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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

I Bet You

Professional poker players', Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak, have created a new TV show called "I Bet You." The premise is that they take their gambling addiction away from the felt and out into their daily lives. The entire show centers around them making wagers on various tasks and thus trading wads of money which are tallied up to show who is ahead.

These wages include betting on who can get to a certain destination faster, what type of panties a random female is wearing, who can earn more tips bartending for an hour, and who can blow closer to the legal limit of .08 on a breathalyser. It's not a bad idea for a show but it's painfully obvious that this is going to get old very quickly. Antonio and Phil have great chemistry though, as they are real life best friends, so the show may have some legs. (at least briefly) If you're not familiar with these two as the poker characters that they are, then the show may go right over your head. Don't expect much from "I Bet You," but it was somewhat entertaining. We'll see what the future holds and if the show deviates at all from the repetition it portrayed in the premiere.

The show airs on a channel called MOJO which I've yet to hear of. At any rate the premiere episode is available on their website.

I Bet you

Las Vegas is Smoke Free

Well, sort of.

In the November elections, Nevada voters passed Question 5, which basically banned smoking in all indoor places, except for Casinos...of course.

From the Review Journal:

QUESTION 5
• Passed by voters in November, Question 5 prohibits smoking in nearly all public places in Nevada, including grocery stores, restaurants and bars that serve food. Casino floors, brothels and smoke parlors are exempt.

The smoking ban is back in the news recently, as the first lawsuit regarding the ban has been filed against a business not in compliance of the new law. A local bar refused to remove ashtrays and matchbooks, claiming that they were exercising their right to advertise. This resulted in a civil lawsuit filed by the Health District.

The anti-smoking legislation is not unique to Vegas, as most states seem to have similar restrictions on smoking in public places. However, this is interesting as it relates to casinos and hotels in Las Vegas. We also ran across the article, regarding the Casino Lobby's stance on the issue:

After years of actively opposing smoking bans, the casino industry's primary lobbying organization is backing off as a wave of states pass indoor smoking prohibitions that include casinos.

Since the mid-1990s, the American Gaming Association has pushed for national building code standards accommodating tobacco smoke, arguing that prohibiting smoking would be bad for business.

But fighting smoking bans "is an uphill battle," says Judy Patterson, executive director of the American Gaming Association.

Even states that exempted casinos from no-smoking laws, such as Colorado and New Jersey, reconsidered those exemptions the following year, she notes.

Lobbying against smoking bans at a national level has become nearly impossible for the association, she said.

Seems like the industry views a national ban as an inevitability, and I imagine they would eventually support a nationwide ban. Instead of having some smoking and some non-smoking casinos, drawing customers towards those where they can smoke, I imagine they would eventually support a nationwide ban, one that would include Indian Casinos, leaving all casinos on an even keel.

So how long until ALL casinos have to be smoke free? Gambling, drinking, smoking...these vices seem to go together. As a non-smoker, I suppose that this is a good thing. But at the same time, it does bother me as it is one more right taken away from individuals and businesses, if a bar wants to allow smoking, that should be it's own decision. When I go to a casino or bar, I know I'm in for a smokey environment...if that bothered me, I'd go somewhere else.


Casino fight goes up in smoke

ENFORCING THE STATE SMOKING BAN: Public health vs. free speech

NASCAR Weekend Huge For Las Vegas

The NASCAR race held over the March 9-11 weekend this year has proven again to be an enormous moneymaker for Las Vegas. An economic impact of $198 Million is being attributed to the race itself.


...In terms of its impact on this community, the NASCAR Weekend at LVMS now ranks near the top with many of the major conventions and trade shows that visit Las Vegas every year...

I should mention that this weekend couples with the second weekend of March Madness, which has forever been a busier time there. We were in Vegas over this weekend and it really didn't appear all that busy. Our brief stint downtown though, made it clear where a significant portion of the NASCAR faithful were camping out.

Year Total expenditures for NASCAR weekend
2001 $97,163,700
2002 $121,425,500
2003 $133,451,000
2004 $142,673,400
2005 $167,127,800
2006 $197,891,200
2007 $198,077,500 (We are to blame for about $5k of this figure)

$198 mil is a helluva lot of gaudy NASCAR gear and Busch Lights.


2007 NASCAR Weekend in Las Vegas Has Huge Economic Impact: $198 Million

Great Moments in Race Betting

Here at VegasRy we don't even pretend to know anything about horse racing, our knowledge is limited to looking at the racing form for the coolest name. That and being beat over the head with horse racing coverage once a year during the Kentucky Derby.

However, even we wouldn't use this betting strategy:

According to witnesses, the man entered the parlor around noon and asked how much it would cost to buy every possible trifecta combination (a bettor must pick the first three finishers in exact order) in the 20-horse field. After being told it would cost $13,680, he left — presumably to visit his bank.

He returned shortly thereafter, purchased his tickets and left.

Unfortunately for the hopeful bettor, the 2007 Derby $2 trifecta payoff of $440 was a far cry from 2005 and 2002 returns.

Over 13 grand to win $440, good times. At least he got to cash a ticket...


Encore: Yes for Street Sense; no for Oscar