Police Kill Driver on Vegas Strip

A police officer killed a motorist on the crowded Las Vegas Strip after a dispute over the driver's noisy car stereo.

Police Capt. James Dillon said the man defied an order from two bicycle officers late Tuesday to turn his stereo down, then drove off with one officer hanging onto his car. His vehicle collided with a taxi and hit a pole, knocking the officer unconscious. The other officer fired once, killing the driver, Dillon said.
The Strip was crowded with visitors at the time, and one gave a videotape to KLAS-TV that showed officers pulling the man from his car and handcuffing him near the Bally's, Bellagio, Caesar's Palace and Flamingo casinos.

It was the 18th shooting involving a Las Vegas police officer this year -- a sharp increase from 13 reported in all of 2005. The motorist's identity was not immediately released.

The Mother of All Resort Booms is Heading to a Strip Near You

One of the great things about covering Las Vegas business is the opportunity to witness gigantic projects move from concept to reality.

I've recently met with a number of top Las Vegas resort executives to learn about their plans to change the city's skyline. For those of you in Las Vegas who think you are accustomed to the rapid pace of growth: Buckle your seat belts.

The last big wave of casino resort construction ended six years ago after Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Paris and Aladdin opened in a two-year span.
Since then the city has enjoyed a steady stream of property openings (Suncoast, Palms, Green Valley Ranch, Cannery, Wynn Las Vegas, South Coast and Red Rock Resort) that would be the envy of any casino market in the country. But that stream is nothing like the flood of projects we're going to see open during the last few years of this decade.

They'll include: Sheldon Adelson's Palazzo, next to his Venetian; Steve Wynn's Encore, next to Wynn Las Vegas; the Cosmopolitan, just south of Bellagio on a thin slice of Stripfront turf; and Phil Ruffin's Montreux, on the site of his New Frontier.

Just those projects would surpass the size and cost of the resorts opened during the last resort boom. But there's more - way more.

The city's three biggest casino operators are breaking out mammoth mixed-use projects: MGM Mirage's Project CityCenter, between its Monte Carlo and Bellagio; Boyd Gaming Corp.'s Echelon Place, on its Stardust site; and Harrah's Entertainment's soon-to-be-announced redevelopment of its prized center-Strip turf.

Those three projects may cost more than the combined construction costs of all of the resorts now open on the Strip.

In the locals casino market, Station Casinos and the Greenspun family, who own the Las Vegas Sun, are teaming up to build Aliante Station in North Las Vegas; Boyd Gaming has its own North Las Vegas casino site and expects to begin building a property next year near the Las Vegas Beltway interchange with Interstate 15.

That's not all. A couple of new entrants to the casino business plan to soon begin their own casino projects: Developer Garry Goett plans to build at the extreme southern end of the Strip near his Southern Highlands community; developer Anthony Marnell III has his own plans nearby; and the Edge Group is building a major megaresort with the W Hotel brand between the Aladdin and Hard Rock on Harmon Avenue.

Condominium king Turnberry Associates and former Mandalay Resort Group President Glenn Schaeffer plan to develop the former El Rancho site between the Sahara and the Riviera into a mixed-use resort, the Fontainebleau.

Recent meetings with Steve Wynn, Harrah's Chairman Gary Loveman, MGM Mirage Chairman Terry Lanni and Edge Group principal Reagan Silber make clear that the city will soon begin its biggest and most exciting growth spurt ever.

CityCenter's design is incredible. Two "leaning tower" condos on the Strip, a beautifully curved hotel tower with tons of clear glass and dramatic retail space are among the highlights.

The W Las Vegas resort will have a clean, contemporary look, and those with Southern California connections are already buzzing about Silber's deal to bring a Fred Segal store to the city.

Wynn plans to ratchet the luxury of Encore up a notch from his best-in-the-market Wynn Las Vegas, with bigger suites, better technology and refined design. And Loveman promises that Harrah's redevelopment of the Center Strip will create the first group of resorts truly synchronized to create a distinct sense of place - an adult Disneyland, if you will.

