Time to catch a cab for McCarren...

A goodbye, of sorts…

While we haven’t lost our love for the City of Las Vegas and everything related to it, the realities and responsibilities of our personal and professional lives have intervened, and VegasRy is something we can no longer maintain, even to the half-assed quality that you have all become accustomed.

There are other reasons as well…

I mean, we could write a post on how they are changing the name of the Luxor Buffet, or how many square feet the Kenneth Cole Store will be at the City Center Mall, and that might be interesting to some of you…but it wouldn’t be for us.

Look, we understand the Vegas obsession, we have it too, but it was eye-opening when 5 posts would show up on our RSS reader within about 20 minutes after an RJ story on Cosmopolitan defaulting on their loan, or Encore photos being leaked on Expedia, or any number of things…it’s just not us.

That’s not to say that we haven’t had fun. God know we’ve tried a ton of things, some have clicked, most haven’t. We’re most proud of the SlideCasts, which also seemed to resonate with the most people, those were really fun to do, and were something that we haven’t seen anywhere else.

We started this site to have a place to get our Vegas-related thoughts down on paper, (figuratively) but as any of you know that have tried running a blog or website of your own, there are times when it stops being recreation and starts being tedious. And for a site that was always meant to be fun, tedious is not good, and does not produce good results. There were also times when our time spent in Vegas would become (gasp!) work.

Also, as 2 tech guys, we liked having a place to try out some new things technically, outside of the drudgery of our day jobs. Designing and implementing the site was fun, (the ads are there just to make the site look legit…haven’t made a dime) but we’ve taken it as far as we can go right now.

We appreciate everyone who has dropped by, and we will continue to be a part of the Vegas Online Community, now as an interested observer. We will also leave the site up, as a testament to our mediocrity, and on the off chance that we will have something relevant or unique to say in the future…and as always, a place to let us know what you are drinking.

Cheers!

Ryan and Ryan

VegasRy is back!

But not really

SlideCast Test

Photo Quiz #13

Pretty hard this week, where was this picture taken? Post your answer in the comments.

Click to enlarge...


Photo by DBag

We've Moved

If you're reading this and haven't been redirected already, click below to visit our new home.

VegasRy.com

Any Excuse Will Suffice

In the past, I've never personally needed an excuse to go to Las Vegas. Since getting married though, a somewhat reasonable excuse has become required, but now with the formation of VegasRy.com, I always have a valid excuse. (Honey, I'm on business.) Having said that, Las Vegas has become home to many activity's "championships." This seems like just another excuse to travel to this great city.

These competitions include, but are certainly not limited to the annual Rock Paper Scissors National Championship at Mandalay Bay, Nathan's Famous Las Vegas Hot Dog Eating Championship Contest at NYNY, and the Legends Of Bartending World Championships at the Rio. These are just a few of the many odd events held there. There's no where else on Earth I'd rather be, so I can't fault anyone for needing such an excuse, but these are a bit ridiculous. I knew someone who even played in a video game tournament at the Aladdin last year. As we all know, Vegas isn't a cheap vacation, so if anyone wants to send me there to show off my Golden Tee or napping skills, I'm down for an all-expense paid trip to the city I love.

Dealers: 1, Steve Wynn: 0

Over the weekend the dealers at Wynn Las Vegas voted to unionize, by a fairly significant margin. (444-149)

Now this is just the first step in the organization process, as the Union still has a long way to go before it actually has a contract. Other Strip casinos have passed similar measures, but only one, the lowly Frontier, has actually had a Union contract put in place.

As we have written about previously, this issue stems from Wynn’s practice of including the floor supervisors (pit bosses) in the dealers tip pool, effectively taking money from the dealers, and giving it to their superiors.

Last week, Steve Wynn made a last ditch effort to plead his case to the dealers. Saying he made ‘a mistake’ when implementing the policy and urging a ‘no’ vote during a meeting with the dealers.

From that meeting:

"I did not realize the extent of the mistake I had made until yesterday," Wynn said, explaining his talk with a longtime employee who felt betrayed. "I was more focused on the right thing I did for the bosses, than the wrong thing I did to the dealers."

Fascinating audio of this impassioned speech can be found at TwoWayHardThree.com:
http://media.ratevegas.com/wynn_union_apology.mp3

It’s interesting to listen to Wynn, as he seems to apologize for the WAY he implemented the policy, if not for the policy itself. Now he was not allowed to make promises, due to the pending vote, but it wasn’t clear if he was insinuating that he’d revoke the tip-sharing policy if the union vote fell through or not.

Our extremely uneducated guess would be that this all falls apart during contract negotiations. These are dealers at arguable the nicest casino in the world, and apparently make quite a bit of money, even before the tip-sharing. Our guess is that the union might be able to get the tip-sharing reversed, but in the end, the dealers would be worse off than before the vote to unionize. Either way though, this will be good theater.

Steve Wynn + Labor Unrest = Huge Story. So we will follow this very closely, and are anxious to see what the atmosphere is like at Wynn Las Vegas during our stay there in July.


Wynn Dealers Vote to Unionize

Dealers of the World Unite!

Steve Wynn vs. His Own Dealers

VegasRy Friday Update:

No Gin and Tonic Hour this week, as we have been concentrating on the roll out of our brand new website, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, here are a few stories that have flown under the radar this week:

It's official, Tom Selleck and his mustache will be on NBC's Las Vegas.
-CNN

HBO CEO has resigned after assualting his girlfriend...Ya don't say.
-Washington Post

Jersey Boys will be the latest Broadway show to fail in Las Vegas...this one at the new Palazzo.
-San Diego Union-Tribune

Luxor bombing victim was dating two women. This plot is sure to thicken.
-Las Vegas Sun

This is a decent idea...the Luxor has it's own DING
-Luxor Beam (Via VegasTripping.com)

Harrah's earnings up, miss expectations. Harrah's is in the process of being taken private, and with Casinos all over the country, not Vegas-centric enough to be of much interest.
-Las Vegas Review-Journal

Photo Quiz #5: Answer

So this picture of some random girl was taken outside of Light, the nightclub at Bellagio. That's the Snack Bar in the background.

Actually that is soon-to-be VegasRy sister-in-law Jamie with a Light bouncer. Bonus points if you guessed it was her 21st birthday!

See and be seen at Las Vegas' hottest nightclub - Light at Bellagio

"The Greatest Car Show on Earth" Headed to Vegas?

Now here is something we can see working in Las Vegas.

Every year, they have the Barrett-Jackson car auction here in Scottsdale, which is probably the biggest car aution in the world. As well as being televised on the Speed Channel, last Year it drew 225,000 visitors, and this year it shattered records with a 1966 Shelby Cobra going for 5.5 million dollars.

Anyway, looks like the owners aren't happy with their situation in Scottsdale,and may be looking at other options:

Barrett-Jackson’s $100-million Scottsdale car auction could be scaled back in favor of venues in Las Vegas or Palm Beach, Fla., if plans for a new exposition center at West-World fall through, company president Craig Jackson said Wednesday.

The Barrett-Jackson Auction is a huge event here, drawing many well-heeled bidders, as well as gawkers. I would think that this event would lend itself to Vegas; as Cars, Money and Las Vegas fit together perfectly.


Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction (Wikipedia)

Barrett-Jackson considers scaling back at WestWorld over city decision on building