Stiffs and Georges

Far on the outskirts of Sin City, the Kingdom of Make-Believe (aka Lake Las Vegas) is the newest and — in terms of acreage — biggest metaphor yet for the unrealistic expectations and sometimes insane assumptions which have laid our metropolis low. Heck, I can vividly remember the anxiety and gloom (mostly the latter) that [...]

Wow, there’s nothing like the rumor of an in-progress sale to light a fire under Las Vegas Sands to restart its desultory Sands Bethlehem. Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson tries to imply that resumption of the hotel is contingent upon getting table games (he’s obligated to build it, table games or no) but this is still [...]

Opening a drowsy eye, the Las Vegas Review-Journal belatedly took note of Las Vegas Sands‘ Singapore project, although the story was just a puff piece (perhaps because its writer used to toil in Vegas’ PR shops, including a stint at R&R Partners). The quotes from CEO Sheldon Adelson (and probably those of his $2 Million [...]

“We’re trying to let the community know that we are here and we are here to stay for a while.” — ominous words from Glenn Koehler, Columbia Sussex’s director of the Horizon casino-hotel in Lake Tahoe. Landlord Park Cattle Co. thought it was rid of longtime nemesis ColSux when it settled a lawsuit in return [...]

Proverbial “flu-like symptoms” have me feeling light-headed and rather woozy (a delayed reaction to Wayne Newton?), for which the doctor prescribes a dosage of Case Bets …

Another ColSux sale: Struggling hotelier Columbia Sussex has, for the not-inconsiderable sum of $106.5 million, quietly unloaded its Amelia Belle riverboat. The buyer, Dubuque-based Peninsula Gaming, already owns a [...]

Did somebody build the inaptly named Lucky Club  (above) over an Indian burial ground? A deprivation of access is but the latest indignity suffered by this North Las Vegas grind joint. While it was still the Speedway Casino, it was ravaged by fire. Years earlier, it was the Cheyenne, most famous for having its [...]

Taken at face value, October's revenue numbers for Nevada casinos were calamitous. Looked at in context (i.e., coming off a 10% increase from October '06 to '07) they were … still bad. But I'm going to resist the temptation to jump off my second-floor balcony at LVA HQ, especially since we're measuring the most anemic [...]

Today's Las Vegas Sun has a precinct-by-precinct breakdown of how President-elect Barack Obama won the Las Vegas metro area. In colorful map form, it shows Obama winning Downtown (handily) and most of the Strip … save for MGM Mirage's string of properties from New York-New York northward through Bellagio. (Yes, you can tell your friends [...]

Saying that a potentially ruptured pipe could drain Lake Las Vegas and turn it into one big-ass mud puddle in the desert conjures up quite an image. It's also effective rhetoric if you're trying to stampede the bankruptcy court into approving a $127 million loan, no questions asked (or at least answered). If asked to [...]