Sh*t You May Have Missed While Tracking Hurricane Matthew

It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending October 7th, 2016.

Hey, all!!!  BigAZMarty here with all the news for our favorite place, Las Vegas!

1. G2E (the Global Gaming Expo) finished up last week, and CalvinAyre.com had some day by day recap articles and some videos that I missed last week. Day 1 here. Day 2 here. Day 3 here. Day 4 here.
2. Are you kidding me? Rolling Stones play at Bellagio for the ATA Trucker Convention for like $4 M (courtesy of Freightliner). Read here. They will be playing T-Mobile Arena later on this month as well.
3. Las Vegas Sands may be in trouble with the government over anti-money-laundering (AML) laws, all coming from a collection suit they filed against some Chinese housekeepers. Read here. And LVRJ here.
4. Review of The Killers show at Sam’s Town Decennial Extravaganza…read LV Weekly here.
5. Anyone remember the Vegas888 that was announced prior to the “Great Recession”? Well, the remnants of Lehman Bros. have finally sold that repossessed property for a large loss. See what was to be before everything ground to a halt here….then read the new plans in LVRJ here. Probably not going to block The Palms view of the Strip except near ground level I’d assume…or as stated “Make me a deal”…maybe directed at Stations/Red Rock Resorts? I wonder if that parcel was where the Del Taco and Texaco Station used to be….best early morning fill up location (food and gas) I often used in the late 90’s before heading home.
6. Route 91 Harvest came and went, Kats has a good LVRJ article on it here.
7. The source of almost 90% of the sound off of the south side of Mandalay Bay is from Maverick Helicopter Tours. Read their story here as they celebrate 20 years of tour operations. I had no idea they had air conditioning and headsets. Creature comforts in a tour heli…who knew?
8. TravelVegas (linked by EDGE Vegas) has an interesting thought and good reading…why doesn’t anyone in Vegas besides Boyd Vacations have an all-inclusive package? Read his thoughts and interesting observations here.
9. Caesars Entertainment is renaming the Harrah’s “Carnival Tower”…to the “Valley Tower.” See more of the updated rooms and suites here, also linked from EDGE Vegas. Funny trivia…here is an old picture of Harrah’s before it was Harrah’s here. Now if they can just do something with the Mardi Gras rooms and towers…like soundproofing the side facing the pool. No one likes the “oontz oontz oontz” from an outdoor bar at 3 AM.
10. Also according to the same article in #9, a lot of the Paris rooms have completed their renovations as well. See the Caesars Blog here. I have only seen a little of the new Paris room renderings previously, so this is a lot more info than before and looks really nice. But again…marketing shots.
11. The Caesars Blog is also showing some new music shows for Bally’s…read here. First two I’m not sure of, but the final one could last a while if they changed the title to something more accurate. Like instead of “Solid Gold Soul,” use something like “Detroit Records – The Classics Show.” That way they don’t have to pay to use the naming rights for that other “M” record company.
12. Palms Casino Resort is now owned by Red Rock Resorts via the Stations Casino, LLC subsidiary. The sale has been completed, and you can read the fine print here. Although they say the Station Boarding Pass card is active, the site still doesn’t show The Palms as an option on the main page. I guess it will take a bit to integrate everything into the Stations systems if, in fact, they do integrate it.
13. CG Technology is following LVSands in having issues with AML laws. They have to pay $16.5 M to avoid criminal prosecution. Read the LV Sun article here.
14. The Hard Rock International brand has been consolidated by the Seminole Indian Tribe. The Vegas and Lake Tahoe hotels will remain a brand licensee. Read LV Sun details here. Rumors were that the tribe was not happy with the LV location’s sordid pool parties and “degrading” the Hard Rock name.
15. August was not a good gaming month for Nevada as gaming revenue dropped, compared to last year, due to a large baccarat drop-off at the Strip hotels. Read all about it here. I guess everyone was tapped out after all the summer events and the start of school in Aug/Sept. A funny tidbit in there…Tahoe jumped 26.6 percent. I’d say that’s because it’s just too damn hot in Vegas. Tahoe is maybe at hottest mid-80’s in that time-frame and lows in the 50’s in the morning hours…plus the Hot August Nights shows.
16. Losers Bar has it’s first act when it opens at MGM Grand: Texas JAMM Band. Read Eater Vegas write-up here.
17. Cosmo’s Momofuku and Zuma restaurants will be delayed into early 2017, but Milk Bar will open in estimated timeframe of the end of 2016. Read Eater Vegas here.
18. Interesting find….occasionally my wife and I get some SCLV emails (Stations) for Sunset Station. This month they have some new photos that are for sure an updated room set (old rooms reminded me of the old Carson Tower rooms at Golden Nugget)…see for yourself here. Scroll down and change the room types…looks like everything was updated except the King Suite, which for now is retaining the old photos.
19. Got some Oktoberfest itch? See KTNV article here on where to scratch that itch in Las Vegas…but interesting that they don’t provide a link to Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas…i.e. here.
20. Las Vegas has unveiled its new logo, see KTNV here. Looks kinda like the font that is used for Dean Martin’s name on the WMS Dean Martin’s Pool Party slot. VegasBright loves those stars….and here is why.
21. Oh yeah…..CEOC bankruptcy update: the judge granted a lawsuit hold as they have reached the proper amount of agreements to make all of it work…read here. Apollo and TPG will retain some of the new CEC; old CZR stockholders will have about 6%. Who really wins control is surprising – the 2nd tier bondholders…read here. Remember, they will be breaking up the real estate into a REIT and the rest into an OPCO. Not sure how the final property layout will end up being, because at one time all the LV resorts except the Caesars Palace property were excluded from the REIT plan. Read a summary of the agreement here. This is a historic agreement, as normally the lawsuits cause a full examination and the “debtor” has to make it right by forfeiting everything to the creditors. Somehow almost everyone keeps a piece of the pie in this case. Final votes upcoming and could be out of bankruptcy and re-org complete by 2017.
22. Interesting article on how Mitch Garber (CEO of Caesars Interactive Entertainment) helped save the CEOC bankruptcy…read here. What really was interesting was that Dan Gilbert made over $400M off that deal…because he’s the guy that bought out Caesars Partnership in the Ohio Horseshoe casinos and that are now part of his Jack Entertainment group.
23. Robin’s Wicked Rumors has an interesting question….is there interest finally coming in from outside the US for some LV expansion of a European (U.K.) brand? Read here. I tend to remember several London-themed resorts never panned out in the 90’s – the aughts. First failed pictured here, and second failed pictured here. Only things I can think of that are on the market are the Fontainebleau, the land between PH and Smith & Wollensky and in front of Polo Towers. Perhaps some of those empty parking lots that seem to be up for sale recently near Peppermill or across from Luxor/Mandalay Bay. Could be the CEOC re-org is getting some investment scouting in case the new REIT’s decide to dump some LV properties, I suppose.
24. Oh yeah…Gordon Ramsay’s Fish and Chips at The Linq will be opening on this Friday at 11 AM. Robin has some fun details here.
25. Boy, that was quick…Cleopatra’s Barge already has the Pop Strings playing…read Kats review here. That announcement was made only a week ago. I might have to go there again….I miss free shows in a lounge, although we never usually went in the lounge. We’d just play close enough to the lounge to hear it. However, the Barge is not on the casino floor but back in the Appian Way Shops if I remember correctly.
26. Vital Vegas covers the Fremont Arcade opening in Downtown’s Neonopolis right here. So far, still haven’t seen the Flash pinball machine that I played as a kid. Many a roll of quarters were spent on that machine…watch a session here. It was by far the loudest pinball machine ever.

