Upcoming C4-Sports Show to Host Sports Book Summit

C4-Sports, the first electronic media trade show dedicated wholly to sports technology, announced today that it will be hosting a Sports Book Summit on July 17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The summit will provide a forum for sports books, fantasy services, and entertainment managers to discuss the technological issues that can impact their business, increase revenue opportunities, and enhance the overall experience of visitors to sports book facilities.

"As C4-Sports integrates itself into the sports technology community, we wanted to be cognizant of the challenges that exist in the Las Vegas community, namely the sports book and gaming service industries," said Gene Sanders, general manager, C4-Sports. "This invitation-only summit will directly address the challenges faced by these industries and will offer individuals an opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art technologies that can ultimately help them to enhance the experience of their patrons."

At the Sports Book Summit, regulatory issues impacting sports services such as bandwidth, illegal gambling, and competition from Internet gambling sites will be addressed. Data and content security and digital asset management issues specific to sports books will be explored, as well as alternative technologies for content delivery such as video display screens, digital signage, projection, wireless, and next-generation delivery methods.

"With new technologies, a sports book has the opportunity to become the visual centerpiece of a casino," said John Kaloukian, general manager, Sony Electronics' professional display group. "Sony's SXRD(TM) projection technology gives players more visual information to help them decide how to place their bets. The addition of command and control functionality gives sports books the control to add specific events to the screen in windows of various resolutions and formats, as well as the ability to change out advertising or promotional videos, which represents incremental revenue opportunities."

"Sony and Panoram Technologies have teamed up to show casino operators how to enhance the sports book experience in their casinos through new capabilities of display technologies, like our PixelBlaster, that are magnificent to look at, easily programmable, interactive, reliable, and compatible with key strategic trends that directly affect casinos," said Theo Mayer, president and CEO, Panoram Technologies.

In addition to Sony and Panoram Technologies, other participants at the Sports Book Summit include leaders from the sports book industry including Matt Rose, president of the proposed Ultimate Sports Resort in north Las Vegas, as well as representatives from The Wynn, Mirage/MGM Grand hotels, Excalibur, Harris Corporation, and Cobalt Entertainment.

"The sports business is increasingly being driven by the live broadcasts of games and special events, and our company is focused on helping organizations like sports books make the transition from 2D to 3D to remarkably enhance the viewing experience," said Steve Schklair, founder and CEO, Cobalt Entertainment. "Hollywood studios are already using 3D digital projection and it's just a matter of time until the sporting industry makes the transition, in order to keep up with the rising visual literacy and demands of sports fans throughout the world."

"Harris considers this event an effective vehicle to reach an important market segment and we will be showing audio and video production equipment and providing digital signage for the entire venue," said Rich Hajdu, vice president, graphic and post sales, Americas, Harris Broadcast Communications Division. "This is an opportunity for Harris to showcase our entire portfolio of solutions-based products and we are looking forward to participating at the summit."

To register for the C4-Sports show online, visit C4-Sports.

Las Vegas is No New Orleans

Sounds like someone's first visit to Las Vegas did not live up to expectations. In the end, it sounded as if they enjoyed their trip, but won't necessarily be frequent visitors, if they make it back at all. I would have liked to known where they stayed and more specifics about some of their negative experiences. Some valid points though in pointing out some of the flaws within Las Vegas.

Summer may be only a few weeks old, but I've already squeezed in a vacation. To celebrate my youngest sister's 21st birthday, my family and I spent four days in Las Vegas... four days that made me appreciate New Orleans like never before.

Even though I spent only four days at the mercy of Sin City, if my pocketbook were literally a part of me, it would now rival my psyche in terms of sheer disfigurement.

Being from New Orleans, I'd like to think I know a little bit more about soul than your average skinny white boy. That being said, I have heard polka songs with more soul than they've managed to amass in that desert since the Rat Pack disbanded. Sinatra and the boys would spin in their graves if they knew that their old stomping grounds had become such a plastic disaster. I wondered how my ghost would feel if it returned to New Orleans years after my passing, only to discover a theme park, complete with a Disney-esque monorail connecting all the destination resorts, despite their conflicting themes.

Sure, "the strip" is as fun to look at as any good car accident. Just don't look too closely or for too long, unless you want to see something truly disturbing – just like any good car accident. A decidedly negative vibe hangs in the air in Las Vegas. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's the pure oxygen they pump into the casinos to keep you awake and gambling, but I'm convinced it's the fact that the entire city was designed and built for a single purpose: To take your money.

That's it.

Ever wonder why there's even a city there, much less a major one? It's there because back in the golden age of guys like Frank and Dean-o, the mob put it there to do just what it does. And to this very day, that's all it does. There are no scenic overlooks, no historic sites and no carefully preserved architecture from a bygone era – nothing. Las Vegas was never the birthplace of anything other than Las Vegas.

I'm not trying to say that Vegas lacks a historically significant pedigree, nor am I saying that it's not a worthwhile place to visit. The city offers an array of fine goods and services, and quite honestly, gambling is just plain exciting. No, the bone I have to pick with Las Vegas is that it's flawed on a much more fundamental level than even its homogenous lack of character.

Las Vegas shamelessly exploits every imaginable human weakness in order to separate its guests from their money. Once this has been accomplished, they hurry you along to the next stop, where you are fleeced yet again. There are no benches anywhere in the city (sitting on a bench is free – a dangerous alternative to the inside of a shop or a comfy spot at a table), and basic human necessities, like snacks, water or toiletries, are overpriced and geographically isolated.

In fact, I don't think you can get anywhere from anywhere else in Las Vegas without walking through a casino and past at least a handful of shops. The nearly infinite amount of empty space in the Nevada dessert has allowed the city to evolve into some kind of monster over the years.

The icing on the cake is the fact that few of the people who work on this assembly line make any effort to hide the fact that they're only interested in your money. It's hard to linger anywhere. After all, they need that space so they can start relieving some poor bitch from Nebraska of her rainy day fund, an experience she'll remember as the adventure of a lifetime (simply because it happened somewhere other than Nebraska).

Those of you who think I'm being too harsh should know that more than once, I caught hotel and resort staff either pretending not to speak English or giving me the wrong directions on purpose. No, I did not make that up. To be fair, I should point out that not everyone we encountered was as rude as that – most of them struck me as too apathetic or disinterested to be that clever about it. The one guy I remember fondly was our Italian waiter from Wolfgang Puck's. He was so friendly that he managed to get my entire family drunk enough to accompany me to the MGM Grand's exact replica of Studio 54. All six of us danced until about five in the morning, and I can't remember the last time I was so happy.

In the end, I enjoyed my trip, thanks to my traveling companions. At the end of the day, the neon wasteland that is Vegas is not without its charms, although devoid of its own character and culture. True to its Mafioso roots, the city makes a valiant effort to compensate for these deficiencies – by stealing the styles of various other locales.

Perhaps since I hail from a town that's known for laid-back celebrations, I'm hypersensitive to the differences between how these two cities "get down." And yet, I seriously doubt that any casual observer from the planet Earth would mistake the glitzy, pricey indulgences of Las Vegas for the cheap booze and public parties of my home.

"What happens in Vegas" should probably stay there, I think, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth a visit. I just can't understand why anyone who's aware of what's really happening would ever want to stay for very long.

Thanks to Chris Fontana

After Decades on the Las Vegas Strip, Klondike Casino to be Razed

I will be honest, I have never heard of this casino, but gamblers have bet their last at the kitschy Klondike, a south Las Vegas Strip landmark that new owners plan to raze to make way for a new hotel and condominium complex.

"I think we were standing in the way of progress," said John Woodrum, who bought the former Motel 6 with partner Katsumi Kazama in 1974 for $1.2 million and converted it in 1978 into a casino, restaurant, bar and lounge with a 153-room hotel.

