By Greg Jones   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

While the temperature in Southern Nevada may suggest otherwise, football season is upon us. The National Football League starts its pre-season in the middle of August, while the NCAA starts a few weeks later on September 3.

There is plenty of room for prognostication—and for those so inclined to profit (see Dave Bontempo’s sports section on page 28)—when discussing the upcoming football season, and there are far too many teams to discuss considering the fact that people from all over the country now call Las Vegas home.

And while alumni will always have an allegiance to their schools, there is a possibility of some exciting football games being played in the state, as both the Rebels and Wolf Pack look to build on their successes last year, while also improving their almost nonexistent defensive play.

Defending Nevada
Neither of Nevada’s college teams accomplished much in 2008. Yes, the University of Nevada-Reno (7-6) made it to the Humanitarian Bowl, but they lost to Maryland 35-42. And the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (5-7) pulled off two impressive overtime wins, beating the then-ranked 15 Arizona State University Sun Devils 23-20 in Tempe and topping Iowa State 34-31 at Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, but that is about it for both teams.

In looking at the numbers from last year, it is easy to see that for both teams, the biggest problem lies on the defensive side of the field. Both teams yielded more than 400 yards a game, with UNR ranking as the No. 91 defense in the country, and UNLV coming in at No. 103. The teams ranked in similar positions in terms of scoring allowed, both giving up about 32 points per game.

But things do tend to look a little better for the Wolf Pack than the Rebels. While UNR has a tough non-conference schedule facing pass-happy teams like Notre Dame and Missouri (UNR was the worst team in the nation for pass yards given up), there is some hope that the experience of going up against these teams will pay off when the conference schedule comes around. If the defense can keep the team in games, the offense has a good chance to pull out victories.

That’s largely because quarterback Colin Kaepernick is excellent at running the school’s “pistol” offense. Last year, the team was a leader in rushing, overall yards and points-per-game. With Kaepernick and running back Vai Taua returning to the Wolf Pack backfield, there is already some talk in Reno about the possibility of a Western Athletic Conference championship.

For the team down south, there are a lot more questions and fewer answers. The team has demonstrated slow but steady improvement under head coach Mike Sanford, and was one win short of bowl eligibility last year. A conference championship seems unlikely—though certainly not impossible—and the team would probably consider it a win to take the next step and make it to a bowl game.

Like UNR, UNLV’s success will largely depend on the defense. There are eight returning starters on this year’s team, and that’s about the best news there is. A year of experience can make a huge difference at this level, and if players like Jason Beauchamp can step up at the linebacking position and Quinton Pointer continues his development at cornerback, the team might have a chance. The loss of both starting defensive tackles might hurt the front four, but considering the team averaged less than one sack per game last year, the damage can’t be too severe.

The Rebels have finally found themselves a quarterback in Omar Clayton, who threw for 1,894 yards, 18 touchdowns and just four interceptions before going down with a knee injury last year. Clayton’s favorite target, Ryan Wolfe, who caught 88 passes for 1,040 yards and six touchdowns last year, is returning for his senior year. The big question is whether the team will be able to replace the bruising running back Frank Summers, who racked up 740 yards last year.

Of course, for fans of these two teams, the biggest question is who is going to claim the Fremont Canon this year. The teams meet October 3 in Reno for an afternoon game. It is early enough in the season that the development of the Nevada secondary might still be a work in progress, giving Clayton and the Rebels the opportunity to put up big numbers. But given that they couldn’t do it last year in Las Vegas, it is hard to see how the Rebels will beat the Wolf Pack team that has had their number for the past four years. Nevada leads the series with UNLV 19-15. The teams looks poised to take that number of wins up to 20 this year.

Not surprisingly, neither of the Nevada teams are on the national radar, but several of their conference foes are. While there are a number of different organizations that release pre-season rankings, from CBS and ESPN to the Associated Press and USA Today, for all intents and purposes, it’s all speculation, and if you want proof, just look at the pre-season No. 9 and No. 13 from the AP poll last year: Clemson and Wisconsin, respectively. Five weeks into the season and Clemson was off the list and Wisconsin was down to No. 18 and dropping fast. The next week, the Badgers were also unranked. And for both teams it would stay that way for the rest of the year.

That said, Rivals.com lists Boise State of the WAC as a pre-season No. 9. The early talk is that with some improvement on the defensive line, the Broncos, led by quarterback Kellen Moore, could very well be looking at an undefeated season this year. The Wolf Pack will have its say on that when the team travels to the blue field of Boise November 27.

In the Mountain West, the Utah Utes are a pre-season No. 17 while the in-state rival in Provo, BYU, is a pre-season No. 22. The Utes will continue their ground dominance this year—although the passing game remains a big question—and with a lot of key players returning on defense, the team is definitely dangerous. For the Cougars of BYU, an improved defense could be offset by having to replace four starters on the offensive line. UNLV gets to play both of these teams at home, which is a good thing, but the games are back-to-back with the stormin’ Mormons coming October 10 and Utah coming October 17.

By Caitlin McGarry   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

The temperature is rising, the kids are out of school and the pool is becoming passe.

In years past, this would be the moment when a family packs its swimsuits and heads to cooler climes.

But times have changed, and booking a vacation is no longer as simple as pulling out a credit card. This summer, families are cognizant of the economy: unemployment, adjustable rate mortgages and climbing credit card debt have impacted the majority of Americans, and these factors must be taken into account when planning a summer trip.

Executives at vacation destinations are aware of the struggles their target markets are facing, and have reacted accordingly with deals and bargains to help families shake off the summer blues and make this season memorable.

The Getaway
Travel experts around the country assumed that the recession would curb summer vacations, and it has, but not as severely as many had anticipated. According to an American Automobile Association survey of July 4 travel, road trips were down 2.6 percent from last year when gas prices were at their peak, but air travel increased by 4.9 percent due to reduced fares. The rate of travel in the west has also been higher than in the rest of the country this season.

“The Fourth of July travel survey showed travel was down nationally but up by 1 percent in the west,” said AAA Nevada spokesman Michael Geeser. “One of the reasons that it’s believed it was up is because the west has been one part of the country that has not been hit as hard with unemployment as the rest of the country; relatively, compared to other regions of the country, it hasn’t been impacted as much. All of that is sort of hard to gauge because the west comprises many states. Regionally speaking, that was the reason.”

Travel may have increased slightly in the west, but according to Geeser, “fewer people are traveling, period. I don’t think many people have scheduled trips and canceled them; I think the decision was made earlier in the year to not travel at all until the economy turns around.”

The effects of declining vacation travel have been felt in Las Vegas, which is usually a popular destination for vacationing tourists during the summer. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has tailored its marketing efforts toward bargain-seekers, both from Las Vegas and across the country. One of the LVCVA’s newest campaigns is targeted at travelers who would come to Las Vegas if they had a reason to.

“People will come to Vegas if they have an excuse to come—if they have a concert to see, they’ll feel better about it,” said Cathy Tull, LVCVA’s senior vice president of marketing. “The ‘Excuses’ campaign highlights the retail focus like restaurants and dining. The ‘What happens here’ campaign—people missed it. People need to be reminded that Vegas is what it always has been. We’re reminding them of what they know and love.”

Summer destinations are now finding themselves in competition with each other for the dollars of travelers. Advertising campaigns are now emphasizing vacation affordability in order to draw price-conscious tourists.           

“Research is showing that people will still take a vacation,” Tull said. “Instead of coming two or three times a year, they’ll come once or twice. They’ll still take a big vacation with their family, but they’ll also take advantage of some of the deals on the Strip. If they’re going to cut one of their trips anyway, we may as well catch them with some of the deals on the Strip. People are still traveling, it’s just the spend is down.”

Deals and Steals
Hundreds of thousands of tourists will choose Las Vegas for a summer vacation, but for locals who are looking to escape the heat, southern California is always a popular destination. Geeser said he recommends Disneyland to travelers on the hunt for bargains. The amusement park is currently offering five days for the price of three days as a promotion for out-of-town visitors. The resort is also partnering with neighboring hotels to offer promotional room rates.

“In these extremely difficult times, we rely on the strength of our brand and the quality of our product, and that’s what positions us for long-term success,” said Disneyland media relations representative David Gill. “We focus on the long-term rather than the current economic environment. We want to make it it easier for families to experience our parks, so we have a number of special offers going on this summer.”

For Vegas visitors with family located in southern California, Disneyland is also offering a $99 summer fun pass to both the main park and Disney’s California Adventure. Geeser said there are many benefits to having a AAA membership when traveling to summer destinations like Disneyland, and the perks often include discounts.   

“If you’re a AAA member, make sure you take your card with you so you can show it at different retail outlets and capitalize on discounts,” Geeser said. “A lot of people know ‘the show your card and save’ program with AAA, but you can also get discounts on car rentals and at places like Disneyland, free iPhone applications if you show your card; there’s so many places you can take out your AAA card to use a discount.”   

Though Disneyland is striving to ease the financial burden of summer travel, Gill said the park is focusing on the future in order to be better prepared for  uncertain economic times. This includes a $1 billion expansion project currently in the works at Disney’s California Adventure. Construction on the park will be completed in four years.

“We are definitely much better positioned than in the past,” Gill said. “It’s definitely because we’ve focused on the long-term and setting ourselves up for success by investing in our parks, ensuring that we continue to grow and offer new products. We really look at what we can offer, so the special offers are basically what we focus on in terms of giving opportunities to our guests to experience our parks for less. We listen to our guests, what they want and what their needs are.”

Vegas Vacation
Las Vegans who have been hit hard by the faltering economy may not have the cash on hand to splurge on airfare or a luxury resort in California, but with a Nevada ID, they can take advantage of bargains in their own backyard. The LVCVA has partnered with the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce to promote the ‘Stay and Play Here’ campaign for locals. The media blitz includes a website, www.stayandplayhere.com, that lists deals being offered to Las Vegans from Strip resorts.

“We wanted to appeal to the nearly 2 million people that live here,” Tull said. “Nationally, people are looking to stay closer to home, so we wanted to give residents an option. Living in Las Vegas, sometimes people don’t take advantage of what’s in their backyard, so this campaign highlights all the deals, the shows, the restaurants.”

