Tuesday, July 26, 2016

10/6/13 - The Luxor beam costs $51 in power per hour to run.  Taht works out to $1,224 a day, $8,568 a week, $37, 230 a month and $446,760 per year.
9/29/13 - A rule variation coined the term "blackjack" as payouts went to the player who held the Jack of Spades. (@360anteup)

9/14/13 - Sept 7th 1996, Mike Tyson KO'd Bruce Seldon in the 1st round at the MGM Grand.  Shortly after, rapper Tupac Shakur was shot 4 times at Flamingo & Koval road in the passenger seat of his record label CEO Suge Knight; he died 6 days later at the age of 25 (@historynevada)
9/8/13 - The IRS has estimated that a cocktail witress in a large sports book makes a 25-cent toke on each drink she serves.  They tax her accordingly, whether she actually makes the money or not. (Casino Player Magazine's Facebook Page)

8/25/13 - Since opening the tournament of Kings show has had more than 7,000 performances and made Excalibur the #1 purchaser of Cornish game hens in the US. (@vegasstripped)

8/18/13 - Las Vegas has an average of 211 clear days annually, 82 partly cloudy days and 71 cloudy days. (@POVblog)
8/11/13 - In Las Vegas, you aren't allowed to buy drinks for more than 3 people, besides yourself, at any one time. (@POVblog)
8/4/13 - We've actually issued 120 individual shows (100 official shows, 16 reviews, 4 Vintage Segments).  But we decided with our first Vintage segment that Vintage and later reviews would not be considered official episodes, but separate items of content.
7/28/14 - When the Fremont St Experience was being built, they had to remove several feet off of Vegas Vic's hat to make him fit under the curve of the canopy.

7/21/14 -  Vegas Vic's audio was restored after 20 years of silence in the 80s however his arm stopped waiving in 1991 and the speech hasn't worked since 2006
7/14/13 - 1966, Lee Marvin was filming the Professionals and staying at the Mint Hotel.  He complained that Vegas Vic was too loud, so casino execs turned off the speech and left it that way for almost 2 decades.
7/14/13 - 1966, Lee Marvin was filming the Professionals and staying at the Mint Hotel.  He complained that Vegas Vic was too loud, so casino execs turned off the speech and left it that way for almost 2 decades.
7/6/13 - Downtown's giant neon cowboy, Vegas Vic, used to say, "Howdy Podner!" every 15 minutes. (@POVblog)
6/30/14 - Vegas Vic, the neon cowboy on Fremont St is the world's largest mechanical neon sign.  however, it hasn't worked since 2006.
6/30/14 - Vegas Vic, the neon cowboy on Fremont St is the world's largest mechanical neon sign.  however, it hasn't worked since 2006.
6/23/14 - June 28th 1881, Russell, Morgan & Co (which later becomes the US Playing Card Co) prints its first deck of cards.  Soon the company is manufacturing 1.600 packs per day.

6/23/14 - June 28th 1881, Russell, Morgan & Co (which later becomes the US Playing Card Co) prints its first deck of cards.  Soon the company is manufacturing 1.600 packs per day.

6/16/14 - The New Frontier, at one point, had a glass-enclosed chamber so guests could enjoy cocktails while watching swimmers underwater.
6/9//13 - Terribles was called the Continental when it opening in 1975.  The Herbst Family owned a slot route as well as a bunch of convenience stores locally called Terrible Herbst.  Eventually they purchased the Continental out of bankruptcy and reopened it in Dec 2000 and thus named it Terribles. (Access Vegas)
5/26/13 - It would take close to 300 years for someone to spend one night in every hotel room in Vegas. (@POVblog)
5/5/13 - When Howard Hughes finished his land-buying spree in Nevada in the 1960’s, his holdings in the state were worth an estimated $300 million.  He owned nearly every vacant lot on the Las Vegas Strip. (Strictly Slots)
4/28/13 - When Bruno Mars was 6 years old, he had a small cameo as an Elvis impersonator in the movie “Honeymoon in Vegas” with Nick Cage. (YouTube) thank you @laranews for sharing that and clarifying that Bruno Mars if Filipino
4/21/13 - April 23rd, 1956 – Elvis Presley performs in Las Vegas for the First time at the New Frontier hotel.  He received a luck-warm response from Vegas older audiences who aren’t quite ready for the hip swiveling in his two-week engagement.

