Sh*t You May Have Missed When Vegas Vickie Left Downtown

It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending 6/16/2017

Hey all, BigAZMarty here with this weeks news and Oontz (Electric Daisy Carnival this weekend), as well as Fathers Day upcoming this weekend.

1. After all that news last week, Caesars Entertainment received some bad news when it was discovered that two guests at the Rio in March and April had contracted Legionnaires Disease. The health department has tested the water systems and one tower is still showing the bacteria. Not good, but it’s happened before at the Luxor and Aria. Read LVRJ here. LVRJ also has a follow-up article here. What surprises me is the fact that it’s fairly common and under diagnosed. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come home from a work or pleasure trip and thought I caught a bug from the plane trip with these exact symptoms. No way to tell as sinus and upper respiratory infections are treated the same way, antibiotics.

2. Now for some nice Vegas goodness, the Bellagio Conservatory has its Italian-inspired summer garden display out, and I’ve never seen this one before so it’s new to me, see and watch LVRJ here. Still one of the best free things to do in Las Vegas.

3. In a complete surprise to everyone, Golden Entertainment (owners of PT Pubs and Slot Routes) has announced a purchase of American Casino & Entertainment Properties for a combo of cash and stock totaling $850M. The sale will close by end of year and the properties include The Stratosphere, both Arizona Charlie’s and in Laughlin, the Aquarius (former Flamingo Laughlin) according to LVRJ here. The surprise is that Goldman Sachs purchased these from Carl Icahn for $1.3B about 10 years ago. Before you say “Now, why would a pub and slot route runner purchase properties on the Strip and off-Strip and in Laughlin?” Well, their CEO is Blake Sartini who was formerly with Michael Gaughan and then Station Casinos, read the LVSun archived article here. Just wondering if it’s a matter of time for a family reunion soon where Red Rock Resorts buys Golden Entertainment, nothing mentioned of course just a conjecture of mine. Oh, and of course Vital Vegas covered it with a nice amount of “adult” humor here.

4. The downtown demolition for the future 18 Fremont (placeholder name, formerly Las Vegas Club) and historical sign preservation is getting into full swing with Vegas Vickie coming down. Read and view the gallery at LVRJ here, Vital Vegas has some humorous shots via Twitter like this one here…and here. DTLV has good pics as well here. Rumor is that Derek Stevens is actually shopping around the sign first, but I am not sure besides downtown there is a lot of neon lovers left (most have moved to LCD/OLED displays)….although it would be nice to see it hanging off the Flamingo side of Grand Bazaar Shops for Redneck Riviera and usher in the long rumored Horseshoe rename for Bally’s (western themes anyone?). Maybe move X-Country down to the Windows Showroom if you are going country. That Jubilee stage could double as a Grand Ole Opry “West” stage as well. Take all the old Barbary Coast/Bill’s Gambling Hall casino stuff out of storage and go for it.

5. LVRJ has a pretty good overview of what to expect to experience around Las Vegas during EDC, read here. The article avoids specifics except that recreational Mary Jane sales still haven’t been authorized in Nevada yet (yup a lawsuit is mucking it up) so NO MJ at EDC. Plenty of police to enforce it.

6. If you are in town and don’t see “Las Vegas Boulevard” on the side street signs, they have been covered as it’s temporarily renamed Electric Daisy Lane, read Kats via LVRJ here.

7. Robin has a list of the other EDC entertainment in the clubs and day clubs here. Some of this may have already happened as it seems to be starting up June 14th. LVSun Industry Weekly has their “big” lineup of weekend Oontz as well here. LVWeekly also has a nice write up on the people that you might not know at the EDC itself, read here.

8. Absinthe will be staying at Caesars Palace “for the foreseeable future” as the lawsuits have settled, read Katz @ LVRJ here. Not sure what Cosmo will use to fill Rose, Rabbit, Lie now…but I suggest since the some of the original Playboy casino renderings look a lot like Cosmo (same location) that they go old school and bring in an old Playboy Club style production. Bunny servers, great food (maybe minus the cigars), drink and good entertainment in an intimate setting. If you don’t believe me about Playboy’s casino plans see the photo from “Old Dreams” section of the old VegasTodayandTomorrow website here.

