There’s not much better than a week in Las Vegas without work. My summer Vegas vacation was really without a major flaw. Even gambling on the Vegas Strip wasn’t as awful as it’s been in the past. Thankfully, I didn’t miss any major news in Las Vegas while I was avoiding the real world. I’ll share some observations about Las Vegas over the next few weeks but today is for the Vegas News.
Power Outage at Flamingo and The Cromwell
My vacation at Caesars Palace Las Vegas ended around noon on Thursday. Table minimums at Caesars Palace were a bit high for the holiday so most of our gambling on the Vegas Strip took place at nearby casinos. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV Energy spokeswoman Jennifer Schuricht said: “A cable failure caused the outage.”
The power was out for three hours (2:30 pm – 5:30 pm) in the middle of summer. Thankfully, guests at The Cromwell only had to walk down a few flights of stairs to get out of the casino and into some air conditioning. Some guests at the Flamingo had to navigate more than 20 floors from their room to escape.
Power outages are nothing new for Caesars Las Vegas properties. Off the top of my head, Paris lost power for 12 hours in 2017. Rio lost power and had to evacuate the hotel in 2016. There could have been more but we’re working on a stream of conscious today.
These incidents at Caesars properties are just something to keep in mind when booking a room on the Vegas Strip. This could happen anywhere, but it seems to happen to Caesars properties every year.
Monsoon Season
Monsoon Season in Las Vegas is here! It’s more of a pain for Las Vegas residents that have to deal with downpours, power outages, and minor flooding but it’s something for everyone to be aware of. The rainstorms come hard, fast and are usually gone quickly.
The Linq valet area is a flood channel (see above video) and there’s always water rushing when there’s a storm. The city doesn’t see much rain so streets are slick and the drains clog easily so there’s often huge puddles or mini-floods. Some of the older casinos can’t handle the massive amounts of rain in a short time so you may see some ceilings with issues. Happy monsooning!
Travis Pastrana, Nitro Circus, and Caesars
Tonight Travis Pastrana will attempt to replicate three jumps attempted by Evel Knievel. Two jumps will take place behind Planet Hollywood but the big one will be on the Vegas Strip. The former X-Games star will try to jump the fountains at Caesars Palace Las Vegas. If you’re in Las Vegas you can see the action in person around 5 pm. If you’re at home, you can watch “Evel Live” on the History Channel.
Johnny Kats at the Las Vegas Review-Journal says that this event could be the time Caesars announces a Nitro Circus residency of sorts. He touts that a Nitro Circus production should take place at a Caesars hotel in spring 2019. Pastrana is one of the Nitro Circus riders but he won’t be part of this show.
Kats thinks the show will take place at the Jubilee Theater at Bally’s. Nitro Circus shows usually take place in arenas (like T-Mobile) or football stadiums. It’s difficult to imagine how some of the big air tricks (see above) will work inside of a small theater. Growing up with the X-Games has me curious to see what this will be like. We need big air!
WSOP Main Event Is YUGE!
Poker is back! The World Series Of Poker Main Event is the second largest in the history of the poker tournament. The 7,874 players are second behind only the 2016 Main Event which had 8,773 players. The 2016 tournament had the largest grand prize of all time. This year will be close but no cigar.
The Main Event at the WSOP has a buy-in of $10,000 and the winner will take home almost $9 million dollars. Second place will win $5 million and nobody who reaches the final table will take home less than $1 million. Not too shabby.
You can watch the Main Event in person at the Rio All-Suite Hotel for free or follow along at wsop.com.
MGM Growth Properties Acquires Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield, Ohio
There’s really nothing to see here. I’m sharing since many of us are interested in MGM Resorts business. Their REIT, MGM Growth Properties, purchased the racino in Ohio. Not much will change as the Hard Rock will continue to operate the Rocksino. You can read more about the real estate deal here.
Quick Hits
During vacation, I found a few different Quick Hits slot machines at Caesars Palace that aren’t at the casinos normally visited. I probably played them a bit too often but that’s okay. Quick Hits may not be the flashiest slot machine games but I’ve always enjoyed them and like to give the new versions a try when I’m slotting around the casinos. Anyway, here are a few more news dispatches from Las Vegas:
- Breaking: Taxi ridership is down 10% again. Read more here. In an effort to win riders back the taxis will boycott the Vegas Strip. Sounds like a plan. Read more here.
- The USPS used the Statue of Liberty from New York-New York casino in Las Vegas instead of the Statue of Liberty from New York, New York. Who’s having fun?! Read more here.
- The Taco Bell Cantina on the Vegas Strip has just celebrated one year of business. Did you know that 60 couples have been married at Taco Bell? It’s so popular that they’ve had to expand their party room. There are already 25 more weddings scheduled at Taco Bell for wedding season. Read more here.
- The Stratosphere might be adding some kind of bungee jumping. Read more here.
- MGM Resorts hasn’t announced the Britney Spears residency at Park MGM even though everyone in the world has heard the deal is done. Read more here.
- Norovirus seems like a bad thing to be at the Westgate. Read more here.
- A new beef jerky store is coming to Las Vegas. Jack Links is opening their second store in the US soon. Read more here.
- The massive Colossal Diamonds slot machine is one of my favorite ways to gamble with a group. The size of the game is so obnoxious that there’s no way not to yell at the game. Well, it looks like we have a new version of the game hitting casino floors and I can’t wait for it. Check out Colossal Stars below.
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