Chandelier Bar At The Cosmopolitan Is Open Again!

I’d like to begin Sunday News this week with one of my favorite places in Las Vegas. The 1st floor (casino level) of the Chandelier bar at the Cosmopolitan reopened last week. The bar closed earlier this summer for a million dollar renovation. The changes to the bar appear mostly to be cosmetic. You can see pictures at Vegas Bright. This is the first renovation for the bar and lounge since the Cosmopolitan opened in 2010.

It was impossible to see any of the construction while it was happening. Chandelier bar wasn’t only covered around the sides but it was covered above so you couldn’t sneak a peek from the escalators and levels above. At first glance, there are only two reasons to do this renovation in secrecy.

1) Gain extra media exposure. Between mainstream outlets and blogs they received more coverage than they would have otherwise.
2) Hide the new video poker drink ticketing system installation.

Vital Vegas visited the bar and confirmed that the Cosmopolitan did install the new drink voucher systems in the video poker machines at the Chandelier Bar. You’ll find a similar system at Bond and the sports book bar. The system will give bartenders a ticket every 20 minutes for a complimentary drink as long as you’re playing a minimum of $1 per hand.

If you’re looking to keep your video poker spend at the bars to a minimum that’s 4 credits for quarters, 2 credits for $0.50 and 1 credit for $1 machines. Your best bet at the bars is to play with maximum credits for quarters. The maximum credit wager pays an exponentially larger 4000 credits for a royal flush. The paytables are bad enough at the bartop machines, so you might as well take any advantage you can.

Your real best bet might be to take your first complimentary drink when you put $20 in the machine than pay for any more drinks and play at whatever rate you wish. According to a photo of the menu from Vital Vegas beer costs between $7 and $9. Wine and signature cocktails start at $12. These are typical of high-end prices on the Vegas Strip in 2016.

Until this voucher system was put installed at Bond a couple years ago, The Cosmopolitan had bartenders monitoring play visually. Chandelier bar is the last bar for this technology to be installed. It makes sense on the corporate side since the bar is so busy on the weekends. It had to be difficult for bartenders to keep up with video poker while making drinks for paying customers.

Scott also says that he heard Queue Bar will close on September 5th. It will possibly re-open as an Identity Lounge. I won’t make it to my favorite bar on the Vegas Strip until sometime this week, so thanks to Scott for stopping by and getting the details.

Las Vegas And The Raiders Continue To Tango

The Raiders and ACDC go together like peanut butter and jelly. So do the Raiders and Las Vegas, for that matter. The video above shows renderings of the two possible Raiders stadium locations in Las Vegas. This was part of the final pitch to government to build the stadium and bring the Raiders to Las Vegas. Not coincidentally, the day this was released the team registered trademarks for Las Vegas Raiders.

The issue here is that the people backing the stadium want $750 million for the stadium to come from Las Vegas. This would be more taxpayer money than used for any other NFL stadium. The money would come from tourists who would pay just under $1 more per night in hotel taxes. The vote on approval for the stadium will happen in mid to late September at the earliest.

Resorts World Is Getting Busy!

Resorts World finished construction on their garage this week and was a bit more excited than you’d think.

8th floor view of our completed parking structure for future guests #resortsworldlv #bts #vegas pic.twitter.com/31ToLke5E2

— Resorts World LV (@rwlasvegas) August 25, 2016

The garage is said to be important because it would allow the 900+ person construction crew a place to park. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Lucky Dragon Announces Restaurants

The lead up to a new casinos opening is often more exciting to me than the actual opening. This marketing guy loves the setup and release of a new project. Anyway, Lucky Dragon is slowly revealing specifics about the property and released details on their restaurants this week. You should already know that all of the dining options are Asian cuisine. Now we have names to go along with the ideas.

Dragon’s Alley – Located on the casino floor, Dragon’s Alley will be open from breakfast through late evening and will feature a rotating menu of regional delicacies, fresh (and live) seafood, dim sum, barbecue, boba tea, and more.
Pearl Ocean – Plans call for the best Dim Sum in Las Vegas.
Phoenix – Fine modern Chinese dining.
Cha Garden – Indoor/outdoor tea garden and lounge area.
Bao Now – An Asian version of the 24-hour casino cafe.

Affinity Gaming Sold

This isn’t one of the big casino brands in America. Affinity Gaming is best known in Las Vegas for operating Silver Sevens casino. The new owners are Z Capital Partners who also own Golden Gaming (PT’s Tavern, etc.), Mesquite Gaming (Casablanca Casino), Pink Taco, Mrs. Fields and more. The deal won’t close until next year. Plans for the future of Silver Sevens haven’t been revealed but the property was renovated last year and may see more changes in the future.

Megabucks Hits At Wynn

A woman from Hawaii won a $10,777,270.51 Megabucks jackpot at Wynn. Yippee! This is cool, but I’ll share genuine excitement when someone I know wins.

Big City Billionaires Love Vegas

Here’s some random luxury news that passed through my email last week. According to the private jet charter company, Victor, billionaires from New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles will be descending on Las Vegas for Labor Day Weekend. In fact, Chicago billionaires consider Las Vegas as the first place they’d like to visit. Las Vegas ranks 3rd with billionaires from New York and Los Angeles, who prefer Miami.

Two Las Vegas Icons Just Passed Away

History was has been one of my least favorite subjects since I was a kid. I’m not going to make believe I know much about these two men that I probably should know about. Joel Bergman and E. Parry Thomas both passed away late last week. Bergman was a casino designer who was responsible for helping create about a third of the casinos on the Vegas Strip. You can read more about him here. Thomas was a banker who helped finance many of the casinos in Las Vegas today. You can read more about him here. You might also take note that one of Thomas’s sons is the architect Roger Thomas we have been discussing at length this week with regard to the opening of Wynn Palace in Macau. These are two men who impacted Las Vegas more than I ever realized.

Rumor of the week: Hakkasan May Become Hakkagone Soon

Hakkasan, the management group and club, may be up a creek. Read about their alleged legal problems here.

In Case You Missed It – This Week – TravelZork
3 Great Ways To Save On Meals In Las Vegas
Breaking: Chase Sapphire Reserve Card – The Last Great Card Offer?
Chasing Macau | Part 1 | Someone Is Opening A New Joint – Wynn Palace Cotai
Chasing Macau | Part 2 | Opening Night – And What A Joint It Is – Wynn Palace Cotai
A Reflection On Wynn Design And Development: Roger Thomas And Wynn Palace
Chasing Macau | Part 3 | Initial Impression Executive Suite – Wynn Palace Cotai
Delta Introduces Delta One Suites – With Doors!
Be Prepared | Sound Advice For Frequent Travelers
Flash Deal | New York To Scandinavia for ~$275
Delta Air Lines To Operate With Virgin Atlantic At Terminal 3 At Heathrow (LHR)
Retrospective: Wynn Palace and Design DNA
ADE 2016 | Join Us At The Amsterdam Dance Event
Get The Most Out Of Your Holiday With These Facebook Expats Pages
Delta Style | Zac Posen | Fashion & Flying Can Be A Difficult Combination
Where’s The Best Place To Play Video Poker?

We’re giving away a FLOORPLAY VIP package!

No worries, we won’t send you any spam. We only email one weekly update which includes our popular Sunday News.