Deals include two-for-one specials at restaurants, discounted room rates and  tickets to some of the Strip’s hottest shows. Tull said the LVCVA’s resort partners have seen an upswing in locals traffic due to ‘Stay and Play Here’ campaign, which launched in April.

“The hotels seem happy with the campaign,” Tull said. “They continue to put deals on the sites, so we’re going to continue with it throughout the year.”

When the campaign first launched, the LVCVA noticed that resorts were already stepping up their locals marketing strategies, and the convention authority decided to provide a portal through which locals could access all of the available bargains simply by searching for them.

“The resorts decided to do a little more marketing for locals, so www.stayandplayhere.com pulls those things in one place,” Tull said. “Some are unique to the ‘Stay and Play Here’ campaign, and some were stuff they were doing anyways.”

So whether Las Vegas residents choose to play at Disneyland or in their own backyard, there are plenty of options for deal-seekers this summer.

By Caitlin McGarry   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Folding tables and dog-eared card decks are still the norm at neighborhood poker nights, but casinos have long since upgraded. Gaming manufacturers have used technological advancements to transform table games into seamlessly automated experiences.

From player-tracking systems and radio frequency identification (RFID) chips to table management systems and electronic games, the world of table technology just got a little more interesting.

Selling Solutions
New technology has been molded and shaped to fit the needs of the gaming industry, effectively ensuring that table games flow smoothly and quickly. From automated deck shufflers to touch-screen monitors that make betting as simple as touching an embedded monitor, gaming manufacturers are always one step ahead.

Roger Hawkins, TCS John Huxley’s CEO for the Americas, said his company’s TouchTable products meld electronic advancements and live-action play with a touch-screen betting process monitored by a live dealer.

“With its unique ability to fuse technology and traditional products, TCS John Huxley has been working closely with numerous operators to develop a range of touch-screen multi-player table game products that still uphold the true essence of live gaming,” Hawkins said. “All these games feature hybrid electronic game platforms and live game content that allows players to play against a live roulette wheel, dice shaker or card shoe, but strike the perfect balance between the thrill of live gaming and the advantages of electronic betting.”

Bally Technologies provides another touch-screen solution for a busy casino floor, though its TableView product is a system intended to aid operators rather than table game players.

“Our host CMS system is all intelligence, all the backbone that they run their floor with,” said Jerry McGowan, Bally Technologies’ regional sales manager for table management systems. “[TableView] is really the access point for that. The nice part about it in terms of the guests is the guests are now getting more accurate ratings. The floor supervisor is given more time to concentrate on them.

“Everyone has spread their floors so thin. We used to watch one table, and that kind of evolved itself to where we watch six tables. They did that over the years to save money, but there was never a tool in place to help them do that. TableView is that tool.”

Solutions like TCS John Huxley’s TouchTable and Bally Technologies’ TableView are evidence that table game technology is being successfully implemented across the board, helping everyone from casino moguls to poker players enjoy the table game experience.

Safe and Sound
Radio frequency identification technology has been used in retail establishments like Wal-Mart to aid in loss prevention, and gaming operators are now putting the technology to use on casino floors. RFID chips assist with both security measures and player tracking for marketing purposes, yet some tech experts think RFID may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Those companies that have successfully used RFID technology to produce gaming solutions for the casino floor include Gaming Partners International (GPI), a company that has had huge success supplying RFID chips to international properties, including the recently opened City of Dreams resort in Macau. GPI Executive Vice President and COO Greg Gronau said RFID chips make table games more secure and prevent counterfeiting activity.

“RFID chips play a dual role,” Gronau said. “First and foremost is security at the table. Chips are the currency of the casinos, and what the RFID does is allow the casinos to make sure that they’re authentic or to impede counterfeiting, similar to the serial number on the dollar bill. This is a serialized chip.”

IGT Director of Table Games Tim Richards said the company has used RFID technology for player-tracking purposes, an aspect of implementing the technology that has been a challenge for gaming manufacturers.

“IGT has been putting out a system for slot purposes that covered the majority of the casino but not table games,” Richards said. “We provide software quickly and easily that covered the accounting aspect, the tracking aspect and the management of table games at the table game itself. The second step in teaming up with PGI initially with the RFID technology is how do we begin to combine bonuses between tables and slots, how do we get accurate play on table games and how do we expand our bonusing concept across table games? How do we take those same winning ideas to table games?”

Gronau said the confusion surrounding implementation of RFID technology is similar to the early years of server-based gaming for slot machines. It took years to understand how to effectively implement this technology, but manufacturers and operators have successfully brought server-based technology to the casino floor. The same could hold true for RFID chips.

“When people first heard of RFID, they said, ‘It’s going to be able to do everything! It will be in every casino—you can see who the player is and what he’s betting,’” Gronau said. “You have to step back and look at that and say, ‘What are the proper implementation steps to give the customer what he actually wants?’ Security? Operational efficiencies? Player tracking?

“It’s taken a few years to determine how this technology should come to market. I think it will be more successful as the cost of the microchips continues to come down, and it will be integrated more and more. From a security standpoint, it’s been very successful. That’s what’s driven a lot of the progress up to today. We’re now in the next stage, which is working together with our partner companies to incorporate player tracking and other functionalities for the operator.”

Bally Technologies is one company that considered using RFID technology to supply casino operators with better security, but then Bally turned its attentions to optical technology.

“We are still actively looking for a solution for bet tracking, and we feel optics are still the best way to go,” said Bally’s Jerry McGowan. “Domestically, it seems in a lot of ways [RFID has] been abandoned for bet tracking, not for cage security. It’s good as far as inventory goes. Internationally, I find there is a lot of belief in that still.

“In terms of Bally, we feel more strongly about an optical solution only because the percentages that I’ve been told are in the 93 percent range for accuracy for RFID bet recognition. There are a lot of variables, chips not being read, too many. Our optical was giving us about 99.6 percent accuracy. It depends upon line of sight, but we still believe more strongly in that for table games as a solution. The price point is high because they have to re-chip their floors. What we’re actively working on is a way to use optical technology, but in a way that you don’t have to re-chip your floor.”

Bally is currently working to further develop its optical technology, and has already found several willing sites to beta test the product.

Electric Avenue
With new technology streamlining the table game experience, it seems only fitting that manufacturers turn to automated tables to bring a new generation of table games to life.

Shuffle Master has delivered its i-Table to the market, combining both electronic and personal touches to make a table game truly memorable. The i-Table is comprised of touch-screen stations embedded within the table itself. While automating the betting process, Shuffle Master emphasizes the presence of a live dealer to provide a traditional table game experience.

“The i-Table is a good example of using technology to its best to enhance the experience for the table and security aspects and benefit for the operator of the property,” said Nathan Wadds, Shuffle Master’s senior vice president of research and development. “It’s quite unique in that it’s been integrated in a fairly seamless fashion. Other products that have been developed over time generally don’t feel and operate like a real table game would.

“Shuffle Master has brought a lot of their expertise in table games and experience to the i-Table product, and the engineering talent in creating a table that plays and looks like an actual table. It breaks down barriers for players. The i-Table gives you that experience of being at a real table and the rubbing elbows aspect of playing a game of blackjack and seeing what other people’s hands are and the full experience of playing the game. That’s a unique aspect of the i-Table.”

IGT is also deep in the world of electronic table games, having recently introduced the M-P Series for multi-player table games. The company also distributes DigiDeal, which is another electronic solution. Both the M-P suite and DigiDeal fulfill a niche market—one that needs electronic answers to gaming problems. Many jurisdictions prohibit live table games, and electronic tables circumvent those stipulations with automated betting and dealing. According to Richards, there is a time and place for both electronic and live tables.

“I think live games will continue to exist, especially on the higher denom tables and in more competitive markets,” Richards said. “Electronic table games are great in slot-only markets, racino markets, lottery markets. That provides a lot of exposure for folks that don’t go to live table game casinos, so when they do go, they’re comfortable with the games. In the live table game casinos, many of the properties are obviously struggling on the lower end; they offer a $5 game as a loss leader just to get people in the door. Today’s pressure is certainly to be profitable, and they’re very much looking at how to make those games more efficient or how to make those products that don’t have the overhead of a live game.”

By Marjorie Preston   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Gladys Knight regularly performs in Las Vegas, which is lucky for a city that has seen many music legends pass through its streets. Knight is one such legend, having changed the face of Motown with her band the Pips.

In the 1960s, Knight and the Pips were regular hitmakers, with Knight’s rich voice and sunny smile catapulting the group to the top of the charts.

Songs like “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Midnight Train to Georgia” are still apart of the cultural lexicon. Knight later separated from the Pips, who have since retired, and moved from soul singing to gospel and jazz, as heard on 2006’s Before Me.

Though she was never a diva, Knight is still a shining star who is beloved in Las Vegas and around the world.

By Marjorie Preston   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

The subtitle of Edwards’ book—Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities—is a burden in itself, and suggests the kind of forced inspiration that bubbles forth in a seemingly inexhaustible stream from people like Dr. Phil, all of Dr. Phil’s relatives, those Chicken Soup guys and every other celebrity-of-the-moment.

Thankfully, readers will find in Edwards’ book the kind of useful, clear-eyed introspection that recalls Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s classic Gift from the Sea.

It’s not a book about former presidential candidate John Edwards’ much-ballyhooed affair with a predatory staffer—although it is that. It is not simply about Elizabeth Edwards’ lengthy battle with cancer, a disease she suspects will kill her—though it is certainly about that. It is not only about the 1996 death of the couple’s oldest son, Wade, in a freak car accident, though this still-grieving mother spends a great amount of time assessing that loss.

In this small and stunning book, Edwards examines all these heartbreaks as if she were turning over stones: she weighs them, tests their texture, then talks about how they felt when they struck her.

Edwards seems baffled still by the infidelity of her husband, with whom she seemed to have a lucky love (they are still together). After a dozen years, she is not at all reconciled to the absence of her beloved son, who was 16 when he died. She dreads her own death, but faces it squarely, and prepares.

In spare, elegant prose, Edwards reminds readers she cannot give them a road map to serenity amid life’s harshest trials. She seems to have precious little serenity of her own, only the willingness to endure. It’s a testament to her character that she does so.

Some reviews say Edwards is getting back at her faithless husband by publishing a book that catalogs his deception, then parading him, draped in shame, on Oprah. Maybe so. And if so, maybe she’s earned that right. If there is a dual purpose to, it does not detract from this book’s flinty beauty.

