ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisorOctober 2020 $5 ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisor It Ain’t the...

October 2020 • Vol. 37 • Issue 10 $5

LasVegasAdvisorA N T H O N Y C U R T I S’

AREA 15Open, but still a

WIP … pg. 3

DASTARDLY RATES

Low room rates blamed as

scooters run amok … pg. 1

BUFFET DOWN

First back is gone again … pg. 4

KING CRAB CONQUEST

Rare deal won’t last long … pg. 8

THE RETURN OF $1

BLACKJACKBut can you get a

seat? … pg. 14

2020 MEMBER REWARDS

24 BUFFETS, 43 DINING IN-CLUDING “LOCAL CORNER”,

2 DRINKS, 8 SHOWS, 11 RIDES/ATTRACTIONS,

AND 37 GAMBLINGAdditional show discounts, Printable Rewards and show

codes located at LasVegasAdvisor.com.

*The 2020 LVA Member Rewards book is avail-able ONLY with a paid one-year subscription to

the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. No exceptions.

Local (702) Toll FreeCASINOSAliante Casino+Hotel+Spa ...................692-7777 ...... 877-477-7627Aria .......................................................590-7111 ...... 866-359-7757Arizona Charlie’s Boulder .....................951-5800 ...... 800-362-4040Arizona Charlie’s Decatur .....................258-5200 ...... 800-342-2695Bally’s ...................................................739-4111 ...... 877-603-4390Bellagio .................................................693-7111 ...... 888-987-7111Binion’s .................................................382-1600 ...... 800-937-6537Boulder Station .....................................432-7777 ...... 800-683-7777Caesars Palace.....................................731-7110 ...... 866-227-5938California ..............................................385-1222 ...... 800-634-6505Cannery ................................................507-5700 ...... 866-999-4899Casino Royale (Best Western Plus) ......737-3500 ...... 800-854-7666Circus 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........................................631-1000 ...... 800-654-8888The Cromwell, The ...............................777-3777 ...... 844-426-2766the D .....................................................388-2400 ...... 800-274-5825The STRAT ............................................380-7777 ...... 800-998-6937Treasure Island (TI) ...............................894-7111 ...... 800-944-7444Tropicana..............................................739-2222 ...... 800-634-4000Tuscany ................................................893-8933 ...... 877-887-2261Vdara ....................................................590-2767 ...... 866-745-7767Venetian ................................................414-1000 ...... 877-883-6423Waldorf Astoria .....................................590-8888 ...... 800-925-3673Westin Lake Las Vegas ........................567-6000Westin Las Vegas .................................836-5900 ...... 800-937-8461Westgate Las Vegas .............................732-5111 ...... 800-732-7117Wild Wild West (Days Inn) ....................740-0000 ...... 800-777-1514Wildfire..................................................648-3801Wynn Las Vegas ...................................770-7000 ...... 866-770-7077

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October 2020 $5A N T H O N Y C U R T I S ’

LasVegasAdvisor

It Ain’t the Room RatesHere at the LasVegas Advisor, we’re mostly in the good-news business.

By that I mean, we tend to focus on good things rather than bad. And since there’s so much of the positive, it’s easy to concentrate on that and simply avoid the negative. However, we have to draw a line when the bad things pose a threat.

As Las Vegas struggles with the downsides of the new abnormal that are stifling visitation—no shows, limited dining, COVID concerns—some-thing unexpected has suddenly materialized: an increase in street violence. It came to the fore over Labor Day weekend, which saw several violent outbreaks around the city. Multiple melees, both in and out of the casinos, made the rounds on social media. Then it got worse. There were shootings outside of Aria and the Flamingo and shots were fired into the Stage Door bar. No one was killed in any of these incidents, but people were injured and arrests made.

On a less severe level, there’s a problem with four-wheel mobility scooters. Yes, scooters usually reserved for those with disabilities! People (mostly young) who don’t need them are renting them to go joyriding, often recklessly, on Strip sidewalks. They sometimes ride in groups with little regard for pedestrians. It’s dangerous.

Metro Police are upping efforts to maintain a safe environment for visi-tors. That’s prudent; Las Vegas doesn’t need more negatives right now.

I’m in and out of casinos and bars daily and I can attest that there’s a heightened presence of what might be termed an “unsavory element.” We don’t have rioting in the streets and these incidents are by no means the norm, but they’re happening and you need to be aware that they are.

What’s the reason for it all? It’s a combination of many things, all linked to polarizing events that have taken place across the nation. I’m not qual-ified to take that any further, but I can comment on one idea that’s been making the rounds: The problems are being caused by low room rates.

Huh? Room rates are to blame?

COUPONOMY by Anthony Curtis

continued on next page

2 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • OCTOBER 2020

Couponomy continued …

Yes, according to more than a few who’ve been quoted in the media, low room rates are attracting the wrong class of visitor. It’s a convenient excuse. It’s also complete nonsense.

