Sh*t You May Have Missed While Buying Chumlee’s Candy

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It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending: Cinco de Mayo, 2017.

(Spanish translation: “Es una mierda que puede haber perdido por la semana que termina en Cinco de Mayo, 2017“)

Hey all, and hopefully you will be enjoying a nice ice cold Cerveza and taking a siesta on Cinco de Mayo!!!  So let’s get this fiesta started with news about our favorite city, Las Vegas!

1. Winner, winner anonymous chicken dinner winner! An anonymous person hit a $725K Wheel of Fortune jackpot at Monte Carlo last week, it takes IGT time to report this, and it just missed last week’s deadline. Read LVRJ here. It sounds like they’ve found a lucky machine there…MGM will swap that out soon I suspect.

2. American Gaming Association is starting to get the policy ball rolling for expanding pro sports betting across the U.S. This will require a change to the existing U.S. laws to occur, but they are planning it out in advance. Read LVRJ here.

3. Tropicana improvements are going to continue on a much smaller scale and perhaps at a slower pace due to the (MGM Grand to Tropicana) pedestrian bridge being closed for maintenance for a bit. Read LVRJ here, a lot on the 1st quarter Penn Gaming, but it is buried in there about the Tropicana updates. So that big re-do is postponed until Penn Gaming can evaluate traffic and spend analysis to see if ADR and gambling will increase with what they do in the near future. I’d say the bloom is off the rose there…they need to sell that to Ichan’s Tropicana company…maybe trade and finish up the Blue Elephant (Fontainebleau)..at one time PENN was interested in that property but PENN and Caesars lost out to Icahn’s bid.

4. CZR reported a miss of -$3.71 EPS for its 1st Quarter, and it’s all the CEOC bankruptcy and fees for said bankruptcy. Once you remove that it’s not as bad, so that needs to get done soon (estimated to be October of this year). It’s a fairly big read via Yahoo Finance here. Or even view the slide show and hear the webcast here. The numbers were good for Las Vegas, and more room remodeling will be upcoming (but seriously the remarks about Bally’s were missing this quarter so not sure if they are re-evaluating it or just postponing it). More interesting is what LV Sun reported the next day in the Question and Answer session about after bankruptcy here. Where the heck is the “undeveloped” land in front of Caesars Palace? Are they talking the fountains or the road? We all know that Caesars has a lot of land behind the east strip resorts doing a lot of nothing (old motel foundations leveled and old asphalt), but the monorail and Alton/Linq Way splits that from attaching to the existing resorts. The only exception is Bally’s, where the monorail runs next to it and then over to end up near the Bally’s Blu Pool at the Bally’s/Paris Monorail Station.

5. Boyd Gaming also reported their 1st Quarter, .31 EPS beats the analyst estimates (by a penny per share), and Boyd is going to start to pay dividends again as well as continue it’s Stock Repurchase plan. Read Yahoo Finance transcript of the call here. Solid cash flow is what Boyd is looking for out of its properties and The Cannery and Aliente purchases are doing just that in their expectations. That and refreshing the properties every so often isn’t a bad thing either.

6. The full Electric Daisy Carnival lineup at Las Vegas Speedway has been announced for the June 16-18, 2017 shows, read LV Weekly here. Wow, that’s a whole lotta DJs and bands I’ve just never heard of….but you know “Oontz, Oontz, Oontz the night away”…I know bad parody on Van Halen song but had to try…and now it’s in your head for the next 24 hours.

7. Las Vegas magazine has some behind the curtains items for Las Vegas here. Another set of hidden Las Vegas gems…some cost $$$ (yup that’s you Bellagio), some are free. Perhaps a new bucket list item to be added to your lists, read and see if it’s worth it. The $22 “taste and learn” at HeXX is really interesting but that’s a lot of tasting, and they favor the dark bitter side of chocolate so be aware. Hit up their ice cream bar afterward to get the bitter out. I still want to see the Blue Man Group and see this backstage as well…but my wife is Blue Man adverse so that would be a hard sell.

