Vegas News January 3, 2021
A New Year In Vegas
Happy New Year! I hope the holiday season treated you and yours well. You may have noticed we posted a handful of 2021 Las Vegas predictions on New Year’s Day. Many of the topics were speculative based on information I’ve heard from casino operators during their earnings calls.
New Year’s Eve In Vegas
The first topic was not speculation; it was based on real-life events in the news. Coronavirus isn’t going away quickly, and Las Vegas will be slow to recover. Case in point – New Year’s Eve. You’ve probably seen pictures of large groups of people celebrating the new year on the Vegas Strip from various news outlets.
My hope is that this isn’t a big deal but that’s probably wishful thinking based on events from the past year. New Year’s Eve was probably the last busy night in Las Vegas for a while.
I’m just guessing that there will be an increase of coronavirus cases in Las Vegas soon. If crowds on the Vegas Strip mean anything, the number of cases should begin to drop off shortly after the increase.
Last week we told you that the Fremont Street Experience was charging $25 for visitors to enter the mall of casinos on New Year’s Eve. After the Governor condemned the decision it was rescinded. The Fremont Street Experience was only accessible to hotel guests on New Year’s Eve.
The Plaza went ahead with its midnight fireworks show on New Year’s Eve. The casino worked with the city to close parts of Main Street so people could watch the fireworks while keeping a safe distance from others. Here’s a video of the show if you like watching fireworks.
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Covid Testing – Cosmo
While we’re on the topic of coronavirus, this week I learned that some hotels around the country are treating COVID-19 tests like an amenity or service for guests.
In Las Vegas, you can visit Reviv at the Cosmopolitan for a PCR test. The price for the test is $115.
Upcoming Cosmo Trip – January 2021
Coincidentally, I’ll be spending a couple of nights at the Cosmopolitan in a couple of weeks. I haven’t been to the property since June 4. I look forward to spending most of my time in the terrace studio. This was the first time I received a comp room offer from the Cosmopolitan and I couldn’t say no.
Unrelated to me, Wicked Spoon at the Cosmopolitan will be temporarily closing. Read more here.
Las Vegas Quick Hits
Quick Hits – New Year In Vegas
That’s enough of coronavirus in Vegas talk. This was a slow news week with New Year’s Eve but there are still a few useful news bites. Let’s get to it!
- The Venetian is hosting a World Poker Tour event. They’re also bringing back the Deep Stack Series that so many seem to enjoy. In the past, there have been so many players that there were overflow tables at The Palazzo. We’ll see how popular the event is this year. You can find more information here.
- While we’re discussing The Venetian, it’s owner, Sheldon Adelson, parked his yacht next to James Packer for New Year’s Eve. The Daily Mail – not the most reliable news source – seems to infer that the two may work out a deal for Adelson to be buying Packer’s stake in Crown Resorts. You can also read more about the rumor here.
- Evidently, people want to relocate to Las Vegas. I did that 10 years ago and can’t imagine not having made the move. Read/see more here.
- Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Visitation to Las Vegas was down. The most recent example compares November 2020 to November 2019. That’s obvious but I find it interesting that visitation was down 7.6% compared to October. The month to month comparison should spike up when December’s data is released. You can read the one-page Executive Summary here.
- The Las Vegas Sun has details about Marker Trax. This is the company that allows Ellis Island to offer cashless gaming. The Marker Trax website has more information about the product if you’re curious. I think we’ll hear about more Las Vegas casinos offering this or something similar in the future.
- The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas has a bunch of events for January and February. See what’s happening here.
- Vital Vegas has a lot of large pictures of a slot machine and exclusive information that a guy didn’t tip after winning $15 million dollars. Ooops, I shared the exclusive information. Oh well. Read more here.
- Henderson has been in the news a lot lately. The latest is that the Golden Corral buffet is closed for good. Read more here.
- There’s an augmented reality tree at The Venetian’s Grand Canal Shoppes. Read more here.
- You can now take a virtual 3D tour of the home to the Las Vegas Raiders – Allegiant Stadium. Read more here.
- Last but not least, hopefully, you were able to enjoy the TV show “Las Vegas” this weekend. Someday, I’ll remember my dude Cowboy Troy is on the first episode of season three. Then again, the appearance surprises me and Troy always responds to my tweet about it. You can see the official chicken train video below since I can’t find the TV show video on the YouTube.
Marc grew up on the mean streets of the South Bronx. He's the rare combination of Yankees and Jets fan which explains his often contrarian point of view. He learned about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Yeah, that's a thing. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant which allows him to work anywhere there's a wifi signal. This allows him to work from the sportsbook at Red Rock Resort or the food court at The Venetian where you’ll find fast and free wifi. Writing about steak, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.