By Dave Bontempo   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

If ever an employee was meant for a specific job, Sean Tate was born to work in gaming.

“This is one of the greatest jobs anywhere,” said the Eastside Cannery dealer, a recent Premier Performance quarterly award winner for his property. “I don’t see myself doing anything else. It’s not like any other job. This is the only one in which you are constantly interacting. You are never alone. You can come to work, tell jokes with people, have a great time and then come back. Sometimes I’m on a game and it’s time to leave and I’m thinking, ‘No, I want to stay here with these people.’”

Tate’s infectious enthusiasm has practical roots. After living in New Orleans and surviving Hurricane Katrina, he relocated to Reno and then to Houston. He obtained a “normal” job with a phone company and experienced claustrophobia.

“I was in this cubicle, with stuff I had to fill, some big old box with numbers, and there was isolation,” he recalled. “I couldn’t take it any more, I just had to move.”

Three years ago, he vacationed here in search of a job. It happened for him, and last August he opened Eastside Cannery. The adrenaline matched his penchant for activity.

“It was like a fun chaos,” he said. “Everybody is rush, rush, rush, there is a full table and people standing behind people waiting to play. Everything is moving real fast. It was intense, but it was a nice experience.”

Tate gained the approval of superiors, who noticed his versatility. The Premier Performer award surfaced from the nomination of John Verley, his assistant shift manager.

“He is always smiling,” Verley said. “Sean can talk to anybody. When a table opens up, he’s my first pick to go on it. He can talk to the customers and deal at the same time, which is a nice skill. Some people can talk and not deal and some people can deal very well, but not talk.

“We love him. We also love to kid him about being from Louisiana and rooting for the Saints. They are not going anywhere.”

Tate has lived through his own version of fourth and 40. He was in New Orleans, working for Harrah’s, when Katrina struck. This was one time he believed the boy-crying-wolf philosophy and ignored the warning signs. It gave him an undesirable view of the carnage, both from inside a local school and from his own rooftop.

“I was stuck on the roof for a week because I waited too long to get out,” he said. “My whole life, I had been hearing that one day the big one was going to come. So I’d get out and we would get a close call maybe, but the big one did not come. I decided this one time to ride it out and wished I didn’t.

“The water woke me up one day. It was powerful. I never knew that refrigerators sloped. My neighbor untangled his boat and we got out of there, but then it conked out. As that was happening, we were going by a school and there was some ladder that we climbed up to get to the second floor.

“Some people worked together well, some panicked. In some cases, there were people with babies, and dogs. I can’t say I panicked or was scared, but I was kicking myself the whole time for not getting out.”

That has changed. Tate will never experience another flood, maybe not even a puddle, in Vegas. And he has found the place that makes him the happiest.

By Joe Legato   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Imagine a baseball game where every play would make SportCenter’s “Top 10.” Well, you don’t have to use your imagination any more, as 2K Sports brings fans The Bigs 2.

Similar to its predecessor, The Bigs 2 is basically a larger-than-life version of a baseball video game. Jump 10 feet in the air for gravity-defying catches, throw pitches so fast that the ball is flaming, and swing for more than just the fences as you guide your players to victory.

The Bigs 2 features a “Become a Legend Mode” where you can build up a player from the Mexican league all the way to Major League stardom and the Hall of Fame. Also new to this game is a “Season Mode” where you have the option of playing a normal MLB schedule. The Bigs 2 isn’t just a typical baseball game, though, as fans will be pleased to see the return of some mini-games such as Home Run Pinball, where you’re able to swing for points by smashing lights in some of the world’s most famous cities.

The Bigs 2 offers some cool gaming options that make it stand out among baseball video games. For one, players can earn points by pulling off “Legendary Moves” such as an amazing diving catch. Once players get enough of these points, they can use them to temporarily enhance their player’s pitching or batting to extreme levels. Other unique attributes of the game include the ability to choose different types of pitches based on the situation, and a “wheelhouse” for batters which shows their sweet spot.

The Bigs 2 is a refreshing sports game that brings new ideas to the typical baseball video game. Though it may not always strictly adhere to the rules of baseball (or even the rules of physics, for that matter), the game is downright fun to play. And with baseball season in full swing, The Bigs 2 is a perfect warm-up before going out and catching a game.   

By Jeff Beal   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Wilco’s new release, Wilco (The Album), is a well-crafted collection of rock songs reminiscent of the experimental 2005 A Ghost is Born, without losing the breezy accessibility of their previous work Sky Blue Sky.

With seven studio albums, Wilco’s sound has evolved from folk/country-inspired rock to guitar-driven experimentation, and the new album borrows structural and rhythmic elements from previous material. This takes something away from the overall impact, but there are still enough good songs here to recommend it.

The album begins with the humorous, radio-friendly “Wilco (The Song),” but the album hits its stride with the third song, “One Wing,” which has a soaring classic rock sound and catchy lyrics. This is followed by the most impressive song on the disk, the dark, experimental “Bull Black Nova.” Jeff Tweedy, the creative force behind Wilco, has written the five-minute-plus opus from the point of view of a murderer. Building tension in the best ’70s hard rock style, the song features dissonant piano and swirling guitars that reach a crescendo with Tweedy’s lyrics, “It’s my hair / there’s blood in the sink / I can’t calm down, I can’t think.”

In contrast, “You and I” is a simple love song that features an unexpected vocal pairing between Tweedy and singer/songwriter Feist. Like the track “Solitaire,” it relies on subdued instrumentation and acoustic guitar. The album closes with “Everlasting Everything,” where Tweedy again demonstrates his ability to combine poignant lyrics without overstated musicianship.

Wilco (The Album) doesn’t break new ground, but despite its flaws, it is miles above other releases that clog the Top 40 radio stations.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Jerid Wortinger is the embodiment of what Las Vegas and the gaming industry have to offer for those willing to put in a little hard work. He moved to Las Vegas from Florida in 2003 to explore the employment opportunities within the gaming industry. There are casinos in Florida and throughout the South, but as Wortinger put it, “If you’re going to get into gaming, what better place than Las Vegas?” He soon found work as a server at the Poker Palace Casino, and within two years he was in his current position heading up the food and beverage department. At the same time, he has been working on a number of degrees as he looks to continue his rise in the gaming industry. He is pursuing a bachelor’s in hospitality from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, after which he plans to work toward a dual master’s in hospitality and business. These degrees, when added to the real-world experience Wortinger is acquiring right now, put him in a good position to not only ride out the current downturn, but it positions him well to continue his advancement in the industry. He’s the perfect example of what human resources people mean when they suggest that team members make themselves indispensable through both hard work on the job while also continuing their education.

By Dave Bontempo   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

The great Las Vegas Hilton SuperContest, in which players choose five games per week against the Hilton spread, has people rooting for teams rather than individuals.

A season-long price tag of $1,500 places one in a tournament guaranteed to pay down to about 20 places, with last year’s winner receiving $210,000 from an entry field of 350. This event creates bragging rights and entrepreneurs, coaxing some past winners, for instance, to open their own handicapping service. Its risk-reward component compared to fantasy is proportional: a higher entry fee, but a much smaller field to compete against.

What a life-changing event for one sustained streak. We’ve all been there, riding one bountiful season that presents the illusion of handicapping immortality. What if that hot season came in this tournament? The 2008 winner, named Fezzik, was 54-26-5. Twentieth position had 49 wins—five wins over nearly four months was the difference between hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Jay Kornegay, one of the nation’s premier sports book operators, indicates some rules have changed to allow more entries. The selection deadline has been moved back from Fridays to Saturday morning, encouraging people who work or travel in from out of state to make their weekly selections, which must be done in person (or via proxy).

The SuperContest began taking entries July 31. Players receive one point for each correct selection, with ties counting as a half. It’s a tantalizing proposition. The season has enough selections, 85, to avoid being a luck-dominated crapshoot. Yet the sample is small enough to demand precision and penalize a cold spell.

The season-long tie-break only applies to first place and is awarded to the best total over the final three weeks of the season.

Think of the crazy bounces, crucial calls, tipped passes, last-second covers and blown field goals, and 1,500 might be your blood pressure.

By Greg Jones   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Dino’s Lounge is pretty much a throwback bar to the good old days when people drank boilermakers and there was only one drink that ended with “-tini.” It’s really nothing more than a bar, and it doesn’t aspire to be anything more. Drinks are reasonably priced, the pool tables are cheap and you can actually talk to people.

It’s not just the bartenders, either, although they certainly help. On the slower nights, the treatment you get from the lovely ladies behind the bar will make you think you’ve been coming to Dino’s for years. They’ll ask your name, they’ll make small talk when they get the chance and they’ll include you in conversations with some of the people who actually are regulars. It is definitely a unique experience for Las Vegas.

Where most bars in the city seem to be populated by video poker zombies—the person who seems to be so fixated on the machine they are oblivious to the world around them—and too many bartenders who cop an attitude like they’re doing you a favor by twisting the bottle cap off a $5 Bud, that just isn’t the case at Dino’s. If it wasn’t for the video poker machines lining the bar, you might even forget that you’re in Las Vegas once you walk through the doors.

Dino’s Lounge calls itself the “last neighborhood bar in Las Vegas.” Unlike other claims from other gin joints—coldest beer, loosest slots, mouth-watering burgers, etc.—this one actually holds up. Dino’s actually feels like a neighborhood bar—perhaps not surprising given it’s been open for 40-plus years in a city that prefers new and trendy to tried and true. It is the kind of place you can stop in for a beer or two by yourself and before you leave you’ll have made at least one new drinking friend. You can’t say that for too many places in Las Vegas.

The atmosphere is a little different on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, only because there tend to be more people packing in for karaoke with Danny G. Word is out, however, with the Las Vegas Review-Journal giving Dino’s the staff pick for best karaoke in its 2009 Best of Las Vegas.

And it’s really hard not to like a place that celebrates its thirstiest customers with a photo and the designation: “Drunk of the Month.”

Dino’s really is a unique bar in Las Vegas. It’s in an interesting neighborhood which brings in an interesting cast of characters. But with everyone there to relax and have a good time, it really feels like it could be the closest thing Las Vegas has to a Cheers.

