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ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisor September 2021 • Vol. 38 • Issue 9 $5

EXTRAVA- GANZA Pandemic survivor has WOW factor … pg. 11

CASINOS COME BACK STRONG Maybe that’s not a good thing … pg. 1

RADICAL BLACK- JACK New book from a blackjack master … pg 10

VAX PROOF Better ask … pgs. 12, 16

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COUPONOMY by Anthony Curtis Fading the Comeback

Sometimes you just don’t know what to root for. When the casinos shut down last year, everyone was pining for their return. Now that they’re back … well, things aren’t quite like we were expecting. Here’s part of an email we received last month.

My daughter and I went to Las Vegas in July for a conference. On Jan- uary 3, 2021 (during the height of the pandemic), I made a reservation at the Flamingo for July 10-13. At that time, the hotels were begging people to come with some very good deals. I reserved a recently renovated Fla- mingo Executive Room, paying a night’s deposit. Upon our arrival, we were informed by the front desk that our reservation could not be honored and we would get a lower-rated Flamingo Go Room for the same price as the Executive Room we’d reserved. In addition, we would be given $50 food and beverage credit for our inconvenience. We complained to the desk supervisor and subsequently to that person’s supervisor, but they wouldn’t budge. The position the Flamingo took was that my room was no longer available, even though I’d made a reservation months earlier with a deposit. I suggested that the Flamingo, with the crowds coming back, could now charge much more for the room and didn’t want to honor the offer they originally gave me. I received a nod, acknowledging that my assertion was correct. After much discussion back and forth and getting nowhere, we accepted the Go Room, which we found to be substandard and left after one night. I’m sure the Flamingo can somehow rationalize their right to change a reservation, but it’s a nasty ploy and just bad business. I can guarantee I will not be back. Caesars Entertainment and specifically the Flamingo should be ashamed of themselves, but I know they couldn’t care less. Right now, people are coming back in droves, so they’re ripping everyone for all they’re worth.

continued on next page Couponomy continued … This is just one example, but it’s emblematic of the whole Las Vegas scene at this time. What’s the problem? Success. The casinos are enjoying a boom at levels they’ve never seen before. ’s gambling win has been setting records in every succeeding month. Visitation hasn’t caught up, but those who are coming are spending like crazy. At the same time, expenses are down. One reason for that is a tighten- ing of marketing expenditures and giveaways. Another is that casinos and restaurants continue to be short-staffed. The former is bad. The latter is downright aggravating. In casino restaurants, for example, it leads to prob- lems with just getting a seat, especially on weekends. Then, once you get in, service usually falls somewhere on a scale from substandard to abys- mal. “No one wants to work,” they say. Yeah, that’s part of it. But how hard are they trying to staff up? Not very, I’d wager. From all appearances, the casinos are more than content to keep those payrolls as low as possible. More revenue and less expense—service be damned. The casinos—and analysts—are positively giddy with their bottom lines. So how does this affect the Vegas experience? Negatively, to be sure. How could it not, with short staffing, rising prices, higher betting mini- mums, tighter comps, paid parking, resort fees, and coming full circle back to the letter, customer-service apathy and plain old shoddy business prac- tices? How long can it go on? For as long as customers will allow it. How long might that be? Not very, I believe. We’re hearing a heap of grumbling and at some point, people will migrate away from the worst offenders (as is the writer of the letter) and possibly from Las Vegas completely. When that happens, competition will kick in and things will start to revert. In the meantime, those who don’t throw in the towel completely will just have to fade this “glorious” Vegas comeback. And keep reading your LVA—where you’ll still find all kinds of good things to see you through. n Another Parking Lot Falls

Talking about fading it, add the at Planet Hollywood to the list of garages now charging for parking in Las Vegas. This one is significant, because it was one of the few Strip garages to remain fee-free before the pandemic, due to its being connected to the mall. No more. The first hour is free, then it’s $12 for 2-4 hours and $15 for over four hours. Paid parking is now in place at almost all MGM and Caesars properties, along with the Cosmopolitan. n Publisher: Anthony Curtis Researcher: Brenda Stewart Contributing Writers: Jeffrey Compton, Bob LAS Senior Editor: Deke Castleman Customer Service: Paula Machado Dancer, Stewart Ethier, Bob Fuss, Scot Krause, VEGAS Accounting: John Leitner Shipping/Receiving: Matt Wondolleck Bradley Peterson, Blair Rodman, Jean Scott ADVISOR Web Manager: Tanya Maynard Production: Jim Guevara Cover: Bally’s 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©2021

