ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisor July 2020 • Vol. 37 • Issue 7 $5

PLAYING IN PLEXI- GLASS One of many precautions … pgs. 2, 15

HOTELS ARE OPEN Big savings on the high end … pg. 3

TWO BUFFETS ARE BACK New ways to get the grub … pgs. 3, 9

ENTERTAIN- MENT UNDE- CIDED Starting, stopping, and maybe dates … pg. 11

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Flamingo...... 733-3111...... 800-732-2111 ...... 385-4011...... 800-634-6045 Fremont...... 385-3232...... 800-634-6460 Gold Coast...... 367-7111...... 800-331-5334 Golden Gate...... 385-1906...... 800-426-1906 Golden Nugget...... 385-7111...... 844-468-4438 MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS: ...... 617-7777...... 866-782-9487 FULL MEMBERSHIP Harrah’s...... 369-5000...... 800-392-9002 : Includes 12 monthly is- LINQ, The...... 731-3311...... 866-328-1888 sues of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter, mailed Longhorn (Super 8)...... 435-9170...... 800-800-8000 first-class; the LVA Member Rewards book*; Luxor...... 262-4000...... 800-288-1000 ...... 797-1000...... 877-673-7678 plus 365 days of access to our website: Main Street Station...... 387-1896...... 800-713-8933 . ...... 632-7777...... 877-632-7800 www.LasVegasAdvisor.com MGM Grand...... 891-1111...... 800-929-1111 U.S. Membership $50: Mirage...... 791-7111...... 800-627-6667 (Includes shipping of New York-New York...... 740-6969...... 800-693-6763 newsletter. 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Silverton...... 263-7777...... 800-588-7711 com, and the LVA Member Rewards book.* South Point...... 796-7111...... 866-791-7626 Suncoast...... 636-7111...... 877-677-7111 (Member Rewards books can be picked up at Sunset Station...... 547-7777...... 888-786-7389 the LVA office or shipped to your home via cou- ...... 631-1000...... 800-654-8888 pon service for $3.50 to a U.S. address; $5us to The Cromwell, The...... 777-3777...... 844-426-2766 the D...... 388-2400...... 800-274-5825 Canadian and $7us to Overseas addresses.) ...... 380-7777...... 800-998-6937 Treasure Island (TI)...... 894-7111...... 800-944-7444 SINGLE ISSUE: Call to order—$5us hard copy Tropicana...... 739-2222...... 800-634-4000 (First-class postage included. Current issue un- Tuscany...... 893-8933...... 877-887-2261 less otherwise specified. Member Rewards book ...... 590-2767...... 866-745-7767 Venetian...... 414-1000...... 877-883-6423 is not included.) Waldorf Astoria...... 590-8888...... 800-925-3673 * The LVA Member Rewards book is available ONLY Westin ...... 567-6000 Las Vegas Ad- ...... 836-5900...... 800-937-8461 with a paid one-year subscription to the ...... 732-5111...... 800-732-7117 visor newsletter. No exceptions. Restricted to one per Wild Wild West (Days Inn)...... 740-0000...... 800-777-1514 person and two per household, per year. Wildfire...... 648-3801 ...... 770-7000...... 866-770-7077 July 2020 $5 ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisor

COUPONOMY by Anthony Curtis All Kinds of Different

In February, I was stunned when the casinos in Macau shut down com- pletely for 15 days. How could they do that? Vegas couldn’t, I thought at the time. Of course, Vegas not only could, but did. And not for 15 days. At 11 pm on June 3, while I sat in my office waiting for the casinos to reopen, Las Vegas had been closed for 78 days! The shutdown was epic, so I had to be out somewhere when the doors opened, but a casino wasn’t the best choice. To be at a casino would mean waiting in a line outside, as you would for a first-time opening. The better play was to be in a bar. The bars had been allowed to open a few days earlier, but they couldn’t turn on their machines until midnight on June 4. At 11:15, I headed for the nearest PT’s at Spring Mountain and Arville. What I found there reminded me of a mini-New Year’s Eve. Players were positioned at the video poker machines, all watching the clock. There was a countdown and a roar at midnight. The machines didn’t just light up all at once. They had to be physically turned on one by one and the players in the first seats were in action before the girls with the key could get all the way around the bar. Pent-up demand? Hell yeah! I checked the schedules. Yep, same old 6/5 Bonus Poker at PT’s. That hadn’t changed. But lots of other things had—most notably in that moment, the players were sitting at every second machine to comply with social-distancing mandates. It looked odd. I’ve been in dozens of casinos and video poker bars since then, observ- ing the changes. Every gambling location has the same goal: to conduct as much business as usual as possible, while minimizing the health risks to its customers. But they’re doing it in all kinds of different ways. Some casinos check temperatures at the door; others don’t. At those that do, the techniques vary. I’ve been checked in five different ways. This isn’t a scary or arduous process, by the way. You might have to cue up briefly to be scanned manually or hold your wrist up to a machine. At continued on next page Couponomy continued … some, it’s like posing for a picture. The best ones scan you from a distance as you approach. Not one of these involves being touched in any way. Some places offer masks at the door, but those that do are, so far, in the minority. Masks or welders-style face shields are worn by dealers, bartenders, waitresses, and even the dancers at the D and Golden Gate. Some casinos and bars have plexiglass barriers in place at the games. Others don’t. Almost every place offers free hand sani- tizers, often from convenient dispensers. Employees are con- stantly wiping down machines and bar areas. There are lots of signs with instructions about distancing and hand-washing. Heck, Bellagio has a wash basin right on the casino floor. Wow! Yes, it’s all very different— and that’s just the safety over- Photo compliments of Michael Trager view. Almost everything that has to do with casino activity, gambling or otherwise, has been affected by the events of the past three months. Specifics are detailed throughout this issue. n