Dino’s Lounge                                                                                                                                                           Location:1516 Las Vegas Blvd. South                                                                                                                  Phone:702-382-3894

By Caitlin McGarry   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

As any American who reads or watches television knows, swine flu didn’t quite result in the worldwide pandemic that many expected. Nevada has seen only four swine flu-related deaths since the outbreak began a few months ago, and most of the state’s residents have relaxed. In other words, a flu-related apocalypse no longer seems likely.

However, scientists are still working diligently to create a vaccine for the virulent flu strain. The U.S. government recently announced that it would be conducting clinical trials of the vaccine, which would require up to 1,000 test subjects in order to be studied accurately.

Though the swine flu has caused more than 300 deaths in the United States since panic over the virus began earlier this year, influenza itself causes 36,000 deaths in America per year. Researchers worry that the swine flu could affect millions of people in the United States, moreso than influenza, if a vaccine is not released soon.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Method Man, Redman and Ghostface Killah are teaming up for a hip-hop tour of epic proportions. The Footprint in Hip Hop Tour is part reunion of musical brothers, part celebration of Meth and Red’s newest collaboration, Blackout! Vol. 2.

Ghostface also appears on the follow-up to 1999’s Blackout!, which has been 10 years in the making. Both Method Man (also known as Clifford Smith) and Redman (nee Reginald Noble) have been busy in the years since their first album, and both have separate careers outside of their partnership, but the bond created in the pair’s childhood has never been broken.

Ghostface Killah (real name: Dennis Coles), who, along with Method Man, is a member of one of the greatest hip-hop acts of all time, the Wu-Tang Clan, is currently working on a solo album that is expected to be in the R&B vein.

Hip-hop may have changed, but Method Man, Redman and Ghostface Killah have returned to stake their claim in the genre’s future.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Twenty years after a few teenage boys with rudimentary music skills teamed up to rock Northern California’s hardcore punk scene, the members of Green Day are now some of the most successful mainstream rock musicians of all time.

From the early 1990s, when singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool released fast and furious albums like Kerplunk, Dookie and Insomniac, to later LPs like Nimrod and Warning, Green Day brought punk to the forefront of alternative rock. The music was technically simple, but resonated with millions of teenagers who were alienated by an increasingly complicated world.

In 2004, Green Day released the political opus American Idiot just in time for the presidential election. Full of melodic fury, American Idiot encouraged a generation of apathetic kids to care about politics. The band’s latest release, 21st Century Breakdown, is somewhat of a sequel to American Idiot, following a young couple as they navigate through contemporary culture. Though punk may be dead, its spirit lives on in Green Day.

By Robert Rossiello   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

The director and writer Edward Zwick is no stranger to stories set against the backdrop of war. He is the man behind the Civil War film Glory and the Japanese epic The Last Samurai.

With Defiance, Zwick has turned his attention to World War II to tell the highly personal tale of the Bielski brothers, three Eastern European Jews who saved the lives of thousands of their countrymen from the hands of the Nazis.

Scrappy, desperate and eager for a fight, the Bielskis take refuge in the dense Polish forest as the Germans begin their deadly Final Solution. Led by the charismatic Tuvia (a brooding Craig) and his hot-headed sibling Zus (Schreiber), the men help a growing band of refugees survive in an inhospitable landscape. Bent on revenge and reluctant to protect people who once looked down on him, Zus clashes with Tuvia over their ill-conceived mission. A rivalry forms between the brothers, with the youngest, Asael (Bell), caught in the middle.

The Bielskis form an effective partisan outfit whose reputation grows among the enemy and the Russian Army. Zus eventually goes off to fight for the Russians, gaining respect and admiration for his bravery even in the face of fierce anti-Semitism. Tuvia stays in camp doing his best to manage his ragged community. Sitting astride a white horse, he is a commanding presence, but his indecision as a leader often gets him into trouble.

Both Craig and Schreiber give strong performances in Defiance, making clear the strengths and weaknesses of each man as they strive toward a common goal. As a director, Zwick maintains a realistic approach to the material, only occasionally venturing into melodrama. Defiance is often uplifting, but it is never preachy or heavy-handed. Zwick shows great flair when it comes to telling historical stories, and this movie is one of his strongest.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Toby Keith may have been considered an intense American patriot when he released “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)” in 2002 after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, but the albums both prior to and following his ode to America showcase a fun-loving, partying Keith.

Keith is now best known for his American anthems, but his lighter tunes catapulted him to the top of the country charts in the ’90s. Songs like “Should’ve Been a Cowboy,” “A Little Less Talk and a Lot More Action” and “How Do You Like Me Now?” planted Keith firmly in the traditionalist category, though his contemporary songs have shown off Keith’s inner jokester (see “Beer for My Horses,” Keith’s duet with Willie Nelson).

Keith will likely showcase both his serious and wild sides on the America’s Toughest Tour this summer, which is in preparation for the American Ride album to be released later this year.
   

Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Sometimes, you may wonder, “What would Las Vegas be without casino gambling?”  While that’s impossible to know, this photograph, taken circa 1931, does answer the question, “What did Las Vegas look like before commercial gambling was legalized?”

As you can see, there’s not much there. The Union Pacific railroad yards to the west (below) of the train tracks, are the biggest thing in town. Along Main Street (which runs parallel to and east of the tracks), the train depot and, further south, the ice house, are the major attractions.

There are no high-rise buildings, and little commercial development. In the previous year, the city had had a population of slightly more than 5,000—a small Western town if ever there was one.

Early Las Vegas was compact, too. The “new” Las Vegas High School, which opened in 1930 at Seventh and Bridger Streets, looks to be far out in the suburbs. While there wasn’t much to do in Las Vegas circa 1930, it certainly wasn’t hard to get around.

The coming of legalized commercial gambling would change all this. Gambling halls along Fremont Street opened, followed by hotel expansions and new buildings. Once the Strip began developing in the 1940s, the city’s population began to increase.  Within 30 years of the dice beginning to roll, the population would grow to nearly 65,000, and Las Vegas would be one of the best-known destinations in the world.

SOURCE: Fred and Maureen Wilson Collection, UNLV Special Collections

David G. Schwartz (www.dieiscast.com), is the Director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. He is the author of Roll the Bones: The History of Gambling.

By Dave Bontempo   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Jim Rigot
General Manager
Trump Plaza, Atlantic City

Major executives often cite a key decision that dramatically affected their lives.

Jim Rigot also had one, but it affected the gaming industry more than his life.

“I almost re-upped in the Air Force,” said the former Vegas gaming executive, now the general manager of Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. “I was having such a great time stationed in the Philippines and being with peers who shared my interest, that after coming back to the States, it was a serious consideration. Some of my friends did and made a career out of it. I probably would have enjoyed it, too, but I had already discovered Las Vegas and just fallen in love with it, so I made a beeline for it in the mid-1970s.”

The Trenton, New Jersey native visited Las Vegas when he was stationed in Colorado. As he left the Air Force, Rigot took the heartbeat of pre-corporate Las Vegas, and his own pulse quickened. Here was a city on caffeine ready to embrace his effervescent nature. It wasn’t long before he broke into the industry as a dealer.

Rigot’s personality and his friendly, natural interest in customers was an intangible asset that didn’t show up on balance sheets. But his demeanor was a perfect fit at Bill Boyd’s Sam’s Town on Boulder Highway and California in Downtown Las Vegas. The ability to blend with people guided Rigot’s rise from dealer to floor person, box and pit boss during his Las Vegas tenure. Once Atlantic City came online, Rigot was one of many Las Vegas workers to take advantage.

“Vegas taught you enough that your skills were in demand,” Rigot said. “When we were in the monopoly situation in Vegas, growth was slow. You had to wait for somebody to retire and die before there would be any kind of promotion. With the explosion of gaming, those who had the knowledge were in demand. If you were willing to relocate, you could find the perfect opportunity.”

Rigot found many in and through his time in Atlantic City. He is now on a third tour of duty with the Trump organization. He joined Trump Plaza as an executive host in 1993, rejoined as an executive vice president of casino operations in 1994 and became the GM in 2005. In between, he enjoyed a stint at Foxwoods and a reunion with Bill Boyd, who flew in on a private jet to cajole Rigot into opening Borgata.

In addition to the pointers gleaned off Vegas mentors, Rigot expanded knowledge of the industry through an innate curiosity.

“Table games guys, hotel guys, food and beverage people, you go over all the data with them at the executive meetings,” he said. “I was a great listener, probing, asking questions. Can I go to the kitchen and cook? No. But I understand price points, checks, food costs and margins. At the end of the day, in any business, everybody is striving for professionalism.”

As Trump slugs through its bankruptcy process, the entire industry awaits its turnaround. Rigot sees enormous potential once the fear fades, especially for Las Vegas.

“With gaming spreading to so many states, Vegas can capitalize,” he said. “Only 50 million of the 300 million people in this country have been exposed to gaming. The more locations mean that once people experience it, the more they want to see the granddaddy of them all. For Vegas, the future is bright.”

Rigot extends similar optimism to all employees. And while it’s not news that patrons must be served better for places to simply survive, Rigot offers a fresh sense of what brings people to this business.

“Yes, there is a lot of anxiety in the work force, but think about what we are doing,” he said. “You are in an industry in which you can watch people enjoying themselves, laughing, hee-hawing, rooting each other on to victory. It can be college guys having a reunion. It can be any type of a party. The adrenaline is something to watch.”

It’s something he watched from a distance 30-some years ago. And it’s something he could not pass up.

By Caitlin McGarry   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Las Vegas’ newest neighborhood restaurant is located on the Strip, which may be a contradiction in terms, but the New York transplant has all the style and late-night snacks a local might expect from a down-the-street diner.

Graffiti-emblazoned black walls and minimalist décor fill up the large, open space at First Food and Bar, located in the Shoppes at the Palazzo. Though its menu is mainly comprised of bar food, and TV screens hang from the ceilings, First is nothing like your typical Vegas sports bar. The interiors are reflective of the restaurant’s location, which overlooks a beautiful stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard.

The initial culture shock of discovering downtown New York inside a ritzy, uptown Las Vegas resort passes when you are safely ensconced in a booth with a view of the Sirens show at Treasure Island. The “house bread” is served in pretzel form and served with three mustard-based dipping sauces, my personal favorite being the tangy mustard butter.