So that’s it for this week’s news, now to our Editor-In-Chief, Michael Movestro for our news and more.

Thanks, BigAzMarty! I’d just like to say that I hope all of the folks in Florida make it through the storm safely! That being said, here are the stories we brought you this week on Vegas Bright.

27. Blonde4ever shares her Vegas Musts: Shows, Food, and Sights.

28. Kelly Lamrock reviews El Burro Borracho in El Burro Borracho No Es Bueno.

29. Hal Whitney shares the third and final installment of his intriguing blackjack memoirs in “Baptism By Blackjack Part III: The Paroli”

30. BigAzMarty reviews the Planet Hollywood’s Resort Vista Room in “Planet Hollywood – Resort Vista Room (PH Redeemed From Wife’s Banning)”

31. A VegasBright reader has big dreams for his favorite hotel

32. Sammasseur gets blown away at Tropicana’s bawdy new skin-fest in “Cherry Boom Boom Will Blast You Out Of Your Boots.”

33. Reader Dan L. guides us through a Chandelier to his Wheel of Fortune in “Foot-Longs And Tall Boys Are The Latest “My Vegas Musts.”

34. I try to make sense of all the changes at Monte Carlo in “Monte Carlo: The Pub Closes, New Paintjob Begins, Street of Dreams Slips Into Coma.”

Photos: [Fremont Arcade, Hard Rock Hotel, Paris Hotel, Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips, The Palms, Sam’s Town and Maverick Helicopters via Facebook, cover photo via Reddit]

BigAzMarty

A computer professional who has worked at several types of positions with several different businesses and still learning and changing.
Introduced properly to Las Vegas and Laughlin by the spouse and have been going ever since 1990.
A frequent visitor from not to far away where it’s almost always 10 degrees warmer than Vegas.