The property, which first opened in 1962, was a popular stop for motorists from California because of its location at the southern edge of the Strip near the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign.

Woodrum sold the property in September for about $24 million to Royal Palm Las Vegas, part of a Florida company that also bought an adjacent vacant 5.25-acre site. it plans to build a hotel with about 900 rooms, 1,200 condominium-hotel units, and a casino more than seven times larger than the 12,000-square-foot Klondike.

The casino ceased operations Wednesday, and the restaurant and hotel will close Friday.

The closure signals a decline in "mom and pop" casinos and a time when small civic gestures were common on the Strip, said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

When electricity to the lighted "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign was shut off during a 1970s ownership dispute between municipalities, Woodrum reconnected power and kept it lighted until Clark County assumed responsibility for the sign in 1976.

$7 Billion ProjectCityCenter Proceeds in Rare Vegas Feat

At a time when other high-rise condo products are landing on the scrap heap or being put on the back burner, construction started this week on the $7 billion, 18 million-square foot, multi-use Project CityCenter in Las Vegas.

A ceremonial concrete pour kicked off the construction on Monday with the project’s residential presentation center opening in January. CityCenter will feature a 60-story, 4,000-room hotel/casino; two 400-room, non-gaming hotels; 500,000 square feet of retail shops, dining and entertainment venues and luxury condominiums. CityCenter is scheduled to open in 2009 on 66 acres on the Las Vegas Strip between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts.

"This project is owned by the MGM Grand Group and right now it is going to be a $7 billion project or maybe even more, but it will be very successful," David Baird, national director of multi-family & senior vice president for Sperry Van Ness, told CPN.

With MGM most likely financing the project out of pocket, Baird said, they have an advantage over other developers because they are one of the largest owners of casinos in the country and they already own this land. "So, they don’t have the same barriers to entry that some of the other projects have," Baird said. "And you can’t beat the location next to Bellagio."

With the demise of projects like the $3 billion Las Ramblas luxury condominium, resort and casino complex–-which gained notoriety for its backing by actor George Clooney, nightclub developer Rande Gerber, Related Las Vegas and Centra Properties--there were questions about the success of condo projects in Las Vegas.

"Money is the biggest problem with high rise projects here," Baird said. "The reasons for the cancellation of projects is twofold: the cost of construction has gone up 30 percent, but projects like CityCenter can absorb that cost with the casino. But, overall, costs are up substantially, which causes the second problem of banks backing off of the projects. The interesting part is that there are plenty of buyers for the end product."

Thanks to Tonie Auer

Wolfgang Puck, Chef and Restaurateur

With regular television appearances, a line of cooking products, a catering business and a fast-food restaurant chain, Puck is considered the original "celebrity chef" and has carved out a powerful brand in the casino industry, where hotels are battling fiercely for a bigger share of well-heeled resort customers.

Fine dining has become a vital part of the Las Vegas resort experience and Puck has capitalized on the trend, opening six restaurants on the Strip and anticipating as many as three additional high-end eateries in the years to come. Las Vegas has become the hub of Puck's gourmet business, which consists of thirteen owned or managed restaurants.

Wolfgang Puck is to fine dining in Las Vegas what Steve Wynn is to the modern megaresort. Puck took a gamble when he opened the high-end Spago at the Forum Shops in 1992, doubting gamblers' willingness to pay full price for gourmet cuisine. The Las Vegas outpost of the original Beverly Hills restaurant was a hit with locals, who spread the word among tourists.

Question: Tell me the story of how your Los Angeles restaurant, Spago, opened its first location at the Forum Shops.

Answer: When they were building the Forum Shops, (developer) Sheldon Gordon lived in Malibu (Calif.) and he was always saying there were no good restaurants in Las Vegas, that I should open a restaurant in Las Vegas. He would go on and on and on. I decided that the easiest way to get rid of him was to say yes so he wouldn't bug me anymore. I told him to find investors. The Gordon Group found investors in Las Vegas and L.A., (boxing promoter) Bob Arum and people like that. When we opened in December 1992, I remember it because that was the slowest time in Las Vegas, just before the holidays. Nobody came for like two weeks. I would sit in the restaurant and drink a bottle of wine every night. I was already doubting it. I was hearing from all these rich people, the high rollers, that they could get free food, free caviar, free Dom Perignon. How can I compete with that? I thought there would be a clientele in Las Vegas, the locals, who like that. After those first few weeks it was busy and it's been busy ever since.

You have five restaurants in Las Vegas. Do you have plans for others?

The last one we opened was at MGM, the Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill. We are opening another in the Palazzo (next to the Venetian) and hopefully something at (MGM Mirage's Project) CityCenter. We will open more in Las Vegas. We are really the only (restaurant company) with an infrastructure there, including (Senior Managing Partner) Tom Kaplan and chefs and managers who've worked with me for years. At least two or three more are yet to come.

Spago basically started the celebrity chef trend. Chefs are even bigger celebrities now with cooking shows and reality competition shows. How much of your success do you attribute to your exposure on television?

I've been telling people since the '80s that if people don't know you they won't come. I did benefits all over the place. In 1986 I started doing Good Morning America regularly, and then a much wider audience learned about us. Now I do the Food Network. I did a guest appearance on the show "Las Vegas" and I was on "American Idol." That was great. It helped a lot. Instead of paying for advertising, people say, "Oh, I saw him on TV."

How important is the dining experience in the casino industry?

I think it has become an important part now. It wasn't that important before. Now the chefs are stars who are just as big as the entertainers there. Las Vegas has so many Californians coming here, too. They want to know where to eat and about dining. I was a big fight fan and started going to Vegas in the late '70s. I never wanted to eat in the fancy restaurants run by the hotels for their high rollers. I don't want to be taken for a ride.

Las Vegas has been transformed from a gambler's haven to a high-end resort destination with the some of the country's finest shopping, dining and entertainment. Some are even calling Las Vegas the new culinary capital of the country. Is that an exaggeration?

Only New York might be compared to Las Vegas in upscale dining and the number of fine restaurants. We don't have that many mom-and- pop operations or ethnic neighborhoods and places that have been around 100 years.

Where do you think Vegas ranks now and how will it rank a few years from now?

I don't look too far in the future. In the next five years, Las Vegas will be growing and so will the dining scene. French chefs are coming here. Ten years ago I said we should have French chefs here and they said, "Oh, it's too expensive." A hotel needs to have a nice restaurant. You might as well have the best. Co-branding has become the way to go not just for the casino business. At the Four Seasons in Maui we are grossing $6.5 million. The hotel restaurants really cannot keep up.

It seems that every major casino has branded its restaurant with some sort of celebrity chef. Branding is a critical part of the retail business. Why has it become so important in the restaurant business?

I think it's important to have great food and great service. You cannot have great food by committee. The food and beverage manager, the restaurant manager, they all sit together and say what should we have on the menu. They say there's too much garlic, it's too cooked. If you have a chef who runs the restaurant it's so much easier.

Some have said Las Vegas now has more brand-name chefs than any other city. Is that good for competition?

So far competition is good. The most important thing for restaurants is that the hotel has occupancy. We depend on the hotels and it seems like the hotels are full.

Have there been any restaurants or chefs that have surprised you with their arrival in Las Vegas? Are there any that particularly impress you?

I don't go out in Vegas that much, I don't eat at Guy Savoy, Robuchon. It's hard to say anything about the restaurants. I think it's great. If we have restaurants it gives people an additional reason to come to Vegas. We don't want to take ourselves so seriously. We want to have fun with it.

Casinos say this luxury trend in Vegas stems from a different kind of customer who is younger and wealthier. Do these brand-conscious customers prefer high-end restaurants, in your opinion?

Because of the Food Network and all these magazines and newspapers writing about food so much, now people really know. When the movie "Sideways" came out, Pinot Noir sales went up. It was amazing. Younger people spend the money. Older people are too tight. They do not work and they feel that their money is running out.