  • This experience is largely credited as virtually the only misstep Elvis & company made in his meteoric rise in 1956 (@360Vegas Vintage research)
4/14/13 - Kevin Burke, star of “Defending the Caveman” at Harrah’s, set a Guinness World Record by performing 60 shows in 50 days between Feb 4th – March 25, 2013 (@robin_leach)
4/7/13 - Since the 1st 360 Vegas Podcast almost 2 years ago, last week, March 31st was the first week we didn’t put any content out.  Not because we didn’t have any but because we lost our boy, our son, our baby and our dog Loki, and did so to honor his memory.
3/24/13 - The Las Vegas Strip is the brightest place on earth when looked at from space (@vegas_only)

Monday, July 25, 2016

3/10/13 - The actual Caesars Palace suite used in “The Hangover” movie does not exist, but you can find the fictitious room number 2425 in the hotel’s Augustus Tower, where all the movie’s elevator and hallway scenes were shot. (strictly slots)

3/3/13 - The Union Plaza opened on July 2nd 1971 as the world’s largest hotel casino at that time (@themobmuseum)
2/24/13 - Las Vegas set a record for attendance in 2012 with 39.7 million visitors, 500,000 more than the previous record set in 2007 (Vegas Inc.)
2/3/13 - Each King in a deck of cards represents a historical figure (@360anteup)

·       King of Hearts – Charlemagne
·       King of Diamonds – Julius Caesars
·       King of Spades – King David
·       King of Clubs – Alexander the Great
1/27/13 - If you add up the numbers totals (1-36) on a roulette wheel, you’ll come up with a demonic total of 666 (strictly slots)
1/20/13 - There is approx. 15,000 miles of neon tubing from the strip and Fremont St. (only_vegas)
1/13/13 - 107 years ago, on Jan 13th, 1906, the Nevada Hotel opened in downtown Las Vegas on Fremont St.  It later changes it’s name and function to a hotel casino called the Golden Gate which still operates today. (Strictly slots)
1/7/13 - Jan 1st, 1959, Highway 91, the leading out of downtown in Las Vegas officially becomes Las Vegas Boulevard. (Strictly slots)
12/23/12 - The “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign is the most tattooed sign in the world (@only_vegas)



12/16/12 - Despite December traditionally being a slow time in Vegas, when the National Rodeo Finals are in town, Gilly’s earns more than $1 million in revenue in December over 10 days (Vegas Inc)



12/9/12 - Prostitution is legal in Nevada in any county with a population below 400,000.  (This still rules out Clark County & the strip). Each country can decide if they want to allow it, how to regulate and tax it. (Ted Newkirk of Access Vegas)



12/2/12 - In 2012, more than 55% of all gaming tables in Nevada are blackjack tables (Dr. Dave @unlvgaming)



11/25/12 - Nov 21st, 1980 the original MGM fire kills 87 people, injures 700.  It's still the worst hotel fire in Nevada history. 3 months later, the Las Vegas Hilton had fire with casualties as well.  These two fires would cause Las Vegas to implement the toughest fire-safety regulations in the country.  There hasn't been a fire-related death at a strip resort since. (Las Vegas Sun)



11/18/12 - Oct 13th 1934 – After New York bans all slot machines within the state, a court order is issued to destroy them.  A barge laden with 1,155 confiscated machines departs New York City and dumps them into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of the Norwalk, Connecticut.  (Casino Player Magazine)