We're just starting to see the beginning signs of the transformation of the city. As the foundations on these megaprojects get poured, steel gets erected, and dozens of cranes hoist the materials that make hotel towers climb toward the sky, take some time to absorb the scene.

You're witnessing history.

I love this town.

Thanks to Jeff Simpson

No Cheap Seats in Vegas - Call it "The Little Rock Tax"

Las Vegas is no longer a bargain town - cheap steaks are getting rarer, free drinks are drying up - but if you want a real indignity, try going to a concert.

Our ticket prices are as steep as stepping off the Stratosphere.

"Seventy-five dollars?" Las Vegas music fan Greg Serensits moaned about a recent Black Crowes concert. "That's one-third of my electric bill."

When the Rolling Stones came to town, the cheap tickets were $131.25 - more than twice what they charged in L.A. Madonna added $30 to her price. If you want to catch Chris Isaak at the House of Blues this summer, it'll cost you at least $65 for the cheap seats, which is the same price as the most expensive ticket at the House of Blues in Cleveland. And only here would someone charge $70 for an evening of David Spade.

Why? It's the same reason those steaks are huge, our airport is busy and pawnshops are plentiful - the answer for Why Are We Here? in Southern Nevada.

Tourists. Gamblers, gluttons and shopaholics, in varying degrees. People who are not good with their money and leave it here. And even if they are normally prudent and abstemious people, well, they're here to play, and it's play money, says Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of Pollstar, a magazine that covers the concert industry. "They don't think of dropping 50 or 100 bucks on a quick bit of gambling; so the cost of a concert ticket doesn't seem so much. Or an expensive cigar or whatever," Bongiovanni said.

That attitude is very, very profitable for us, and it generates a fortune in business and taxes. But when we want to see a concert, we pay the Little Rock Tax. "They're planning 50 dates. And then they take Vegas and say, 'Let's pretend Little Rock, Ark., fails miserably.' If you're a promoter or an agent and you lose money on that date, you want to be able to use Vegas as a makeup," said Daren Libonati, who runs UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center. "That's how we're used."

It's not an official tax, of course. It's just how musicians and their managers ensure their tours against bombing in the burgs. "These acts aren't being sold as if they're for locals," Libonati said. "I'll joke and say that I didn't know my mailman in Vegas makes more than the mailman in Phoenix. Why are we charging this? When are we going to realize that we have real people that live in Las Vegas that have real jobs like people in the rest of the country?"

If Libonati sounds a bit bitter, imagine how you'd like to be blamed for high ticket prices by your neighbors when you're at "Little League games or whatever."

"Fans don't realize it's their favorite stars that are creating that and demanding that price," Libonati said. "We don't always have a say."

Most of the money goes to the artist, said Bongiovanni. "And the ticket price is always approved by the artist," Bongiovanni said. "If they think they can make more money in Vegas, usually they're going to go for it."

To be fair, there are certain acts that are careful about what their tickets cost and keep prices close from city to city. This summer, Pearl Jam tickets cost about $50 wherever you are, and Shakira is charging around $20. But the town's really big venues compete for only a few musicians - acts that have a broad fan base, a legendary status and ages that put them in the lanthanide series on the periodic table of rock. Concert venues compete hard for these acts that can draw crowds to their attached casinos and clubs and offer higher guaranteed revenues to the artists and their agents, who have been known to play the venues off each other.

"Part of it's a mentality in the industry and among agents and others that the hotels have this higher revenue because of gaming in the casinos; so they should get paid more money," said Randy Phillips, president and CEO of tour promoters AEG Live, which schedules Bon Jovi and the Dixie Chicks. "It's also a transient market that turns over every two or three days. You can come back and do it again. Most major acts try to do Vegas two or three times on a tour."

Even if you can afford the ticket price for the best seat in the house, you may not be able to get it. Casinos buy many of the pricier seats to comp high rollers (or music-loving and ethics-lacking politicians), once again leaving the average local fan out of luck, says Serensits, whose fanaticism led him to become president of Las Vegas Jam Band Society.