Some important facts fly in the face of this idea. For starters, low rates are nothing new. Las Vegas has turned to crisis pricing throughout its his-tory to coax back customers during slowdowns. Heck, twice a year in July and December, even during good times, room rates are slashed to keep visitation propped up. If low rates bring a “bad element,” why hasn’t this effect shown up in any of the many previous discounting periods?

Add to that the fact that the current level of discounting isn’t as low as in the past. Sure some deals are out there. Enough, in fact, that we’ve listed “Room Rates” in the Top Ten for the past three months. However, the rates are nowhere near as low as they were after 9/11, the Strip mass shooting, or for several years during and following the recession when we ranked room bargains at or near the top of the Top Ten from 2009 to mid-2016. And guess what? The rates weren’t discounted at all over Labor Day, with places like the Wynn charging north of $300 per night, plus a $45 resort fee. Do you think a lot of low-income troublemakers were jumping at the chance to come to town for a $700 two-nighter?

The violence problem needs to be addressed, but eliminating one of Vegas’ most potent marketing advantages would be a big mistake. Right now, people are looking for compelling reasons to come here, and offering an outstanding vacation value via a rocking room deal is as compelling as it gets. The policymakers who drink that room-rate Kool-Aid do so at this city’s peril.

Circling back to the root problem, it’s important to keep things in per-spective. It’s not like there’s a fight on every street corner, or every 100th street corner, for that matter. My best advice is to be aware of your sur-roundings. If you see something strange brewing, head in the other direc-tion. I’ve been doing that for decades. It works. n

LV WritesBack to good news! A Valley of Light and Shadow, the 11th install-

ment (and 8th that we’ve published) of the “Las Vegas Writes” project, will be back from the printer in the next week or so. As always, it’s a literary collection from a number of Las Vegas’ top writers, each penning stand-

LAS VEGAS ADVISOR (ISSN 1064-167X USPS 008602) is published monthly and is available for $50 per year ($60 Canadian; $70 foreign purchasers) and $5 per single issue at 3665 Procyon St., Las Vegas, NV, 89103. Phone: (702) 252-0655 • Fax: (702) 252-0675 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Las Vegas Advisor, 3665 Procyon St., Las Vegas, NV 89103. e-mail: [email protected] • Internet: LasVegasAdvisor.com All information is current at press time. Listed offerings are subject to change at any time. Huntington Press ©2020

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LAS VEGAS ADVISOR

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OCTOBER 2020 • LAS VEGAS ADVISOR • 3


alone essays based on this volume’s theme of balancing integrity against the darker temptations that Las Vegas regularly serves up. As you might expect given this subject, there are some juicy stories within. These are always fun reads for Vegas enthusiasts, as they cite locations and situa-tions that you’ll be familiar with to some degree. See the wrap for the pre-pub discount. n

NEWSShutdown—Las Vegas’ bars have finally reopened, which should go a

long way toward a return to normalcy. You can get the details in entertain-ment. In another important development, limits on public gatherings have been raised from 50 to 250, with the aim of stimulating convention busi-ness and opening the door for the return of live entertainment, including attendance at sporting events at Allegiant Stadium, T-Mobile, and other venues. Park MGM, Tropicana, OYO, Henderson’s Rainbow Club, and the Four Seasons at MBay have reopened. Planet Hollywood will reopen on October 8. That leaves The Cromwell as the only Strip hotel that remains closed. The Mirage-TI tram is running again, though all the other track transportation systems on the Strip—Bellagio-Park MGM, Excalibur-MBay, and the Monorail—remain closed. The crowds are coming back, but counts are still well below normal, especially during weekdays. The week-ends are busier and Labor Day produced a 22-mile stop-and-go traffic jam reminiscent of pre-shutdown Vegas for motorists returning to southern California after the long holiday weekend.

Park MGM—Not only is Park MGM reopening, it’s reopening, along with its hotel-within-a-hotel, NOMAD, with smoking completely prohibited. These will be the only non-smoking resorts in Las Vegas and the first in two decades since the former Silver City tried it without success.

Resorts World—Similar to NOMAD, Resorts World will have a hotel-within-a-hotel. Crockfords Las Vegas will have 230 guest-rooms and suites at the top of one of the towers. It’s part of Hilton Hotels’ LXR brand, a col-lection of independent properties worldwide. Crockfords’ guests will have their own check-in and private access.

Virgin—Although construction on the revamped and rebranded 1,500-room resort will be completed by November, Virgin Las Vegas has decided to delay its opening until January 15.

Area 15—Announced in 2018 and originally scheduled to open in 2019, Area 15 opened last month. Located between Spring Mountain and Sahara just west of the Strip and visible from I-15, Area 15 is described as a new-age art, entertainment, retail, dining, and event space. It’s difficult to tell if that description applies, however, as only 40,000 of the 200,000 total


square feet is currently accessible. We stepped in briefly and it’s some-thing of a mish-mash at the moment. We’ll take a closer look and report next month (see cover image).

Intersection—Four buildings on Main Street just north of Charleston, including the old Gambler’s General Store, will be renovated and branded the “Intersection,” a fine-food-and-beverage destination.

