Vegas News April 12, 2020
Casino Players Club Updates
The local Las Vegas news is usually a waste of time for me. They typically have 3-5 minutes of local news before going to national news, weather and human interest stories. I don’t watch the local news often because 95% isn’t interesting to me. Don’t get me wrong – I love that I live in a sleepy town like Las Vegas. (Unbelievably, we still have a number of weekly items to share, including details today about the casino players club updates.)
However, in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, they did a decent job covering the local news on the topic. This week, I lost my mind a little when I heard the Governor announce the closure of public pools. Walking through parks almost daily everything seems closed. I guess not. This week public pools, disk golf courses, tennis, pickleball, handball and bocce ball courts, and more were officially closed. Who was swimming in public pools?! Private golf courses were also closed and religious gatherings were limited. You can read more about that here.
I made my daily visit to a local coffee shop over the weekend and noticed more people out than recent trips out. Once again, I grabbed my Saturday coffee at Sambalatte. The businesses at Boca Park weren’t close to as busy as usual but there were certainly more people out. Even Sambalatte had people milling around waiting for fancy coffee drinks. I haven’t seen anyone standing around the coffeeshop in recent weeks.
Las Vegas isn’t back to a new normal but the nicer weather is certainly inviting to the locals. I enjoyed a good 10 minutes on the concrete bench outside of Sambalatte before taking a lap around the lot and heading back home. The photo of the parking lot above is from the bench next to Sambalatte.
Re-opening Las Vegas
Las Vegas wasn’t even officially closed before people started asking me when it’s going to be back to normal. We won’t really know until Governor Sisolak allows the casinos and non-essential businesses to open again. At that point, each company will decide when re-opening is right for themselves.
I still don’t feel entirely comfortable speculating about this topic but I’m getting closer. There are so many people out of work that it felt wrong to give any hope that’s not official.
I stopped sharing the dates that casinos have open for reservations. Just sharing that news is giving false hope. This information is just information. The businesses are just taking reservations for the day after the current closure date given by the Governor. They’ll keep moving these dates as often as they need to. The worst-case scenario for the casino is that they have to cancel the reservation.
This week Jeff Hwang wrote a pretty well-balanced article this week about re-opening the Vegas Strip. Regardless if he has a right or wrong take on the subject, he’s an excellent writer that covers a lot of angles in this and previous articles for Motley Fool. I’ve since seen a few similar articles and am finally putting some thought into the topic.
ZorkCast Live Webcast – 1 April 2020
Watch the replay on YouTube
Next LIVE Episode – April 15, 2020
This week’s guests (15th April 2020) on the LIVE SHOW (with interactive Q&A) will include:
✅Heather Ferris, CEO & Founder Vegas-Aces
✅Eric Rosenthal, teaches people how to travel for free and maximize value for your gambling dollar.
✅Timothy Lawson, One of the hosts and the creator of The Bettor Life podcast.
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On last week’s chat, I mentioned that there’s probably going to be a difference on re-opening between locals (and downtown) casinos and casinos on the Vegas Strip. Based on nothing official – I feel more confident of that than ever that off-Strip casinos will open before all of the Vegas Strip casinos.
Hwang touches on the differences between locals and tourists in depth so I won’t dive too deep into this. Containing coronavirus locally is one thing and having money and comfort to travel to Las Vegas are very different.
There Is A Lot To Speculate On
All casinos are going to have to do a lot of things to ensure customers feel comfortable to return. However, locals appear more inclined to visit businesses they’re familiar with.
Vegas Strip casinos have been so focused on business travelers – and not locals – that they’re going to have to focus on different customers that have to be comfortable enough to fly or drive before spending money and sleeping in a strange hotel room.
There’s a lot more to speculate on and discuss but I’d rather wait until we have some solid information. I’m writing this really just to get ready for the re-opening of Las Vegas. I highly encourage everyone to read Hwang’s article. There’s some good information there whether you agree or disagree.
Vegas Entertainment Quick Hits
Entertainers around the world are sharing their skills from the comfort and safety of their homes. Las Vegas entertainers are no different. Here are a few more ways to get some Vegasy entertainment at home.
- Before I get to the actual entertainers, I found something useful and somewhat fun for anyone that misses Las Vegas. The Las Vegas tourism board posted a bunch of images you can use for your Zoom conferences. Check them out here.
- Talent from the Mayfair Supper Club at Bellagio is using Instagram to keep people entertained. Read more here.
- The Greenspun Media Group launched “Vegas at Home” with entertainment from a variety of performers. Read more here.
- Big Elvis from Harrah’s is entertaining you on Facebook. Read more here.
- Golden Entertainment (owners of The Strat) have online video poker and slot tournaments if you get bored. Read more here.
- Penn & Teller are part of a magic thing. Read more here.
MGM Resorts’ M Life Casino Players Club Update
If you’re an M Life Rewards member you probably received an email with updates on the players club. The image above is a screenshot of the important parts of the casino players club update. Below is just a quick version:
- Tier status extended through January 31, 2022
- Point earning period changed to January 1 – December 31
- Point & Express Comps won’t expire until September 30
- Offers will all be rescheduled
Station Casinos Boarding Pass Casino Players Club Update
If you’re a Station Casinos Boarding Pass member you probably received an email with updates on the players club. The image above is a screenshot of the important parts. Below is just a quick version:
- Boarding Pass point expiration has been paused
- Tier status will remain unchanged
Quick Hits – Vegas News
As I mentioned last week, we’re slowly getting back to news emanating from Las Vegas. Here are some more Vegas news nuggets to keep you entertained while you watch more TV.
- Two things of note here: Blackstone might have a problem selling the Cosmopolitan. They’ve also done a great job turning around the casino that didn’t make money before they purchased it. Read more here.
- Unrelated, the Cosmopolitan is dropping a lawsuit against a hockey player. Read more here.
- There’s a new casino coming to Nevada! Read more here.
- A dude from Chicago won the Food Network’s Vegas Chef Prizefight. He’ll be the chef at the new Flamingo Steakhouse when it opens. Read more here.
- This should be useful for future visits unless you live in Nevada. Circa Sports will soon allow mobile deposits and withdrawals. Details soon.
- MGM Resorts shows are canceled until June 1. Read more here.
- The owner of the Golden Nugget (and Landry’s and the Houston Rockets) seems to be in bad shape financially. Read more here.
- The newspaper is writing about the soccer stadium that won’t be built again. This must mean there’s another train story in the works. We’re almost back to normal! Read more here.
- I’m not sure why, but Wynn expects a revenue decrease. Read more here.
- On a related Vegas News note, Tony Rodio from Caesars says the company was on its way to one of its best quarters ever until March. You can see his message below.