9. Besides the 18 Fremont, Derek’s D is also in the news as it has a six-year sponsorship deal with the NHL Las Vegas Golden Knights team. Read Robin Leach via LVRJ here. Not sure Derek will be attending the D’s showing of the games between the Golden Knights and the Detroit Red Wings…I’m guessing he has a nice suite in the arena or at least access to one via the deal. Wonder who he will end up rooting for.

10. If you hadn’t booked a room for the August 26 time frame yet and suddenly see huge room increases anywhere near T-Mobile arena…here is why: the Mayweather/McGregor boxing match is a go for August 26, 2017, at T-Mobile arena, read LV Sun here. Interesting that it’s down to just a boxing match, at one time it was going to be an MMA event when first discussed.

11. LVSun has a good write up on 5 non-gaming Downtown projects that aren’t the usual 18 Fremont or Golden Gate expansion, read here. Of interest is the Arts District Plaza that will have at least one tenant, The Burlesque Museum.

12. Hooters Casino’s pool is now ready and summer camp is in session! Read LVSun via LVWeekly here. Somehow only one photo really is not that interesting and makes me wonder if anything really changed at all…perhaps we need some more detailed shots. But the key thing in the article was poolside Keg Service. Hope they have ice as well as a warm beer keg is not a good thing in the 115-degree summer sun. My guess is the keg is cheap but the pump, ice and bucket/trash can to put it in are 2X the cost of the keg. And then 5x for cups…just saying. There are more pictures and video on the actual hotel site here. Notice the 30-gallon trash cans used for life-size beer pong? So basically they made this like a Southern California large pool party deck, you know, the one near the beach where you can walk to it after sitting in the sun all day.

13. EATER Vegas covers the three new restaurants coming to the Palms here. Lucky Penny – the new cafe opening July 1, The former Hooters space will be Social Table (may be temporary) mid-July and then Bistro Buffet will be converted to a Food Hall (I am assuming like Harrah’s Fulton Street Food Court)…no name yet on that.

14. The Tipsy Robot is about to open (June 30th) at Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood per EATER Vegas here. Let’s see, in late September my wife will try a Strawberry Daiquiri with Malibu Rum….anything to replace the old Caesars Palace Seahorse Lounge loss.

15. Maybe not Las Vegas but EATER has the 5 best restaurants in Laughlin, NV (Aquarius has one of the restaurants so it ties into #3) read here. That picture of prime rib for SaltGrass looks an awful lot like a Porterhouse for two.

16. For those of you that love Tacos El Gordo near Encore in that no man’s land between Encore and the SLS, it’s moving “slightly” as it’s moving north 300 ft to the tattoo shop and the two souvenir store spaces. Read EATER Vegas here. No start or move dates announced…I suppose those other businesses have to move first.

17. MGM’s CEO Jim Murren writes on Trump’s Brand USA cancellation plans on CNN. Read here.

18. VitalVegas has a great floor plan for “The Quad” as a gem in the oopsie article about Downtown Grand’s mistake on one of their promotions, full article here. The Quad floorplan in big view is here.

19. Ouch, Clique Hospitality and Red Rock Resort/Station Casinos is rumored to be parting ways, this means a rebrand of several Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch restaurants soon. Read Vital Vegas here for which restaurants may be affected.

20. Holy Snikes this is just balls to the walls nuts, someone in Las Vegas has the bright idea to set up door machine guns (ala Vietnam era Huey Gunships) on a helicopter and sell seats to go up and shoot the crap out of desert mountain targets. MarC of EDGE Vegas in a Twitter alert turned this nugget up and to me, I have serious security concerns about this whole concept. See the actual business website here. There better be some serious FAA/Homeland Security/TSA presence at this business as well as armed guards at all times. This is something that could end rather badly for everyone. You know this would only make sense if it was housed on a military base with the Military Police guarding the helicopters?

