I’ve been on vacation all week but I love Las Vegas and always keep track of the news. I won’t be going too deep on the news items this week but I will share some highlights. Here’s a quick look at what happened in Las Vegas over the past week.

The Beat is closing – As much as I love Las Vegas there are few businesses that seem to have a soul. The Beat was much more than just a coffee shop to me. For me, it felt like the closest thing to being in New York. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a restaurant will take its place.

Station Casinos turns 40 – Station Casinos was founded on July 1, 1976, and turned 40 over the weekend. You may have noticed they moved their annual July 4th weekend fireworks to Palace Station from Red Rock Casino and Green Valley Ranch this year. The change of venues was to celebrate the opening of the property which used to be called The Casino and Bingo Palace.

New Station Casinos sports wagering app – Unrelated to the 40th anniversary, Station Casinos has released a new version of their sports wagering app. You can download the app today but you can’t use it until July 6. You can find more information here.

Siegfried and Roy coming to theaters near you – Does a biopic of the duo sound like something that might interest you? You can read more about it here.

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas suffers another security breach – Anyone that used their credit cards at some restaurant and retail outlets between October 27, 2015, and March 21, 2016, could have had their accounts compromised. The hotel and casino (not the restaurant chain or other casinos outside of Las Vegas) had a similar incident last year. This seems as if Hard Rock has a serious security flaw. You can read more at CSO.

Learn to be a gondolier at The Venetian – Gondolier University at The Venetian seems like a fun idea if you’re really into the boat action in the casino. For $199, you can learn how to make the magic happen. This could be a fun family activity as the classes are open to anyone 13 and older. You can see the press release here.

Sports

Virtual horse racing coming to Las Vegas – William Hill will begin a field trial of virtual horse racing at the Plaza and Silver Sevens race and sports books. Races will take place every 5 minutes and it’s intended to be a way to fill the time in between traditional horse races. I’m not a horse guy. Does this sound like fun?

Southwest Airlines doesn’t like proposed (NFL) stadium location – The current location of the proposed NFL/UNLV stadium is right near McCarran Airport. Southwest wrote a letter to government officials saying that they’re concerned with the proposal. This might be a strong enough request that the stadium would have to be built elsewhere. The Riviera land and MGM festival grounds (across from SLS Las Vegas) are other potential sites. There would be some sort of irony if the stadium ended up on MGM Resorts property and the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) expands.

This could end up being 2 strikes against Las Vegas Sands. The stadium pitch is, in part, supposedly a way to divert the LVCC expansion because of competition to their own convention business. Meanwhile, this could bring MGM Resorts an unexpected bump and make them the entertainment leader in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts would have a shiny new arena, a stadium (on their land) and a new large theater at Monte Carlo. All of this is in addition to 2 older arenas and smaller theaters in just about every other property.

Las Vegas NHL will be pricey – Ticket price estimates for the Las Vegas NHL teams aren’t new but I haven’t seen them in a while. It’s estimated that the only tickets under $100 will be in the upper deck of T-Mobile Arena. This does not seem enticing to locals who were complaining about paying $10 to park for a game. You can see the specifics at VegasIsHockey.

NBA Summer League tips off soon – This year the NBA Summer League takes place at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus from July 8-18. It’s a great, and affordable, way to get up close with current, previous and future NBA stars. Tickets for a session are just $21 each and most seating is general admission. You can sit closer to these players for a fraction of the price as you would when they play with the full team. You can find tickets and information here.

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