss, de Plane de Plane). Not sure why he just doesn’t resurrect the original Las Vegas Beau Rivage plan (The Bellagio replaced that) for his new lagoon.

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3. Wheel of Fortune hit a jackpot at Golden Nugget…don’t we all wish we were that guy?

4. Yup sometimes I miss something kinda cool….the Stratosphere celebrated 20 years on May 1…so here is some things you might not know about Stratosphere (casino/resort and tower). The most impressive I thought was the run up the tower.

5. Interesting article on investors in Lucky Dragon and what that property is really about.

6. Caesars Entertainment released earnings (not really, a loss is not earnings now is it?) and a new Chief Restructuring Officer (thought that’s why they kept around Gary Loveman as Chairman?) interesting in that it’s on the non-bankrupt side of the business and not the CEOC division that is in bankruptcy.

7. In related news majority owner TPG has just sold two casino resorts in Las Vegas (Aliante and The Palms). Maybe they can kick in some cash to get CEOC creditors and bondholders to quit rejecting offers to settle and allow CEOC bankruptcy to get signed off on. Either way, CZR, Apollo, TPG are going to be living in legal limbo for a while until it’s all litigated or mediated out…litigated out would probably mean CZR, CACQ, CIE would join CEOC in bankruptcy and auction as a Chapter 7 with Apollo and TPG losing all investment. Mediation out would keep Apollo / TPG still majority holder of all except for the planned REIT for the CEOC properties. Crazy and entertaining….it is almost as good as daily soap operas. Oh and backend lobbying and appeals to get the ruling where a force down on bondholders without consent is illegal thrown out or negated by Congress is still ongoing.

8. Damn…I got out of there just in time (just kidding that was after Easter). Mandalay Bay casino and registration area loses power for a bit of time. Reminds me of this runway lights skit in Airplane the movie. Or someone was really hot on the machines, and it was time to kill their run of good luck?

Courtesy of Vegas Bright reader: Elaine W.
Courtesy of Vegas Bright reader: Elaine W.

9. Plaza to get harder thanks to Vivica Fox. Hey, will it be televised…on Lifetime?

10. Donny, please don’t go…it’s the one of the two shows my wife has on her bucket list still!!!!

And now, for our sh*t…

11. Blonde4ever shares her tips on how to do Vegas on a budget.

12. Paperposter takes in a show: Wayne Newton’s “Up Close and Personal” here’s his review.

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13. Michael James discusses his getaway to the hidden parts of the House of Blues Foundation Room at the Mandalay Bay.

14. Part Two of the WestGate Tour: The Sky Villas.

15. ROYCE’ the Japanese Chocolate Confectionery opens at The Venetian this month.

16. Author For a Day: ‘ShortArmsDeepPockets’ shares memories of his first Vegas trip.

17. Matty ICE shares his favorite Las Vegas craft beers.

Craft Beers

18. Sammasseur reviews Frankie Moreno’s ‘Under The Influence’.

19.  Author For a Day: McGoo tells the story of his First Vegas Trip

20. Oh, and the week started off with Episode 7 of the VegasBright podcast.

That’s it for this week’s Sh*t You May Have Missed!

[Images: Elaine W, Paperposter, Palms Las Vegas, Banger Brewing, Wynn Las Vegas]

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