First’s menu is courtesy of Executive Chef Sam DeMarco, who founded the bar in ‘90s New York and brought it to the Palazzo. Options range from Southern-fried entrees to Southwestern a la carte items, plus standard bar food favorites with a twist.

Appetizers include chicken parmesan stuff garlic knots, duck tamales, chicken wings and Philly cheesesteak dumplings, which range from $10 to $15. For a light dinner, sample the menu’s “crazy little tacos” section. The seafood chili tacos sound particularly crazy, filled with squid, rock shrimp and bay scallops doused in chili sauce, but the three mini-tacos are perfectly spicy and not overly fishy (and taste like a high-end version of an L.A. taco stand’s offerings with a side of Mexican corn on the cob topped with chipotle mayonnaise).

If you’re looking for hearty helpings, head to a family-style chain restaurant, because First’s plates are just enough to fill you up. Even the Kentucky fried pork chop isn’t an overwhelming plate of grease; rather, Chef DeMarco pairs the pork with sour cream and peaches for a savory and sweet culinary experience.

First is not just a great spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the Strip. The bar is also open for business until 6 a.m. on weekends, which means you can get tacos or fried pork chops (plus breakfast) after a late night of partying like a New Yorker.

First Food & Bar                                                                                                                                                 Location:The Palazzo
Phone:702-607-3478

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

FUN IN THE SUN
The Stratosphere is heating things up with bikini blackjack at its pool area on the  8 th floor.

Bikini-clad dealers will be poolside on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 7 p.m. throughout the summer.

The Stratosphere is also holding regular pool volleyball, water balloon and beer pong tournaments.

Fetish Pit
The Vegas Club Hotel & Casino has livened up its casino floor with a newly unveiled fetish-themed pit.

The low-limit pit area will feature dealers dressed as a “naughty nurse, sexy school girl, risque female cop or a leather-clad biker chick while pole-dancing go-go girls shake their money makers on a raised platform.”

The fun begins at 7 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

Phantom Discount
In celebration of its third anniversary, Phantom—The Las Vegas Spectacular is extending its special ticket offer through Labor Day, allowing patrons who buy one ticket to purchase a second ticket for $30.

Phantom celebrated its third year at the Venetian in July with a similar promotion that was so well received that it is being extended through September 7.

Customers should use code ANNIV30 when purchasing tickets.

Phantom—The Las Vegas Spectacular plays at the Venetian Monday and Saturday at 7 and 9:30 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through the Venetian Box Office at 702-414-9000 or online at www.venetian.com.

Booze for Breakfast
FIRST Food & Bar in the Shoppes at the Palazzo is now serving Sunday brunch featuring a champagne fountain and live DJ performance. Brunch is served from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., with the live DJ set running from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

AFAN Fundraiser
AFAN (Aid for AIDS of Nevada) is hosting its 23rd annual Black & White Party at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino August 22 starting at 9 p.m.

The AFAN black and white parties started as a backyard fundraiser, but they’ve evolved into a premier Las Vegas social event.

This year, guests will be treated to preformances by Charo, the Men of X from Hooters Casino Hotel, the Flamingo’s X Burlesque and longtime AFAN supporters Penn & Teller. Food will be provided by AGO, Rare 120, BOA Steakhouse, the Cupcakery, Sushi Roku and more.

Tickets to the 23rd annual Black & White Party are $35 per person, which includes complimentary drinks and cuisine tasting. To purchase tickets and for additional event information, visit www.afanlv.org.

Super Savers
Carmine’s Little Italy is running specials taking 50 percent off of all menu items (excluding alcohol) on Mondays and Wednesdays until further notice. Guests don’t have to do anything but order. No coupons, IDs, passwords or secret handshakes are required, although there is a 15 percent gratuity based on the pre-discount price automatically added to the bill. You can make up for that the next day, however, because if you take in your receipt back Tuesday or Thursday you’ll get 15 percent off your bill. This offer is only valid at Carmine’s Little Italy at 2940 S. Durango (702-243-7777).

Ladies Night
MGM Grand is offering a 2-for-1 ticket offer to all Nevada residents with proper ID for its Crazy Horse Paris revue from August 1 through September 7.

Crazy Horse Paris has been a cultural phenomenon, offering unique shows that engage the eye as much as the imagination.

MGM Grand’s Crazy Horse Paris performs Wednesday through Monday at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Guests must be at least 18 years of age to attend the show. Tickets can be purchased at MGM Grand ticketing outlets, by phone at 702-891-7777 or online at www.mgmgrand.com.

Happy Hour Heros
The center bar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino started a seven-days-a-week happy hour that runs from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. During that time, guests enjoy 2-for-1 call drinks and $2 domestic beers.Dz

By Dave Bontempo   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

NFL Sundays present the Las Vegas sportsbook at its best

And it’s only getting better with the standardfare of parlays, teasers, over-unders and money lines now just an appetizer in the multi-million-dollar “pigskin restaurant” of the book.

To demonstrate the evolution, Las Vegas crowned the nation’s first million-dollar fantasy football winner last season. And the Fantasy Football Open Championship, the most lucrative of its kind, is back again in 2009.

Players select from several financial tiers in online drafts which are open until the NFL season starts September 10.

For the first nine weeks, teams play one game head-to-head against every team in the league and another against the league overall. The top five league scores receive an additional win, and the bottom five are assessed a loss. Each week has two results, creating an 18-game sample through week nine.

In week 10, the top two teams vie for the league championship, and then the havoc ensues. All champions and perhaps some wild cards, about 5,000 teams, face the Vegas countdown from weeks 11 to 15. In week 11, for example, the top 50 percent of teams advance. Then it’s the top 40 percent of the remaining 2,500 advancing through week 12, etc., right down to the end of week 15.

The 15 finalists are then brought to Las Vegas, expenses paid, to cheer their teams home in a one-week winner-take-all. Imagine chewing your fingernails when a couple rushing yards could determine a millionaire. More than 6,500 contestants entered in the 2008 inaugural, and more will participate this year.

Go to www.ffoc.com for complete details and updates.

By Dave Bontempo   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Futures bets offer weekly action for one initial buy-in, but few obvious plays pop out. The division odds are miniscule for the favorites, leaving the over-under season win total as a point of interest.

An early wager on a season-long philosophy is a good play. Buffalo, at over 7.5 wins, is enticing because the Bills won seven without Terrell Owens last year. He usually spikes a new team for one year, helping lift Philadelphia to the Super Bowl and Dallas into a strong showing before wearing out his welcome. Asking Buffalo to win one more game because of its high-profile off-season acquisition seems reasonable.

So does the Arizona Cardinals’ prop bet at over 8.5. The team must only duplicate its nine-win 2008 season in a weak division. The Cardinals also play their final two games at home. Even if Kurt Warner’s off-season surgery slows him, a possible explanation to the 8.5 number, this team is loaded with receiver talent and a taste of a near Super Bowl championship.

Defending champion Pittsburgh is 10.5 and New England 11, so few bargains exist there. But if you have an angle, play it.

By Caitlin McGarry   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

According to a recent report from healthcare consumer advocacy group Families USA, almost 70,000 Nevadans will lose their health insurance by December 2010. That number boils down to 450 Nevada residents losing healthcare coverage per week.

The report, titled “The Clock Is Ticking: More Americans Losing Health Coverage,” attributes the main impetus behind the loss of health coverage to the increasing cost of healthcare premiums in the United States. Families USA Executive Director Ron Pollack said in a statement that insurance companies are handing down high costs to employers, who are forced to pass on the increases to their workers.

“Employers that do continue to offer health coverage are being forced to pass on the rising costs to their employees by imposing higher premiums or copayments or by offering plans that cover fewer benefits,” Pollack said. “Other employers are choosing not to offer coverage at all because it is simply too expensive. Between 2000 and 2008, the share of firms offering health coverage declined by 6 percentage points, with small businesses being the most likely to drop coverage.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18 percent of Nevadans are uninsured, largely due to the prevalence of small businesses in the state. While many Nevadans may be forced to end their health care coverage due to rising costs, others lose insurance due to layoffs.

Employees who have been cut due to cost concerns may be able to retain health care coverage via COBRA, a federal act that allows employees who were involuntarily terminated for reasons other than gross misconduct to continue health care coverage through their employer, though the employee must pay the plan’s premiums.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helps those who have been the victim of layoffs to continue their insurance coverage. The ARRA specifies that workers who were terminated from a company with more than 20 employees for reasons other than gross misconduct are eligible for federal assistance in paying for their health care premiums. The government will subsidize up to 65 percent of the unemployed citizen’s COBRA coverage. This subsidy is available to those who were laid off after September 1, 2008, and will cover those who are terminated before December 31, 2009.

Nevada has not only been devastated by unemployment, which hit a record high of 12 percent in June, but the state has also seen a large number of bankruptcies. According to a report to be released in the August issue of the American Journal of Medicine, bankruptcies caused by the staggering cost of medical bills rose from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007.

The authors of the study found that 75 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy because of medical reasons had health insurance. The study was also conducted prior to the start of the recession, which means that the number of medical bill-related bankruptcies could have risen since 2007.

The confusing state of health care in America right now has prompted yet another political storm of controversy surrounding the issue of health care reform. Nevada Senator Harry Reid has currently halted the discussion of health care reform in the Senate until after senators return from recess this fall, but citizens across the country are continuing to discuss the issue of reform.

President Barack Obama has outlined a proposal for reform that would tax families who make more than $350,000 per year in order to fund a public health insurance plan. Employers would be required to provide a group insurance plan for their employees, and no citizen could be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Some argue that the estimated $1.5 trillion cost of the plan is prohibitive, especially considering the United States is currently operating with a budget deficit.

Americans across the country are in favor of health care reform, but the issues of cost and government involvement are deal-breakers for many citizens and politicians.

Nevada Rep. Dean Heller, a Republican from Carson City, told the Reno Gazette-Journal that he opposes Obama’s plan because his top priority in Washington “is to make sure the economy turns around and it starts creating jobs. I won’t vote for anything that would do the opposite of that, and this health care reform would do the opposite of that.”

Senator Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkeley support the plan, while Nevada Senator John Ensign opposes it.

It is clear that something must be done.

By Caitlin McGarry   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

A winning combination of contemporary songs, sophisticated dance moves, glittering costumes and over-the-top performances, Planet Hollywood’s Peepshow serves up burlesque with a distinctly Vegas touch.