In spite of the many wealthier people coming to Vegas, the vast majority of customers are solidly middle-class. Is it important for you and your peers to attract this customer segment?

Absolutely. When you look at Spago and Postrio, actually you have two restaurants in one. In front is the cafe. It's fast food like hamburgers, pizzas, sandwiches. Anybody can come in and eat. It's a time of year starting around now when the customer base is different. Rooms are much cheaper — when rooms are cheaper, attractions are cheaper. We really base our business on the way our hotel balances rooms. If they lower the price of the rooms, we put more lower-price items on the menu. It is still of high quality.

There's been some controversy among critics about price not equating with quality. Do you think Las Vegas' finest restaurants offer a good value, all things considered?

I think if you go to Paris and London, for sure. I think the upscale restaurants are comparably priced to other cities. The prices, when you look at Wynn or Bellagio, the new resorts spend so much money to build a restaurant. Without gaming it wouldn't make business sense, but you are attracting a wealthier crowd.

Like some other restaurants in town, you are not running your namesake restaurants day-to-day. Some critics believe some restaurants run by underlings sacrifice quality. Is there something to be said for that?

(A man) who's had a famous restaurant in Lyon (France) for 45 years travels as much as anyone in the industry the last 35 years. One day a journalist asked him, "So who cooks in the restaurant when you're not there?" He said, "The same who cook when I'm there."

I'm 56. If I had to go behind the line and cook, it would be impossible. If I'm not able to train the right people I wouldn't be a good manager. I never thought in my life that I'm the only good chef out there. There are so many young chefs who are working hard. I don't think it's a problem at all. Sometimes I think I'm a handicap because I think the old-fashioned way. It is a sentimental value for people when they see me in the restaurant. They say, "We saw him on TV on 'American Idol'." The food will be the same if I'm here and if I'm not here. If I was gone for a year maybe yes, it would be different. It's not brain surgery at the end of the day. If you buy a great steak and if you cook it right it's good.

How much time do you spend in Las Vegas compared with other cities in which you do business?

I spend most of my time in Los Angeles. I go to Las Vegas once every couple of months or so. I go to San Francisco, Hawaii three to four times a year and Japan maybe three times a year. (Corporate Chef) Lee Hefter has worked for me the past 15 years. He goes (to Las Vegas) instead of me. I know when he goes he cooks the way I like it. It's not like (the business) depends solely on me. I hire the right people.

The casino business is a business based on customer service. How important is that in your business? Do you see eye to eye with casino bosses on this issue?

Much more so than anything. For us the customer is king. We just opened a new restaurant at the Beverly Wilshire and as I told the waiter, "No is not an answer. If someone wants a baked potato we will make a baked potato for them." When I was 24 years old and young, I was different. If someone wanted a steak well done, I would say, "No, tell him to eat the chicken." These days I'm much smarter about it. The customer is paying for it. They should get what they want. If you go to a tailor and a suit is too short it should be redone. We are here to get repeat customers and make customers happy. We still have a good local clientele at Spago. They might go to the choice restaurants that are opening but they come back. Why? Because Tom Kaplan and (Corporate Chef) David Robbins and (others) are there. They have become their own stars there. They have become good friends with the casino executives. We home grow a lot of our talent.

Do you own your restaurants? Do you franchise some of them? What are the pros and cons?

Few of the (known chefs) own their restaurants. We own the restaurant at the Forum Shops, at Mandalay Bay, at the Venetian, with investors, some of them. We also manage restaurants like the one at MGM and participate in the profits. We don't franchise. We really are responsible for our people. We promote from within. We have people who started as busboys at Spago and they are now floor managers, telling people how to deal with customers. People come back to Las Vegas and they say, "Carlo or Peter is still there."

Some of these restaurants have become very expensive for the average person.

If you are paying $350 that is one thing. There is a different expectation than if you go to Spago and pay $80. If the waiter isn't smiling and the hostess isn't doing a good job or looking down on customers, then it's a problem. You don't judge a customer by how he looks. We have customers who are billionaires who come in in jeans and a sweatshirt. We are easygoing on the dress code because we are from California, not from New York or Paris.

Your company does a lot of charity work and community events. What do you get out of that?

I tell all of my chefs, "You have to be a great cook." You also have to be a great businessman. You have to be a great citizen as well. I think it's important to help people who are less fortunate. I came from Austria and the time was right. I became successful way beyond my dreams. I have to give back to the community. We started (raising money for the) Lou Ruvo Alzheimer's Center there. It started very small at Spago and we raised $1.2 million. This year raised $20 million. We always donate dinners, we always donate to the community. If we are not in the community then why should they be interested in us? Whenever we open a restaurant in a city we are geared toward the locals. It's harder to keep the locals happy than to attract the tourists who are here two to three times per year. That was our aim from the beginning. We have a big local following in Las Vegas.

Interviewed by Liz Benston

Aaron Spelling had Love Affair

Before "C.S.I." and "Las Vegas," there was ABC's "Vega$."

Aaron Spelling's fascination and love affair with Las Vegas turned into a three-year prime-time show that was equal parts glitz and grit. "Aaron loved Las Vegas. I got the impression he wanted to live here," film legend Tony Curtis recalled Saturday. Curtis played casino mogul Philip Roth the first season of "Vega$."

Spelling, one of Hollywood's most prolific TV producers, died Friday at age 83 in Los Angeles.

Robert Urich played private detective Dan Tanna, who chased criminals and chicks in a 1957 Ford Thunderbird. His office was in the Desert Inn, and his home featured a living room drive-through.

"Vega$" was among Spelling's assembly-line TV hits that ran the gamut from "Love Boat" to "Fantasy Island," "Starsky and Hutch," "Charlie's Angels" and "Beverly Hills 90210."

Spelling and co-producer Duke Vincent named the star of "Vega$" after Dan Tana's restaurant, one of their favorite L.A. haunts.

They based the detective's life on real-life Las Vegas private investigator Eddie La Rue, a leg man for everyone from Elvis to then-mob attorney Oscar Goodman. "Some (Hollywood) people came and talked to me and followed me around for a week or two," La Rue, 65, said by telephone Saturday.

"Vega$" didn't make an early impression on Burton Cohen, longtime president and CEO of the Desert Inn.

"I had seen the pilot they shot at the Maxim and a warehouse. Aaron and Duke came up to my office and asked if I had seen the pilot.

"I said 'Yes,' and I told them I thought it sucked. Aaron got up and came over kissed me on the cheek.

"He said, 'If you had liked it, we would have missed our target audience,'" Cohen said.

Thanks to Norm!

Reba Shares Views on Vegas

Reba McEntire has been forced to cancel three nights of appearances at the Las Vegas Hilton so she can work on her sitcom that will now be broadcast on the new CW network.

McEntire continues her run of Las Vegas dates with shows July 19-23 and July 26-30.

"It's funny how many people will come to Vegas to see your show where they might not come out to see you unless you come to their hometown," she says. "But here in Las Vegas, I've had more family members and friends come in, so I'm visiting all day long and singing at night."

Explaining the difference in performing to audiences in Las Vegas, McEntire says, "When I go their hometown, they come to see me -- whether it's an arena, a fair, a coliseum or a private show. ... When they come to Las Vegas, they have a billion choices to make. Are they going to gamble? Are they going to go eat at a nice restaurant? Are they going to see one of the million shows here in Las Vegas? ... You better be up there entertaining because they can turn around and walk right back out and go find some other way of being entertained. So the stakes are high."

Thanks to Katie Cook

Aging New Frontier to become Montreux on the Strip

The Kansas real estate tycoon who bought the New Frontier eight years ago has long had designs on creating a Strip resort rivaling the best in town. By the end of this year, Phil Ruffin hopes to start making good on that intention, by replacing his aging casino with a $2 billion hotel named after Montreux, the Swiss resort town alongside Lake Geneva.