Masks Mandatory

The biggest adjustment has come in the stance toward customers and masks. After reopening with no requirements that patrons wear masks, the rules changed. Masks are now mandatory throughout “in all indoor public spaces and in outdoor spaces where people might congregate and where social distancing of at least six feet is not possible.” Exemptions include children under 10, anyone with a medical condition or disability that makes mask-wearing hazardous, and people eating and drinking at restaurants and bars. What that means is that as of now, if you enter a casino, you have to wear one or you could be asked to leave. You can take it off if you sit down for a drink at a bar or are seated in a restaurant, but you’re supposed to put it back on if you leave your seat, even to go to the restroom. You have to wear it at all times when playing at a table or slot

Publisher: Anthony Curtis Web Manager: Tanya Maynard Contributing Writers: Jeffrey Compton, Bob Dancer, LAS Senior Editor: Deke Castleman Research Assistant: Brenda Stewart Stewart Ethier, Bob Fuss, Scot Krause, Bradley VEGAS Accounting: John Leitner Customer Service: Nicole Watchus Peterson, Blair Rodman, Jean Scott ADVISOR Production Manager: Laurie Cabot Shipping/Receiving: Matt Wondolleck Cover: Michael Trager | LVA Travel & TravelZork LAS VEGAS ADVISOR (ISSN 1064-167X USPS 008602) is published monthly and is available for $50 per year ($60 Canadian; $70 foreign purchasers) and $5 per single issue at 3665 Procyon St., Las Vegas, NV, 89103. Phone: (702) 252-0655 • Fax: (702) 252-0675 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Las Vegas Advisor, 3665 Procyon St., Las Vegas, NV 89103. e-mail: [email protected] • Internet: LasVegasAdvisor.com All information is current at press time. Listed offerings are subject to change at any time. Huntington Press ©2020

2 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 machine. It’s hard to remember sometimes, but after a while, it starts to become second nature. Depending on the mask, you can keep it handy by wearing it around your neck or sticking it in your pocket so you can put it on when necessary. n

Top Ten Overhaul

One thing we weren’t anticipating was having to replace almost half of the Top Ten. This month brings the biggest wholesale shakeup ever, due to deals that were previously in the list not being currently available. Removed are the Palace Station buffet, the $4.99 lunch at Ocean One in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, and the free photo at Binion’s. The shrimp cocktail at the Skyline is back, but the price has been raised from $2.25 to $2.95, so we replaced it with the 99¢ shrimp at the Fremont. Two return- ees are listed on faith. The Mac King show isn’t playing at Harrah’s, but tickets are being sold for shows starting July 14 (see Entertainment). OYO is scheduled to open on July 15 and we expect it will continue offering its $1 blackjack game. An out-of-the-ordinary inclusion is the Cosmopolitan’s Wicked Spoon Buffet. We’ve almost always had a buffet in the Top Ten, but there are currently only two to choose from. Of them, the better deal is easily Cosmo’s brunch, which has a format that we prefer and a price well below that of the second buffet at the Wynn (see Dining). n

July Room Rates

A big question has been how the casinos would market out of the start- ing gate. Would there be lots of deals? Or would things be tightened up in an attempt to make back lost revenue? One of the best indicators of mar- keting strategies is the price of a room, so we were particularly interested in what our annual July room-rate survey would reveal. As it turns out, the comparison doesn’t tell us as much as we thought it might. The main reason is there are only 83 casinos in this year’s survey compared to 94 last year. Hence, the tally of rates at or below the desig- nated price points is naturally lower. In all, we found 48 casinos with base rates of $50 or below, which is 12 fewer than last year. You’ll see that some of the rates are listed for resorts that don’t even have opening dates yet, so who knows how accurate those really are? Consider also that one of the casualties of the shutdown has been the LVA Travel Portal, which we introduced in December. The Portal will be back, but as of now it’s not operating, so what we expected would be a strong source for increased discounting wasn’t available to use. Following are this year’s findings. All are base rates and do not include resort fees. The lowest base rate was $16.80 at Golden Gate. Note that continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 3 Couponomy continued … these rates were available when we checked, but can change at any time— we can’t guarantee that you’ll get all of the listed prices. $20 and under—Golden Gate, OYO. $30 and under—Arizona Charlie’s Boulder, Boulder Station, California, El Cortez, Ellis Island, Excalibur, Fremont, Luxor, Oasis , Sam’s Town, Santa Fe Station, Silver Sevens, The STRAT, Tuscany, Wild Wild West. $40 and under—Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, Artisan, Bally’s, Binion’s, Cannery, Circus Circus, the D, Downtown Grand, Flamingo, Four Queens, Gold Coast, Golden Nugget, Harrah’s, , Longhorn, NY-NY, Pal- ace Station, Plaza, Primm Valley, Railroad Pass, Rio, Serene, Silverton, Sunset Station, Suncoast. $50 and under—MGM Grand, Orleans, Planet Hollywood, South Point, TI, Westgate. High End—Paris $52, Sahara $58, Mandalay Bay $59, Mirage $65, Delano $69, $79, Park MGM $79, M Resort $85, Vdara $89, Green Valley Ranch $92, Caesars Palace $94, The Cromwell $94, Aria $99, Signature at MGM $99, Trump $104, Encore $107, Wynn $107, Venetian $112, Red Rock $116, Waldorf Astoria $123, $124, Palazzo $127, Nobu $129, Bellagio $139, NoMad $139, Cosmopolitan $150. The high-end rates do tell a story. It’s here where some good discount- ing is taking place. An amazing 21 of the 26 casinos listed have lower rates this year than last. The best reductions come from a surprising source, MGM Resorts International: Bellagio and NoMad (both $30 less than last year), Aria, Mandalay Bay, and Vdara ($40 less), and Delano ($60 less). Big discounts are also in place at Wynn and Encore (both $45 less). The big- gest increase came from the Cosmopolitan ($38 more). We’d speculated about the possibility of short-term promotions that waive resort fees and they’ve shown up in two spots. One was the Sahara, but only for bookings made by June 30. The second was at M Resort, and this one you can take advantage of. M Resort is running a “No Resort Fee Summer” promotion that waives the RF on stays from July 1 through September 7. We expect more deals of this type to show up throughout the summer. Monitor “Vegas News” at LasVegasAdvisor.com for the early word. n