8. While the article should have been included in last weeks news I’ll put it in this weeks because last week was long and this is more of a people piece with some tidbits about Redneck Riviera in front of Bally’s, read here. Now for all of you Veterans, Police, and Firemen you can all pick up a (one) free drink on John Rich in Las Vegas…that’s the little tidbit (Hero’s Bar only). Gotta love free drink offers where you can find them, especially in Las Vegas. Listen to the country music while you are at it and unwind while trying not to cry over anything they sing about…it is Country Music after all and crying in your beer is probably in about 80% of the songs.

9. Keep an eye on this guy Justin Catanese, he’s been part of the transformation of the worst big pool decks in Las Vegas to one of the most unique at the Plaza. Read LV Mag here. I so want him to move to Bally’s and actually do something with the BLU pool area. I’d say he nailed the Palm Spring vibe for the Plaza pool deck. And that Firework frozen drink….I know my wife would love that as well. I think the only issue they’ve had is the food truck. Keep up the good work Justin.

10. Las Vegas Weekly has news on what everyone else has reported as well, Gordon Ramsey will take over the current Stripside Cafe location and it will be the Hell’s Kitchen for Caesars Palace. Read here. They also go into more details on the Primrose (chef, food type, cooking style) that is being worked on at Monte Carlo (soon to be Park MGM/NoMad resort). Robin via LVRJ reports on it HK here. And of course the main predictor himself Vital Vegas reported HK here.

11 And now e-sports are hitting mainstream with Las Vegas as the e-sports arena capital with 3 dedicated e-sport arenas (Neonopolis, Downtown Grand’s former Commissary space, and Luxor’s former LAX nightclub) plus the bigger arenas for the big tourney’s (MGM Grand Garden Arena had one that paid 3/4 of a million out). Turner Sports is getting into it and broadcasting on TBS and online streaming via Twitch, read LVSun here. No wonder all those gamers are sitting in parents house/basements racking up time on gaming/PC consoles and yelling for Mom to bring snacks. They do have something to work towards…perhaps someone should tell them they have just as good a chance of making the Olympic/Pro teams if they’d only go outside and actually play real physical sports.

12. If you are coming to Las Vegas to try a little ganja you will have to wait a bit, July 1st seems to be the date that it will go on sale, but in Henderson it will be a little while longer (another 6 months at least) since it’s set by local city and county laws. Read LV Sun here…and LVRJ here. The strip area may have different laws since they are not really part of the City of Las Vegas than say Downtown so until it’s fully fleshed out through the local town/city/county governments just hold tight for a while…and remember that hair test back home…it will still show up on employer drug tests. Also, weed is not legal in any casino/hotel room due to federal regulations.

13. The former owners of the UFC and current family of note for Red Rock Resorts is starting up a Capital Investment Firm of course called Fertitta Capital. They didn’t use the full $4B to start it, however (only started it with $500 M). Read LVSun here. Talking about putting your money to work right?

14. The Raiders have purchased the land on Russell Road to the west of the I-15 from Mandalay Bay/Delano complex for $77.5 M which is below the estimate of $100M. Read LVRJ here for a fairly complete article detailing possible plans for the lack of parking space on that plot of land (may buy Bali Hai Golf Club and use it for the parking/tailgating). Also of note is the first time I’ve seen it, pictures showing a sliding tray field. This is in use for the Arizona Cardinals and should be good for Las Vegas as well. Evidently, all the preliminary soil samples and inspections came up good, now to see when construction cranes will again populate Las Vegas. Interesting that the land estimates were only $40M (probably using last land sale price per acre estimates). That will jump land costs up in the area as well.

15. In town between May 15 – May 17? Like cars and Top Gear? BBC is looking for a live audience for the new Top Gear America to be filmed at SpeedVegas (south of M Resort). Go to the website in the LVRJ article here to get your tickets. I am assuming that SpeedVegas will have totally revamped their fire response crews and safety equipment to accommodate this due to the recent fatalities and lawsuits.

16. Chumlee of Pawn Stars has now opened a Candy Store (of course in Pawn Plaza) and borrowed the look of the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, read Kats via LVRJ here. I love stores like this…RocketFizz (out near Red Rock Resort – Sahara and South Ft. Apache in the same strip mall as the Village Square 18 – Regal Theaters) is one of my favorite stores since it also has glass bottle soda that isn’t available elsewhere.

