Happy New Year! The last week of the year is traditionally the busiest of the year in Las Vegas. Officials expect that there were somewhere between 300,000 and 350,000 people on the Vegas Strip celebrating the end of 2016 and beginning of 2017. News and visitation don’t usually meet together. Even though there were a lot of people in Las Vegas, there wasn’t too much news looking forward into the new year.
Power Outage At Rio
Beyond the bankruptcy issues, this is been a bad year for Caesars Entertainment. You may remember that there was a power outage at Paris Las Vegas earlier this year. Hotel guests during a busy convention period were displaced and had to be moved to other properties.
Well, last week Caesars had an accident at another hotel at a busy time of the year. This time the accident took place at the Rio All-Suite Hotel. A sink in on of the service areas overflowed and shorted a fuse in the Masquerade Tower’s power system.
Approximately 400 people had to be moved into other Caesars properties. It looks as though many of the rooms will remain closed during the first few days of the new year.
Gas Leak at Linq
There was a gas leak at The Linq shopping promenade on December 30th. The casino and hotel weren’t affected but many of the restaurants in the promenade were closed. You can read the statement here.
It’s long been discussed that Caesars doesn’t maintain their properties with the high level of care some other casino operators in Las Vegas do. Years of neglect might be catching up with the company. Even though some hotel rooms are being renovated the unsexy non-revenue generating areas in their buildings haven’t received an upgrade. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see these types of accidents to continue in 2017. These accidents are something to keep in mind when choosing a hotel room.
Virtual Reality Lounge At Caesars Palace
The problems that maintenance teams may be experiencing at Caesars haven’t spilled over to the marketing department. Last week Caesars Palace Las Vegas introduced Las Vegas’ first Virtual Reality Lounge at the Alto Bar (formerly Seahorse Lounge). Oculus Rift and Touch provides you with the ability to manipulate objects and gameplay elements in virtual reality. The VR section of the bar is only open from 4 pm to 2 am for a limited time.
I know one person that tried this out and he really enjoyed it.The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) takes place in Las Vegas from Thursday, January 5 through Sunday, January 8 and there should be more new tech experiences in Las Vegas for the next couple of weeks. Hundreds of tech companies will be on hand showing off their newest products. Some of them should make it out to the public to test drive.
Cosmopolitan Might Be Taking Over Sports Book
Gaming Today is reporting that the Cosmopolitan wants to cancel their deal with CG Technology (current sports book operator) and operate the sportsbook themselves. The article says that CG Technology has filed a lawsuit disputing the lease termination notices they received from the Cosmopolitan. CG Technology has a lease that goes through 2025.
It’s interesting to note that Station Casinos seems perfectly fine letting CG Technology keep their lease and operate their sports book at the Palms. This is the only sports book at a Station Casinos property that they don’t operate.
The new sports book at the Cosmopolitan is beautiful and fits the aesthetic of the casino. I follow the sports betting industry closely and haven’t heard about this anywhere else. I’m sure we’ll hear more about this situation soon.
So Long 2016
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