Sh*t You May Have Missed… Like A Fergusons Motel History Lesson
Hey all, BigAZMarty here with this week’s news about our favorite place, Las Vegas!
I’m including it here because it may become part of PENN Gaming (Last Months Wall St. Journal reported talks were occurring). They are based in Las Vegas although their closest casinos are in Jackpot, Nevada near the Idaho border. Pinnacle Gaming 3rd Quarter report beat analyst estimates read LVRJ here. $0.23 a share vs. estimate of $0.18 per share but revenue did not beat estimates for a mixed bag of results. They have one of the premier casino resorts in Lake Charles, La, but like Golden Nugget they were hit hard by the hurricane season. They also have sold real estate to the same REIT that PENN Gaming used.
MGM has also reported 3rd Quarter Earnings read here. $0.26 per share isn’t bad and Beau Rivage and Gold Strike Tunica were still positive for the quarter even though the hurricanes and tropical storm affected both. Monte Carlo’s conversion to Park MGM and NoMad is the drag here. Trying to keep cash flow while construction is ongoing is proving much harder than they thought. 4Q will be a beat for them due to ASSHAT event, but they are reporting a return to normal except at Mandalay Bay (they are delaying marketing for that casino). Read some of the Q&A comments via LVSun here. The interesting detail in the numbers is the Y-O-Y occupancy percentage is still edging downwards but they are making better ADR and RevPAR numbers which even the money out, but if occupancy continues the downward trend expect someone to make the observation, loosen the slots, VP, and table games up and kill the resort fees and parking fees and see what happens…. same could be said for Caesars but until they get a full year out of the former CEOC bankrupt division in, it will be hard to tell.
Now for the more fun stuff, Caesars Entertainment is for sure now going to build a new Zip Line attraction at the LINQ Promenade (or should I say over it?). It’s going to have a new launch structure up near the Vortex that is 122 ft tall and the run will be 1080ft long back to the High Roller area. $20M expected construction costs… but to me, this will ruin the view out front of Caesars Palace from the Promenade. It’s not like downtown where there was not a lot to look out on since the canopy covered the sky and views. Read more on FlyLinQ from LVRJ here. And of course from Scott at Vital Vegas who broke the rumor a couple of months back here. For SlotZilla you have to reserve a time, not sure that will be the case with FlyLinQ’s 10 lines. I also think it will be fun for those that do the double (FlyLinQ/High Roller tickets) although I am betting somewhere down the line someone will need some wet wipes before they go on the High Roller pod…. just saying.
LVRJ has some nice views of the newly redone Caesars Palace suites/villas that are in the Palace Tower, read and view here. For that price ($3K a night) the villas better be nice.
Ethel M’s holiday light display is up, view the LVSun gallery here. The closest casino to this is Sunset Station in Henderson you can do a twofer, inside Sunset Station is some of the most interesting glass in the ceilings in the center of the casino at the Gaudi bar (see here), then at night go the Ethel M’s for the light show.
More Palms news, more restaurants with Celebrity chefs (Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, and Marc Vetri), 60 new rooms as well as a new 29,000ft² nightclub. Read more at LVSun here. Construction should be complete by 2019… just in time to get a year in before North Strip lights up.
Soooo… Clark County has delayed the purchase of the Moulin Rouge property (they were the winning bid), after talking to Ward 5 residents. This may be the biggest cluster fudge if you know what I mean, read LVRJ here. Last week the report was it’s just a dirt lot after all the buildings were leveled. I’m just not sure how this could get any worse, the people want something there just not a government building. Since the area is not prime real estate, it’s going to be a hard push to put a casino there without improving the immediate area and have access to downtown (it’s on the other side of the spaghetti bowl from downtown).
Just as a driverless shuttle has started to make its runs downtown, a stupid human runs into it with a truck, read LVRJ here. Or did it? Could be its AI decided to go all Daleks “terminate, terminate all humans” on the defenseless driver and riders…. kidding of course, but sure there will be some conspiracy person out there repeating this. Vital Vegas has more photos here as well.
