There are a few unfinished tidbits from Las Vegas I wanted to get in. I know business is down–tragically down. I couldn’t see it. The city was as busy as I’ve ever seen it. The casinos were rockin’. It’s my understanding the outlying casinos have taken this worse than the Strip, but I never went there. Maybe I just hit a good week?
There are lots of construction cranes that are silent and still in a town that used to build around-the-clock. From outward appearances Echelon seems dead in the water. There was some, but less activity at City Center, mid-Strip.
There are lots of good stories in Las Vegas. My current favorite concerns the animus between Sheldon Adelson (Called the “tallest man in the world when standing on his wallet”) and fellow casino magnate and New Haven native Steve Wynn. Allegedly Adelson positioned the Palazzo Hotel in such a way as to limit the sun at Wynn’s pool to an hour or two a day.
Is it true? Who knows. Good story anyway.
Over the past few years I’ve watched the increase of masseuses giving massages to poker players while they play! In Vegas, where every woman is already good looking… where it looks like the cocktail waitresses have gotten leg extension surgery… this takes on added sparkle.
Lily (pictured left) was giving a massage to the guy in the seat to my right one night during the Venetian’s 7:00 PM tournament. I’m not sure it really made it more difficult to concentrate, but that case could easily be made.
During a break I asked her how long she’d been doing it and whether it had made her stronger. She held her arms up at shoulder level with her clenched fists inward toward her head. Wow!
In case you’re wondering I’m told it’s $2/minute for a massage. It’s in the poker room. This is not a ‘happy ending’ kinda thing.
I had my camera with me a lot while in Vegas. I was never asked to put it away except once while I shot participants in a slot tournament. One night I even used the tripod while in the Palazzo’s spectacular casino.
Finally, Helaine and I found the funniest slot machine ever. Even better it acted as if it was our own private ATM!
“Invaders from the Planet Moolah” features cows as the wild card match. The funny part is the cows moos (obviously humans not even trying to pass as cows) are slightly delayed from each other making each ‘hit’ slightly different and weirdly comical.
This machine would be fun to play even while losing which is both sad and scary. Luckily we didn’t have to find out first hand.
Favorite line from the trip: “Oh look, a penny slot machine. Anybody got change for a nickel?”
Speaking of penny slots, I was doing a surveillance at Mohegan Sun last week, and I noticed the thousands of penny slot machines that are now there. The whole night I was asking myself “how much could you possibly win, a dollar?”
At the end of the surveillance, and on my way out of the casino, I stopped at a penny slot, popped in a twenty dollar bill, and hit the “Bet Max” button. (Which equated to $1.80 on that particular machine.)
After five presses of the “Bet Max,” I hit for $250.00, pressed the “Cash Out” button, got my payout ticket and left the casino $250 richer.
I guess the penny slot is actually more like a dollar slot if you expect to win any money, because I probably could have won $250 with the same $9.00 in wagers in a dollar slot machine. Not certain what the payout would have been if I had actually bet one penny per play.
Thanks for the photo of Sheldon’s shadow over Steve Wynn. I think it’s far more likely that Mr. Weinberg (as was) deliberately positioned his pool to limit sunshine there, so people would spend less time outdoors and more losing money towards his next elbowed Picasso! Those two deserve each other. I haven’t met Mr. Adelson but have had dealings with Mr. Wynn and can testify that if Sheldon is as nasty as he is widely described, he has met his match in his neighbor.