Former Girl Next Door and Dancing With the Stars contestant Holly Madison has been a staple of reality television in recent years, but the starlet has transitioned to the stage, having joined the Peepshow cast in June. Madison replaced another Dancing With the Stars alum, Kelly Monaco, in the starring role of Bo Peep, a naïve woman looking for love.

Broadway star Shoshana Bean plays the Peep Diva, who teasingly guides Madison’s Bo Peep through a sexy series of musical lessons inspired by nursery rhymes. Bean took on the role of the Peep Diva after ex-Spice Girl Mel B departed the show in June, and Bean will be replaced by former Danity Kane songstress Aubrey O’Day in September.

With Peepshow, Madison is beginning a new chapter in her life, leaving behind her days as Hugh Hefner’s No. 1 lady at the Playboy Mansion to forge her own path as a true talent.

Madison recently spoke to Casino Connection about Peepshow and her plans for the future.

Peepshow plays every night but Wednesday at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Tickets are $65, $75, $100 and $165. The show is for those 18 and older.

Casino Connection: Peepshow has a lot of different elements—singing, dancing and nudity among them. What did you think of the show when you first saw it?

Holly Madison: When I first saw it, I loved it immediately. It’s the best burlesque show in Las Vegas, and it has the best production value and the most talented performers. I get to do so many things. I get to do dance numbers, fall from silk out of the ceiling. It’s so much fun.

How did you become the star of Peepshow? Were you interested in the part, or did the producers pursue you?
They had intended to rotate the part every three months, and I came in and got the role and it’s been working out really well, so I’m going to sign on to do it longer.

Did you have any reservations about being topless on stage?

I wanted to make sure that I felt comfortable with that part of it. I wanted to make sure it made sense, that the choreography was appropriate and it was for the amount of time I wanted it to be. There was a little disagreement over that originally, but I won out.

I think if you look at somebody who’s really good at that sort of thing, like Dita Von Teese, she has a lot of layers to take off. You have a lot of shows where the girls are topless from the very beginning, and they think it’s sexier, but it’s not.

You took over the role of Bo Peep after Kelly Monaco left the show. How did you make the part your own?
I just bring a lot of my personality and sense of humor to it. The part’s perfect for me, and I have a lot of fun with that. I wasn’t allowed to make any changes, but I am open to being in the show more.

What is your favorite part of the show?

My first big dance or the part where I fall out of the ceiling.

You perform this show multiple times a week; has it become repetitive?

I would actually like to do more, because I’m not in every scene in the show, but I have a blast with the cast and crew, and we have so much fun. I just want to make my part better and better.

When you left the Playboy Mansion, did you ever imagine that you’d wind up starring in a big show on the Strip?

Actually, when I first left the mansion, I was talking to a different show on the Strip, but it didn’t work out because of creative differences. I’m glad it didn’t though, because then Peepshow came along, and it’s the perfect role for me.

Do you plan to stay in the acting world after you finish Peepshow?

I’d like to do movies, but I’d like to stay in Peepshow for a long time.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

No Doubt continues their summer tour with a stop in Las Vegas for a second time this season. After delighting fans at May’s Tiger Jam benefit, lead singer Gwen Stefani, bassist Tony Kanal, guitarist Tom Dumont and drummer Adrian Young are back for another jaunt in Sin City.

When Stefani took time away from the group to focus on her children and a solo career, fans were concerned that everyone’s favorite Orange County ska-pop group was done for good. It has been eight years since the release of No Doubt’s last album, Rock Steady, and though new material has yet to be recorded, Stefani and her bandmates announced that this summer’s tour is intended to provide inspiration for a new album.

Supporting the headlining act are homegrown rockers Panic at the Disco, who put Las Vegas on the map for pop-rock music (along with fellow stars the Killers). The Sounds will also be performing at No Doubt’s engagement at the Joint this month.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Republican U.S. Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona and Orrin Hatch of Utah, both longtime foes of sports gambling, are asking U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to probe the recent Delaware law authorizing sports betting.

In a letter to the attorney general, the senators also asked Holder to prepare a defense against a pending lawsuit from New Jersey lawmakers challenging the federal ban on sports betting implemented in 1992.

The 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act banned sports betting in all states but Delaware, Nevada, Montana and Oregon.

Delaware was grandfathered in because of a sports lottery the state ran in the 1970s. The state’s lawmakers recently approved single-game and parlay sports betting, and operators of the three Delaware racinos plan to have sports books in place in time for the start of the NFL season.

Kyl and Hatch claim the single-game betting is not legal, because it was not part of the 1970s sports lottery under which Delaware was exempted from the 1992 law. “It is our hope that the Department of Justice will monitor closely the situation in Delaware to ensure the state’s compliance with federal law,” the senators wrote in the letter to Holder, obtained by the Associated Press.

Also last month, the major sports leagues in the United States sued the state using the same arguments the senators have employed.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Where a vacant building now stands on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, Arizona developer Steven Johnson plans to build a casino with a 98-foot-tall video screen.

The former site of the Holy Cow! casino has lay dormant for seven years, but the Las Vegas Planning Commission recently approved Johnson’s plans.

Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese, who represents that part of the city, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he doubts that a casino would be successful in that area. The Holy Cow! closed due to slow business.

Johnson will present his plans to the Las Vegas City Council on August 5 for approval.

Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Some say gaming law is as much an art as it is a science. If so, the Nevada law firm of Lionel, Sawyer & Collins is the Louvre, and Ellen Whittemore, the Mona Lisa. Her effective representation of clients runs the gamut of the huge gaming corporations, from MGM Mirage to the Onex Group of companies that has taken over the Tropicana, which is now led by former MGM president Alex Yemenidjian.

Prior to joining the firm, she was the supervising deputy attorney general for the Gaming Division. Whittemore is the primary author of Nevada Gaming Commission Regulations 6 (Accounting Regulations), 14 (Manufacturers, Distributors, Gaming Devices, New Games and Associated Equipment) and 26A (Off-Track Parimutuel Wagering). She successfully prosecuted individuals who were then included in the “Black Book” (the list of persons excluded from casinos) and was lead counsel in the case that established that gaming devices could not display “near misses” to customers (leading them to believe that they were close to a win). Whittemore spoke with Casino Connection Publisher Roger Gros at her Las Vegas offices in June.

Casino Connection: Through the years, Lionel, Sawyer & Collins has become the “go-to” law firm in Nevada. Does that put a little extra pressure on you when you appear before a commission or gaming or even in court for that matter?

Whittemore: I think it does. I think that we have very high standards at this law firm, and they were established by our founding partner, Sam Lionel, who, now in his 90s, is still probably one of the best litigators in this state. Of course, Grant Sawyer was the governor who really established the current system of gaming control. Those are big footsteps to follow. And of course you have Bob Fess, who was just acknowledged dean of gaming law. So we tend to be selective in the matters that we appear on. We understand that our obligation is not just to our clients, but also to the state of Nevada, so it does put a little pressure on you.

As gaming counsel, we have a responsibility to effectively advocate for our clients, but I also think we have a responsibility to dissuade those who might be not be suitable for licensing from even filing that application in the first place.

Right out of law school, you got into the public sector and eventually became deputy attorney general. Do you think that helped you, being on that side of the fence, now that you’re working for clients with the state?

I think it’s absolutely invaluable. I was a supervising deputy attorney general in the attorney general’s office representing the Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission, and the experience that you got at that time is an experience that you don’t get coming to a law firm. A lot of gaming law is instinct. A lot of it is understanding that although the statute might on its face say something, that historically there’s been a different interpretation.

The Nevada gaming industry is enduring some difficult times right now. What kind of challenges does that present to a gaming attorney? Are there all different kinds of issues that you have to deal with these days?

There are any number of our clients that have been putting their financial houses in order. So you’re involved in their discussions with their lenders for restructuring some of the debt that they have to help them face the challenges of these economic times. We also have been approached and represent a number of lenders who never thought they’d be in a position where they might consider going through the licensing process themselves. So there are challenges as a result of the economy, but there are also a number of opportunities for many people.

Do you have to bring in some people with some financial expertise? Traditionally in gaming, that financial expertise was important, but it wasn’t as important as it is these days.

Clearly, my clients have. From my perspective, we make sure that whatever restructuring or whatever investments people make, that they are those kinds of restructuring and investments that are going to satisfy the regulatory objectives, but clearly you see a number of the companies on the Strip retaining exceptional financial advisers.

There’s a proposal out there that will raise the threshold of investment in a public casino company from 15 percent to 25 percent before you’re forced to get a license. Do you think this is going to go through, and if it does, will it change the face of Las Vegas to a certain extent?

This proposal would increase the amount that an institutional investor may own without having to go through licensing. There’s also discussion to open up the categories of types of entities that would qualify as an institutional investor. I think that that may open up some additional sources of capital, but one of the primary goals of the gaming regulatory authorities is to ensure that individuals that haven’t been licensed do not exercise excessive control over a Nevada licensee. So although there may be an increase in the percentage that these types of entities can own, they’re still limited in how much they can do without being licensed.

Is that a difficult task, when a Nevada company wants to go into a foreign jurisdiction to be licensed, say in Macau?

I think it can become problematic. One of the things that the gaming authorities in Nevada clearly look at is the robustness of the regulatory apparatus in the foreign jurisdiction. I think that although it would be naïve to say that the Macau regulatory system is anything other than in its infancy, there have been a number of very, very positive steps by the Macau regulatory system to model itself after some of the best practices of Nevada and other jurisdictions. I think initially when Nevada licensees go outside the United States that they have to, on their own, be incredibly proactive in protecting themselves and their reputations.

Bankruptcy has always been apart of the gaming industry. Plenty of casinos have gone into bankruptcy and emerged from them. But there seems to be more now. Is there something different between the bankruptcies we’re seeing now and the bankruptcies we’ve seen in the past?

I think that what we’re seeing is companies that were very, very successful finding themselves faced with bankruptcy. I think that’s a little bit different. These aren’t companies who historically had struggled; these are companies that have been wildly, wildly successful, and as a result of that success, have perhaps overextended themselves as far as financing, and then when the economy has taken the nosedive that it has recently, they find that they don’t have the capacity to repay those obligations. In the past, when you saw a company go bankrupt, it was because they didn’t operate very well. This is totally different.