NEWS

Shutdown—The casinos opened as scheduled on June 4, thus ending the shutdown at 78 days. While most of the casinos are open, Nevada remains in Phase 2 of its recovery plan, meaning that things like nightclubs,

4 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 TOP 10 VALUES 1. Room Rates • Golden Gate et al. • $16.80 and up 2. Steak Dinner • Ellis Island • 24 hours • $7.99 Low summer room rates 3. Mac King • Harrah’s • Tues.–Sat. • $14.98 nab the top spot in this month’s 4. Hot Dog • South Point • Daily • $1.25 vastly changed Top Ten. See 5. Beer • Stage Door • 24 hours • $1 Couponomy for an explanation of 6. Breakfast • Arizona Charlie’s • Daily • $5.99 the changes and to get details 7. Shrimp Cocktail • Fremont • Daily • 99¢ and leads on finding the low 8. $1 Blackjack • OYO • 24 hours • $1.20 rates. The Ellis Island complete 9. Prime Rib • El Cortez • Daily • $12.95 steak dinner drops to #2, but only for this month to make way 10. Buffet • Cosmopolitan • Fri.-Sun. • $36 for room rates. Served 24/7 in the Café, get the $7.99 price by playing at least $5 in any slot machine with your club card inserted, then down- loading the required discount coupon from an EI kiosk. If you don’t want to play, you can get it for $9.99 ($3 off the listed price) just by download- ing a coupon from the kiosk that’s available to everyone with a club card. Get a ticket to the Mac King Comedy Magic Show and a drink for $14.98 by asking at the players club booth (#3). The hot dogs at South Point (#4) are sold from a cart in the sports book from 10 am until they close down the cart around 5 pm. Budweiser and Michelob Light in the bottle are $1 at the Stage Door slot house on Flamingo, just east of the Strip (#5); a ¼-pound hot dog and a Bud is $3. The steak or ham & eggs at either Arizona Charlie’s (#6) is served in the Sourdough Cafés for $5.99 when you show your club card, available 24 hours at Decatur and 6 am-mid. weekdays and 24 hours weekends at Boulder. The Fremont’s shrimp cocktail returns as the last of the 99-centers (#7). It’s served in the Lanai Express snack bar all hours except 7 to 11 am daily. OYO’s $1-minimum blackjack game (#8) runs 24/7 in the pit; naturals pay even money on bets of $1-$4. The $1.20 listed cost is your expected loss for one hour of play at these stakes. New to the list is the $12.95 prime rib special in Siegel’s 1941 at the El Cortez (#9). This deal has run for years, and pend- ing any post-pandemic finds, it’s our choice for the best 24/7 prime rib deal in town. Also new to the list is the Wicked Spoon brunch buffet at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (#10). At $36, it might look a bit pricey to be in the Top Ten, but as you’ll read in Dining, it’s the best of the current two that are available. As buffet choices figure to remain limited in the current climate, this shakes out to be a good vacation enhancer. Get it before they bump the price. day clubs, gentlemen’s clubs, brothels, and live sporting events remain closed. No timetable has been divulged for a move to Phase 3. OYO is scheduled to open July 15 and Station Casinos says it isn’t opening Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho until 2021, which leaves the following casinos continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 5 News continued … still closed and without specified return dates: Mirage, Park MGM, Bally’s, The Cromwell, Planet Hollywood, Rio, Tropicana, Palms, Main Street Sta- tion, Eureka, , Eastside Cannery, Fiesta Henderson and Eldo- rado. Circa—Previously slated for a late December 2020 launch, downtown’s Circa Casino-Resort will open with its first five floors of amenities and “Garage Mahal” on October 28, a full two months ahead of schedule. The resort will open with an unannounced number of hotel rooms, the casino, the three-story race and sports book, several restaurants and bars, and the fifth-floor “pool amphitheater” (open all year). It will also debut as an adults-only resort, and if the policy holds, it will be the only Las Vegas casino to completely bar underagers. Bellagio opened in 1998 with a no-kids policy, but the restriction was quickly lifted. The Drew—On the other end of the spectrum, the outlook for The Drew (formerly Fontainebleau) is cloudy. Construction remains suspended and reports have surfaced that non-payment to contractors has resulted in liens being levied on the project. Officially, The Drew crew remains optimis- tic, contending that they intend to complete the project. Allegiant Stadium—Construction on the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium, which will be the home of the Las Vegas Raiders, continues unabated. The roof has been completed and the exterior signs have been installed; the remaining work is now focused on the interior, including the implemen- tation of the “super flush test,” which entails the simultaneous flushing of all 1,430 toilets and urinals in the building’s 297 restrooms, along with the opening of all the faucets at all the sinks. Having passed that test and pre- sumably all others like it, Allegiant remains on schedule to be completed in time for this year’s NFL season (assuming there is one). The first event at the stadium is supposed to be a Garth Brooks concert on August 22 and the Raiders’ home opener is on September 21. People Mover—The Las Vegas Convention Center’s subterranean people mover, being built by Elon Musk’s Boring Company, is still seven months away from becoming operational, but there are already plans to extend the line. The first destinations will reportedly be Encore and , and there’s talk of the system running the length of the Strip to Allegiant Stadium. Everything’s preliminary at this point, but all three destinations could be in play by the start of the 2021 NFL season. Indian Springs—Closed since 2014, a small casino in Indian Springs (see box) has been purchased by Herbst Holdings and is expected to reopen under the Terrible’s brand. It will be a slots-only casino, also featur- ing a gas station, convenience store, and Bob’s Big Boy restaurant. Reno—Caesars Entertainment has announced that Harrah’s Reno, the first casino opened by William Harrah in 1937, won’t reopen. Harrah’s