"If you want first front row, you either go to a broker and pay three times what it's worth or go to the casino and gamble three times what it's worth," Serensits said. "It's ridiculous, but Vegas is a 'money talks ¦' kind of town."

Serensits said his nonprofit group promotes cheap concerts, with ticket prices typically between $5 and $15. But many of his favorite artists come to Las Vegas looking for a bigger payday than that, as he found out earlier this month.

"Seventy-five dollars to see the Black Crowes? For standing room only? That's ridiculous," Serensits said. "There's a show that I'd never ever miss that, because it was $75, I refused to go to."

That June 16 show was at the Joint at the Hard Rock, one of the priciest venues in town. The Hard Rock says its prices are higher because it's a small venue that books acts that typically play arenas. But when the Black Crowes played the Joint in 1996, the tickets cost $32 ($39, adjusted for inflation).

No matter how you look at it, ticket prices have been going up in Las Vegas. (They've also been going up nationally as tour promoters have consolidated, and artists have come to rely on concert revenue more as record sales have dropped like a wing-shot quail.)

Ten years ago, a ticket to see James Brown at the Joint cost, adjusted for inflation, $30.75 to $72.26. This year it was $52 to $82. The big ticket this year is Barbra Streisand at the MGM Grand for $100 to $1,000. In 1986 Julio Iglesias was one of the top acts in town, selling tickets for the then-amazing equivalent of $77. Ten years before that, Neil Diamond was the big draw, with his most expensive tickets worth $103. In 1966, the Beach Boys headlined a radio station's concert, for which basic admission cost, in 2005 dollars, $14.65.

Once, casinos used to use sell tickets at a money-losing prices, counting on fans to more than make up for it gambling. But H.C. Rowe, entertainment director at the Palms, says that entertainment has not been a loss-leader since the '80s. By the '90s, shows started to break even, and these days are viewed as profitable in their own right.

"There's not a cheap ticket it in town. It's a shame," Rowe said. "I guess it boils down to what the market will bear and people will pay."

Thanks to Brendan Buhler

Las Vegas Little Black Book - Book Review

With its solid black paperback festooned with the Old-Vegas icon of the neon cowgirl, all that's missing are the beer-mug stains to make accurate its subtitle: "A Guy's Guide to the Perfect Vegas Weekend."

The book's second fashion failing -- the first being the neon cowgirl -- is its awkwardly adolescent size: taller and wider than the average paperback, packing 244 pages. Style here would dictate something approximating the feel and dimensions of a real little black book: three-score 3-by-5-inch pages bound in leatherette with brass corner protectors, say.

After all, gentlemen, how many pages are really necessary to define a "good" lap dance, to advise that you should quit while you're ahead in the casinos and to remind you not to tattle on your buddies when you get back home? It's not like you're going to actually reeeead this

Thanks to Toni Salama

Overheard: Harrah's & Boyd Talk Trade

Considering how I have been bad mouthing Harrah's since they ruined the Rio and how I happen to get sweet deals from Boyd all the time now, I will be jumping up and down if this rumor is true.

The LVBP hears that Harrah's Entertainment might be positioning itself for a property swap with Boyd Gaming Corp. The land desired by Harrah's would be the 4.3 acres located on the NE corner of Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, where the Barbary Coast stands. In exchange, Harrah's would offer up the Rio Suite Hotel & Casino, cash, and a casino to be named later (Westward Ho, anyone?). The acquisition would give Harrah's, owners of Caesars Palace and Bally's Las Vegas, full control of three of the four corners at one of the busiest gaming intersections in the world.

Although it takes a few years for trades to be analyzed (see "Billy Ball" by Michael Lewis), Strip Tease likes Boyd as the immediate winner. The Rio site would give it 88 1/2 acres, a lot of it undeveloped, next door to its Gold Coast Hotel & Casino, and The Westward Ho site would give it 14 acres next to the $4 billion Echelon Place that will Boyd is scheduled to build where the Stardust now resides.

Riviera Investors to Vote

Riviera Holdings Corp. announced Wednesday that it will ask shareholders to approve its $426.5 million buyout by an investment group on Aug. 8.

