I’m always looking forward in life and in Las Vegas. Dealing with the current moment and what’s ahead makes life easier to handle than wallowing in the past. For example, I don’t get too worked up over fees, drink monitoring systems, and general rising prices on the Vegas Strip. Businesses are allowed to make decisions on how they make money. Likewise, I’m not being forced to spend my money with those businesses. I just need to know what’s happening so I know how to deal with the situation.
Rising Resort Fees
Last week we updated the parking fees on the Vegas Strip to account for the new fees at MGM Resorts properties. Well, this week I had to update the Vegas Strip resort fees section because Caesars Entertainment decided to increase those fees at all of their Vegas Strip hotels.
While updating the Caesars properties, I decided to look at resort fees for the other hotels on the Vegas Strip. It turns out that every casino-hotel on the Vegas Strip raised resort fees since we last updated the list in 2017. There is one exception to the higher resort fees on the Vegas Strip. The Best Western at Casino Royale still doesn’t charge a resort fee.
Keep an eye on Total Rewards promotions and news. Reaching Diamond level means that you don’t have to pay resort fees. If you stay at Caesars Palace for a week, the resort fees alone will cost approximately $300.
Related: Caesars Total Rewards | Everything You Need To Know
The MSG Sphere Is Las Vegas
Another complaint I hear fairly often is that Las Vegas doesn’t have the quirky aesthetic it used to have. Welcome the MSG Sphere. The giant ball is the arena that’s being planned for behind The Venetian and The Palazzo. While it isn’t the reinvention of another landmark from around the world, it’s certainly a unique building design.
Construction on the 18,000 capacity arena is scheduled to begin during the second half of 2018. The venue should be open by late 2020. The arena is being designed specifically to have perfect audio. While it isn’t intended to be home for a sports team, they are planning to be able to configure the venue for fights (boxing and MMA) and esports.
I don’t know that they’ll ever host an event that I’m personally interested in seeing, but the specs are genuinely intriguing. Externally it’s looking interesting and the audio specs seem second to none. USA Today has a really detailed look at the MSG Sphere. You can read about the design here and watch a video here.
Steve Wynn Steps Down From Wynn Resorts
Steve Wynn has resigned as CEO at Wynn Resorts. Eric (Blackjacker1979) wrote a good article looking back at the Steve Wynn kingdom earlier this week. The future is uncertain for the casinos but according to Bloomberg there haven’t been an extraordinary number of cancellations. In the same article MGM Resorts CEO, Jim Murren, says that he doesn’t expect anyone to buy Wynn Resorts.
Plans haven’t been scrapped for Paradise Park or Wynn West yet, although the working name of the latter will probably change. The concern I’ve heard most is concern about the design of future projects. Keep your eye on Roger Thomas. He’s been integral in designing everything Wynn has had a vision for. Get to know Roger Thomas here.
Las Vegas Lights
The Las Vegas Lights Football Club unveiled their jersey’s last week and had their first exhibition match this weekend at Cashman Field. The USL (minor league) team played the Montreal Impact from the MLS (major league). They will share the stadium with the Las Vegas 51’s before the AAA baseball team moves to Summerlin.
The first regular season game is March 24 against the Reno 1868 Football Club. Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased here. Seems like a good deal if you like soccer. I’m not a big soccer fan, so I’ll wait for word of mouth before deciding if I need to check out a game.
Las Vegas Aces Release Schedule
While I’m writing about sports, I should mention that the Las Vegas Aces released their schedule this week. The first home game at Mandalay Bay is on May 27 versus the Seattle Storm. Today I learned that Sue Bird is still playing with the Storm. This is her 14th season.
Downtown Las Vegas Quick(ish) Hits
The city is planning to upgrade Las Vegas Boulevard in downtown Las Vegas around Zappos HQ, Cashman Field, and the Neon Museum. Work begins in two years so don’t expect to see anything soon. See and read more here.
The City of Las Vegas is asking for almost $10 million to upgrade the Fremont Street Experience. They’re looking to make this a total upgrade from the ground to the canopy above. Somehow, they think adding more Viva Vision shows during the day is a good idea. I’ll just stay at Pizza Rock longer, TYVM. Read more here.
If you’re looking for the best blackjack in downtown Las Vegas I think there’s one casino you should avoid. “Binion’s has the worst blackjack in all of downtown Las Vegas.” The returns seem to be similar to last year at most other downtown casinos. You can see the house edge for every blackjack game in downtown Las Vegas here.
There were approximately 8,000 people at the Super Bowl party at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center across the street from The D. That’s a lot of people and a good segue to quick hits for the week.
Quick Hits
Since everything happening in Las Vegas there are no leftovers. However, here’s some more news that remains. Speaking of the Super Bowl…
- Nevada saw a record amount of money wagered on the Super Bowl. Sadly, casinos barely made any money holding less than 1% of the money. Thankfully, none of it was mine. Go Eagles! Read more here.
- The new Nacho Daddy will have bartop gambling! Tacos, beer, and video poker. That’s what’s up. Read more here.
- Nothing new here but Harrah’s revealed that they’ve completed upgrades that were finished last year. Read the press release here.
- One of my favorite comedians, Chris D’Elia, will be appearing at The Mirage as part of Aces of Comedy. Read more here.
- Mandalay Bay is renumbering some of the floors. Read more here.
- The auction for Lucky Dragon was postponed. Interesting to note that Derek Stevens was sniffing around the original auction date. Read more here.
- Vegas Uncork’d returns on May 10. Read more here.
- Wizard of Odds did the math to figure out the house edge for Fortune Cup. Read more here.
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