2 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 Casino Comp Wallet

We don’t like negatives, so let’s balance out what you’ve just read with something positive. A new company called Casino Comp Wallet wants to court LVA mem- bers. We’re always open to that if the deal is good and this one is a pure freeroll. In addition, it could turn into something even better down the road. In a nutshell, CCW wants to bring casino comps to the masses through innovative offers delivered via a proprietary app. The company is embry- onic at present, so those offers don’t yet exist, but that’s where we come in. In order to get started, CCW needs to seed a customer base, which means getting people to download the app. Once they can show the casi- nos that they have customers, they can start making their deals and early members will be in a position to benefit. I’ve seen the plan and I think it’s worth being a part of, especially since it’s completely free to join. But there’s an even better reason to partici- pate. Everyone who downloads the app by October 10 will be eligible for a drawing to win a 3-night stay at Circa that includes a “VIP Experience” with super host Steve Cyr, subject of our book Whale Hunt in the Desert. That means a comped dinner with Steve (which I can assure you will be memorable). Fi ve such packages will be given away in the drawing. Since this promotion is brand new, there won’t be a lot of names in the drawing, making it a strong play from an expected-value standpoint. Not to mention the possibility of some terrific comp deals upcoming. To qualify for the drawing, hop on your smartphone, go to casinocompwalletraffle.com, and download the app. n

Radical Blackjack

Our new book, Radical Blackjack by Arnold Snyder, is a must-read for serious students of blackjack, but it’s also a fascinating look into the world of professional gambling that can be appreciated even by novices. In this excerpt, Snyder describes a situation where he and his wife, “Radar,” are shuffle tracking, which is essentially a form of card counting that incorpo- rates an analysis of the shuffling procedure in use.

Whenever we were on shuffle-tracking trips, we had room service for every meal. We rarely went to a restaurant, even though we were fully comped at all of them and they were great. One of the reasons for this was that Radar was mentally exhausted after two hours of tracking. My job, schmoozing the pit folk and shift boss, by comparison, was nothing. When we went up to our room after a playing session, she had to lie down in the dark for an hour.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 3 One time at the Aladdin, a female pit boss approached our table just as the dealer was picking up the cards on the last round of play. Radar had just told me we had a great slug coming up in the next shoe. I left to go to the men’s room. When I returned, Radar told me that the pit boss had started talking to her with tears in her eyes about the recent breakup with her fiancé. It was a tale of another woman, the feeling of betrayal, and all the while the boss was staring straight into Radar’s eyes. “She made it all up,” Radar said. “She just wanted to see if I would look away to watch the shuffle. I didn’t. I knew it was a test. I just sat there full of sympathy, agreeing with her that men could be cruel.” The dealer had already tossed the cut card onto the table and was waiting for Radar to stop whispering into my ear and kissing my neck. I figured we’d get no slug to play on this shoe. But Radar picked up the cut card, slid it neatly into the deck, and signaled me beneath the table to bet the max. I looked at her and said, “Aren’t you hungry? Do you want to get lunch?” She bumped my leg again to signal a max bet. “Let’s just play a few more hands,” she said. I put out three hands of $10K each and held my breath. The tens and aces just flowed out of that shoe. After a few rounds, she said, “Okay, now we can afford caviar.” n NEWS

Main Street Station—It took a while, but one of the last casinos to remain closed after the shutdown has announced an opening date. Main Street Station will finally reopen on September 8, and in news almost as significant as the opening itself, it will open with an operating buffet (see Dining). With the return of Main Street Station, all of downtown’s casinos have now reopened. Strip REITs—In the latest game of Las Vegas Monopoly, Vici Proper- ties, the real estate investment trust (REIT) spun off from Caesars Enter- tainment, is acquiring the entire portfolio of its closest competitor, MGM Growth Properties for $17.2 billion. Vici owns the land and buildings of 29 hotel-casinos and racetracks around the country, along with four golf courses, and now adds 15 MGM properties, including all located in Las Vegas (except Bellagio, Aria, and Vdara, which are leased back from Black- stone), but also several others around the country. Vici is also the landlord for Caesars Palace and Harrah’s and will collect rent from the Venetian/ Palazzo when that deal closes in the next few months. Altogether, Vici will own 660 acres of the . As big as this deal is, however, it will have almost no effect on the day-to-day operations of the major casinos