6 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 Indian Springs Anyone driving between Reno and Las Vegas knows Indian Springs well. Forty-five miles up US 95, it’s the farthest little outpost in Las Vegas’ urban orbit, the place to pull off and regroup if you’ve run out of the city in a hurry (to beat the rush-hour traffic, for example) or want to take a rest stop before zooming into the rat race on your way back in. It’s also just outside the main gates of Creech Air Force Base, a center of unmanned remote-controlled aircraft and the aerial training home of the Air Force’s Thunderbirds Air Demonstration Squadron.

Reno was already slated to close—it’s being sold to Las Vegas-based developer CAI Investments, which plans (or planned before the shutdown) to convert it to Reno City Center, a mixed-use property—but was expected to reopen before the transformation was initiated. Atlantic City—Atlantic City’s casinos are allowed to open on July 2. The casinos must limit counts to 25% of capacity and masks are required for both employees and visitors anywhere in the buildings. Arizona—Then there’s the worst-case scenario, which arose in Ari- zona. After reopening in May, Gila River Hotels and Casinos reclosed its three properties in the Phoenix metropolitan area for two weeks, in order “to reassess its current safety standards.” Arizona has undergone a major spike in COVID-19 cases. Statistics—Nevada’s statewide gambling win was down—get this!— 99.6% in April compared to the same month last year. Statewide, the casi- nos won a piddling $3.64 million, after raking in $936.4 million in April 2019 and more than $1 billion each in January and February 2020. The only rea- son the state showed any income at all was a meager online presence from the poker website, WSOP.com, and mobile sports wagering on obscure sports. Expect more of the same in May. Of course, the story was the same for visitation, where the number of visitors plunged 97% from April 2019, all the way down to 106,900 from 3.5 million in April 2019. The number of convention visitors fell exactly 100%—down to zero from 530,000 last year. Laughlin saw 4,300 visitors, while Mesquite hosted 3,100. Airline traffic was down 96% to 152,716 passengers for the entire month, as compared to 4.3 million in April 2019. Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air carried 199 passengers into and out of McCarran, compared to 199,000 a year ago. Year to date, McCarran has processed 10.2 million passengers, down 37% from the 16.2 million in the first four months of 2019. By contrast, at least in terms of gambling win, New Jersey booked only a 68.9% year-over-year loss in April, due to its legalized igaming. The state set an online-gambling revenue record of $82.6 million, which represented 100% of the state’s gambling win. n continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 7 News continued … Sports Betting Scorecard

Lost in the shuffle of the COVID-19 crisis and demonstrations across the nation, sports betting in Washington D.C. went live in late May. Betting is mobile only, with lots of restrictions due to a law that prohibits betting on federal land. Physical sports books will eventually operate at sports arenas and bars. Careful here, the D.C. lottery is the only operator and it’s dealing -118 lines, as opposed to the standard -110. Bigger news came out of California, where a sports betting bill was taken off the legislature’s agenda, effectively delaying any chance of legal- ization there until 2022. The hang-up was the usual fighting between the tribes, card rooms, and horse racing tracks. Follow the progress of sports betting legalization across the country and track developments as they occur via our blog and map at LasVegas Advisor.com. n Presidential Lines Here are the current lines for this year’s presidential race from CRIS. Joe Biden is now the clear favorite to win the presidency at -160, with Donald Trump at +145. Kamala Harris is the -120 favorite to be Biden’s running mate, followed by Susan Rice at +400 and Val Demings at +625.

