This week Vital Vegas tipped us off to The Linq short pouring mixed drinks. This is useful to prep for future casino visits. A few years ago I wrote about the unintended consequences of drink monitoring systems at casino bars in Las Vegas. I don’t mind the practice because I usually play fast enough to not worry about getting complimentary drinks.

Caesars Entertainment Inc. has entered into a strategic investment in the daily fantasy sports platform SuperDraft Inc. According to a news release, “The investment complements Caesars strong mobile sports and gaming network by adding an innovative Fantasy Sports platform, further strengthening its pipeline to customer acquisition and retention for both online and brick-and-mortar.”

Breaking Vegas News: Visitation to Las Vegas and gaming revenue was lower in 2020 than in 2019. The numbers are in, and now we can put 2020 to bed. This section will be quick because I’d like to move on.

We’re coming up on casino earnings season. The quarterly earnings calls and reports are useful to learn about Las Vegas casino operators. The reports allow us to look back at the quarter. This quarter will also look back at the entire year of 2002. The calls offer more commentary as the casino operators look to the future.

There aren’t too many news stories this week, so I’ll kick this off with a personal story (hint: Cosmopolitan Vegas). Last week I spent a night at Circa to check out the hotel rooms and Legacy Club. I really enjoyed the day and night at the property. I love spending time in shiny new casinos, so that was a pleasure.

Most hotel operators, especially those in the hospitality world, are known for touting the word revolutionary. Revolutionary new designs, services, offerings, and amenities are all the rage in the PR buzz word dictionary for hoteliers today. Is Wynn Palace Design revolutionary?

This week seems to be a week of Vegas changes and more changes, potentially. We will have to wait and see how several rumors “play out.” There are just a few days remaining in Nevada’s statewide “pause.” This week Governor Steve Sisolak will announce if the same 25% capacity “pause” restrictions will continue.

The hotel at Circa Resort & Casino opened on December 28. We couldn’t wait to check it out but decided to give the staff a week to work out the kinks before spending the night. We are excited to share our hotel review and thoughts about Circa Vegas.

Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season treated you and yours well. You may have noticed we posted a handful of 2021 Las Vegas predictions on New Year’s Day. Many of the topics were speculative based on information I’ve heard from casino operators during their earnings calls. The first topic was not speculation; it was based on real-life events in the news. Coronavirus isn’t going away quickly, and Las Vegas will be slow to recover. Case in point – New Year’s Eve.

For a 10th time Gov. Phil Murphy has extended New Jersey’s public-health emergency, this time through late January. The order expires after 30 days if it is not extended. The announcement came as New Jersey’s second-wave surge has shown some signs of leveling off.

It’s a new year, and there’s a lot to look forward to in Las Vegas. There will be a lot of moving and shaking behind the scenes in 2021. On the front lines, the general population will continue to deal with the daily effects of coronavirus. Businesses, however, will be looking to the future. This brings us to our Las Vegas Predictions for 2021.

Another week of casino openings and closings in Las Vegas. Let’s start the week with an opening before we get to the “Mirage Closing” news.