4 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 TOP 10 VALUES 1. Steak Dinner • Ellis Island • 24 hours • $7.99 2. Buffet * South Point * Daily. * $9.95-$19.95 The Ellis Island complete steak 3. Shrimp Cocktail * Skyline * Daily * $1.50 dinner holds the #1 spot in the Top Ten. 4. Beer • Stage Door • 24 hours • $1 Served 24/7 in the Café, get the $7.99 price by playing at least $5 in any slot 5. Breakfast * Arizona Charlie’s * Daily * $5.99 machine with your club card inserted, 6. Hot Dog * South Point * Daily * $1.25 then downloading the required discount 7. $1 Blackjack * OYO * Daily * $1.20 coupon from an EI kiosk. If you don’t 8. $2 Menu * Jake’s Bar * Daily * $2 want to play, you can get it for $9.99 ($3 9. Prime Rib * Ellis Island * Daily * $19/$38 off the listed price) just by downloading 10. Room Rates * El Cortez et al * $52 and up a coupon from the kiosk that’s available to everyone with a club card. Of the now 10 operating buffets in Las Vegas, the South Point buffet (#2) is the least expensive by far. Breakfast, which includes unlimited bloody Marys, is the best deal; show a club card to get the $9.95 price. The Skyline shrimp cock- tail remains at #3 after easily fending off a challenge from right down road on Boulder Hwy. (see Dining); it’s served around the clock at the main bar. Budweiser and Michelob Light in the bottle are $1 at the Stage Door slot house on Flamingo, just east of the Strip (#4); a ¼-pound hot dog and a Bud is $3. The steak or ham & eggs at either Arizona Charlie’s (#5) 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 hot dogs at South Point (#6) are sold from a cart in the sports book from 10 am until they close down the cart around 5 pm. Oyo’s $1-minimum blackjack game (#7) 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. Jake’s Bar at Eastern and Sahara has more than a dozen food selections for $2 each (#8)—and that includes tax—available all day to everyone, not just gamblers. Ellis Island’s prime rib tandem (#9) is our top recommendation for the best quality-to-price ratio on a complete prime rib dinner; available 24/7. While the price of almost everything else is going up, visitation is still below normal, so room rates continue to stay low enough to warrant the #10 spot. If you want to stay in one of the primo joints, there are some good bundled deals at the top resorts that you can access at LasVegasAdvisor.com. n involved, since they continue to be operated by their parent companies. Shooting Memorial—MGM Resorts International is donating two acres in the northeast section of the Las Vegas Village fairgrounds, near the corner of Reno Ave. and Giles St., for a permanent memorial of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. No designs have been approved yet, but a sign will soon be installed at the site announcing the future memorial. Project63—Clark County Commissioners have approved a proposed project for a four-story retail and dining space on the Strip at the south- western corner of Harmon Ave. at CityCenter. The shopping center, tenta- tively named Project63, is scheduled to open in October 2022. continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 5 News continued … English Hotel—Celebrity chef Todd English is the namesake of a new boutique hotel being built in the downtown Arts District. The four-story 74-room English Hotel is expected to open this fall and feature a Todd English restaurant called The Pepper Club that’s described as a “spicy, jazzy, loungey place with oysters, sushi, and the like.” — is finally moving ahead with its plans to build Durango Station, a 200-room hotel-casino on South Durango Drive near the 215 Beltway. Station has owned the 71-acre parcel since 2000 and the project has been on and off ever since. The casino will be 100,000 square feet with 2,000 slot machines, 40 table games, and a sports book. Construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022, with completion in 2024. No budget has been released, but analysts expect the new property to cost in the neighborhood of $400 million. Elko—The former Red Lion Hotel & Casino has been rebranded as the first Maverick Casino & Hotel. Maverick Gaming has acquired 24 “unique brands” and properties in Nevada, Colorado, and Washington and plans to rebrand them all as Maverick, Ace’s Poker, Dragon Tiger Casino, or Macau Legend. Cal-Nev-Ari—The tiny far southern Nevada town of Cal-Nev-Ari, located on US 95 between Searchlight and Laughlin, has been sold. A min- ing company called Universal Green Technology bought 550 acres in the area, including the whole town, for $8 million, which has been the asking price since 2016. Pennsylvania—Penn National Gaming has opened Hollywood Casino York. The 80,000-square-foot casino has 500 slots, 24 table games, and a sports book. Illinois—Though it’s expected to be a hot market, interest in building a single casino project in Chicago has been so tepid that the deadline for proposals has been extended from August 23 to October 29. MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, Sands Corp., and Wynn Resorts have all publicly stated that they will not bid. The primary problem is the high 40% tax rate, though competition from already operating enter- prises in Illinois is also a factor. Statistics—Nevada’s statewide gambling win was up 110.5% in June compared to the same month last year. The comparison was the first with a month during which the casinos had reopened after the shutdown. The win of $1.19 billion marked the fourth consecutive month that the win exceeded $1 billion, something that hasn’t happened since 2008. The statewide slot win of $868.1 million was an all-time record, eclipsing the former record set last month. The statewide quarterly win of $3.46 billion was also a record. Visitation was up 178.9%, with 2.97 million coming to town, even though conventions reported 0 for the 15th consecutive month. The hotel-