LVRJ here has a decent list of properties where room upgrades have recently occurred or are ongoing and time frames, as well as announcing the Palazzo will be finishing redoing 2,876 of its rooms in January. They missed the Paris room remodel completely. Although on the list I’ve seen nothing on the Bally’s room remodel for the Indigo tower, the bones and room sizes are great in this building at about 450ft² at the standard room size. I am hoping they do a Planet Hollywood style remodel here as it needs everything, including a bathroom gut.
Now the Pennsylvania has legally expanded gambling to airports, truck stops, online gaming and small casino-lets (my term not theirs), Golden Entertainment is looking at possible expansion to that state. They have extensive slot route experience and the casino-lets fit the bar model they already have. Read LVRJ here. Imagine it, play at a PT’s in Pennsylvania and get points for a Las Vegas Stratosphere stay.
Blake Sartini has nothing but good things to say about the Stratosphere and the ACEP properties read and view the video here. Rumor is they will remodel the Strat’s rooms first as well as getting the gambling revenue up in the casino (i.e. get more regulars/VIPs).
The Killer and Imagine Dragons among others will be having a victims benefit concert at T-Mobile arena on Dec. 1, read LVRJ here for details and acts.
The Soul Train Awards were on Nov 5th at The Orleans Arena, read LVSun via LVWeekly here. BET will air it Nov. 26th. Some red carpet gallery via LVSun here as well.
Those recent M Resort robberies? The guy has been caught and in a saint vs sinners twist, he is a local pastor. Read LVSun here.
More deconstruction porn of Las Vegas Club, but this time it’s the storage room with all the cheerleader outfits in it, Thanks to Vital Vegas you can see the outfits strewn across the wreckage of the building here.
Per Vital Vegas Rio has pulled the plug on the final Rio to Strip shuttle (Harrah’s) as they’d already canceled the Bally’s one. Read here. That can’t be good for Penn and Teller or WOW shows.
Vital Vegas also has the 30 new things in Downtown, read the extensive list here. Wow, that’s one long listicle.
MarC also reports the cheapest Blackjack is at Hooters Casino at $1 a hand (but wait for it….wait for it… a 1:1 Blackjack payout which improves house odds to 3%) read here. Or you could see it yourself off the Living in Las Vegas YouTube channel specifically this video here.
Looking for a list of the add-on cost ATM fee’s in Las Vegas, well MarC of Edge Vegas has punched your ticket right here. However no listing for Wynn/Encore or Venetian/Palazzo. Without those Caesars has the highest on the list.
Whoa, that’s a fast turnaround, as listed in 30 downtown things, Eater Vegas has a Nov. 24 debut date for the Gold Diggers replacement at Golden Nugget, see the New York version of Troy’s Liquor Bar here. I don’t know, I see that New York place and think of a Newport Beach pool hall dive called Kennedy’s from the 1980’s.
DTLV has an interesting story on the rise, decline and rise again of Ferguson’s Motel on East Fremont, a very interesting read…. the original owner moved on to help found Best Western. Read here.
Andrew Dice Clay has postponed for health reasons his Red Rock Casino shows, watch Channel 8 News interview here. I’m impressed that he had all that done at the hospital and then talked on air.
LVSun has another list of the 20 greatest attractions in the history of Las Vegas, read and see here. I miss being able to walk from The Frontier across the street down past The Riviera on the way to Sahara and hearing everyone have fun at the Wet ‘n Wild park that is where All Net Resort and Arena are going to go…. always made me smile.
And finally, LVSun’s Industry Weekly has the Big Shows this weekend in Las Vegas here. Oontz but there is one non-Oontz in there, Santana down at House of Blues at Mandalay Bay for his last performance of the year. Hopefully, Michael will put some Smooth into this week’s DJ mix for the Vegas bright podcast!
That’s it for the news around town this week… and now over to our Editor-in-Chief, LasVegasJunkie, for our stuff and more.
Gracias, BigAZMarty!
Vegas Bright Podcast Episode 42
Is It Time For #VegasStrong To Move On?
Vegas Bright writer Gennadius details Happy Hour in one of the High Roller pods.
Iun Hockley returns with a riveting review of the WELL Spa + Salon at The Platinum Hotel.
Resorts World Exclusive: First of Five Construction Cranes Being Installed.
That’s all Folks!
[Photo Cred. LasVegasJunkie]
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.