DINING Dining is Different

What’s different in the restaurants? The biggest change is simply avail- ability, meaning many resorts have only some of their restaurants open and often during restricted hours—Thurs.-Sun. only, for example, at Sahara’s Bazaar Meats. Many have abbreviated menus that might not include your favorites. Servers wear masks, but everyone’s used to that by now (the new mandate that everyone wear masks in public places had just come out as we went to press, so we haven’t assessed that yet). Tables are farther apart, which is a good thing for ambience. Many restaurants have gone to disposable paper menus. That doesn’t detract at all, but paper plates and plastic utensils do. You won’t run into this at the fine-dining establishments, but you will at many of the less expensive eateries and it makes a noticeable difference. The strangest policy we’ve run into required positioning a “bar buddy” (a tray that mounts onto a bar rail) directly in front of diners, not to the side.

8 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 We’re also finding that a number of restaurants have used the shutdown as an opportunity to raise prices. We’ll report upticks as we find them. n

Wynn and Cosmo Open Buffets

No one expected any of the buffets to open within the first month, but two have. First was The Buffet at Wynn Las Vegas, which opened with a “serviced” format. Diners order from a menu and wait staff bring “well-por- tioned” dishes to diners’ tables. Diners can reorder unlimited helpings within a two-hour time limit. What we don’t know yet is what well-por- tioned means. One of the best things about a buffet is that you can take tiny servings of lots of selections or big portions of a few. Are you gonna tell a server to bring you two cherry tomatoes or a full rack of babyback ribs? Almost everything about this format sounds like eating in a regular restaurant, only with all-you-can-eat privileges, but that’s apparently not the case. A longtime casino F&B executive commented, “It works! We used to offer that to our highest players club tiers. They could ask their server to get them whatever they wanted. The customers saw it as a huge service upgrade.” We also received a report from a group that experienced it during a practice run at the Wynn and they “loved it.” OK, but you’re pay- ing for it, too. Prices range from $36.99 for weekday brunch to $65.99 for weekend dinner, which are increases of $6-$13, depending on the meal, from pre-pandemic pricing. Reservations are required. The second to open was the Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan, which is using a different approach. Here you go to the food stations where servers “hand you your dish of choice.” The Wicked Spoon has always employed a small-plates format, where the portions are already deter- mined, so the experience should feel relatively familiar. For now, the buffet is open for brunch Fri.-Sun. only. Reservations are encouraged. And unlike Wynn, which jacked up prices big time, Cosmo has held the line on the pre-pandemic $36. As of now, these are the only buffets operating in any manner in Las Vegas. Even salad bars, e.g., the one that’s run for years in the California’s Market Street Café, are closed. But either of these methods, or variations thereof, can be implemented elsewhere. n

Mon Ami Gabi (and the CCC Fee)

One way to (possibly) dodge the virus is by dining al fresco, which, by U.S. usage, means outside or on the patio. There are actually dozens of outdoor-dining options in Las Vegas, but the number-one choice on almost everyone’s list is Mon Ami Gabi on the ground floor at Paris. Here you dine continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 9 Dining continued …

The Strip view from Mon Ami Gabi just above the Strip side- walk with a straight-on view of the Bellagio foun- tains. This is a really cool place to eat, plus the food is good. We had the French staples—steak tar- tare ($18.95) and French onion soup ($12.95)— along with a chicken and brie sandwich and a goat cheese appetizer. It’s a little pricey, but three of us with two rounds of beer and wine (see Entertainment) got out for $129 after tax. Not bad for an afternoon lunch at one of Vegas’ premier dining spots, though it could have cost a little more. Mon Ami Gabi is one of a few restaurants that are charging a COVID-19 Crisis Charge, which we’re dubbing the “CCC Fee.” It’s 4% tacked on to mitigate hardship caused by the shutdown. The explanation appears in small print, but the CCC Fee is simply labeled “Surcharge.” If you don’t want to pay it, you can have it taken off. The problem is, most won’t even notice, while others might feel sheepish about asking. Don’t. When we inquired, our server seemed almost grateful that we did. This fee is being charged in only a few places (the others we’ve heard of are Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in the Forum Shops and El Segundo Sol at the Fashion Show Mall), but keep an eye out for it. n

The Dog & Beer Promo that Isn’t

Slots A Fun remodeled during the shutdown and reopened with press releases touting a “Classic $1 beer and $1 hot dog special.” Sounded like a Top Tenner to us, except there’s a pretty serious problem—neither is ever available. The dogs and beer are supposedly sold from a cart at the front, but in 10 visits at different times during the week and weekend, it was never open. We asked a bartender about it and he said, “They’re open sometimes,” but he couldn’t say when. He also said the beer is served in a

10 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 little 8-ounce cup and it appears that the hot dogs are regular size—not the giant “porno dogs” that Slots A Fun was famous for. Kind of bogus. n

Secret Wings at G.O.A.T.

