MGM Resorts International is considering building a water park at Circus Circus, according to a proposal approved by the Winchester Town Advisory Board on Tuesday.
If Las Vegas and Southern Nevada can limp through the next two years, the region could see long-term economic growth rivaling the days before the Great Recession.
Charles Cain says football and Gene Autry helped him escape a life of street gangs and drug dealers in south-central Los Angeles. Sports led Cain to Las Vegas, where he played football for UNLV, and horses kept him here through a 28-year career as a Metro Police detective.
Jim and Tina Liaos thought they were hiring a former motorcycle shop owner named Brad as part of a television show in which he was competing to raise startup money for his own business. "He looked like a long-haired hippie biker type of guy," said Tina Liaos, who with her husband runs a Las Vegas PostNet franchise that offers printing and shipping services for small businesses.
A slot machine at the Cosmopolitan paid more than $1 million this week. Casino officials confirmed today that a $1 Wheel of Fortune slot paid $1,359,167.32 Sunday on a progressive jackpot from manufacturer IGT.
No one wanted to play ball with Jim Beckmann when he first pitched the idea for Score!, a sports memorabilia museum and exhibit on the Strip. "Everyone said no," Beckmann said. For many, Las Vegas conjured up images of casinos and gambling, which didn't sit well with some image-conscious sports organizations. "It was about educating our partners that sports tourism is a big market here," Beckmann said.
Sylvain Bortolini started planning Christmas in September. As executive pastry chef for the Bellagio, Bortolini spent summer and fall creating a massive candy village that's now the centerpiece of the casino's holiday display at its Conservatory Botanical Gardens.
It takes more than good food for a restaurant to succeed on the Las Vegas Strip. Atmosphere can be equally important. Many local restauranteurs import the country’s top designers to create restaurant settings that are just right. One such designer is Peter Bowden, director of design and development for Dodd Mitchell, a global design firm. He is the mastermind behind Javier’s, a new 9,000-square-foot, high-end Mexican restaurant at Aria.
The Silverton opened a new sports book today. Cantor Gaming will run the 2,000-square foot space, which includes 38 viewing carrels and a high-definition video screen with 2.35 million LED pixels.
For people who play slot machines, time is more important than money. Instead of focusing on hitting a big jackpot, they spin the reels to relieve stress, entertain themselves or just kill time. That’s according to a new study from Oregon State University. The results are important because they help gaming executives understand — and market to — the slot players who provide the most profit to casinos.
Las Vegas is expected to be among the 50 fastest-growing metropolitan areas over the next five years, according to a computer projection released today by Pitney Bowes Software.
A Times Square Italian restaurant that serves about 1 million people a year is planning to open in Las Vegas next year. The 800-seat Carmine's will sprawl over 26,000 square feet of space at the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace.
Excalibur's new Castle Walk Food Court, which opens Tuesday, will introduce several restaurants to the Strip for the first time, including Cinnabon, Hot Dog on a Stick, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Pick Up Stix and Schlotzsky’s. The food court also is expected to bring 200 new jobs to Las Vegas.
Nostalgic Las Vegans made a run on Twinkies and cupcakes today after Hostess announced it will be going out of business after more than a century. Locally, 171 people at a Hostess plant in Henderson stand to lose their jobs. Hostess Brands Inc. filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court today seeking to close its business and sell its assets.
Treasure Island will move its poker room next to its sports book this week. The TI poker room on Thursday will take over the old location of Canter's Deli, which had been limited to counter service during the renovation.
The Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure is leaving Las Vegas. It will move from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina, the company announced today. It will be replaced by the Richard Petty Driving Experience, which recently signed an exclusive deal with the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Jason Tenner, decked out in eyeliner and glitter, sat in his Mercedes and smiled as he watched a man in a Zorro costume cross the street in front of him. Both men were dressed for work. Zorro, in a cape and tights, spent the night posing with tourists on Fremont Street. Tenner, in a black wig and purple trench coat, spent it onstage singing “Little Red Corvette” and “1999.” Tenner, 37, performs four nights a week as Prince in the “Purple Reign” tribute show at the D Las Vegas.
Many people have heard someone say, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like (insert a famous name)?" But only a few have made careers out of their celebrity resemblances.
Down the street from where world-renowned French chef Herbert Keller had thrown a dinner for the release of a new cookbook the night before, culinary school student Pora Tardy meticulously wrapped braised lettuce around a breaded chicken in a parking lot just off the Las Vegas Strip.
A new mega supper-nightclub is hitting the Las Vegas Strip. Andrea's, opening Dec. 28 at Encore, will feature a 155-seat dining room and terrace that will span more than 8,200 square feet.
There are 54 shopping days left until Christmas. Every year, seasonal stores pop up around the valley during Halloween and Christmas. They sell holiday-specific items for a few weeks or months, then disappear.
Seven judges, including Las Vegas Sun columnist Robin Leach, have been named to select the final winner from this weekend's inaugural World Food Championships.
MGM Resorts International and Royal Caribbean announced a new partnership Tuesday that will allow people to use customer reward points for amenities offered by both companies.