10/28/12 - The Evolution of a Vegas property.  La Bayou on Fremont St was originally a coffee shop.  In 1920, it was renamed the Northern Club. The name was chosen because minors understood “northern” to be code for gambling & booze available within.  In 1931, they became a legal casino.  It was also the first time a gaming license was awarded to a women, Mayme Stocker.  Before he built the Desert Inn, Wilbur Clark purchased the Northern club in 1943 and renamed it “The Turf Club”.  Two years later, he rethemed and renamed it the Monte Carlo Club.  In 1969 Herb Pastor, who would later open Mermaids and Glitter Glutch, purchased the Monte Carlo Club and rethemed & renamed it “Coin Castle”.  It remained coin castle until it was purchased in 1996 and again, rethemed & renamed La Bayou, which is what it is today.  The coin castle king is now on display at the Neon Boneyard. (Vegas Chatter and Vintage Vegas Research)



10/21/12 - On Treasure Island’s opening night, Steve Wynn was promoting not only his new project but also his next one all while completed a film that was released to TV to advertise the family friendliness of the Treasure Island.  The movie was called “Treasure Island – the Adventure begins”.   It followed a boy around the property as he got into a make believe adventure looking for the lost Dunes Treasure.  The infamous pirate ship cannon shot that started the implosion of the Dunes was filmed and used in the film.  It used to have it’s own channel at Treasure Island where the movie played constantly.  (Vintage research)



10/14/12 - Oct 18th, 1968, Circus-Circus opens as the world’s largest combined casino and amusement center at a cost of 15 million.  However casino player was wrong on this when they called it “the city’s first family-oriented gambling establishment”.  When Jay Sarno opened it, it wasn’t intended for families.  It didn’t become family oriented until Bill Bennett and Pennington took it over (CPM & the book Forgotten Man: How Circus Circus’s Bill Bennet Brought Middle America to Las Vegas)

9/30/12 - Each column surrounding the Aria poker room contains exactly 52 bronze playing cards (@arialv)

9/23/12 - On Sept 20th 2003, Cirque du Solei’s debuted Zumanity, their 3rd resident show on the strip at NYNY and it’s first “adult-themed” show. (@HistoryNevada)

9/23/12 - On Sept 20th 2003, Cirque du Solei’s debuted Zumanity, their 3rd resident show on the strip at NYNY and it’s first “adult-themed” show. (@HistoryNevada)

9/23/12 - On Sept 20th 2003, Cirque du Solei’s debuted Zumanity, their 3rd resident show on the strip at NYNY and it’s first “adult-themed” show. (@HistoryNevada)

9/16/12 - In 1960, there were 16,067 slots machines in Nevada.  In 2011, there were 187,322 in the state. (Strictly slots)



9/9/12 - Tropicana opened in April of 1957 in a location that was considered to be a hindrance due to how far it sat from the rest of the strip properties.  Today, Tropicana Ave and Las Vegas Boulevard is the busiest intersection in the United States. (Vintage Vegas Segment Research, multiple sources)

9/2/12 - When all flights were grounded after 9/11, a Vegas limo company booked two trips to NY city for 10k a piece
8/26/12 - May 1959 – The “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign is installed on Las Vegas Blvd (Casino Player Magazine)

Thursday, July 21, 2016

8/19/12 - 1995 sigma derby was so popular that some properties had themed versions of the games.  Luxor had camels race instead of horses and Caesars had on with chariots (Review Journal)
8/12/12 - In 1397, card playing was forbidden throughout France on working days. (CPM)
8/5/12 - Since 2000, it’s illegal to bet on the Olympics in Nevada.  That began when an initiative was lead by John McCain to outlaw collegiate sports betting.  Not wanting that to happen, Nevada made a compromise to not allow betting on all other amateur sports, including the Olympics.  While professional athletes do compete in the Olympics, they aren’t paid to do so and therefore still fall under that Olympic Umbrella.  The truth is, it wasn’t much of a compromise because the Olympics were never a popular thing to gamble on anyway. (Vegas Chatter)
7/29/12 - The Eiffel Tower ride @Parisvegas goes 460 feet above the Las Vegas Strip (@Vegasfunfacts)
7/15/12 - June 7th, 1957, the Mint casino-hotel opens in downtown Las Vegas with 26 floors, making it the tallest building in Nevada at the time. (don’t remember, probably Casino Player Magazine)
7/8/12 - Total Singapore Casino revenues in 2011 were 2.4 billion, Vegas properties generated 430.8 million
7/1/12 - About 95% of video poker games in American casinos are made by IGT (@casinoCitytimes)
6/24/12 - Oct. 10th, 1922, the color red hits 23 times in a row on a roulette wheel in Monte Carlo.  If a player had a $1 bet and let it ride every time, the winnings would be $8,388.608. (Casino Player Magazine)