As we’ve written before, the food at G.O.A.T. (3805 W. Sahara) is a notch above most bars. They like to experiment and the menu changes often, but one constant is the KFC wings (LVA 2/18). You can’t go wrong with these, and now there’s a new version called Secret Wings, which are a little less crispy and brined in a secret (natch) seasoning. Both the KFC and Secret Wings have only five to an order for $6. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but these babies are huge and at $1.20 per, they actually rate as a bargain. Use your Member Rewards offer to get the wings comped for a $20 video poker play (double or lose for the comp). n

Dining Notes

Best Bites Price Increase—The price of the best chicken fingers in town at the two Crown & Anchor bars has gone up by $3 and is now $11.99. The price of the pork nachos at the Sporting Life Bar has also been raised by $3 to $17. Seed-to-Table—Dan Krohmer, chef/owner of local hot spot Other Mama and downtown’s La Monja and Hatsumi, grows many of the vegeta- bles he uses in his restaurants. He bought farmland and two greenhouses in Pahrump with a goal of eventually harvesting all of his own produce. n

Openings/Closings

The highly anticipated Mexican restaurant Elio has opened at Encore. It’s run by the owners of the acclaimed restaurants Pujol in Mexico City and Cosme and ATLA in New York City. Lotus of Siam has reopened in its original location in the Commercial Center at Maryland Parkway and Sahara Avenue. The second location on E. Flamingo Road remains closed for repairs. n

ENTERTAINMENT Entertainment Resistance

As expected, there’s been a lot of resistance to bringing back live entertainment. An example was the first attempt to resume concerts at the continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 11 Entertainment continued …

Fremont Street Experience. Press releases about the resumption of the concerts on the FSE stages went out in mid-June, but less than a day later, state officials put the kibosh on the idea. The canopy shows are running, but still no live entertainment. Bellagio’s Mayfair Supper Club took a shot with a scaled-down opening, then had to close when a kitchen employee tested positive for the virus. Cher, Lady Gaga, and Keith Urban all had summer residencies sched- uled; they’ve all been canceled. Neither Cher nor Lady Gaga have any Las Vegas shows scheduled currently and aren’t expected to appear until 2021 at the earliest. Keith Urban is still scheduled to play previously announced dates in the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in November. Also, the first pro- duction-show closing has been announced with the departure of Human Nature at the Venetian. As we go to press, only the Plaza and M Resort have announced fire- works displays for July 4. It’s a struggle, but that’s not to say the casinos aren’t trying. We did a call-around at press time and found that about two-thirds of Las Vegas’ 90-some shows are selling tickets for dates between now and August 1. They include Absinthe at Caesars Palace (7/7), Matt Franco at the LINQ (7/13), and O at Bellagio (8/1). Do we believe them? Not really. After all, Criss Angel MINDFREAK Live lists July 15, even though the casino at which it plays, Planet Hollywood, hasn’t even announced an opening date. Some, like Blue Man Group at Luxor, seem more realistic with its first show sched- uled for September 13. You can access the entire list of hopeful opening dates in our blog “Vegas and the Virus” at LasVegasAdvisor.com. n

Pools are Busy

Reports around town indicate that the pools have been busy, even though the big pool parties have been vastly toned down or absent com- pletely. Lines form as soon as capacity limitations are met, meaning there’s the possibility you’ll have to wait in line to get in, though you should be OK on weekdays. Admission at many is currently restricted to hotel guests only, though some of the party pools—Encore, Cosmo, MGM Grand—are accepting outside guests. For these, reservations are required and charges vary depending on how fancy you want to get. n

Bring ID to the FSE

If you go to the Fremont Street Experience, make sure to bring your ID. Some kind of new crowd control protocol in place includes turnstiles

12 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 at street intersections and possible ID checks. There’s no problem if you access the pedestrian promenade from one of the casinos. However, you risk having to show ID if you enter by crossing the streets from either the east or west ends. Since reopening, access to the FSE has been restricted to age 21 and over and security has been carding, regardless of age, at these entry points. If you walk across the street to the Plaza, for example, and want to come back the same way and don’t have your ID, you could be denied entrance. n

Strip Club Bars

While strip clubs are prohibited from operating as strip clubs, they are permitted to be open as bars. So far, we know of three that are. What’s kind of cool about this is you can get a gander at what these places look like without being besieged by the dancers. As you’ll see below, they’re selling drinks at reasonable prices and they all have great sound systems. Opening as a bar was a natural move for Play it Again Sam on W. Spring Mtn., which is one of only two topless clubs in town that has video poker machines (the other is Club Platinum, which isn’t open). It’s about as much of a bar as a bar can be, with no dancers in sight when we visited. A bottle of Budweiser is $5 and the machines have quarter 7/5 Bonus Poker, which is better than you’ll find in most bars. We’re not quite sure why Centerfolds Cabaret on Paradise opened. It was nearly empty when we visited, though we’re told they get customers later in the evening. It, too, had no dancers when we visited. A Bud is $6. If you happen to catch Deana behind the bar, she’s fun to talk to for her knowledge of the industry. The Palomino Club in North Las Vegas is the outlier—and not just by location. We visited on opening night and it was far and away the most interesting of the three. This place actually has girls dancing, some topless with pasties. There’s no lap dancing and all the girls wear masks and pretty much stay to themselves (they make money from tips on stage). There’s a $10 cover at the door and a Bud or Bud Light is $7. n

Bars and Happy Hours

Bar Canada has opened at the D. It’s located upstairs adjacent to the new sports book and features 15 TVs tuned to sports. One month since the closure order was lifted, some bars continue to be completely locked down and in danger of not coming back. Two iconic bars on that list are Sonny’s Saloon and the Hard Hat Lounge. Both long-tenured watering holes are located on back streets just west of . continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 13 Entertainment continued …