What is gaming’s role in the state of Nevada right now? We’ve had some clamoring in some quarters for increased taxes on the gaming industry, but has that subsided now in this economic downturn?

I think so. I think people realize that you can’t kill the goose that laid the golden egg. It is at a point where any talk of massive tax increases will put some of these lower-performing casinos into a serious position. I have always questioned the wisdom of not having a broad-based business tax. We do have a number of industries who enjoy the benefits of being based in Nevada and do not have to pay what I think are appropriate taxes.

So in terms of gaming’s role in the state, is its influence equivalent to its size?

Gaming is still very, very, very influential. I think that it is actually a function of there not being a number of controversial issues that have come to the forefront in the last several legislative sessions. The gaming authorities haven’t proposed new statutes that have been particularly controversial, nor has the gaming industry proposed any statutes that have been controversial. When you take a look at the legislative sessions, I think they’re more focused on ensuring that while they all are willing to pay their share of the taxes, that that obligation be spread to other industries in the state as well.

Is there something that the regulatory bodies can do to help reverse this economic trend we see here, or are they kind of helpless in that respect?

I think that they have to be helpful in situations in which licensees are faced with financial restructuring. Recently, the Gaming Control Board established a special team of individuals from each of the divisions within the Gaming Control Board to evaluate any of the applications that would be required as a result of refinancing or restructuring when a company does a bond offering, and there are certain approvals that are required as a result of that bond offering. The Gaming Control Board is expediting those approvals so that the lenders are protected, and that will then send the signal to other lenders who are potentially going to come in and help some of our Nevada licensees, to let them know that their rights as creditors will be protected. That therefore encourages them to come in and invest in Nevada. So there are things like that that they can do, but as far as going out and being a cheerleader for the industry, I think their ability to do that is somewhat limited.

There’s always that danger. Historically, the Gaming Control Board has attempted not to do anything that would give one side or the other any type of advantage in litigation. They attempt to remain quite neutral in bankruptcies of gaming licensees. Remember, when a gaming licensee goes bankrupt, that usually means that the Nevada Gaming Commission is a creditor, because they owe taxes. But they attempt to stay neutral. Certainly those of us who are gaming attorneys attempt to posture applications and situations so that our clients are benefited by the gaming regulatory process.

Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Afew months ago, President Barack Obama made a comment that companies receiving federal bailout money should not be holding getaways or business meetings in resort destinations. His exact words were, “You can’t get corporate jets, you can’t go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer’s dime.”

There was much complaining and lamenting the fact that the president just told people not to come to Las Vegas. Even though that isn’t what he said, Mayor Oscar Goodman demanded an apology, and a number of operators came out to report that they had corporate events cancelled after Obama made the comment.

I was quick to point out on the Casino Connection blog (blog.casinoconnection.com) that Obama didn’t tell people not to come to Las Vegas. I think the comment is pretty clear. The way I interpreted it was that it wouldn’t look good for companies that helped drive the economy into the ground to continue partying it up after they got a little bailout money from you and I via the federal government. It wasn’t Obama saying, “Don’t go to Las Vegas.” He was saying don’t use taxpayer money for lavish getaways. Unfortunately for us, he mentioned Las Vegas by name.

But is there any real question as to why Obama and the majority of the country think that Las Vegas is just a party town? Yes, those of us who live and work here know all about the millions of square feet of meeting and convention space. We know that, mid-week at least, room rates are very reasonable compared to similar-sized cities. And we know that it is usually pretty cheap to fly into McCarran International Airport.

But does the rest of the country? For years, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority advertised Las Vegas as a place where anything goes and where nothing is taken seriously. That whole “What happens here, stays here” mantra was perhaps too successful in creating the image of Las Vegas as a place to party and forget about things like meetings and work and the like. And when times were good, no one was complaining.

But there hasn’t been a lot of advertising or any other attempt to really get it out into the mainstream that Las Vegas is, in fact, a place where serious business can get done. It doesn’t have to be the case that what happens here stays. You can have a very productive company getaway at one of the many fine resorts the city offers. And you can probably do it cheaper than you could in almost any other city in the United States.

That was clearly evidenced after Obama’s comments, when Goldman Sachs decided to cancel its planned event at Mandalay Bay. The banking giant ended up paying a $600,000 cancellation fee to the resort, and then moved its event to San Francisco, which is considerably more expensive than Las Vegas.

And while I, among many others, dismissed the comments as being at worst an accidental jab at Las Vegas, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that there is a de facto ban on federal agencies holding meetings in Las Vegas. The paper had a Department of Justice e-mail that said conferences can’t be held in resort cities, and “Las Vegas and Orlando are the first two on the chopping block.” A DoJ spokeswoman explained that they have a directive to avoid locations that “give the appearance of being lavish or are resort destinations.” The preferred meeting places, according to the WSJ, included St. Louis, Milwaukee and Denver.

But that doesn’t make any sense at all. In order to look like they’re not spending a lot of money on a lavish conference in a resort destination, these federal agencies are spending considerably more money to hold a conference in a city no one really wants to go to.

Nevada lawmakers are looking into any prohibitions, real or implied, on travel to Las Vegas and asking that any such restrictions be lifted. In the meantime, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for the city’s boosters to make an effort to maybe focus on some of the other things Las Vegas has to offer.

The LVCVA and R&R Partners put out an award-winning marketing effort that still has legs today. In many ways, we’re being victimized because of the success of the “What happens here” campaign.

Las Vegas is a fun, anything goes kind of place. And it is also a place where business can and does get done. We’ve focused on advertising only one of those realities, and we’re upset that people aren’t entirely trusting of us now that we try to tout only the other. While those of us who live here know differently, we haven’t made enough of an effort to show the serious side of Las Vegas to the rest of the country. Perhaps now would be a good time to focus on that, and get the message out, not just through soundbites from outraged mayors and governors, but through a concentrated advertising campaign that shows the rest of the country—and the world, for that matter—that you can come to Las Vegas and have fun while still taking care of business, and you can do it cheaper than you can in almost any other city in the country.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

The lawsuits keep rolling in. Now, Miami businessman Jeffrey Soffer’s construction company, Turnberry West Construction, is suing Soffer’s resort, Fontainebleau Las Vegas, in order to move to the front of the line in terms of which creditors should be paid first in the resort’s bankruptcy case.

Soffer had struck a deal with lenders in 2007 when agreeing to financing terms that the banks’ liens would be honored before the liens of Fontainebleau’s companies, according to the Las Vegas Sun. The terms of the financing state that the agreement between Soffer and his lenders will be governed by New York state law.

However, Soffer is now arguing that the financing agreement should be governed by Nevada law, which states that construction liens must be paid before lenders’ liens. The case is currently being heard in Miami, which complicates the issue further, as Fontainebleau and the majority of its lenders are based in Nevada. Though New York law has governed the financial terms of the project. Confused yet?

Turnberry West has been sued by multiple subcontractors in recent weeks, as it has not been paid by Fontainebleau and is therefore unable to pay anyone else.

As the bankruptcy drama continues to play out in a Miami bankruptcy court, Fontainebleau has cancelled events it had scheduled to host early 2010. Several companies have booked space at the unfinished resort due to its close proximity to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority told the Associated Press that it would help companies find other accommodations.

While recent bankruptcy court filings indicate that Fontainebleau Las Vegas creditors think the resort defaulted on its loan obligations, Fontainebleau developers have counter-filed with strategies to cut costs.

One such plan is to change elements of the property’s design. It is unclear if Fontainebleau is over-budget, and if so, by how much. Lenders have accused the property’s developers of knowingly misrepresenting the project’s financial troubles, which led to creditors pulling the remaining funds necessary to complete the resort.

In the Fontainebleau’s filing, developers said that Soffer, who controls the property, may inject his own cash into the resort in order to finish construction.

The dispute between the banks and Fontainebleau continues as both sides allege the other reneged on established loan agreements. Fontainebleau has requested that the bankruptcy court issue a summary judgment and order creditors to release $656 million in financing for the project.

“Even if Fontainebleau’s tortured reading of the credit agreement were correct (which it is not), the motion (for summary judgment) should still be denied because there are compelling reasons to believe that, long before it issued the March notice of borrowing that is the subject of this motion, Fontainebleau had materially and repeatedly breached the credit agreement that it now asks this court to ‘enforce’ against the lenders,” Fontainebleau’s creditors stated in a filing two weeks ago.

Bank of America is saying that the resort needs much more than $656 million to complete construction. Bank of America Senior Vice President Henry Yu filed a court declaration that detailed an April conversation in which Fontainebleau officials said they needed $1.5 billion to complete the project.

According to Yu’s statements, Fontainebleau would open next year with $3.2 billion in debt, which would far outweigh the worth of the resort upon opening.

Fontainebleau and its lenders must participate in mediation moderated by a third party. That mediation began last month.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

The Tropicana Las Vegas’ financial troubles are over—or so it seems. Earlier this year, Canadian private equity firm Onex Corp. purchased 58 percent of the Strip property’s debt. As of July 1, the resort is out of bankruptcy and will be managed by former MGM Mirage President Alex Yemenidjian.

The Nevada Gaming Commission approved Yemenidjian to run the property. He is now the resort’s chairman and CEO.

As part of the bankruptcy agreement, the Tropicana’s debts were cleared and the property emerged from bankruptcy with more than $10 million in cash. Onex has also promised to invest capital into the property in order to boost its reputation and revenue.

In a statement released by Onex, the firm said it intends to begin renovating the property this year. Remodeling will conclude in 2010. Changes to the hotel’s 1,850 rooms and the casino floor are expected, and Onex said it plans to build a nightclub on the property.

The changes come after a long period of uncertainty. At the end of 2007, Tropicana Entertainment’s New Jersey property was stripped of its license, which sparked the bankruptcy proceedings. The two properties have been split and are no longer apart of the same company, with gaming veteran Carl Icahn expected to take control of the New Jersey resort.

There is a fight over the Tropicana name, however, with Tropicana Entertainment, the company that owned both the Tropicana Las Vegas and the Tropicana casino in Atlantic City, putting forth a plan to retain the name for casino business and spin off the Las Vegas property, which would have to be renamed.

The Las Vegas property’s new managers think this demand is unreasonable.