Statistics—Nevada’s statewide gambling win was down 26.2% in July compared to the same month last year. The results continue to reflect the effects of the pandemic, but each month shows significant improvement. The biggest drop was on the Strip, where the win was down 39.1%. All other areas of Las Vegas were also down, with the exception of the Bal-ance of County, which includes many of the locals casinos, that was up 6.3%.

Visitation was down 61% in July, but the numbers are improving here, too, with more than 1.4 million people coming to town during the month. Convention attendance was 0 for the fourth consecutive month. The hotel occupancy rate was up slightly from June to 42.5%.

Airline traffic was down 64%, with just over 1.5 million passengers trav-eling. The year-to-date passenger count is down 55.3%. n

Sports Betting ScorecardThe timetable for going live with online gambling in Michigan has been

sped up and the state could begin taking bets on sports and casino games sometime this year. Referendums to legalize sports betting will soon go before voters in Maryland, Louisiana, and South Dakota.

Follow the progress of sports betting legalization across the country and track developments as they occur via our map at LasVegasAdvisor.com. n

DININGBuffet Down

So much for “serviced” buffets. After being the first to bring back its buffet, Wynn Las Vegas also became the first to reclose it last month. According to a spokesperson, the decision was based on negative feed-back from patrons regarding the experience. Put another way, the serviced format, by which food was ordered from a menu and delivered to the table, didn’t fly with customers. It was the same high-quality fare that the Wynn buffet is famous for, but a big part of the buffet experience is putting your meal together perfectly, including getting the exact portions you want of

News continued …

https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/gambling-with-an-edge/legal-sports-betting-us/



The Ellis Island complete steak dinner remains at the top of the Top Ten. Served 24/7 in the Café, get the $7.99 price by playing at least $5 in any slot machine with your club card inserted, then downloading the required discount coupon from an EI kiosk. If you don’t want to play, you can get it for $9.99 ($3 off the listed price) just by downloading a coupon from the kiosk that’s available to everyone with a club card. The South Point buffet (#2) is the least expensive by far of Las Vegas’ only two buffet options. Breakfast is the best deal for $9.95 with a play-ers card; includes unlimited bloody Marys. Budweiser and Michelob Light in the bottle are $1 at the Stage Door slot house on Flamingo, just east of the Strip (#3); a ¼-pound hot dog and a Bud is $3. The steak or ham & eggs at either Arizona Charlie’s (#4) is served in the Sourdough Cafés for $5.99 when you show your club card, available 24 hours at Decatur and 6 am-mid. weekdays and 24 hours weekends at Boulder. The hot dogs at South Point (#5) are sold from a cart in the sports book from 10 am until they close down the cart around 5 pm. The Fremont’s shrimp cocktail is the last of the 99-centers (#6); it’s served in the Lanai Express snack bar all hours except 7 to 11 am daily. Ellis Island’s potent prime rib tandem (#7) is available 24/7. You won’t get a better prime deal for the price anywhere in town and the humungous double cut stands up to anything you’ll find at twice the price. New to the list is the happy hour in Fresco at Westgate Las Vegas (#8). This creative HH combines an uncommon food selection with a gambling rebate that sets the price at $6; see dining for the details. Oyo’s $1-minimum blackjack game (#9) runs 24/7 in the pit; naturals pay even money on bets of $1-$4. The $1.20 listed cost is your expected loss for one hour of play at these stakes. We’ve moved this one down a couple notches due to availability concerns that are detailed in gambling. As always, strategies to bring back customers begin with discounted room rates (#10), and while rates aren’t as low as they’ve been in previous crisis-pricing periods (see cou-ponomy), they’re low enough to warrant a position on the list.

1. Steak Dinner • Ellis Island • 24 hours • $7.99 2. Buffet • South Point • $9.95-$18.95 3. Beer • Stage Door • 24 hours • $1 4. Breakfast • Arizona Charlie’s • Daily • $5.99 5. Hot Dog • South Point • Daily • $1.25 6. Shrimp Cocktail • Fremont • Daily • 99¢ 7. Prime Rib • Ellis Island • Daily • $16.99/$26.99 8. Happy Hour • Westgate • Sun.-Wed. • $6 9. $1 Blackjack • OYO • 24 hours • $1.20 10. Room Rates • El Cortez et al. • $43 and up

TOP 10 VALUES

the different offerings. That’s not possible when you’re not serving yourself. Another negative of this format is having to order without seeing the food first. Think about what you do at a buffet. You survey the selections and choose based on what looks best. Some diners (including ourselves) walk


Dining continued …

the entire buffet before picking up a plate. Removing these components obviously changed the experience too drastically. Wynn says it will rework the format and reopen at a future date. That leaves just two operating buf-fets in Las Vegas, those at the Cosmopolitan and South Point. The ETA for the return of the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace, which was expected in August, remains undetermined. n