Sin City Brewing Co., one of Las Vegas’ first small-batch breweries with outlets in several casinos, has closed for good. At Mon Ami Gabi, a house rose is $13.01 and a Kronenberg is $9.70. In Uno Mas at the Sahara, a Modelo Especial is $8.67. At the Slots A Fun Bar, a draft Bud or Bud Light is $6.50. At Irene’s Lounge Spring Mtn., a draft Shiner Bock is $6. At Jackpot Bar and Grill, a Heineken is $6. In Bar Can- ada at the D, a Heineken is $6. At the Sporting Life Bar, a draft PBR is $5. At the Front Row Lounge, a draft Bud is $4. Note: The prices of the Irene’s Shiner Bock and Sporting Life PBR have been raised by $1 from pre-pandemic prices. n

Entertainment Notes

Pro Bowl—The NFL has announced that the 2021 Pro Bowl will be held at Allegiant Stadium (Jan. 31). Tickets will go on sale later this year. Booze on the Boardwalk—For the first time, open containers of alcohol are allowed on Atlantic City’s Boardwalk and in some other tourist areas. The order was put in place to aid in the city’s post-pandemic recovery and is currently slated to be active until November. n

GAMBLING Casinos Dealing Differently

Most of what we predicted to take place in the casinos has come to be—tables have player limits, dealers all wear masks (players now, too), and the touching of cards is minimal. Some places take it further. Dealers at the Sahara, for example, all have eyewear, either their own glasses or goggles. Many casinos and bars have plexiglass barriers. These are almost all player’s choice, meaning some tables or machines have them and some don’t. It’s somewhat claustrophobic having the plastic on both sides (see this issue’s cover), so players can choose to sit at games with or without. It’s interesting to observe the different ways the games are dealt to avoid players handling cards. We saw a pai gow game at the Gold Coast on which the dealer set the hands for the players. Once set, the player OK’d the decision or requested a change, then the dealer set her hand the house way. No one but the dealer ever touched the cards. We haven’t seen it, but we’ve heard that in some places, the dealers even bet the chips for the players, reaching over and transferring the desired amount to the bet- ting circle. Almost everything is being dealt face-up, with the exception of

14 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 baccarat, where the cards are disposed of after they’re used once. Three of our predictions, however, were wrong. First, dealers aren’t wearing gloves. Part of that might be due to medical information that’s come out discouraging their use, but it’s more likely that gloves inhibited the dealing process. Second, minimums are definitely higher. We’re see- ing lots of $5 casinos with $10 minimums, and on a midday walk through Caesars Palace, the lowest minimum was $25, even on roulette, with lots of $50 and $100 placards in place. Third is the number of poker rooms that have opened. Rooms are operating at Caesars Palace, Bellagio, Vene- tian, Orleans, South Point, Sahara, and Golden Nugget. The games were originally mandated to be four players max, but that rule has been relaxed to allow five players at most games and six at Bellagio, where plexiglass dividers separate the players. Bottom line: Throughout Las Vegas, regardless of the adjustments, dealers are dealing and players are playing again. n

Sitting Together

There’s a lot of confusion about the rules for sitting together when playing the machines at bars and in the casinos. Ultimately, it depends on the rules enforced by the place you’re in, but the general guideline is you can sit side by side if you’re related or if you live in the same household. Of course, in the casinos that’s assuming that neighboring machines are turned on. At many, every second machine is turned off, so there’s no getting around it there. One casino that makes it easy is the ever-clever Plaza, which has a designated area of the Omaha Bar it calls the “Couples Corner.” Also, toward this end, the Sahara has a table-games reservations program. This first-of-its-kind group-reservations system, created to allow “households and friends traveling together” to sit at the same blackjack, roulette, and baccarat tables, accepts reservations up to 72 hours in advance via the Sahara’s “Take a Seat” system at saharalasvegas.com. n

Gambling Notes

Table Games Gone—The Lucky Club reopened without table games. WSOP Online—This year’s World Series of Poker was postponed months ago, giving organizers time to create an online alternative. WSOP Online will start on July 1 and continue through September 6, with 85 bracelet events and a prize pool of $134 million, played across two gaming platforms, WSOP.com (players geo-located in Nevada and New Jersey only) and GGPoker (for the rest of the world). Satellites start as low as $1. As far as we know, this is not a replacement for the traditional World continued on next page

JULY 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 15 Gambling continued …

Series. Many of the usual events—e.g., “Colossus”—aren’t on the sched- ule, and the championship is only a $1K buy-in. Additionally, WSOP exec- utive director Ty Stewart said that he was “still hopeful to have a traditional WSOP late in the fall.” Better SuperBook—The Westgate’s SuperBook opened with a new video wall. When the former wall was installed only five years ago, it was touted as the world’s largest indoor 4K video: 18 feet tall and 240 feet wide. The new wall is the same size, but the screens have been replaced with new higher-resolution video, up to 30% brighter than the old screens, setting up the whose-is-bigger comparisons when Circa opens. Belmont First—Traditionally the third leg and longest race of horse rac- ing’s Triple Crown, schedule-juggling caused by pandemic postponements made this year’s Belmont the first and shortest race in the series (the dis- tance was reduced from 1-1/2 to 1-1/8 miles). Favorite Tiz the Law was the winner and will presumably run in the Kentucky Derby in September and the Preakness Stakes in October. Tyson/Holyfield 3—Despite the fact that Mike Tyson is 54 and Evander Holyfield is 57, there’s serious talk of a third meeting of two of the great- est boxers of all time. Holyfield won the first two fights, the second by the infamous ear-biting disqualification, but Tyson has been put up as a -300 favorite at the Westgate if the fight takes place. Election Betting Nixed—West Virginia became the first state in the U.S. to offer bets on a presidential election … for two hours. In a strange development, the WV Lottery Commission approved several election props, but then almost immediately changed its mind, apparently after discovering a state prohibition against gambling on elections that had been on the books since 1868. FanDuel offered the bets in the small window and reports that one wager was made and refunded. n