6 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 occupancy rate was up again, rising to 75.9%, with 89.4% weekends and 70.9% weekdays. Airline traffic was up 14.6%, with 3.8 million travelers in June. Interna- tional travel continues to lag, with only 53,000 passengers for the month compared to 327,000 in June 2019. It’s not just Las Vegas breaking revenue records. The American Gaming Association reports that revenue from commercial casinos in the United States was $13.6 billion between April 1 and June 30 of this year, beating the previous record of $11.1 billion set in the third quarter of 2019 by more than 22%. For the first six months of the year, the commercial-gambling industry generated just under $25 billion, on pace to overtake 2019’s record total of $43.6 billion. n Scorecard

Sports betting is now live in Canada. Arizona will begin taking sports bets on September 8; daily fantasy sports is also now legal there. Loui- siana is expected to begin taking bets at some point during the football season. Maryland was expected to do the same, but a series of delays has rendered that timetable unlikely. Follow the progress of sports betting legalization across the country and track developments as they occur via our map at LasVegasAdvisor. com. n DINING

Buffet Update

The Rampart and Luxor buffets reopened late last month. Rampart serves dinner only weekdays and champagne brunch on weekends, both for $29.99, with no discount for the lowest-level players card and $5 off for the three higher-tier cards. Add $7.99 for all-you-can-drink beer and wine. The Luxor buffet will be open for brunch only Wed.-Sun., $26.99 Wed.-Fri. and $29.99 Saturday and Sunday. That now makes 10 casinos serving buffets, with Rampart and Luxor joining Bellagio, Wynn, Caesars Palace, Excalibur, South Point, Cosmopoli- tan, MGM Grand, and Circus Circus. Westgate Las Vegas opened its buffet for breakfast and lunch in August, but then closed it “for a room renova- tion.” No word on if they’re renovating for a return or for the buffet room to become something else. Next up is Main Street Station’s Garden Buffet, which will open with the casino on September 8. The MSS buffet has always ranked near the top in

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SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 7 Dining continued … surveys that we’ve run, so people are excited, but we’re less enthusiastic. Almost all of the reopened buffets have come back in a diminished form and the hype from Boyd has been minimal for MSS, suggesting that it might not be in full form at the opening. Prices continue to go up. MGM Grand has raised the price of its week- day brunch by $2 to $27.99 and the weekend brunch by $7 to $36.99. Wynn has raised the price of its weekend gourmet brunch by $1 to $49.99. See our listings at LasVegasAdvisor.com for current hours and pricing. n Two More BBQs

Continuing our search for not-so-easy-to-find authentic barbecue in Las Vegas, another restaurant for which, based on reviews, we had high hopes was Bell’s Barbecue on Eastern Ave. at the southeastern edge of Hen- derson. Alas, Bell’s is another example of barbecue gone bad. The baby back ribs were so undercooked that we had to fight to get the meat off the bone and could barely taste any smoke. The brisket was below average, the baked beans could have come out of a can, the deviled-egg potato salad was an unappetizing bright orange, and the Caesars slaw with crou- tons was simply strange (you don’t want croutons in your slaw, at least we don’t). The pulled pork was the star of the show, but it takes some effort to screw up pulled pork. After all that, our $40 for two platters put Bell’s on the high-price end of the barbecue joints we’ve tried. Bell’s didn’t ring our bell. Talk about expensive. Blood Bros. Barbecue in the Famous Foods Street Eats food hall at Resorts World is about as expensive as it gets for barbecue. Blood Bros. is a Texas restaurant in a suburb of Houston where one of the partners is Korean. So the ribs, made with gochujang (a red- chile-pepper paste), aren’t what you’d expect. That’s not to say they aren’t good, ’cause they are; they just ain’t Texas (or St. Louis or Kansas City or Memphis). The brisket, on the other hand, is the best of Texas-style, expertly prepared and served. Most notable, as mentioned, is the price. Everything is a la carte, so the bill for three ribs ($20), three slices of bris- ket ($19), and a little cup of standard potato salad ($7) with tax came to $53.85. To put that into perspective, two slices of brisket at Blood Bros. ($12.66) cost nearly $2 more than the complete brisket dinner—with eight slices, slaw, baked beans, a half-cob of corn, and a corn muffin—at Ben- ny’s Smokin’ BBQ and Brews at Binion’s. In our book, good barbecue at a great price is way better than great barbecue at a preposterous price. n Longhorn Specials