Ruffin, who made millions in dollies, gas stations and modestly priced hotels, has never built a resort. Nor has Paul Steelman, Ruffin's appointed visionary and a veteran casino architect, ever designed a Strip resort from the bottom up. Even without equity investors or corporate partners, Ruffin, who bought the property for about $200 million in 1998, said he is up for the challenge.

Steelman said he believes the concept behind Montreux will put Ruffin's stamp on Las Vegas in the same way that Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson created their world brands here. Word of Ruffin's 2,750-room resort a few months ago conjured up images of Alpine cottages and quaint stores peddling Swiss watches, cheese and chocolates. But that's hardly the case, based on a Paul Steelman Design Group digital tour featuring more than two hours of three-dimensional video images of the resort's final design. Montreux's interior - a mix of glass artwork, waterfalls and reflective surfaces - resembles the hip, boutique hotels of New York and Los Angeles, or the latest of Las Vegas' posh ultralounges.

Steelman was one of several architects who designed the Mirage, but he is better known for remodeling several Las Vegas resorts and designing casinos in smaller markets around the world. His experience in designing several casinos in Switzerland gave birth to Montreux, named for the town near the Matterhorn that is home to an international jazz festival. But instead of mountain scenery and yodelers, the Montreux will feature a lobby with a massive chandelier dipping into a giant vase of water.

The design may surprise Las Vegas regulars who patronize the older properties at the north end of the Strip and have grown accustomed to the New Frontier's 1970s-era interior and Western theme.

Reflecting the Strip's diminishing dependence on gambling, less than 2 percent of the property - about 100,000 square feet of the resort's 6 million square feet - will feature casino games. More than a half-million square feet of retail space will put the property in a league with the biggest malls in town.

"It's fun. It's not heavy, drapey or tassely," Steelman said. "I call these 'smile buildings.' They make you smile and they make you happy.' "

Steelman's attempt to create upbeat designs echoes Wynn's philosophy. But Steelman says the Montreux boasts plenty of original ideas.

A couple hundred suites at the resort will connect to a health club, spa and meditative retreat operated by the Golden Door, an upscale brand in California and Arizona, among other resort locations. These spa rooms lead directly to the 50,000-square-foot spa and pool area, a layout appealing to resort aficionados who would rather not traipse through a casino.

The property also will feature the Strip's largest ballroom. At about 116,000 square feet, the room will be able to stage major events with stadium seating, from tennis matches to hockey games and poker tournaments.

The resort's "lakefront" will be a pool on the third floor of the property atop its retail stores and overlooking the Strip.

In another departure for Las Vegas, the Strip-front facade of the property will be lined with retail shops and "people-watching" hangouts rather than slot machines.

Ruffin also is planning a boulevard of high-end boutiques on the south side of the resort facing the Fashion Show mall . With shops on both sides of Fashion Show Drive, the street would become the Las Vegas version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Calif., Steelman said.

A much talked-about observation wheel, Las Vegas' version of the London Eye, would tower more than 450 feet in the air on the northeast corner of the property.

The Montreux is intended to appeal to Middle America rather than design experts who favor urban, minimalist architecture, he said. Ruffin is "not a guy who likes office-building architecture," Steelman said. "He doesn't feel that it fits in Las Vegas. He feels architecture here has got to have a certain solid style to it."

On the other hand, heavily themed properties are on the way out, he said. "Young people today ¦ they're going to Egypt, they're going to Russia, they've been to China," he said. "They are not going to be immersed or be happy in some plasticized, faux finished thing. The theme (of Montreux) is somewhat indescribable, but has the right emotional characteristics."

While Montreux marks the architect's first big venture in Las Vegas, he is known for leading other major projects around the world. Steelman designed the Sands Macau, a $240 million property owned by Venetian operator Las Vegas Sands that paid for itself after a year and opened 600 days after its first blueprint. The Macau casino, distinguished by its high ceilings and natural light, was the first American property in the Chinese province and infused feng shui design principles with Las Vegas glamour. He also designed a casino in Helsinki, Finland, to appeal to the Finns' appreciation for technology. Casino Ray features a glass staircase, walls with digital images and high-tech games.

Montreux isn't a shot in the dark, but a careful collection of proven resort concepts topped off with some new ideas, Steelman said. "There are about 70 rules you must follow if you're doing any casino," he said. "If you look at the planning of Wynn's resorts, from the Mirage through to the Bellagio and Wynn, they have the same fundamentals. We have to follow those rules. Then you have to engage (several) new concepts within those rules."

After years of trial and error, Las Vegas operators know what works and what doesn't, he said. "We know the money-making possibilities of this," he said. "We call it 'power space.' We have as little non-making money space as possible and as much power space as possible."

Montreux could start construction before the New Frontier comes down before the end of the year, he said. The timing depends on several variables, including obtaining demolition and construction permits, he said.

Thanks to Liz Benston

Vegas Property Still in Demand at $20 Million an Acre

Prices are more than $20 million an acre, but investors are still betting that increasingly scarce Las Vegas Strip properties might be worth accumulating.

Business is booming in the popular gambling center. In particular, the success of the year-old Wynn Las Vegas and plans for some big projects are putting the focus on the northern section of the Strip, where several vacant and underdeveloped parcels of land remain.

Among the new multi-use projects under way are Boyd Gaming Corp.'s Echelon Place on the 63-acre site of its Stardust Hotel and Casino and MGM Mirage Inc.'s 66-acre CityCenter development. Also, developer Phil Ruffin in April announced plans to build an upscale Swiss-themed resort to replace the aging New Frontier, which sits across the Strip from the Wynn property."A collection of new developments gives others the confidence to put money in the ground," said Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Lerner.

Farther south on the Strip, Harrah's Entertainment Inc. last year bought the Imperial Palace for about $20 million an acre. The company is keenly interested in acquiring Boyd's Barbary Coast casino located between two of its other properties, the Flamingo and Bally's.

Last month, Aztar Corp., whose casinos include the Strip's Tropicana, stopped a bidding war by accepting a $1.9 billion takeover offer from hotel and casino operator Columbia Sussex Corp. Some Wall Street analysts put the price for the flagship property at $30 million an acre.

"We think additional Las Vegas Strip real estate acquisitions/transactions will likely be announced in the near term in the $20-million-an-acre range," Bear Stearns analyst Joe Greff said in a recent research note. "We think properties with suitors include Westward Ho and Sahara."

Gary Tharaldson, owner of the 15-acre site of the former Westward Ho casino next to the Stardust, said: "I'd probably sell at that price." The hotel owner and developer said he bought out joint venture partner Centex Corp. in March in a deal that valued the property at $170 million. At the time, he intended to build a casino, hotel and condo complex. "But (land) prices are getting crazy and construction costs are going up," Tharaldson said. "I'm still debating, do I want to be in the casino business or not?"

Analysts say two companies already in the casino business, unsuccessful Aztar suitors Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. and Ameristar Casinos Inc., still want to enter the Las Vegas market. "Strategically, Las Vegas is, of course, of interest to us, but I can't tell you whether we will be there next year or five years from now," said Pinnacle spokeswoman Pauline Yoshihashi.

Among other available properties, the Sahara consists of several parcels totaling around 55 acres, part of which adjoins the 27-acre site of a former water park. The Sahara, which is owned by the family of late casino entrepreneur William Bennett, has been on the market for several months. Al Hummel, chief executive of the property, referred inquiries about the sales process to real estate broker CB Richard Ellis. Officials there were not available for comment.