17. Giada is rumored to be taking over the Payard space in Caesars Palace; it would be her 2nd restaurant in Las Vegas (current restaurant includes killer strip views at Giada’s at The Cromwell). Read VegasSeven here.

18. Vital Vegas has some *sniff* *sniff* old time vegas goodness here with articles covering the closure of the old O’Sheas casino (now part of the Linq) here as well as some of the Riviera closure and last implosion porn here from 1-2 years ago…really, it has been that long? Man, that area up there really needs to pick up the pace. But now to the next story right next door.

19. Carl Icahn’s blue elephant, since it didn’t sell, is getting a wrap (ala St. Regis at Venetian) see and read here. At one point Carl’s team was suggesting plywood painted instead of a cloth wrap, but evidently, that didn’t pan out…you know fire hazard and all that.

20. Free for Life is Beautiful Sept 22 – 24? EDGE Vegas has the lineup and it’s good, really good. Read MarC’s report via a link to TravelVegas here. Gorillaz, Muse, Lorde, Chance the Rapper, and Blink 182 are the headliners this year plus all the other bands (view the video)….best video of the year so far I’d say. If Dreamcar (AFI singer with No Doubt band minus Gwen Stefani) pans out that might be a good show section as well…way too many good acts!

21. MarC also did a May Entertainment video via Covers for Las Vegas residencies in May see YouTube here. Nice work, MarC.

22. Just for Michael (consistent Gallagher’s customer) the MB Steak article for the new restaurant at Hard Rock, including the MENU! Not the greatest of formatting for Chrome browsers but all the info here. Of course, pricing is not included but excellent menu so far..I’m thinking Porterhouse for Two. Should be open in mid-May…so soon.

23. And just next door to New York New York (home of Gallagher’s) at the soon to be redone Monte Carlo (Park MGM/NoMad) they will have a much larger steakhouse, no name announced yet but $5 Million to build out and some details in this EATER Vegas article here.

24. Finally, VegasSeven has a good list of pools party places to celebrate Cinco de Mayo even out to the 7th, read here. Pool parties in early May…only in Vegas.

So without further ado….and exit stage right and over to our Editor – In – Chief Michael Movestro to present our stuff! Have an excellent Cinco de Mayo and stay thirsty mi amigos!

Thanks, BigAZMarty! Soda in glass bottles? Like those old bottless of Coke? I’m thinking Chumlee’s store will have that. Hi, peeps! Here are the articles we brought you this week:

25. The week started with a special Trip Report Edition of the Vegas Bright Podcast, where my wife and I discussed our April trip to Las Vegas.

26. Sammasseur reviewed “The World’s Greatest Rock Show” at the Stratosphere.

27. Gennadius reviews the “before and after” of Planet Hollywood’s Resort Room Renovations.

28. Blonde4ever shares Part 5 of her October 2016 Trip Report.

29. BigAZMarty shares his trip report from April 2017.

30. SailorDude talks about his home casino — and so could you!

31. I shared a gem of a youtube find: The Birth of a Giant – The Mint Signage.

32. And of course, this article you’re reading right now, SYMHM with 95% BigAZMarty and 5% me, no after taste.

Also, in case you missed it…

Yep, we’re doing a new Author For a Day Challenge! It’s called “My Local Casino” If you’d like to take part of the action…

1). Write an article about your local casino and send it to the email address below:

2) Include your own photos (you also give us non-exclusive rights to use them on our website and social media where applicable). At least get exterior shots. We know snapping pics inside a casino could be risky, you agree to do so at your own risk and do not hold VegasBright liable (it sucks that we have to say this kinda stuff). You can probably get food spots and non-gaming spots without issue. Better yet, do not shoot pics of gaming areas. Now our assets are covered and it’s on you. Our lawyer just sighed in relief. He’s picky. Use a phone, not a professional camera setup. Don’t look obvious.

3) If you’d prefer to use a pseudonym instead of your name please say so in the email, we’re happy to oblige.

4) Don’t worry about “not being a good writer” we’ll edit where necessary and it’ll be our little secret.

5) The deadline is June 3rd, 2017…that’s firm (sorry). If you miss it, we have other Author For a Day Challenges Scheduled!

See you all next week!

[Cover: Michael Movestro]