We tried two specials at the Longhorn. The first is a new shrimp cocktail served 24/7 for $3.99. It comes in a tulip glass with eight medium-sized

8 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 shrimp positioned around the edge. It’s good for the price, but doesn’t challenge the shrimp cocktail a few miles down Boulder Hwy. at Skyline. Skyline’s is $2.50 less and we rate it better in quality. The bigger advantage, though, is you can order Skyline’s at the bar, whereas you can get Longhorn’s only in the restaurant. Since we had to go into the restau- rant to get the shrimp, we took the opportunity to try the 16-ounce porter- house special served daily from 4 pm to midnight for $12.99. It comes with choice of potato and a vegetable med- ley. It’s a good steak at a bargain price, but we prefer the steak specials at Jake’s and Mr. D’s, both of which come with a salad and are $1 and $2 less, Shrimp cocktail at Longhorn respectively. This is a typical report for the Longhorn, which always has intriguing specials at low prices, but they’re rarely exceptional. Plus, prices are higher. The “Monster” burger and the ham & eggs are both up $3 to $13.99 and $7.99, respectively. n Palm Power Lunch

Here’s one that you have to tip your hat to on price. The power lunch at the Palm in the Forum Shops at Caesars has been around a long time and has always been one of the best of its kind. When we reviewed it in 2013, it cost $25.90. Today, it’s $29. That’s up only $3 in eight years and the three-course meal with choice of appetizer, entrée, and dessert is as good as ever. Entrée choices are linguine with clams, shrimp bucatini, chicken parmigiana, and fish of the day, and they come with a side. A 6-ounce filet was also available until the recent price spike of beef and is now an additional $10. But even if the steak still cost the same, the chicken parm with spaghetti is the play. The appetizers are Palm salad,

Caesar salad, or lobster Chicken parm at the Palm continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 9 Dining continued … bisque. The desserts are chocolate cake, cheesecake, or key lime pie. It’s usually easy to get a seat on the patio where the people-watching is first rate. The Power Lunch is offered daily from 11:30 am to 3 pm. n

Molly’s Hot Dog

Molly’s is a slot house, similar to Dotty’s, Jackpot Joanie’s, Miz Lola’s, and the like. Several locations around town include one at the corner of Buffalo and Charleston that we checked out for a video poker promotion. Along with the good promo (see GAMBLING), we also discovered some excellent food values. A $5 menu offers a surprisingly good 8-inch pizza and breakfast sandwich with egg, cheese, and sausage. Bet- The Hot Dog Deal ter is the hot dog deal. The big hot dog comes with choice of chips for $1.50. The condiments are limited to packaged mustard, ketchup, and relish, but that’s the only negative and it’s available 24 hours a day at all locations. n Hot dog & chips at Molly’s

New Bagelmania

If you ever went to the original Siegel’s Bagelmania on Twain, walking into the new Bagelmania next to the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center might be a shock to the system. The place is huge, with a dining room, deli, outdoor patio, and bar, complete with video poker machines (see GAMBLING). This is one of those menus that has so much on it that it’s hard to choose among the breakfasts, sandwiches, soups, and other deli specialties. Breakfasts and the big deli sandwiches are in the $13-$16 range. Fish plat- ters (whitefish, nova lox, sable) start at $21. A dozen bagels are Lake Mead Benedict at Bagelmania

10 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 $14.95. We tried chorizo & eggs and the Lake Mead Benedict that was loaded with lox. Adding $2 upgrades for fresh fruit and a potato pancake with sour cream, the bill was $41.45. Not cheap, but it’s good grub and there’s a lot of it. Open every day from 6 am to 3:30pm, this is a good place for breakfast or lunch right off the Strip. n

Dining Notes

More Price Increases—The price of the “Gambler’s Special” prime rib when you earn 50 points at Downtown Grand has been raised from $8.50 to $9.99. The price of the giant ham & eggs at Norm’s Eggs Café (3945 S. Durango) has been raised by $3 to $12.75. The Wednesday chicken tacos special at Roberto’s Taco Shops has gone up from 99¢ to $1.29. SuperFrico—Spiegelworld, the producers of the shows Absinthe, Opium, and Atomic Saloon, will open Superfrico this month at the Cosmo- politan in the space formerly occupied by Rose. Rabbit. Lie. Superfrico will serve “Italian American psychedelic,” described as “recipes and traditions passed down by generations of Sicilian family cooks while taking fearless detours with ingredients and techniques.” Frico, by the way, is an Italian dish made from cheese and potatoes. n