Despite the surge in capacity, most analysts expect travel demand for Sin City to keep pace. Debt rating agency Standard & Poor's expects a 30 percent increase in Las Vegas hotel rooms by 2010, but sees the industry handling that with relative ease as long as the economy remains healthy. "Historically, Las Vegas has been able to absorb increases of this size," S&P analyst Michael Scerbo said in a report.

Several coming projects, including the Palazzo Resort from Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Encore from Wynn Resorts Ltd., are aimed at affluent customers who would be less vulnerable to economic downturns, Scerbo added.

Bear Stearns' Greff said the emergence of a significantly affluent class in Asia also bodes well for Las Vegas properties catering to high-end customers.

Meeting and convention attendees currently make up about 15 percent of visitors to Las Vegas. The city, which is expanding convention space by 60 percent, aims to boost that ratio to 20 percent by 2009. "The convention bureau expects to get 43 million visitors a year by 2009," Deutsche Bank's Lerner said. "That's what New York City gets."

Thanks to Deena Beasley

TV Fans Go All-in on Poker

When shelves lined with poker chip sets sat untouched in stores last Christmas and television ratings for last year's World Series of Poker dipped slightly, some pundits sniped that the nation's faddish obsession with poker had finally peaked. But as Las Vegas heads into the thick of poker season, executives with the two major poker franchises scoff at such predictions and say the best years are yet to come for a game growing in viewership and, more significantly, participants.

The World Poker Tour wrapped up its fourth season of traveling poker tournaments at the Bellagio in April and its fifth season kicked off last month with a tournament at the Mirage and another event this month at Mandalay Bay. Last year's tour paid out close to $100 million in prize money, dwarfing 2004's roughly $70 million. Each of the 17 events attracted an average of 500 participants.

The World Series of Poker, the world's largest poker tournament, begins today at the Rio and runs through Aug. 10 - the day of the final, no-limit hold 'em event and the world's richest first prize of at least $10 million. The granddaddy of poker tournaments has grown at a staggering rate. Last year's event drew more than 32,000 entries and $106 million in prize money, up from more than 14,000 entries and $46 million in prize money the previous year. Harrah's has capped the number of players in the final event of the tournament at around 8,800 - up from 5,619 last year.

For a town shunned by major sports leagues, Las Vegas has become the de facto home of a game that - by some measures - is already bigger than the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

The World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour actually have more ambitious goals. The two entities already have poached from the ranks of the nation's biggest sports franchises - the National Football League and NASCAR - to cultivate their tournaments into globally known brands.

It has been only five years since the World Poker Tour transformed what had been a fairly dull pastime of watching poker into dramatic reality TV when it introduced a special camera that showed players' hole cards. Those may as well be light years for the poker world.

In 2003, the aptly named Chris Moneymaker parlayed a $39 buy-in on the Internet to a seat at the World Series of Poker, winning the top prize of $2.5 million and showing the world that an Average Joe - with a bit of practice online and just as much luck - could become rich and famous overnight.

Los Angeles-based WPT Enterprises went public in 2004 with backing from casino company Lakes Entertainment and its founder, poker player Lyle Berman. The company's merchandising efforts entered warp speed, with the WPT logo popping up on everything from bedding to jewelry and barbecue tongs and licensing deals with more than 40 different companies. Newer products include slot machines and poker tables for American casinos.

Last year the company launched an international licensing push and now is churning out WPT products around the world, including video games, cards and chips.

The biggest chunks of money are generated from sponsorship deals. WPT has a deal with Anheuser Busch, and the World Series of Poker has a competing deal with the owner of Miller Brewing Co. Both deals are estimated to be worth seven to eight figures each, ranking them alongside some of the most lucrative contracts in sports.

While the World Series of Poker is newer to merchandising, owner Harrah's Entertainment - which bought the brand in 2003 - has kicked those promotional efforts into high gear in advance of the upcoming tournament. In the past few months, Harrah's has signed licensing deals with more than a dozen entities, including a company that makes Swiss watches worth thousands of dollars, a deal to broadcast the tournament on satellite radio and a separate agreement to offer poker games on America Online.

Harrah's is tapping the international market through a publishing company that is distributing World Series of Poker-branded video games to cell phones in 150 countries, said Gary Thompson, director of sports and entertainment marketing for Harrah's. Sales of branded merchandise totaled about $46 million last year and are growing this year, he said.

Competitor WPT Enterprises last year reported $4.4 million in revenue from product licensing and $14.9 million in total revenue - down 6 percent, in part because of a delay in when the shows were aired compared with a year ago. Television licensing deals represent about 70 percent of the company's revenue - down from about 90 percent the year before - as the company has branched out into other products.

Even with a recent torrent of poker gear on the market, Thompson said, Harrah's is just scratching the surface. He predicts more big-name sponsors and more licensing deals with well-known brands. "I read things about poker peaking and I laugh," Thompson said. "The reason people want to align themselves with the World Series of Poker is they get great exposure."

The proof, he says, is in the number of people playing poker. Thompson predicts that number - now in the millions - will grow in the low double digits in the United States and in the high double digits in Europe. Players in South America and Asia are expected to grow in the triple digits for several years, he said. Poker viewers and players are mostly younger to middle-aged men - those most coveted by advertisers for their willingness to spend money.

The World Poker Tour, which began as a global tournament, is seeking more international deals along the lines of a recent agreement to create a separate poker tour in the Philippines. Nearly 150 countries broadcast the tour, which ends at Bellagio's newly upsized poker room in Las Vegas.

Ratings for major poker tournaments in the United States top other sporting events save for football and NASCAR. But they may even command higher overall ratings in other countries, where fewer big sports and programs compete for attention.

In the United Kingdom, for example, the World Poker Tour attracted some 9 million viewers over the first three seasons, and in Sweden, coverage attracted about 32 percent of viewers across the country.

As popular as the game is in the United States and parts of Europe, poker remains a fairly unknown entity in much of the world. That new frontier includes Asia, where casinos are salivating over the prospects of reaching a relatively untapped population.

While the tournament is rekindling some affinity for the game that many Americans have from their youth, it is building a poker market from scratch in other parts of the world, said Steven Lipscomb, founder and chief executive of WPT Enterprises. "It seems to be igniting an excitement about poker that didn't exist before," Lipscomb said.

In January, WPT hired Peter Hughes, a former retail licensing manager for the NFL and a sports marketing agent for Clear Channel Entertainment, to expand the brand globally. Similarly, Harrah's last year hired Jeffrey Pollack, a sports marketer who ran marketing efforts for the National Basketball Association and NASCAR, and Ty Stewart, who ran promotional and licensing efforts at the NFL for seven years.

Poker games have become the gambling equivalent of popular reality shows, where people compete head to head for a prize, said David Schwartz, director of UNLV's Gaming Studies Research Center. "There's a winner and a loser, unlike blackjack where everyone can win if the dealer busts," Schwartz said. "It's much more about a human struggle."

The longer-term prospects are bright as well, Schwartz said. The game has attracted intense interest from young people who are likely to play the game for years. And unlike other sports where careers are limited, poker "is the sort of thing you can do all your life," he said.

For those reasons and others, Lipscomb looks to the future with the smug satisfaction of a poker player who has just drawn an inside straight. "We have a huge belief that we have begun the climb that will be a long climb and that this will be one of the great competitive sports in this country."

Thanks to Liz Benston

Smith Center Won't Be Cheap

It's not going to be cheap to build a house for culture for Las Vegas.

Supporters figure it will take between $125 million and $175 million - much of that from private donations and a car rental tax - for the Smith Center for the Performing Arts. They optimistically talk about raising $400 million to build - and sustain - the center.

Despite the hefty price tag, the center's boosters say the Las Vegas Valley - with 1.7 million - can no longer afford to not have a world-class performing arts center.

"This will be the most important building built in our generation," says Don Snyder, chairman of the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center Foundation. "The performing arts center will be the heart of the 61 acres," referring to the Union Park redevelopment of the former railyard near downtown Las Vegas.