Capacity ConundrumYet another outgrowth of the pandemic is frequent difficulty getting into

restaurants and bars, especially on weekends. The problem consists of the dual effects of people champing at the bit to go out and restaurants having to limit capacity. We’ve been turned away on multiple occasions or told that wait times would be more than an hour. And it isn’t only on weekends; any prime-time dining hour (or even a bar during a football game) might not be accessible. You have to call ahead, either to get reservations or at least to inquire and get a read on the situation at the restaurant you want to go to. n

Allegiant Dining The food and beverage concessions for Allegiant Stadium have been

announced and they’re Vegas-centric for sure, along with being about the most eclectic dining lineup at a sports stadium that we’ve ever seen. The list includes Holsteins (from Cosmopolitan) and BBQ Mexicana (from MBay), along with Las Vegas stalwarts Ferarro’s, Echo & Rig, Fukuburger, Rollin Smoke Barbeque, Graffiti Bao, Capriotti’s, and Pizza Rock. And while it’s hard to believe, there’s supposed to be a “house-deals menu” with $3 selections. Of course, fans will have to wait until they’re allowed in the stadium sometime in 2021 to partake. n

Fresco Happy Hour (Westgate)Now this is a happy hour. The Italian restaurant Fresco at Westgate

runs a HH in the lounge, Sun.-Wed. from 5 to 7 pm. Beer is $4, sangria is $5, and wine and specialty cocktails are $6. Good pricing for the drinks, but the real deal is on the food. Eight small-plate selections are $6 or $7 apiece. If you want to go healthy, three of the choices are salads, including a good caprese. Also standing out are the (two big) meatballs and a dish called guazzetto di cozze, mussels cooked in garlic butter with sausage


and chiles. These are some of the best (moist and plump) mussels you’ll find anywhere. There’s also a choice of Margarita or calabrese pizzas for $10 and three desserts are $4 apiece.

Here’s where it gets good. You can get four small plates for $20—we’d go with the caprese salad, Caesar salad, meatballs, and mussels—which drops the price to just $5 each. And when you spend $20, you also get $20 in “free-play” in the casino. The free-play comes as two coupons on a single sheet: One is a $10 matchplay on table games and the other $10 in slot play. The first is worth about $4.70 and the second about $9.50,

providing $14.20 back in gambling EV. The four small plates are easily enough to feed two, so factoring in the coupon value, it’s $6 before tip. OK, throw in a pizza and a couple of drinks to make it $26 total and take the leftovers home. And if you somehow want to stay for dinner (or you purposely go easy to start), you get 15% off the bill. We’ll say it again—this is a happy hour!

Note that you might do even better with the coupons. We went as a party of three and each of us was given the two-coupon sheet. The tab and tip were $66 and we got back $63 from play—the happy hour cost us $1 apiece. It’s possible you’ll encounter a lowest table-game minimum of $15 in the casino. Don’t worry about that, you still have a strong edge playing the $10 matchplay with a $15 bet. n

Bazaar Burger (Sahara)Bazaar Meats at the Sahara has introduced a new gourmet burger. The

Bazaar burger is a 50/50 blend of Wagyu short rib and brisket, topped with jowl bacon, pub cheese, and shredded lettuce and served with fries and a pickle on the side for $22. Is there any way this couldn’t be great? Unfortu-nately, yes, and they figured out how: too rich, too salty, too much cheese and “special sauce.” Some or all the above, according to your taste, but for sure too much lettuce (never thought we’d say that). Pass on the Bazaar burger and go straight for the awesome carpaccio. n


Meatballs at Fresco happy hour


Ham & Eggs Special (Arizona Charlie’s)We stopped in to try the

Top Ten breakfast special at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur (also available at Charlie’s Boulder). We’ve been tout-ing this one primarily for the steak & eggs, since we got an unimpressive ham the last time we tried it, but the ham is back up to par, as you can see here.

You can’t go wrong with either the ham or the steak

for $5.99 when you show your club card. Get the availability details in top ten. n

Crab Legs Lunch (Joe’s Seafood)Ask anyone where to go for the best king crab legs in town and they’ll

probably come back with Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. These legs should be good, given that they go for $80 a pound. Currently, however, Joe’s is running a lunch special with 12 ounces of king crab, sides of mac & cheese and roasted corn, and a slice of key lime pie for $34.99. Joe’s is known for these particu-lar sides (though the mac & cheese isn’t the lob-ster version) and its key lime, so it’s a sampler of what’s made this one of the most popular restau-rants in Las Vegas. Be aware that the crab legs are served cold, but they come with hot drawn butter.

Joe’s doesn’t know how long the special will last, but says it should be available through October at least; it’s served daily from 11:30 am to 4 pm. n

Dining continued …


Steak & Lobster (& Shrimp) at O’AcesThe Friday steak & lobster special has changed at O’Aces bar (4955

S. Decatur). It’s still $24.95, but there’s now a single lobster tail instead of two, the second replaced by a skewer with four shrimp. The shrimp are only a slight downgrade and you also get vegetables and choice of potato. It’s still a good deal, but this is one of the places that’s using paper plates and plastic utensils. They give you a real steak knife, but it tears up the paper plate and the plastic fork broke in half while cutting the steak. It might be worth waiting for a return to real plates and utensils here. n

Dining NotesMilos Moving—Big news comes in an announcement that the vaunted

Estiatorio Milos will leave the Cosmopolitan and reopen at the Venetian. The timetable for the switch hasn’t been announced, but Milos will report-edly take the spot at the Venetian that was formerly Aquaknox.

