It’s a very special holiday edition of Vegas News! Since I’m writing this during one of the holidays, there will be a little less opinion and observation than usual.

Hotel and Casino News

Boyd Gaming Grows

Their purchase of Cannery Casinos was made official last week. This year Boyd added Cannery Casino, Eastside Cannery, and Aliante to their roster of Las Vegas hotel-casinos. Add these three properties to the B-Connected players club and you have a single players club with ten Off-Strip properties. If you’re tired of the business practices of the casino corporations on the Vegas Strip you might want to explore Boyd, Station or some of the individually operated casinos away from the action. I wrote a little more about it here.

Circus Circus Is The Most Popular Hotel In Las Vegas

The nicest casinos in Las Vegas aren’t always the most popular. In fact, for the majority of people visiting Las Vegas they’re not. Travelers are always looking for a bargain and the luxury resorts rarely offer great deals for the masses. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a survey by Expedia for USA Today shows that Circus Circus is the most popular hotel-casino in Las Vegas.

All You Can Drink At Downtown Grand Next Week For $35 A Day

If you’re in Las Vegas for New Year’s Eve and looking for a deal on booze you might want to spend some time in Downtown Las Vegas. Downtown Grand will have a $35 deal for all you can drink each day starting noon from December 29 until noon January 2. Details are sparse but I suspect that you’ll be drinking macro-American beer (Miller, Bud, Coors) and well drinks. The Las Vegas Review-Journal has a little more information.

MGM Resorts International Won’t Extend Free Parking For Locals

I don’t know where the traffic for TravelZork comes from, but I assume most of you reading this are not from Las Vegas. If you happen to be from Las Vegas, beginning Wednesday you’ll have to pay for parking just like non-residents have been paying all year. You can find the MGM Resorts International fees here. The Las Vegas Sun has a guide if you’re not familiar with who’s charging what for parking on the Vegas Strip.

Caesars and Starwood Ending Partnership

For some reason, this partnership wasn’t talked about much by the Caesars or Starwood customers I know. According to a post on the FlyerTalk, this partnership will cease to exist at the end of the year. Of course, Total Rewards customers will still have offers and rewards from the Caesars Entertainment loyalty club.

Hyatt Changing Loyalty Program Next Year

MGM Resorts’ Mlife Rewards has a pretty sweet partnership with Hyatt Gold Passport. The partnership will continue next year but it will be different beginning March 1. One Mile At A Time has more information on the new World of Hyatt loyalty program.

In The Casino

Sigma Derby At MGM Grand Moving To Level Up

The new gaming area geared towards millennials be the new home to the vintage Sigma Derby game at MGM Grand. Even though this game is old, millennials love cheap gambling and Sigma Derby certainly fits the bill. Level Up opens on December 29.

World Series Of Poker Announces 2017 Dates

The WSOP will run from May 30 to July 17, 2017, at the Rio All-Suites hotel and casino. The $565 buy-in tournament, Colossus, has starting flights beginning June 2-4. The $10,000 buy-in tournament, the Main Event, has starting flights beginning July 8-10. Admission to watch the poker action is free.

Miscellaneous

The Vegas Strip Closes For New Year’s Eve

The Vegas Strip will be a madhouse on New Year’s Eve. It will be a fun madhouse with over 300,000 people enjoying the revelry and fireworks show above the Vegas Strip at midnight. Driving around the Strip will be a nightmare if you have a car. KTNV has all the details on the road closures.

Hard Rock Confirms Raiding The Rock Vault Rumor

Last week I passed on a rumor from Johnny Kats that the rock show will be moving to the Hard Rock. That rumor was confirmed by the Hard Rock last week. The show will begin in March. A lot of people reached out to say how much they liked the show when it closed at the Tropicana. This new home seems like a perfect fit.

Punk Rock Bowling 2017 Announced

Punk Rock Bowling will return to Las Vegas in 2017 from May 26-29. The music portion of the festival will take place in downtown Las Vegas. The main show will include Iggy Pop, Pennywise, Bouncing Souls, and more. You can find more information at punkrockbowling.com.

Norm Clarke Returns With New Website

Welcome back, Norm!

He says his new website will be “a hybrid of the Vegas Confidential column I wrote for 17 years at the R-J (Las Vegas Review-Journal) plus the sports and man-about-town columns I did at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.”

Visit his new website at norm.vegas.

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