Snyder, a former banker and ex-president of Boyd Gaming, says he isn't underestimating the herculean task of breaking ground on Smith Center by spring 2008 and finishing it by 2010. "Today's construction costs are out of control, and who knows what will happen in the next few years," Snyder says. "What we definitely will not do is compromise quality."

Backers say they've learned valuable lessons from the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Miami Performing Arts Center and hope to avoid the costly delays that plagued those projects. "We have to plan well. We have to decide beforehand exactly what we want so that we can bring the project in on time and on budget," says Myron Martin, president of the foundation. "We are planning for an elegant structure that will stand 200 years."

The project undoubtedly will face financial challenges during construction, says Susan Boskoff, executive director of the Nevada Arts Council. "Building buildings is not an exact science," she says. "There are always change orders and always cost overruns. Every building exceeds its original budget. "I just hope the construction costs do not dash their efforts. Such a facility in Las Vegas is long overdue."

Both Martin and Snyder say the project may have to be built in phases because of unpredictable construction costs.

Here's where the foundation officials expect to get the money for the project:

# Las Vegas: The city is providing 4.75 acres of raw land, valued at $2 million per acre. It's also building roads; bringing in sewer lines, electricity, water and gas; constructing 1,400 parking spaces; and spending $2.2 million to clean up soil contaminants and groundwater. Estimated value of the city's contribution: $40 million to $50 million. The center will pay the city $1 a year to lease the land for 99 years.

# Endowment: The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation is giving $50 million. The charitable organization was formed by the former publisher of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. (The center is named for Fred Smith, the chairman of the Reynolds Foundation and his wife, Mary.) That includes $5 million for architectural design. The interest on the remaining $45 million would be set aside for staff, operating expenses and a program to provide tickets for students and the underprivileged.

# Private funds: Snyder is heading up efforts to raise $150 million. He donated $1 million to kick off the center's Founder's Club. So far, another 14 donors have pledged $1 million each. He's seeking 50 in all.

# Car rental tax: The Nevada Legislature allowed the Clark County Commission to increase the car rental tax by 2 percent. That will generate an estimated $4 million to $5 million a year and $85 million to $100 million overall. That money would be used in part to pay off an estimated $40 million in bonds that are expected to be issued by the city to build the first phase of the center.

The cost of running the facility remains a question, Martin and Snyder agree. But UNLV officials, who run their own performing arts facilities, say the Smith Center will have to clear some interesting hurdles.

"They will need to fund-raise like crazy every year to keep it running," says Larry Henley, director of UNLV's Performing Arts Center. Henley notes that part of his center's annual $2 million budget is defrayed by the university, which pays for staff and upkeep.

The Smith Center will have to finance those things from its endowment and from ticket sales. The center would provide a permanent home to such local institutions as the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre. The center also is expected to host Broadway plays and major symphonies, ballets and operas. The city sees the center as a catalyst for improvements to the entire downtown area.

Las Vegas Councilman Lawrence Weekly, whose ward would include the performing arts, recently visited Fort Worth, Texas, and saw the impact of Bass Performance Hall - designed by David M. Schwarz, the architect selected for the Las Vegas center. "It seemed to breathe a little life into downtown Fort Worth," he says. "It felt as if we were in a place where there was much culture."

The Smith Center could bring that same atmosphere to Las Vegas, he says. "Of course there are always concerns about money for such projects, but I believe this group will successfully address that issue," he said. "The intensity at their meetings has not faltered. They have debated everything down to the type of stalls they want in the bathrooms."

Thanks to Ed Koch

Las Vegas Isn't Always Filled with Gold for Franchisees

Brian Savinda looks around his empty Henderson restaurant and admits he's rethinking his latest venture. It's not that the Fox's Pizza owner wouldn't move to Southern Nevada from Pennsylvania again, but he'd be a little wiser about selecting his store location. Savinda is not alone. Franchisees are discovering that a Las Vegas Valley opening is far from a sure bet.

Opening a Fox's Pizza in Henderson seemed like a good idea at the time because another recently opened franchise in a developing area of Summerlin had done well over the past year. However, Savinda realized, perhaps too late, that that franchise doesn't vie for customers with established restaurants in the vicinity like his does. "Now I have second thoughts," he said about his Sunset Road strip mall spot, not far from the Galleria at Sunset Mall and Sunset Station Hotel and Casino.

As with most successful outlets, it's location, location, location, and Savinda's store doesn't have it, being isolated at the end of the strip mall. To make matters worse, the owner picked an area already saturated with eateries. "The competition is so strong, not just from pizza, but from all food. You can get anything here."

With thousands of people moving here every month, eateries are following. Eager franchise owners are recruiting people to run their local stores. The midwest's Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream and California's Melt Gelato & Crepe Cafe are among those now seeking a few good franchisees. Out-of-state success, however, can prove hard to parlay into Las Vegas profits.

Fox's Pizza is a well-known name in the Pittsburgh area, but doesn't ring a bell with most locals. Lack of name recognition is one of the problems facing restaurateurs, explained American Franchisee Association President Susan Kezios. "Just because it works in one state and town and community, doesn't mean it will work in another city, state or town," she said. "If they were one of the big names, it might help, but no franchise corporation guarantees a location."

For those researching eateries in Southern Nevada, getting a clear picture is not easy. There were 5,200 restaurants listed in the state by the National Restaurant Association as of December, but the number of Nevada eateries is likely higher, Nevada Restaurant Association President Paul Hartgen said. "I don't think it counts the restaurants in casinos," he said. In Southern Nevada, a new study commissioned by Hartgen's group has counted 2,837 restaurants and bars in Clark County. Nevada also has the largest year-over-year restaurant sales' growth in the nation at 8.9 percent.

However, a regional brand name can prove to be a winner in Las Vegas. Take 70-store Rosati's Pizza out of Chicago, which has found success with a Green Valley franchisee for nearly a decade. This spring, two more local stores opened, and at least one of the owners is reporting brisk business.

Getting the buzz going early is one way companies are paving the way to success. Take, for example, the 65-store chain Happy Joe's. The Bettendorf, Iowa-headquartered franchise is hoping to launch its first store here by the end of 2007. Four of its prototype Happy Joe's Cafez and six of its carry-out restaurants are slated for the valley over the next decade.

Calling it a "very family-orientated concept," Happy Joe's Director of Franchise Development Bob Thiess described the eatery as "a cross between Chuck E. Cheese and Sammy's Woodfire Pizza." Now the corporation just needs business people willing to run them. "We are looking for one or two that are willing to do multiple units across the valley," said Thiess, who noted that there has been early interest by potential franchisees.

While pizza joints constitute a crowded field -- whether a family run outfit, a regional chain or a nationwide franchise -- no matter where one lives, what kind of success is possible for a Melt Gelato & Crepe Cafe? Over the next five years, the three-year-old California chain is bullishly planning to open 20 outlets in local malls and hotels and casinos. And Melt Gelato isn't, and won't be, the only player in town. Gelato di Roma of Dearborn, Mich., has contracted with a local franchisee, Bret King Lynch, to open approximately 40 stores over the next decade. Believe it or not, there are about a dozen existing gelato locations in the Las Vegas Valley.

Launching a local franchise isn't for the faint of heart, or cheap. Melt Gelato locations will run the franchisee $200,000 to $400,000, which includes a $25,000 franchise fee. Happy Joe's start-up costs are in the $500,000 to a $1 million range.

Savinda spent $150,000 to open the doors of his Fox' Pizza. With his money already invested, he said he is staying put. "I am going to be successful. It will just take time, determination and ads."

Thanks to Valerie Miller

Judging Vegas Judges Requires Judicious Judgement

For several years, Los Angeles Times reporters have prepared a potentially explosive investigative report about Las Vegas judges. Now the Times has detonated its three-part blast.