“Some of the refurbishment and renovation may have to be put on hold if there are delays in establishing that the one and only Tropicana Las Vegas, established in 1957, can continue as the ‘Tropicana Las Vegas,’” the resort stated in a recent court filing.

The Atlantic City company, called OpCo, would allow the Las Vegas company, LandCo, to license the name for $10 million over five years. Onex said when it purchased the Tropicana’s assets, those assets include the property’s name.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Las Vegas officials and Downtown businesses are uniting to encourage Lady Luck owner CIM Group to rectify the shuttered casino’s disrepair. The Lady Luck closed more than three years ago and was expected to reopen soon after, but continues to lay empty.

The area surrounding the casino is littered with garbage, and some of the property’s structures are what Mayor Oscar Goodman called “a carcass” at a recent City Council meeting.

Goodman advised city officials to investigate the property for possible building code infractions.

“CIM Group is still working through the process on the Lady Luck,” CIM Group said in a statement released to the Las Vegas Sun. “Market conditions obviously have changed and we’re continuing to advance our plans in this new economic climate. CIM Group and its neighbors around the Lady Luck have been in discussions regarding a joint effort to address the aesthetic of the general area. There are no changes in our business arrangements with the city on any of the properties.”

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

MGM Mirage’s CityCenter will open later this year with more than 12,000 employees, and the property has begun hiring for many of its open positions. The company has received nearly 140,000 applications since January.

CityCenter’s non-gaming hotel, Mandarin Oriental, is in the process of hiring 500 employees, all of whom will be given a binder of strict customer service guidelines in order to ensure that every guest is treated like royalty.

CityCenter may be hiring the most workers, but other Las Vegas resorts are looking to beef up their staff as well. Planet Hollywood held a job fair July 30 and 31 to fill 800 positions at the PH Towers, which will open in November.

The Hard Rock Hotel’s new Hard Rock Café, which will open on the Strip this summer, is seeking 500 employees. The Hard Rock’s job fair will last from July 28 to August 5. The Hard Rock also hired 800 new team members to staff its expansion last month.

The hiring blitz is good news for Nevadans, 12 percent of whom are unemployed as of this month. The unemployment rate is the state’s highest ever. The resorts typically weed out undesirable candidates with online applications, and then schedule interviews at job fairs with prospective candidates. CityCenter built a stand-alone career center just west of the Strip to meet potential employees.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

A magnetic levitation train from Las Vegas to southern California that was designed to smooth traffic flow on the I-15 has been all but abandoned by its supporters. Nevada Senator Harry Reid, one of the project’s first champions, recently announced his support of a privately funded high-speed rail project that would be much less expensive than the maglev train.

“Maglev is going nowhere,” Reid told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The project, which has been studied for the past 30 years, would cost around $12 billion, according to Reid. The high-speed rail alternative, called DesertXpress, would be up and running in five years to the tune of $4 billion. Maglev would have been funded by tax dollars, while DesertXpress is privately owned and financed.

Maglev officials intend to proceed with their project, which they say will be completed in 2016. While the high-speed rail will run from Las Vegas to Victorville, the maglev train will connect Vegas to Anaheim. Both projects are currently conducting environmental impact statements, which are necessary before either can begin construction.

The corridor between southern California and Las Vegas was recently designated a high-speed rail corridor, and both the high-speed rail project and the maglev train can use the designation to more easily access federal funding. Reid intends to direct such funding toward DesertXpress rather than the maglev project.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Station casinos recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a Reno court after negotiations with bondholders failed to yield a prepackaged bankruptcy plan.

Station has been facing financial troubles from declining revenue at its properties and a burdensome debt load taken on in 2007, when Colony Capital and the Fertitta brothers took the company private.

Station Casinos will continue to conduct business as usual while company executives and creditors discuss debt restructuring. Boyd Gaming has expressed renewed interest in Station’s assets, some of which Boyd offered to purchase earlier this year.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

In an effort to cut costs and streamline the system for registering gaming workers in Nevada, the Gaming Control Board Technology Division took to the internet.

Nevada law requires casino employees to register with the Gaming Control Board before working for a state license holder. Local governments were in charge of the process until 2004, when the state handed the responsibilities over to state gaming regulators.

Regulators process about 30,000 new applications and 18,000 changes per year, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The old system, which required paperwork for everything, was totally manual and time-intensive.

“Online registration should meaningfully improve filing accuracy, reduce processing costs and provide a more efficient process for gaming employers to verify employee registration,” Enforcement Division Chief Jerry Markling told the Review-Journal.

The Gaming Employee Registration website can be accessed at the control board’s website, www.gaming.nv.gov/gaming_emp_reg.htm.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Clark Country denied liquor license applications for the Prive and Living Room clubs at Planet Hollywood after the Gaming Control Board filed a complaint against the casino for allowing illegal activities in Prive.

The clubs are operating on temporary licenses that expired at the end of July.

Planet Hollywood accepted responsibility for the allegations made by the board, and agreed to pay $500,000 in fines over allegations that the property did nothing to stop illegal drug use, prostitution, underage drinking and assaults that were taking place in or near Prive.

“The evidence of improper management oversight and disregard for the duties of the licensee is overwhelming and points to only one decision—denial of a liquor license,” Clark County Business License Director Jacqueline Holloway said in denying the license. “We expect consistent compliance and cooperation from our privileged licensees for the benefit of our citizens.”

The county’s investigation into Prive proved difficult, according to the Las Vegas Sun, which reported the county issued three notices of violation against the club for stalling county officials during a compliance inspection, for interfering during a routine inspection and for allowing “topless and lewd activity.”

The club operators have 30 days to appeal the decision to county commissioners.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

“This has the potential to be the busiest weekend in Colorado gaming history,” said Christopher Abraham, a spokesman for Golden Gaming, as Colorado’s three casino towns welcomed an increase in gaming limits in the state.

Voters approved the changes in a statewide referendum last November. Just after midnight on July 2, bet limits were raised, new games were added and operating hours increased, resulting in huge attendance and record casino wins. According to the Denver Post, the Lodge and Gilpin casinos in Black Hawk had nearly three times more gamblers than they did on the same day in 2008.

“It’s fair to characterize the launch as successful,” said John East, a vice president with Jacobs Entertainment, which owns the Lodge and Gilpin casinos.

Gamblers flocked to the new craps and roulette tables until well into the morning, East told the Post.

The new regulations allow casinos in Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek to add craps and roulette and raise betting limits from $5 to $100. The casinos can also stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week; the previous closing time was 2 a.m.

“We’re really excited about kicking it off,” said Stephen Roark, president of Jacobs Entertainment Inc.

Preliminary figures showed that business at the Isle Casino Hotel Black Hawk was up about 60 percent, according to General Manager John Bohannon.

“We saw our table games volumes increase almost four times, compared to an average Wednesday,” Bohannon told the Post. According to news reports, hotels were booked all the way to Idaho Springs, about 20 minutes away.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

There is one month left before Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the Seminole Indians have to reach a gaming compact, but any deal that benefits the state could go south if blackjack and other Class III card games are removed from the tribe’s Immokalee casino.

If tribal leaders reject the state’s compact guidelines—which mandate the removal of the games—they could appeal for approval to the federal government, which would cut state government right out of the minimum of $2.3 billion it would receive from the casinos over a 15-year term.

The tribe first agreed to pay $100 million annually in a 2007 deal made directly with Crist. That deal was undone a year later by the state Supreme Court, which ruled that Crist did not have the authority to broker the deal without approval from the Florida legislature. Lawmakers then redrafted the guidelines. The pending compact requires a minimum of $150 million in annual payments and bans banked card games at three of seven Seminole casinos: Immokalee, Big Cypress and Brighton.

State Rep. Matt Hudson said the tribe will never sign off on the deal as it now stands, particularly since Chairman Mitchell Cypress lives on the Big Cypress reservation.

“The reality is this is a business decision—it’s a business decision that doesn’t work out for all of them,” Hudson told the Naples News.

The Seminoles also want exclusive rights to Class III games in the state, and the current compact holds no guarantees. One provision could permit banked card games in Miami-Dade and Broward County parimutuels, which already offer Vegas-style slots. In that case, the tribe would still have to make its annual payment, although the sum would be lowered.
 

Barry Richard, the tribe’s attorney, has been quoted as saying the lack of exclusivity will force the tribe to reject the deal.

Crist has until August 31 to reach a deal with the tribe. Meantime, a concerned Hudson, who voted against the compact guidelines, said he hopes negotiations reopen and the Immokalee issue is reexamined.

By   Thu, Aug 06, 2009

Union gaming group of Las Vegas announced last month that its subsidiary, Union Gaming Research, will focus its attention on 17 gaming companies, among which MGM Mirage and Bally Technologies are top picks.

The group does not use traditional ratings and price targets, instead relying on information tailored to each client, as well as the expertise Union Gaming Group founders bring to the table.

“Given the complexities of markets today, investors require tailored service and deep industry expertise, rather than the traditional 'one size fits all' model,” Bill Lerner, a Union founder and former Deutsche Bank analyst, told the Las Vegas Sun.

In its report, Union Gaming Research said that while recovery has started, it may take some time to complete.

“Valuations have climbed from their March 2009 lows to near their historical averages demonstrating that the specter of bankruptcy for major public gaming companies is in the rearview mirror. However, the consumer-led recession has likely instilled a permanent valuation change for casino operators as the business is more cyclical than had previously been thought,” Union Gaming said. “The stocks are now trading more like traditionally cyclical businesses ... We believe it will be many years (if at all) before the lofty valuations seen in 2004-2007 return."

Among top picks, the group mentioned MGM Mirage, Bally Technologies and Galaxy Entertainment.

“We believe that CityCenter is poised to outperform the conservative expectations investors have established upon its phased opening beginning later this year,” Union Gaming said. “Although it is too early to call a trend, numerous variables suggest a bottom is near: May 2009 revenues were down only 6.4 percent; average daily room rates are moving higher at certain properties without sacrificing occupancy; convention bookings have re-accelerated and second quarter airlift at McCarran improved sequentially.”

Bally Technologies is in a good position to tap into a so-called “dual cycle” in which existing casinos are suddenly in a rush to replace aging machines while overall industry growth creates additional markets for the company to expand.

The report also predicts revenue growth for Boyd Gaming, Harrah’s Entertainment, Station Casinos and Wynn Resorts in 2009 and 2010.