Circa Exception—The Circa casino will be adults-only with one excep-tion: the restaurant Barry’s Downtown Prime. Chef Barry Dakake negoti-ated the exception that will allow guests under 21 to dine there. n

Openings/ClosingsTriple B—Brooks Brothers Burgers has opened at Henderson’s Rain-

bow Club. It’s overseen by the former head chef at Palazzo’s Lagasse’s Stadium.

Din Tai Fung, which originated in Taiwan in 1927 and has an outpost in L.A., opens this month at Aria.

Elia Authentic Greek Taverna—an Eating Las Vegas “Essential 52” selection—has moved from its previous location at Durango and Flamingo to the Lakeside Village Plaza at Durango and Sahara.

Sickies Garage Burgers & Brews out of Fargo, North Dakota has opened in the Town Square shopping district. The menu lists 50 burgers and 50 beers. n

ENTERTAINMENTBars are Open

More than two months after the reclosure of Las Vegas’ bars, taverns, breweries, wineries, distilleries, etc., the restrictions have been lifted. Cus-


https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/shop/products/2020-eating-las-vegas-2/


Entertainment continued …

tomers are again permitted to sit in chairs at the bar where they can drink and play bartop machines, both in and out of the casinos. As we did for the reactivation of gaming machines in July, we showed up at the same local PT’s on Spring Mountain Rd. for the lifting of the restrictions at 11:59 on September 20. In stark contrast to our prior midnight visit, there was almost no buzz. An employee simply turned on the bar machines and they mostly remained empty. As the night went on, a few customers walked up and sat at the bar, but it wasn’t an event. Regardless, we view this as a huge positive step in Las Vegas’ recovery and we predict that it will begin to have an effect on the energy level throughout the city.

Social-distancing protocols remain in place. Here are the bar rules as they’ve been explained to us. If you enter with other people, you’re allowed to sit together or in adjacent chairs. Otherwise, unless machines are sepa-rated by plexiglass dividers, consecutive seats may not be occupied (and some places enforce an every-third-machine rule). You must be wearing a mask when you enter. For the most part, you’ll be allowed to take it off when you sit down, but are required to put it back on whenever you stand or move around. It’s inevitable that the rules will be interpreted and enforced differently at different establishments, so prepare to be flexible. n

Football Parties AbsentFor decades, we’ve published a detailed report on football parties in

October, spearheaded by visits to 30-40 Monday Night Football gatherings during the first few weeks of the NFL season. We made the rounds again this year, but it was mostly an exercise in futility. As with almost everything else, especially things that are entertainment related, the pandemic has changed the landscape drastically. This was obvious from the first stop at Suncoast, where the showroom and the casino’s sports bar, The Game, were closed and other than the game being shown on the big screen in the sports book, you wouldn’t know it was Monday Night Football. It was the same pretty much everywhere we checked. No hot dog specials (some casinos don’t even allow food in the sports book because of COVID pre-cautions). No raffles. No $1 lap dances at halftime in the gentlemen’s clubs (most are still closed). It really hit home when we walked into South Point and the showroom that’s hosted the best MNF party for years was locked up tight. The one element that survived is drink specials, but even those are reduced. Domestic beers are $2 at Station properties and $3 at Boyd.

There are some exceptions. Green Valley Ranch and Ellis Island both had something of a party feel. GVR hosts a radio remote in Pizza Rock along with some food specials. EI had a crowd in the Front Yard and nearby karaoke bar and was offering a brat & beer special for $5, 20 wings



for $15 (75¢ per), and food-and-drink packages in the Front Yard for $50-$85 per person. The best MNF party we found was at O’Aces Tropicana, where a big local crowd was gathered for 50¢ wings, $1 hot dogs and pizza slices, and raffled bar tabs.

This will probably be an evolving situation, but to what degree? During the first two weeks of the season, the bars were still restricted, which put a serious crimp in the ability to throw a party. The bars are open now, but we wouldn’t be surprised if things don’t change much. For years, we’ve chron-icled how the scene has wound down from the MNF glory days of the ’90s and can’t help but wonder if this might have given the casinos an opportu-nity to walk away from the MNF parties for good. n

Bars and Happy HoursThe Cosmopolitan has initiated “Cocktail Hour” at restaurants through-

out the property. The hours and offerings are different between venues, but something will be running somewhere daily between 4 and 7 pm. Food specials start at $5 (Jaleo) and drinks at $6 (Estiatorio Milos). Jaleo also has 50% off wine on Tuesdays.

Westgate has a deal in the sports book for buy-one get-one buckets of six bottles of Bud Light Seltzers for $20 ($1.67 per bottle).