The first part suggested some district judges -- Sally Loehrer, Donald Mosley, Nancy Saitta and their former colleague, Gene Porter -- played favorites with campaign contributors. The second part administered a journalistic colonic to U.S. District Judge James Mahan over his dealings with a former law partner and a close friend. The third part claimed conflicts of interest involving senior judges James Brennan, Stephen Huffaker and Joseph Pavlikowski, still hearing cases after retiring from the bench.

IMPORTANT READING

The series is must reading for any civic-minded Las Vegan. Its details are unpleasant for the subjects to read and for citizens to contemplate. But they need to be contemplated.

* Why was this in the Times? Where were the local media? Understaffing, laziness, acceptance, that is the way it's always been. But another reason is perspective -- or the lack of it.

All who study Las Vegas, as reporters or historians, need jostling. We have become so caught up in what goes on around us, or the facts we collect, we need outsiders to offer perspective, even if it isn't always the right perspective.

Also, few outside reporters have a personal stake in Las Vegas. Reporters sometimes like and protect sources. Columnists are in the opinion business, and personal likes and dislikes affect what we write (you hadn't noticed?). Some want to eat lunch in this town again. The Times reporters probably were freer to examine Las Vegas without worrying about breaking the ties that bind.

* Is what the Times reported as corrupt as it seems? Yes and no.

JUSTICE MUST BE FAIR

The notion that judges reward old partners or friends, or rule on companies in which they invest or that employ their relatives, may not be shocking, but that makes it no less wrong. Even if justice can't be blind, it has to be fair.

On a G-Sting scale, the problems in our courts may not rank with four county commissioners selling a public trust down the river for thousands of dollars, oral sex and a lap dance for a son. But they display a problem in some judges' attitudes that isn't exclusive to Las Vegas: that their office or their robes insulate them.

Clearly, though, an age-old Las Vegas problem persists: This was and remains a small town in which juice often trumps judgment. Some of these judges are long-time residents who may operate, as some officials do, on the theory that even if the population has grown, the number of those who truly matter has not, leaving them free to conduct business as usual.

* Is there a solution? Some will say this series endorses changing the system we use to choose our judges from elective to appointive, or adopting something like the Missouri Plan: Appoint them first, then put them on the ballot to be voted up or down; if down, someone else is appointed.

TOUGHER RULES

But whatever the circumstances, voting on any office, from president to dogcatcher, leads to campaigning, fund-raising and playing offense and defense. Also, the appointive system takes a hit in these articles. Federal judges like Mahan are appointed; indeed, before Mahan reached the federal bench, Gov. Guinn appointed him a county district judge after a tough, unsuccessful election bid and the Judicial Selection Commission vetted him. The senior judges, serving at other judges' pleasure, are beyond the electorate's power. If anything, these articles endorse campaign finance reform, tougher ethics rules and controls over former judges.

* Is the Times series that bad? While these reports are no endorsement, the answer is a qualified no.

While lawyers sometimes feel intimidated into contributing to campaigns, few local judges actually showed up in the articles. If the Times had the goods on them, they would have been in there. Whether this series identifies a few bad apples in an otherwise decent barrel remains to be seen.

Also, permit some cynicism. First, two disclaimers: A few local judges are my friends, and one performed my wedding; a Times reporter interviewed me but, revealing journalistic wisdom, didn't use my comments.

Nearly three years ago, the Times reported that Sen. Harry Reid's sons worked for a law firm that represented casino and mining corporations and his Senate votes favored casinos and mining, so he voted that way because of his family. As if a senator from Nevada would oppose casinos and mining any more than senators from California would attack the computer industry in Silicon Valley. When provided with that comparison, the Times' top editor replied that he didn't see the point. The Times targeted Las Vegas without examining its own backyard -- or its own house.

If corruption is a problem in the local judiciary, is Las Vegas the disease or a symptom of a widespread disease? While the Times appears to think that corruption exists only down I-15, the answer is simple: Las Vegans can learn from the Los Angeles Times, but so should everyone, everywhere.

Thanks to Michael Green

In the Market for a Las Vegas Casino?

If you're in the market for a casino, Larry Woolf may be just your man.

Woolf, chief executive of Navegante Group, is the former chairman and chief executive of MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Woolf and his son founded Navegante in 1995 after developing the Casino Niagara for the Canadian government. The company manages the Casino Fandango in Carson City as well as the Plaza, Las Vegas Club, Western and Gold Spike — four downtown casinos that his company has rescued from financial woes. Woolf, who receives constant referrals from regulators, real estate agents and bankers, specializes in guiding casino newcomers through the complex process of obtaining a gaming license.

During this time of unprecedented investment in Las Vegas, Woolf's dance card is very full these days, allowing his company to pick and choose purchases and new development projects with the greatest growth potential.

Question: How did you get into the management consulting business?

Answer: I've been in the casino business all of my adult life. I was the president of Caesars Tahoe when (former Caesars World Chairman) Clifford Perlman was going to be the chairman of MGM (Grand Inc.) and build a 5,000-room resort and he'd indicated to me that he wasn't going to stay in that position and helped me with the introduction to Mr. Kerkorian and MGM. In 1990 I moved from Lake Tahoe to Las Vegas to be the chairman and president and CEO of MGM Grand.

We took three years to design and build the MGM, the green monster on the corner. After five years there I was going to retire but got busy with a couple of consulting projects. I bid on a project in Ontario in Niagara Falls for the government to design, build and manage their casino and we won that bid over 27 other companies, a number of them publicly-traded companies. That propelled us into the design, development and management arena of gaming.

We've been kind of the go-to guys since then. If someone wants to do something in gaming and they don't understand exactly what to do or they don't have a license and they need some help, they come to us. We probably talk to one group a week. Someone will say, "I want to buy the Sahara, can you help?" We've kind of become the go-to guys as to figuring how to make it work.

Do many gaming management consulting firms that do what you do?

There are a lot of management consulting firms but a lot of them specialize in something like employee training, employee friendliness, IT, hotel reservations, database marketing. A lot of them have a specialty. There aren't many that can come in from the top and put it all together.

When we signed the deal in Canada we signed on a Monday and by Wednesday I had 30 people in here flying to Canada, each in their own particular discipline, each a consultant in their own area. Their job was to find someone in Canada, train them in their discipline and leave within 100 days. We had a food and beverage person, an IT person, a player development person, a slot host person. They all went up there and hired Canadians, trained them and left town. That left us with a core group of maybe five management people to guide the new Canadian management team through the process.

We're probably one of the only ones that can do everything, including designing and building. We took responsibility for the construction, the design, the purchase of the slot machines, the training of the people. We had 300,000 applicants for the jobs in Niagara Falls. We interviewed 100,000 people, we narrowed that down to about 30,000 people. Out of that we hired about 4,000 people. The unemployment rate at that time was about 12 percent so there were an awful lot of people excited about going to work in the gaming industry. There aren't many management companies that can start from zero and in six months have designed, built, put together a management team and opened with 4,000 new, trained employees.

I've been hearing lately about unprecedented interest from investors interested in buying Las Vegas casinos and getting into the business. What's your take?

There are huge investment firms with a lot of money that have Las Vegas on their radar screen. There are people coming to town now that would never have considered coming to town before, that are basically real estate developers, real estate companies, that deal in real estate all over the world. I talked to one group that said, "being that we are still here probably means we are too late."

They are very conservative real estate investors and Las Vegas is on their radar screen now, which means there was an awful lot of opportunity lost in the last five years before they got here. They look at everything that is for sale. Whatever they do they say, "Who's going to run this place for us?" They need someone who's licensable, they need someone with a good reputation who can put it all together. They can't just go out and hire a hotel manager, a casino manager, an IT manager and then manage that from the New York corporate office of Goldman Sachs. They need someone they can just turn it all over to.