Hundreds of flights carrying people bound for Las Vegas were canceled Monday because of the threat of Superstorm Sandy, which began to pound the East Coast in the late afternoon. Almost 200 flights carrying passengers headed toward Las Vegas nonstop or via connection were grounded from Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Just as the Internet gambling industry was building credibility in Nevada, along came Michael Lloyd Colbert, the local Cantor Gaming sports book director and a Nevada gaming licensee who was among 25 people indicted in what prosecutors call a national illegal sports-betting ring.
Mio Danilovic was working his way through college at the El Dorado bar in Brentwood, Calif., when he heard about a new nightclub on the Sunset Strip. "I had heard there was this young, ambitious guy who was starting a business that was going to revolutionize the way people go out in Los Angeles," Danilovic said. He walked into Shelter and found owner Sam Nazarian sitting in an office drinking iced coffee. Within five minutes, Danilovic had talked his way into a job working club security.
Eight years after the launch of Facebook and six years into Twitter, businesses understand the value of social media. Now they must learn how to catch — and keep — customers’ attention, particularly as consumers become increasingly distracted with new ways to communicate.
After three years and strong consumer reviews, the buffet at Aria has closed to remake its food and atmosphere. The buffet closed Monday and is expected to reopen by the end of the year.
Las Vegas will trade foie gras and tartare for ground beef and beans next month as the World Food Championships bring state fair food to the Strip. The cookoff will feature 400 competitors, who've won culinary titles across the country, at the weekend throwdown.
Roger Snow's career as a table game designer started when he opened a casino invoice. Now executive vice president and chief product officer for SHFL entertainment (formerly Shuffle Master), Snow at the time worked at the Mirage and saw a bill from Shuffle Master for $2,000 for a game named "Let it Ride." He was shocked, both that a company owned the game and that the casino paid for it. When Snow learned that the Mirage and other casinos payed $2,000 per "Let it Ride" table, he vowed to capitalize on the set up.
Just as people from Hawaii view the California casino as "the ninth island," Derek Stevens wants people in Detroit to look at the D in downtown Las Vegas like a second home. He is advertising throughout the Great Lakes region, has brought a beloved Detroit eatery to his Fremont Street casino and even the name "the D" is a nickname among Detroit residents for their city.
A truck rolled into Encore Upholstery at 3 p.m. on a recent Wednesday delivering a $20,000 leather couch punctured with holes and other furniture marred by tears and burns caused during a night of partying on the Strip. “See that hole? That’s from a stiletto heel,” Encore owner Audrey Gregory pointed out. The furniture came from a three-story bungalow overlooking the Marquee Day Club Pool at the Cosmopolitan.
Beef jerky and energy drinks were two big themes at this year's National Association of Convenience Store Trade Show, which began Monday and aims to sell wares to convenience stores across the country. But there were lots of other things creators hope will land in a store near you.
The slot machines you see in casinos today could soon be things of the past. Not in 20 years, but in five. Experts predict that the games themselves aren't likely to change. They'll just get more portable.
Some might see Circus Circus, built in 1968, as a second-tier stage in a city where Cirque du Soleil is king. But there’s nowhere else Veronika Ernesto, and many other performers, would rather work. "At Circus Circus, you're going to be able to do what you do," Entertainment Director Jill Breslaw said. "I allow you to do your art the way you need to do it."
Wooden bleachers shake as parents walk their children to find seats at the Circus Circus Midway. A drummer and keyboardist take their places in front of the raised stage. "Ladies and gentleman," a ringmaster’s voice booms. Every half hour from 11 a.m. to midnight every day, one of 12 circus acts takes the stage.
Two women deal cards in the air and throw dice that float, matching bets placed by gamblers on electronic games. None of it is real, except the money on the bets. The holographic dealers are among the more advanced technology being shown for a select group of people this week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Getting past the security and velvet ropes to view the demonstration is much like trying to get into the Marquee Nightclub on a busy weekend night.
The family that lays claim to inventing the Coney dog will open its first stand outside of Detroit in downtown Las Vegas. American Coney Island, whose founder Constantine “Gust” Keros first ladled chili on a hot dog in 1917, will open its new restaurant Oct. 10 at the D Las Vegas casino.
Hundreds of exhibitors displaying the newest products in gaming vied for the attention of thousands of people who roamed the convention hall of this year's Global Gaming Expo.
Although leisurely “business” lunches may be a thing of the past, maintaining good customer and client relationships is more important than ever. In a fickle economy especially, loyalty can make the difference between growing a business or going out of business. Many deals are still made over lunch, at a cocktail party or during a round of golf.
Amid players nervously clicking their chips and hoping for the cards to fall their way, the Venetian is distinguishing its new poker space as the one with the most elbow room.
Mikayla Clease stood outside Eli Roth's Goretorium Thursday afternoon made up with fake blood running down her face and arms. Crowds passing by naturally assumed she worked there and kept asking her questions. But she was just waiting.
After eight years of planning and a year of construction, the MGM Grand neared completion of a $160 million renovation with the unveiling of its Skyline Terrace Suites this afternoon. The two-story suites go for $725 a night and include 780-square-foot patios overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. Designers said glass staircases open up the suite for skyline views throughout the rooms, which also include large windows.