OYO has $2 margaritas 24/7 at the Lobby Bar.Triple George has revamped its happy hour, which now runs Mon.-Fri.

from 3 to 6 pm, with $5 beer, wine, and well drinks, $6 specialty cocktails, and $4-$7 appetizers. This had been one of the best happy hours in town, but several of the best food items have been taken off the menu.

A new sports bar called Tailgate Social has opened at Palace Station in the space formerly occupied by BBD’s.

Money, Baby! and the Shag Room will be the main bars at Virgin Las Vegas. Hole 19 Bar has opened for a residency at the Tivoli Village shopping

district. The pop-up bar that travels from city to city features an indoor mini-golf course with nine holes “inspired by British courses from the 1900s.” Hole 19 will be at Tivoli until Nov. 1; admission is $20.

Lucky Day—Tequila and Mezcal House has opened on Fremont Street just east of the D. It’s getting attention for a 15,000-light display on the ceiling that pulsates in concert with the music being played.

Nevada Brew Works has opened in the downtown Arts District. The brewery will sell its own beer, along with beers from other brewers.

A PKWY Tavern will replace the former Ricardo’s on W. Flamingo.In Bazaar Meat at the Sahara, a draft Stella Artois is $10.84. At Yama

Sushi Spring Mtn., a hot sake is $7.59. In BarCanada at the D, a draft Labatt’s Blue is $7. At Dino’s Lounge, a Titos is $7, a Heineken is $5, and a Bud is $4. In Anthony’s at M Resort, a Heineken is $6.49 and a Bud is


$5.41. At O’Aces Decatur, a Heineken is $6. At Sand Dollar Lounge, a Bud or an Olympia is $6. At Town Center Lounge, a Pinot Grigio is $6 and a Bud is $3.50. At Jackpot Bar and Grill, a Bud is $5. n

Entertainment NotesMagic Mike Theater—A new showroom is under construction at the

Sahara. The Magic Mike Live Theater is being created to host the show of the same name, currently scheduled to begin performing in early 2021.

Bellagio Conservatory—The fall display at the Bellagio Conservatory and Botanical Garden’s is titled “Into the Woods” and features a talking tree, a reflecting pool with a family of foxes in a rowboat, gowned fairies, bears around a honeypot, and a spiral staircase leading to a treehouse. The display runs through November 28.

Shark Tank at Venetian—The new season of ABC’s hit entrepreneur show “Shark Tank” was produced at the Venetian. The season begins air-ing on October 16.

Cowabunga!—Cowabunga Bay, the water park near the Galleria Mall in Henderson, was chosen best U.S. water park in a vote by USA Today readers who selected Cowabunga from a list of 20 nominated water parks.

Reservations for Red Rock—The Red Rock Canyon National Conserva-tion Area is launching a reservation system for visitors who want to drive into the park between October 1 and May 31. Capacity rather than coro-navirus issues prompted the new policy. In addition to the $15 entry fee, visitors will be charged a $2 processing fee when they make reservations at Recreation.gov. You can reserve up to 30 days in advance.

Springs Preserve—The Springs Preserve nature park has reopened.LIB—The Life is Beautiful music, art, and food festival that was sup-

posed to take over downtown last month will return next year and run Sep-tember 17-19.

NFR and PBR—The National Finals Rodeo will take place this Decem-ber as scheduled, but not in Las Vegas. Instead, NFR is moving to Arling-ton, Texas. The PRCA’s contract to host NFR in Las Vegas runs through 2024, so the event should return next year. Likewise for the Professional Bull Riders World Finals, which will also move to Arlington for one year.

UNLV Football—After postponing the season last month, the Mountain West conference has decided to play after all. UNLV and other league teams will play an 8-game conference-only schedule that will start on October 24. UNLV will presumably play its games in Allegiant Stadium.

Drive-Thru Weed—Cannabis dispensaries are now allowed to operate drive-through windows in unincorporated Clark County. NuWu Cannabis Marketplace on Las Vegas Paiute reservation land opened the state’s first

Entertainment continued …


drive-through weed window in 2017. Las Vegas and Henderson prohibit dispensary drive-throughs, while North Las Vegas allows them, along with walk-up windows. n

GAMBLINGFootball Updates

Following is a summary of this year’s early football betting-related developments.

Live contests—Now that the season is under way, the only contests worth playing are the free ones with weekly prizes. Those are vastly dimin-ished this year with the absence of the freebie Boyd and Station contests. But there are a few options. Along with the two contests at Rampart that we detailed last month, Ellis Island and Klondike are also running free kiosk contests that pay cash prizes weekly. Additionally, a new online contest at Caesars Entertainment properties is described later in this section.

Contest participation—After being on the hook for a big portion of $4 million in guaranteed prizes in its two football contests, a rush of entries at the deadline took Circa Sports over the breakeven point for both. “Circa Million II” needed 3,000 entries and drew 3,148, a 67.9% increase over last year. “Circa Survivor” needed 1,000 entries and drew 1,390, which is impressive for its inaugural year in the middle of a pandemic. Both are add-ing the excess money collected into the prize pool for a 100% payout. After nine consecutive years of increases, entries in the Westgate’s SuperCon-test declined significantly. The 1,172 entries was a falloff of 64.8%, a com-bination of the shutdown and the competition from Circa. Station Casinos’ Last Man Standing Pro contest drew 3,211 entries, down 50.5% from 2019.