Some of the companies coming to town are hotel companies. They say, "We can do the hotel side." But they still need someone to do all of the other stuff. There are a lot of insurance issues, indemnity issues, licensing issues, contract issues that we've dealt with enough times. The entry into our field is hindered with a lot of problems and we've tackled all of those at one time or another. If a large company comes to town and says, "I want to buy X property" and they talk to a lawyer in town they say, "Call Larry Woolf.'' If they go to a real estate company, CB Richard Ellis, who refers us a lot of clients, they know that we're going to represent them well and we're going to tell the client what they should do. We're going to give them a roadmap.

If they come to us first we'll recommend attorneys, we'll recommend real estate people, we'll recommend gaming legal counsel. We generally say they should get licensed but it may take two years. So if you want the purchase to move forward quickly then we assess the casino and we can maybe get that down to six months. The purchase that would normally take two years for them to close completely can now be expedited by inserting us into the equation.

This is a good segue for talking about the Hard Rock, which is being sold to Morgans Hotel Group out of New York — a company with no casino license or casino experience. Are you involved in that deal?

We had a client (interested in the Hard Rock). We were restricted from working with anyone else until that client stopped bidding. Morgans has the contract and we have no more obligation to our client. We have talked to Morgans but we have no agreement with them.

A few months ago, your company took over the management of the former Barrick properties in downtown Las Vegas, which were bought out by landlord Tamares Group. How are things progressing so far?

Tamares owns all the real estate. We have leased the four properties with casinos from them. We've been here 90 days and we're on track to set some very good revenue and profit numbers for the properties. It is going extremely well.

Is this a good time for downtown or is it more about improving management at the property level?

It's a good time for all of downtown in that there's an awful lot of money coming to Vegas, seeing the prices on the Strip and then taking a look at downtown. There are a lot of potential buyers looking at downtown. There have been a lot of purchases of assets downtown and there's going to be a lot of money put into those purchases over time.

In the meantime midrange hotels on the Strip are getting torn down. All of these millions of customers coming to Las Vegas — we all can't spend $300 a night for a poolside view at the Hard Rock — they have to stay somewhere else. If you tear down the Tropicana, the Sahara, where are they going to stay? It's logical to think that some of that business is going to move here and some of that business is going to move to Laughlin, where it's affordable. That means that overall room rates downtown are probably going to start to go up. It's certainly not going to be $300 a night but there will be sensible, reasonable room rates. The speculation is that downtown is probably the best value for your investment dollar in Nevada.

I think of a waterpark as a family destination like a Wet 'n' Wild. Could these cater to adults in a casino environment?

Sure. An indoor water feature where you can go out in the wintertime and be by the pool is probably a good model. If it's an indoor water area you can have an adult only area, you can have bars. It's just taking what normally is great in the summertime, a busy pool, and creating a year-round attraction.

Thanks to Liz Bentson

Las Vegas Judges Face High Court Review

The Nevada Supreme Court has asked three Las Vegas judges to respond to reports that they have engaged in conflicts of interest, favoritism and other questionable practices.

Based on the responses of those senior judges and a review of the allegations, first detailed in the Los Angeles Times, the state Supreme Court will decide whether to take action, Chief Justice Robert E. Rose said. In an interview, Rose also called for beefing up the state agency responsible for investigating judges, and for making it easier to remove senior judges from cases.

The Times articles, published this month, detailed what appeared to be widespread conflicts of interest, favoritism and violations of judicial canons by Las Vegas judges. The reports focused on eight current or former district court judges and a sitting federal judge. The Supreme Court's inquiry is the first known step toward investigating the allegations.

News media and political commentators in Las Vegas have condemned the behavior described in the reports, and numerous Nevada lawyers praised the disclosures as a step toward reform. At least two efforts are underway to change state laws governing the way Nevada's judges are chosen and to restrict campaign fundraising by judges. Similar efforts in previous years have been rebuffed by voters or the Legislature.

Beyond the Supreme Court's inquiry, officials charged with investigating possible judicial wrongdoing either have not responded to the reports or have spoken out in defense of the state's judges. Some have said The Times articles were unfair. The Supreme Court said it was limiting its inquiry to the three senior judges because the high court appointed and directly oversaw them.

The job of investigating district court judges would fall to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. That group's executive director, David F. Sarnowski, said he was prohibited by law from disclosing if a complaint had been lodged against a judge or if an investigation was underway.

If a complaint were to result in a hearing, "even then the material is not publicly accessible," Sarnowski said.

Similarly, the chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco would decide whether to investigate any complaint against U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan of Las Vegas, another jurist cited in The Times articles. That process is also confidential.

Nevada Atty. Gen. George Chanos said he did not intend to investigate the judges because that responsibility rested first with the state Supreme Court, the State Bar of Nevada and the Commission on Judicial Discipline.

Chanos said he was "disturbed by what I read," adding: "I think you will see a response from the legal community. I hope it's a comprehensive and well-considered response. If that response were to prove inadequate, at that time it might be appropriate for our office to get involved."

At the same time, Chanos defended the state's judiciary and objected to Nevada being singled out. The attorney general, who practiced law in San Diego for 10 years, said the kinds of problems cited in the articles could be found in any large city.

"I think the L.A. Times did a service in raising these issues. But I think it's unfair to create the impression that this is some kind of backwater town with frontier justice," Chanos said. "Give me a year or two to investigate L.A. judges, and I'll come up with a similar kind of story."

Rose, the chief justice, disputed the newspaper's assertion that senior judges — a special category of jurists subject to different rules — had little accountability because they were not elected. They are evaluated regularly by the high court, he said.

However, unlike other judges, they cannot be removed from a case by peremptory challenge. Rose said Thursday that he would recommend that prohibition be lifted.

The chief justice also urged a "substantial expansion" of the Commission on Judicial Discipline so that it could process complaints more quickly. "It may well mean they need more money," he said. The commission has a staff of 2 1/2 people, including Sarnowski.

The high court's spokesman, Bill Gang, noted that much of the questionable behavior cited by The Times took place "five, 10 or 15 years ago."

"I question the relevance," Gang said. "Our judicial system has matured greatly in the past several years."

None of the facts in The Times reports has been challenged. "It appears all their facts are accurate…. We take the allegations very seriously," Rose said.

The senior judges asked to respond within three weeks to the articles were James A. Brennan, Joseph S. Pavlikowski and Stephen L. Huffaker. They have declined to comment.

Among numerous assertions about the judges were that Brennan presided over at least 16 cases involving participants in his real estate ventures; that Pavlikowski accepted $2,800 in "comps," or giveaways, from a casino whose boss later had cases before him, and that he showed repeated favoritism in rulings for the drunk-driving clients of a former law clerk; and that Huffaker presided over several cases involving casinos while they were providing his son with jobs and an $11,000 scholarship.

Mahan was a state district judge in Las Vegas until he joined the federal bench four years ago. In those two capacities, he was reported to have approved more than $4.8 million in judgments and fees without disclosing long-standing ties to those who benefited from the actions. Mahan has denied any conflict of interest.

The Times articles traced many of the questionable practices to the fact that Nevada judges facing election felt compelled to raise campaign funds. Most of the money comes from lawyers or companies that appear before the same judges in court cases.

Bill Raggio, Republican majority leader in the state Senate, has said he plans to introduce legislation to require that judges be appointed instead of elected, thus eliminating the campaign issue. The Supreme Court and the state bar have endorsed such action before, and Rose said Thursday he would push hard for it again. But that would require a change in the state constitution, and voters have rejected it twice.

The state's legal establishment is preparing legislation to free judges from raising campaign funds unless someone is running against them. Most judges run unopposed, yet they raise tens of thousands of dollars to run campaigns. Much of the money goes unspent and is not always accounted for, The Times reported.

Thanks to Don Woutat