Video Poker Lost and Found

Same as the Long Bar, the best game at the new Bar Canada at the D is 8/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe (98.49%) in denoms from 25¢ to $5. The games in the Casbar Lounge and the Sports Bar at the Sahara don’t have good base schedules, but they do have progressive potential. After reopening, the 25¢ 6/5 Bonus Poker royal flush progressive was at $2,450 (100.26%) and the $1 7/5 BP was at $7,400 (99.93%). As these lev- els indicate, progressive meters throughout the state picked up right where they stood when the games were turned off in March. The Four Queens and Binion’s are running an excellent bonus-points promotion through August 31. Get $10 for every 100 points earned up to a maximum of $400 in free-play. It takes $8 to earn a point, so it’s $32K

16 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • JULY 2020 coin-in to get the maximum. This works out to a 1.25% bonus that appears to be paid on top of normal cashback and comp rates. Plus, there’s a $40 comp bonus at 2,000 points and a $100 comp bonus at 4,000. It takes twice as much play to earn these perks on 10/7 Double Bonus (100.17%), but lots of other good schedules, at the Four Queens in particular, include 9/6 Jacks or Better (99.54%) from 25¢ to $1 and 10/6 Double Double Bonus (99.96%) at 50¢ and $1. These types of promos can be tricky; visit the club booth to verify details before you play. Add PKWY Tavern to the list of bars dealing 7/5 BP (98.01%). There’s also a play-$100-get-$20 sign-up bonus. The two Crown & Anchors (“Big Crown” on Tropicana and “Little Crown” on Spring Mountain) continue to run their “Players Happy Hour.” The deal was increased from play-$200-get-$20 to $200/$25 just before the shutdown and that’s how it reemerged. You can play it once per day midnight-1 am, noon-1 pm, or 5-6 pm. Home Plate bar continues to offer its $20/$20 deal, good all day on Sundays. You just need to have a Gambler’s Bonus account, which you can sign up for at the bar. Bob Dancer’s free video poker classes are expected to resume at South Point, but a date hasn’t been set and it looks like the normal fall semester will be skipped this year. In the interim, be sure to check out Bob’s weekly Tuesday blog and the Thursday “Gambling With an Edge” podcast, with Bob and Richard Munchkin, both at LasVegasAdvisor.com. n WEATHER KEY dates JULY AUGUST Mean 90° Avg. Max. 105° Avg. Min. 73° 2–5 ASD Market—44,000 Pools: Currently closed by government order 6-15 Am. Poolplayers—15,000 Dry, sauna-like heat. Sun worshipers enjoy 85% 15-18 Off-Price Specialist—11,500 sunny days. 17-19 MAGIC—78,000 Attire: The skimpier the better. If it’s not mandatory, 26-29 Int’l Wireless Comm.—12,000 don’t wear it. 27-30 Magic Gathering Grand Prix—10,000 AUGUST SEPTEMBER Mean 88° Avg. Max. 102° Avg. Min. 73° 1-3 SuperZoo West 2020—20,000 Pools: Currently closed by government order 1-3 Nat’l Hardware Show—37,000 A very hot and wet month. Desert electrical storms 11-12 2020 Mr. Olympia—45,000 are spectacular but can cause dangerous floods on 11-13 MotorTrend Int’l Auto Show—17,000 and around the Strip. 15-17 IMEX America 2020—13,000 Attire: Summer cool, bathing suits. 20-22 Cosmoprof N. America Expo—35,000 24-26 Int’l Vision Expo 2020—12,500 SEPTEMBER 28-30 National Mining Assoc. Expo—50,000 Mean 80° Avg. Max. 95° Avg. Min. 65° Pools: Currently closed by government order OCTOBER Warm sunny days, mild evenings. It doesn’t get any 12-14 Convenience Stores Assoc.—24,000 better than this. 23-25 Live Design Int’l—14,000 Attire: No need for jackets or sweaters. 26-30 SupplySide West—16,000 ELV 2020 features dedicated sections on the exploding Chinatown district, Sin City’s top roster of steakhouses, and the flourishing French-cuisine scene, and more. Curtis takes you deep inside Las Vegas’ culinary culture, including his list of the city’s “Bottom 10.” This eighth edition of Eating Las Vegas has become the premier source for Las Vegas dining information. With reviews covering the entire scene top to bottom, EATING from the Strip’s most lavish dining rooms LAS VEGAS to hole-in-the-wall ethnic gems, this 2020 volume puts the city’s entire extraordinary 2020 dining experience in your hands. Full-Color • $11.96 +S&H

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