The deal, announced in April, calls for Riv Acquisition Holdings to pay $17 a share for the company's two casinos, the Riviera and its 26-acre site on the north Strip and the Riviera Black Hawk, a 1,000-slot machine casino about 40 miles west of Denver.

Riv Acquisition Holdings -- which includes former Starwood Capital Group executive Barry Sternlicht; Scott Butera, who once worked for Donald Trump's casino interests; billionaire Neil Bluhm; and Las Vegas developer Brett Torino -- will also assume $215 million in Riviera Holdings debt.

Holders of at least 60 percent of Riviera Holdings outstanding shares must approve the buyout. Gaming regulators in Nevada and Colorado also have to approve the transaction. The company speculated the deal would close in early 2007.

"The board of directors strongly recommends a vote for the merger as being in the best interests of shareholders," Riviera Holdings Chairman Bill Westerman said in a statement. "The definitive proxy statement that we will file very shortly with the Securities and Exchange Commission will describe in detail the background of the merger agreement and reasons why the board of directors approved the merger agreement and agreed to recommend approval by our shareholders."

Westerman said speculation about additional buyers making an offer for Riviera Holdings has driven the company's stock price above the buyout agreement of $17 a share.

On Wednesday, shares in Riviera closed at $19.02 on the American Stock Exchange, up 56 cents, or 3.03 percent.

Following a two-month bidding war this spring for Tropicana parent Aztar Corp., won by Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex Corp. for $2.75 billion, gaming analysts speculated that the losing companies might make a play for Riviera Holdings.

Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment, one of four casino companies that tried to buy Aztar, was considered a possible bidder.

"Riviera has not received any other credible indications of interest," Westerman said. "Speculation that one of the losers in the bidding war for Aztar Corp. would come knocking on our door has proven to be unfounded."

Only shareholders of record after the close of trading on July 7 may vote at the August meeting.

Since the buyout by Riv Acquisitions was announced, management has shuffled at Riviera Holdings. Ron Johnson, president of the Riviera Black Hawk and the head of company's gaming operations, resigned May 16.

Riviera Holdings Chief Financial Officer Duane Krohn retired in early May. He was replaced by Mark Lefever at the end of the month.

Thanks to Howard Stutz

Former President of Caesars Palace to Lead Olympia's Developments

Las Vegas-based Olympia Gaming, which is planning to build a $1 billion casino-resort in Southern Highlands, has hired a former president of Caesars Palace to lead the privately held company's proposed developments.

Dean Harrold joined Olympia Gaming this week as vice chairman. The 61-year-old Harrold, who has 35 years experience in casino management, is expected to steer the company's gaming plans, which includes four potential Southern Nevada casinos and two properties in Northern Nevada.

Olympia, a subsidiary of the company that developed the 2,700-acre Southern Highlands, has received approval from Clark County to develop a 1,400-room resort on 70 acres in the master-planned community. The company also controls a 250-acre site on the southern end of Las Vegas Boulevard, south of the South Coast.

Olympia announced this week that it would be involved in a planned $500 million casino-resort in Sparks. Olympia Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Garry Goett said Harrold would oversee the planned developments.

Harrold served as president of Bally's Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Hilton and Caesars Palace during the 1990s, when the company was known as Park Place Entertainment.

Olympia Gaming operates the Casino Fandango in Carson City in partnership with the Las Vegas-based Navegante Group.

In addition to the two developments in the southern part of Clark County, Olympia Gaming wants to build a casino as part of a 2,675-acre master-planned community in North Las Vegas. However, the project has run into opposition from residents and North Las Vegas elected officials.

Olympia is also planning a casino-resort as part of a 5,300-acre master-planned community in Lincoln County near Mesquite.

Thanks to Howard Stutz

Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Courting Far East Tourist Market

Terry Jicinsky is very tired.

The senior vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority had just returned from a two-week "Asian sales mission" to Korea, Japan and China. After 12 hours flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco, and another hour connecting into Las Vegas, Jicinsky headed straight to his office to begin piecing together a report of the trip for the LVCVA.