Openings/Closings

Olives from Todd English has opened at Virgin Las Vegas. The Korean barbecue Kang’s Kitchen has opened at the Rio. n

ENTERTAINMENT

Review Extravaganza Bally’s Sun., Mon., Wed., Thurs. 8 pm; Tues, Fri., Sat. 7 & 9:30 pm $106-$184

Extravaganza at Bally’s has an interesting storyline. It opened on March 14, 2020, and closed the same night when the pandemic shut down the Strip. It was among the first to reopen in November, playing to the limit of 50 people, then 100 in February, 250 in March, and now to as many people as buy tickets. That’s sticking in there! Appearing in the venerable Jubilee Theater, Extravaganza pays homage to the “golden age” of Vegas enter- tainment, while the backdrop is high tech. continued on next page

SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 11 After the leading man gets fired, dumped by his girlfriend, and drenched in a downpour, all in the first few minutes, he offers his umbrella to a man who, in return, gives him a one-way ticket to Las Vegas. It launches a high-speed cross-country bus trip that showcases the interplay between the stage action and the giant backing screen. The multimedia specta- cle includes neon nights, Vegas landscapes, casino scenes, fireworks, even holograms of Elvis, Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe, and Michael Jackson; the segment with the leading man running along roller-coaster tracks is breathtaking. The production numbers range from fifties’ hop and a show- girl parade to mobsters and Latin. The soundtrack, likewise, spans the decades, from “Blue Suede Shoes” to “Rich Man’s World.” The Globe of Death with its three motorcyclists is a Vegas classic and the variety acts when we attended were the best ones from WOW—The Vegas Spectacu- lar, the show at the Rio from the same producer—a fast juggler with Fris- bee-like hats, an Italian “chef” keeping 10 dinner plates spinning to “That’s Amore,” a roller-skating duo on a tiny round platform doing spectacular stunts, and “America’s Got Talent” semifinalist Sylvia Sylvia performing various tricks with crossbows (WOW has reopened at the Rio, so some of these may have been swapped out). It’s a thoroughly enjoyable 85 minutes from start to finish, as it should be with tickets starting at $106. The Jubilee Theater is well known for hav- ing all good seats and the show is so big that you can go for the cheapest ticket you can find without negative effect. n

Vax Proof Required

While proof of COVID vaccination isn’t required to enter a casino, the chances that you’ll need it if you want to see a show or take in other enter- tainment options in Las Vegas are rising. For example, you now need proof of vaccination (in some, but not all, cases a recent negative COVID test is acceptable) at a growing number of venues and events, including Las Vegas Raiders games, the Smith Center, downtown’s Majestic Theater, the Life is Beautiful festival (Sept. 17-19), and as has just been announced, Lady Gaga at Park MGM. Recently, the major show producer AEG Pres- ents announced that it intends to require vax proof at its events as of Octo- ber 1. AEG’s presence in Las Vegas isn’t that extensive, but it operates the Theatre at Resorts World and, depending on agreement by the casino, could implement the rule for Celine Dion’s opening on November 5. As of now, vax-proof requirements are in place in only a small percentage of all the available options and usually simply wearing a mask will suffice, but the trend is almost certain to pick up steam given the FDA’s approval of the Pfiezer vaccine. Be sure to inquire about what’s required before you pur- chase tickets. n

12 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 Bars and Happy Hours

Sugarcane at the Venetian has happy hours daily from 3 to 6 pm and Fri./Sat. from 10 pm to midnight, with $6, beer and wine, $7 cocktails, and appetizers from $5 to $8, including $2 oysters. Aliante has at least one happy hour daily in Bistro, MRKT, or The Salted Lime. Hours vary, but most are 4 to 6 pm, with offers that include $2 beer, $4 margaritas, and $6-$10 appetizers. Victory Sports Bar & Grill at the Cannery has a happy hour daily from 4 to 6 pm, with $2 beer, $4 wine and cocktails, and $1 hot dogs. The performing arts venue, The Space (3460 Cavaretta Ct.), is running “Wine Wednesdays,” which combines live entertainment with a wine tast- ing for $25. The featured entertainer on Sept. 8 is David Perrico (see “Raid- ers Band”). The Bud Light Beer Garden has opened on the Strip between Luxor and MBay. The 130,000-square-foot outdoor venue is intended to be Party Central for Raiders games. Star Piano Cocktail Lounge, described as a “champagne cocktail lounge with live music nightly and lost Vegas glamour,” has opened at 3449 Sammy Davis Jr. Dr. at the site of the former Sonny’s Saloon. n