Reduced juice—As it has for the past several years, Westgate Las Vegas is dealing -105 for football sides on Thursdays from 3 pm till close (be sure to use the betting numbers off the -105 sheets).

Parlay comp—We’ve found only one betting deal so far. Make a $50 parlay bet at Rampart and get a hamburger, two hot dogs, or three chicken strips from the sports book deli. It’s a long season; we’ll keep looking. n

Caesars Online Football ContestCaesars Entertainment properties are running the “NFL Pick ’Em Online

Game,” a free-to-play football contest that’s as good or better than the Boyd and Station contests that aren’t running this year. Each week players club members get one free entry to pick the winners of the Sunday and Monday games; no pointspreads, just straight-up winners. It’s the same



format as Boyd’s Pick the Pros, with two important differentiators. First, the equity for playing is much higher in the Caesars contest.

Whereas Boyd gave out $30,000 per week, Caesars gives out $60,000. Not only is that twice as much as Boyd, but the number of players in the Caesars contest isn’t even close. Boyd never disclosed the number of participants in its weekly, but it was in the tens of thousands. Even if you conservatively guesstimated 30,000 players, your equity for play-ing Pick the Pros was $30,000/30,000 = $1 per play. You got three free entries, so it might have been worth $3 per week, plus the entertainment value. In the first week of the Caesars contest there were 5,609 players, so the expected value for playing just from an equity standpoint was $60,000/5,609 = $10.70. In Week 2, the field was 4,191 players, raising the EV to $14.32.

Second is the number of players who get paid. Pick the Pros was essentially winner-take-all. There were ties, but you had to have the best record to get a payout and that almost always meant having a perfect card. The Caesars contest pays 60 places, with $20,000 going to first and 50,000 in reward credits (about $500 in value) going to the bottom of the winners list. In Week 1, the winner was 14-1 and records of 12-3 got paid. That would never happen in Pick the Pros. There were several perfect cards in Week 2, but favorites went 13-2, so more players scored high. Even then, a few 14-1 cards got into the money (a tie-breaker element makes the difference).

The one negative to this contest is that you have to qualify each week to play. It sounds complicated, but it’s really not (and the fact that it sounds complicated helps keep the entrants down). You have to play $10 through a machine each week. Your expected loss for doing that is about 50¢, so it doesn’t have much effect on the numbers above. The complication is in having to go to a casino to do it. But what’s the difference between that and going to a Boyd property to make selections on a kiosk? Each requires a trip. And in this contest, you can qualify at any Caesars casino, so you don’t even have to be in Vegas to play.

By the way, you can see from the Week 2 example that picking all favorites isn’t the best strategy. You might get in the money, but you’ll usually have to split the prize, sometimes with many players. As in most contests of this type, the best strategy is to include an underdog or two in your picks. n

$1 BlackjackAt first we didn’t know when OYO would reopen. Then we weren’t sure

if it would keep its $1 blackjack promotion. The casino finally did reopen in

Gambling continued …


September and the dollar table opened with it. Especially now, when many casinos are raising limits on table games, this $1 game is something that stands out, which is why we recognize it in the Top Ten. The problem now will be in the greater difficulty to play. As you’d expect, there were almost always players on OYO’s (and Hooters’ before it) single $1 table even when six players were allowed. Now there’s a three-player max, which means you’ll need to show up in non-prime hours to get on. When we went to check, the rest of the open tables had either $5 or $10 limits and there were seats at both. As of now, OYO is one of the better bets in town to find low-limit blackjack. n

Back in Mack-tionAt this time a year ago, we chronicled the wild betting spree of Hous-

ton’s Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale, who made bets totaling $24 million to hedge a rebate promotion at his Galaxy Furniture store. The hedge was put together by Anthony Curtis and Frank B; you can read the whole story in our blog “Mattress Mack and the Astros Hedge” at LasVegasAdvisor.com. Mack ran a similar promotion this year, and although it was dis-rupted by the pandemic, he still needs a hedge to offset a possible (though unlikely this year) Astros World Series win.

Last year the story began with the Las Vegas sports books unwilling to accept big bets from Mack. That changed when South Point took a $250,000 wager, then others began to loosen up. Those that did were rewarded with six- and seven-figure wins when the Astros lost to the Nationals in Game 7 of the World Series. This year started out in similar fashion when Mack tried to bet the Astros to win at 30-1, a number being offered at two Las Vegas books. Amazingly, the Westgate would accept a bet to win a maximum of only $4,000, which is a $133 wager. Once again, South Point jumped up, taking a $10,000 bet for a potential $300,000 pay-out. It makes you wonder who really deserves the “SuperBook” moniker.