21. GameCo’s skill based games have been pulled from Atlantic City Caesars Entertainment properties per PressofAtlanticCity here. Not sure if they’ve been removed from the floor of Planet Hollywood yet or if that includes the Space Invaders skill based game that was going in over the last few weeks. The percentage of 71% Millennials are actually pretty good but if they aren’t making money off of it I could see why they are yanking it.

22. Want to help “dine” out hunger in Southern Nevada? Next week is Restaurant Week in Las Vegas which helps out the hungry in Southern Nevada. MarC of EDGE Vegas has great examples via TravelVegas of deals and links to where (and what) the deals are. Read here. Follow the link at the bottom to go to the full site and look for yourself, disappointed that Texas de Brazil isn’t in there as both LV and Summerlin Fogo de Chao’s are (mmmmm Brazilian skewer meat freshly cooked). Be aware though, it looks like Fogo de Chao’s is limited to only the unlimited picanha (sirloin)…no other meats listed. For another option, and I’ve walked by it a thousand times and never stopped to eat, the $80 per person dinner deal at Center Cut Steakhouse at the Flamingo seems to be a lot of good and big servings options, read here.

23. MarC of EDGE Vegas also has a great article on how to maximize your comps at the casino and why keeping your slot club ADT up is a good thing, read here. Interesting is that some casinos now offer matching player card tiers at limited times (Caesars is running a diamond tier match here but it’s not really tier-to-tier matched…more like a one level offset). The Plaza downtown almost always has one…if I remember Golden Nugget at Laughlin used to match as did Atlantic City, but oddly not the Las Vegas one. To go with this article you should also look at how to earn Total Rewards Diamond or Seven Stars in a Day at Poker Fraud Alert here. Personally, I don’t ever do the DIAD or SSIAD, my wife likes to spend time doing other things as well as gambling and can’t sit that long at one stretch of time…but a fascinating read. Just remember that the “estimated” loss is only if you catch the machine at a time it’s being true to the payout percentages…you could hit it at a bad random number generator sequence that makes you lose more..much much more. A suggestion, in MarC’s article, stands true… DO NOT CHASE points. Do it when you can and you have bankrolled enough that losing doesn’t matter (i.e. don’t go over on the budget).

24. Finally, VegasSeven has a really good write-up on the Waits Brothers new venture with Red Rock Resorts (first up is The Palms), read here and nice to meet the team as well. Nice to hear that the “nightclub” bonanza is waning in favor of a whole resort experience. Looks like Red Rocks Resorts is seriously moving upscale at their nicer properties. BTW while looking at The Palms recently I did notice that the Palms Place tower has now been included in the normal site for Suite options as well. Very nice, but, while it has its own pool you have to walk to the casino via a long walkway next to the western parking garage.

That’s it for this week’s edition, now over to our Editor-In-Chief Michael Movestro for our stuff and other things!

Thanks, BigAZMarty! Machine guns in helicopters…that’s just not sitting right. Hi, Peeps! Here’s a look at the articles we brought you this week at Vegas Bright.

25. The week started Sunday with the Vegas Bright Podcast Episode 36 where I interviewed Vegas Marathon Runner @RaisingLasVegas about healthy eats downton and on the strip.

26. Michael James goes off-Strip – WAY off-Strip – to Carnitas Y Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara Restaurant.

27. Blonde4ever discusses how her love for colourful bright lights is one of the attractions of Las Vegas.

28. LasVegasJunkie tries the Impossible Burger Sliders at Andrea’s.

29. I wrote the article ‘Vegas History: Riviera’s Monaco Tower Implosion – June 14th, 2016″

30. DaWell shares his local casino, Niagara Casino, and compares it to the casinos of Las Vegas.

31. ANd of course, this article you’re reading right here….by 98% BigAZMarty and 2% Michael Movestro.

That’s it for this week, we’ll see you next week!

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.