While the LVCVA tries to make yearly trips to its overseas markets, this was the first time that Jicinsky had undertaken the Far East mission.
Korean Air will begin direct service to McCarran via its Boeing 777-200.

"International travel as a whole is very significant to Las Vegas as a destination," Jicinsky said. "It is one of the market segments we think has significant potential going forward to help us fill the 30,000 new hotel rooms that are either under construction or planned for the next five years."

According to the LVCVA, approximately 13 percent of Las Vegas visitors come from the international market. China, especially, is viewed as one of the last untapped tourist markets for Las Vegas. According to figures collected by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Japan was the top Asian visitor market to Las Vegas with 217,000 visitors in 2004, the last year data was available. South Koreans accounted for 68,000 visitors. The 2005 international visitation numbers are due out within the next few weeks.

The Asian visitor numbers have been among the slowest to return to pre-Sept. 11, 2001 numbers. In 2000, Japan was the top international visitors market to Las Vegas with 511,000, 12.7 percent of the international visitors to Las Vegas. In 2002, the number dropped to 192,000 (7.6 percent). South Koreans showed a similar decline.

While Jicinsky was in Seoul, Korean Air signed a direct-service deal into McCarran International Airport beginning Sept. 22. A 301-seat Boeing 777-200 will fly non-stop out of Incheon International Airport every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. McCarran joins 10 other airports in the United States with service from Korean Air. Officials from McCarran and the LVCVA had been in talks for more than two years with the airline before the deal was finalized. But while one Asian-based airline is starting up service, another is dropping its direct connect to McCarran. The financially troubled Japan Airlines will discontinue its three-day-a-week non-stop flight from Tokyo as part of a larger company plan to cut back on long flights serviced by its Boeing 747-400s. Jicinsky says he is hopeful that JAL will resume direct flights to McCarran when, and if, it emerges from its financial woes.

JAL's last flights to McCarran are scheduled for Sept. 30, leaving Korean Air the only airline offering direct service from Asia. Singapore Airlines discontinued direct service from Hong Kong in 2003, and Philippine Airlines discontinued flights in 2005. But even with the loss of direct-air service into McCarran, Jicinsky believes that visitors from Asia can still easily find their way to the Strip. Most of the large airlines offer flights from various Asian cities to Los Angeles and San Francisco. He counted about 20 people who made the switch from his Hong Kong flight to the Las Vegas connection.

"It isn't only direct service that is the eventual goal," Jicinsky said. "It's also attracting visitors to come to the United States and make Las Vegas part of their itinerary."

While it is important to lure more travelers from Far East countries to boost tourist numbers, the real prize would be the ability to start a pipeline into the 1.4 billion people market that is China. The opening of that market to Las Vegas has become possible because of the loosening of travel restrictions on many of its citizens. The development of gaming in Macau might actually help speed up the rate at which the Chinese will come to experience Las Vegas.

"We believe there is an opportunity to grow the Las Vegas market at the same time Macau is introducing people to the gaming experience," Jicinsky said. "While Macau does offer a very traditional gaming experience, Las Vegas not only offers that but a full-service resort destination."

Pointing to the worries that accompanied the expansion of riverboat and Native American gaming operations, Jicinsky believes that visitation from Asia will increase after it gets a taste of gaming in Macau.

Last year, Macau reported gaming revenue of $5.6 billion while Nevada reported a record-high $11.6 billion in state gaming revenue. Nearly 60 percent of the visitors to Macau came from mainland China, where casinos remain illegal.

MGM Mirage and Wynn Resorts Ltd. will operate casinos scheduled to open within the next year in Macau, joining the Sands Macau, which opened in 2004, as Vegas-based operators in that market. Jicinsky does not think that the Las Vegas-based companies will lose sight of the local market.

"We actually think there will be some synergy there," Jicinsky said. "As they build their databases and loyalty programs, those properties will have a vested interest in not only introducing people to their Macau product, but also marketing their Las Vegas casino and hotels to the same group of people."

Thanks to Arnold M. Knightly