Entertainment Notes

Star Power—Lady Gaga will resume her “Jazz & Piano” residency in the Park Theater at Park MGM with nine shows, all in October. Journey will appear in the Theater at Virgin for six shows in December. Kiss will play a residency in at Planet Hollywood running December through February. Cirque Update—The Beatles LOVE at and Michael Jackson ONE both reopened in August. The opening date for KA at MGM Grand has been pushed back a month to November. Raiders Band—Longtime lounge performer David Perrico will head the LV Raiders’ house band. The 19-piece band will play at Raiders home games at Allegiant Stadium. n

GAMBLING

Football Contests

Like so many other things in Las Vegas, the football contests are back much stronger than last year, but not like they were pre-pandemic. The high-end contests are now bigger than ever, but the free-to-play contests

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SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 13 Gambling continued … are all but extinct. It’s just one more example of casinos not wanting to give things away or spend money on marketing. Shocker! Following is a round-up of this year’s contests. Last year, Circa stormed to the forefront of contest dominance by offer- ing two with a total of $4 million in prize guarantees and no money taken out of the pools. This year, they’ve upped the ante big time with $10 million in guaranteed prize money. A guarantee of that size requires huge partic- ipation and raises the real possibility of a prize-money overlay (see “The Elusive Overlay”). The “Circa Sports Million III Pro Football Contest” has a $4 million guarantee. The entry fee is $1,000 with a maximum of three. First prize is $1 million. “Circa Survivor” has a $6 million guaranteed prize pool with a winner-take-all-format and a $1 million bonus for going 20-0 for the season, using either the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or Kansas City Chiefs on the last selection. Maximum number of entries is six. Both contests return 100% of the entry fees, even if they exceed the guarantees. The entry deadline for both is September 11 (2 pm). In response to Circa’s ascendance, Westgate Las Vegas has made some key changes in the “SuperContest.” Most notable, it no longer takes 8% out of the prize pool and the entry fee has been reduced from $1,500 to $1,000, maximum three. They’ve also retooled the prize distribution to pay more places through a series of in-season mini-contests. Westgate’s “SuperContest Gold” has a $5,000 entry fee and all of the prize money is returned in a winner-take-all format. Only one entry is allowed. The entry deadline for both contests is September 11 (3 pm). Westgate has a third contest this year called the “Westgate SuperBook Pro Football Season Wins Challenge.” In this one you pick over or under season wins for all 32 NFL teams, so you have to submit a card only once for the entire season (nice!). The entry fee is $200, maximum three. The entry deadline is Sep- tember 9 (5 pm). After skipping last year, the William Hill “College Pick ’Em Football Contest” is back. The entry fee has been raised from $500 to $1,000, max- imum five. There’s a $1 million guaranteed prize pool. The entry deadline is September 11 (8 am). William Hill is also running “Pro Pick ’Em.” The entry fee is $25, buy four and get one free, with a maximum of 15 entries. This contest can be entered throughout the season, but the value of playing drops after each week, due to the diminishing chance of winning the sea- son prizes. Also returning after missing last year is the Golden Nugget’s “Ultimate Football Challenge.” It has a $1,000 entry fee, maximum three, with 3% withheld from the prize pool. This contest is unique, in that it allows picks from both the pro and college games. It also figures to have less compe- tition, though it’s hard to justify playing the only contest with a prize-pool takeout.

14 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 After running only “Last Man Standing Pro” last year, Station Casinos has brought back “Last Man Standing College.” Both have $25 entry fees; buy four and get one free; winner-take-all. Win both and get a $750,000 bonus. The sign-up deadline is September 11 (11 pm) for College and Sep- tember 12 (9 am) for Pro. Same as last year, there’s no big free contest from Station or Boyd, as it appears that both are using the pandemic as an excuse to dump them for good. Filling the free-contest void are Rampart, Klondike Sunset, and Ellis Island, all of which will have kiosk contests that you can enter weekly. If you play every week, you can vie for both weekly and season prizes, but since they’re free, there’s nothing wrong with playing them sporadically when you get the chance. That’s it as we go to press. We anticipate additional kiosk and possibly online contests showing up before the season starts. We’ll report on those as we find them. Also, be on the lookout for contests in other states with legal sports betting. n The Elusive Overlay