We don’t expect the action to be anything like it was last year, but we’ll keep you apprised via the blog. n

Gambling NotesJackpots—After hitting for $789,000 on a Buffalo Inferno slot machine

at the Fremont, a Hawaiian visitor waited for her payment by playing a nearby slot. Before the tax papers arrived, she hit again for $5,000. No word on what happened while she waited to get paid on that one. A giant Wheel of Fortune jackpot of $3.8 million was hit at the Hyatt Regency in north Lake Tahoe.


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Silver Sevens Rebate—Silver Sevens is offering a 7% rebate on losses of $777 or more in October. We haven’t looked at the details, but the rebate is in “promo chips,” which means it’s likely less than an equivalent cash rebate of $54, but it’s the only such offer we know of and Silver Sev-ens deals a double deck paying 3-2 on naturals (-.4% vs. basic strategy).

Longhorn table games—All table games have been removed from the floor at Longhorn, replaced by slots.

TI Sports Book—The sports book at Treasure Island has reopened in a new location adjacent to the Golden Circle Bar. The book has been expanded to accommodate five times the number of customers as the original.

Circa Sports Book—Circa Sports will expand beyond downtown next year when it opens a satellite sports book at Tuscany. It will be Circa’s fourth Las Vegas location after the D, Golden Gate, and Circa itself.

5Dimes—The giant offshore sports book 5Dimes has “suspended U.S. operations,” meaning it will no longer accept bets from U.S. customers. Betting with this book was already considered a gray-area activity at best for U.S. players, but 5Dimes accepted the business. Its decision to reverse its policy likely signals a desire, at some point, to get licensed for a fully legal U.S. presence.

Encore Poker—The poker room at Encore has opened, dealing 8-handed games with plexiglass dividers separating players. It completes the return of all of the Strip’s major poker rooms.

Uncool Pool—A bar in Long Island, New York, is under investigation for offering betting squares on the number of shootings there would be in New York City and Chicago over Labor Day weekend. This one probably won’t go well for the bar. Even though bars in New York aren’t licensed to conduct gambling, the authorities often look the other way with regard to betting pools on sporting events, but they aren’t likely to look away on this one. n

Video Poker Lost and FoundAs a result of the bars reopening, bar video poker is now available

throughout Nevada, but not necessarily on all machines. At bars that

Gambling continued …

Presidential LinesHere are the current lines on this year’s presidential race from CRIS. Joe

Biden has moved back into the favorite position and is now -160 to win the presidency, with Donald Trump at +140. This was the line one day after the first debate, prior to which Biden was only a slight favorite at -115.


Mean 67° Avg. Max. 81° Avg. Min. 53°Balmy days, cool evenings toward the end of the month.Pools: Currently closed by government order.Attire: Short sleeves during the day, light jacket for evenings.

WEATHEROCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBERMean 46° Avg. Max. 58° Avg. Min. 33°Evening temperatures dip into the 30s and even into the 20s. The sun makes an occasional showing.Pools: Currently closed by government order.Attire: Desert of not, it’s wintertime and it’s cold. Dress warmly.

Mean 53° Avg. Max. 65° Avg. Min. 40°Temperatures drop dramatically this month. Crisp days, cold nights.Pools: Currently closed by government order.Attire: Bring something warm, especially for evenings.

2-4 Nat’l Marijuana Conf.—31,000 17-20 Mr. Olympia Fall —45,000

6-9 CES—180,000 19-22 World of Concrete—60,000 30-2/4 Golf Industry Show—13,500

KEY dates

16-18 Int’l Pizza Expo—12,000 22-25 Int’l Wireless Communications—12,000

DECEMBER

JANUARY

MARCH

separate machines with plexiglass dividers, all the machines are in play. If there’s no plexiglass, however, players are required to space out by skipping at least every second machine. Bars that moved some of their machines to the floor have left them there to get maximum playing capac-ity.

The online database vpFREE2 reports that Ellis Island has brought back some better pay schedules, including 9/6 Bonus Poker Deluxe (99.64%) and 9/6 Jacks or Better (99.54%) in denoms from 5¢ to $1. There’s also Bonus Deuces Wild (99.45%) from 25¢ to $5.

Also from vpFREE2, one of the best comp plays in town has been diminished with the coin-in required to earn a point on bar machines at the Four Queens raised from $8 to $20.

Rum Runner Tropicana has reduced its 7/5 Bonus Poker to 6/5 (96.87%), but there’s now a play-$100-get-$20 sign-up bonus.

If you’re a Pick ’Em fan who sees the version called Pick-a-Pair on a bar machine, don’t jump too fast. The schedules that pay 4 for 3-of-a-Kind almost always return below the return for 6/5 BP, including a common bar schedule we saw at G.O.A.T. that returns 95.74%.

Bob Dancer’s free video poker classes are expected to resume at South Point, but a date hasn’t been set. In the interim, be sure to check out Bob’s weekly Tuesday blog and the Thursday “Gambling With an Edge” podcast, with Bob and Richard Munchkin, both at LasVegasAdvisor.com. n

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ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisorOctober 2020 $5 ANTHONY CURTIS’ LasVegasAdvisor It Ain’t the...

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