Every year at contest time, the talk of overlays surfaces. As we’ve explained many times, an overlay occurs when the amount of money in a prize pool exceeds the amount taken in. For example, if two players enter for $25 apiece and there’s $100 in prize money, that’s a $50 overlay (100%), since the entry fees add up to only $50. Overlays can occur when there’s a prize guarantee and not enough entries to meet it. This year there are three possible contest overlays—two at Circa and William Hill College. Before looking at the current status of these contests, we first want to warn that contest overlays rarely materialize. There are a lot of savvy players who understand how powerful it is to get an overlay head start. Accordingly, even contests that seem almost certain to be undersub- scribed miraculously fill up at the last minute. A good example is Circa’s Million II last year, which, with just a few days to go, was way below the number of entrants needed to match the guarantee. Then, like locusts, the pros swooped in buying maximum entries and the total smashed through the breakeven point with only hours left before the deadline. That’s the way it usually works, but not always, and this year it looks like the marks will be even more difficult to meet. As explained earlier, Circa has guaranteed $4 million in Million and $6 million in Survivor, meaning they need 4,000 and 6,000 entries, respec- tively, to hit breakeven. As this issue goes to press, Million has 2,232 entries and Survivor has 1,883. That leaves a long way to go, especially for Survivor sitting more than 4,000 entries short.

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SEPTEMBER 2021 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 15 Gambling continued …

William Hill needs 1,000 entries to get to even and at last report had less than 200. The shortfall here seems less ominous than Circa’s; how- ever, this contest is far less known and advertised, so it’s another good candidate to stay under the needed number. We’ll see how it turns out, but it won’t be a big surprise if a last-second rush materializes and they all get into at least the vicinity of the breakeven point. n

COVID Forfeits Are Refunds

With the possibility of COVID-related forfeits in both the NFL and NCAA this season, you should be aware of how that will affect bets. Most books have indicated that when a team wins by forfeit, it won’t count as a win on a wager, which will be refunded. In most books, this will also apply to sea- son over/under bets, in which case the entire bet will be refunded. This will occur even if a team has already locked in an over or under result. Hence, it could be a real bad beat for someone who’d have otherwise had a win- ning ticket or a miracle bailout in the opposite case. n

Gambling Notes

Venetian Jackpots—Two million-dollar Wheel of Fortune jackpots were hit in two days at the Venetian. The first was for $1.6 million on a WoF Wild Red Sevens machine, followed by a $1 million hit on a WoF Double 3X4X5X Pay machine (on Friday the 13th). WSOP Vaccination—The has announced that all players in the in-person tournament, which starts at the Rio at the end of this month, must provide proof of a full vaccination prior to registra- tion for the event. A negative COVID-19 test result will not be accepted. Also, under Nevada’s current mask mandate, all players and staff will be required to wear face masks throughout. Colorado Table Games—After more than a decade of being restricted to maximum bets of $100, Colorado casinos are now allowed to deal games with higher limits. Several new games have also been made legal, including baccarat, keno, and Pai Gow Poker. n Video Poker Lost and Found

The best game at the Longhorn is 25¢ 7/5 Bonus Poker with a royal flush progressive that has a 98.01% return at reset and hits breakeven when the royal flush is at $1,900.

16 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • SEPTEMBER 2021 According to the online database vpFREE2, Bally’s has removed all of its good schedules and the best game is now 9/5 Jacks or Better (98.45%) starting at $1. There are no 25¢ games returning 98% or above. You can now play video poker at the new Bagelmania at the Convention Center. The best schedule is 6/5 BP (96.87%) and they don’t comp drinks. So the schedules aren’t good and you can’t get a comp, but it’s the only place we know of where you can snag some authentic latkes while shoot- ing a twenty for lunch. Roadrunner Saloon at 921 N. Buffalo has a play-$200-get-$20 sign-up bonus. The best game for quarters is 8/5 Bonus Poker Deluxe (97.40%). Molly’s slot houses (several locations) are running a lose-$20-get-$20 promo on Mondays and Fridays in September. The best game is 7/5 BP (98.01%). The daily play-$200-get-$25 promotion at both Crown & Anchor bars has been discontinued. Bob Dancer’s video poker classes are not being renewed at South Point. There are currently no plans for a new venue. Bob continues to write his Tuesday blog and host the Thursday “Gambling With an Edge” podcast with Richard Munchkin, both at LasVegasAdvisor.com. n

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