6/17/12 - The Excalibur Castle in Vegas is modeled after the Neuschwanstein Castle in sleeping beauty (Casino Player Magazine)
6/10/12 - June 14th, 1960 the first “black book” is issued by the Nevada Gaming Control Board to every casino in the state, listing individuals who are not permitted to enter their premises.  The original listed eleven men, all are known underworld figures. (Casino Player Magazine)
6/3/12 - Casino was filmed entirely in the Las Vegas Valley. The casino and office scenes were filmed in the famed Riviera Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip and the driving scene in the beginning of the movie was filmed on Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas, which is no longer open to automobile traffic. (IMDB)
5/27/12 - Bally’s has the deepest pool on the Vegas strip at 12 ft. deep and the largest tennis complex on the Vegas Strip (@vegasfunfacts)
5/13/12 - When the Sands opened in Las Vegas in Dec 1952, it was such a huge success that they made back the 5.5 million it cost to build the place in the first six months of operation. (strictly slots)
5/6/12 - In 1987, a visitor from Arkansas named Kirk Erickson hit a jackpot of $1,061,812 on a “Million Dollar Baby” slot at Caesars Palace.  However, Kirk was only 19 at the time thus making him under age to gamble in Vegas and making the jackpot invalid.  He attempted to sue but the court ruled against him. (Pulse of Vegas Blog)
4/29/12 - A 45-year old chip from the Showboat casino in Vegas, located at the north end of the boulder strip and most recently known as the Castaways, was sold on Ebay in 2008 for nearly $29k. (Casino Player Magazine)
4/22/12 - Before the Gaming Control Board was created in1955, acquiring a gaming license in Vegas was a simple process.  In fact, if you bought an existing casino, you didn't have to apply, you would be grandfathered in.  New owners would just take over the old owners gaming license. (The book – The Las Vegas Chronicles)
4/15/12 - The longbar at The D is literally the longest bar in Vegas at 1,300 square feet (@thdlasvegas)
4/8/12 - Vegas wasn’t the first choice for gangsters to setup shop in Nevada, Reno was.  However Reno turned down all attempts by people believed to be associated organized crime to build or purchase casinos in their city.  
Las Vegas was far more accommodating.   (the Book - Las Vegas Chronicles)
4/1/12 - In 2011, 83% of total revenues at Venetian Macau came from gaming.  Marina Bay Sands gaming revenues made up 76.5% of the total while in Vegas, only 30.2% of the total revenue came from gaming. (Dr. Dave @unlvgaming)
3/25/12 -  In 1968, nearly 10,000 people watched Evel Knievel attempt and fail a jump over the Caesars Palace Fountains (@VegasFunFacts)
3/18/12 - Nevada's slot base has shrunk from 217,221 machines in 2001 to 187,372 today.  That reduction means the state gets $9.9 million less in license fees per year (@unlvgaming)
3/11/12 - The largest Megabucks Jackpot ever won in Las Vegas was $39.7 million at the Excalibur in March of 2003.  The winner was a 25 year old man who came to Vegas for March Madness.  He invested $100 into the machine and turned it into 1.5 million over the next 25 years.  (Casino Player’s Facebook page)
3/4/12 - President William Harding enjoyed playing poker but wasn’t very good at it.  He once gambled away the White House china to wealthy socialite Louise Cromewell Brooks after a evening of poker (casino Player magazine)
2/26/12 - During the filming of the Hangover, a stunt coordinator tried to show Mike Tyson the “proper” way to throw a punch.  Tyson’s version made the movie (Las Vegas Suns reporter @johnnykats)
2/19/12 - The United States Playing Card Company is the world’s largest manufacturer of playing cards and sells more than 100 million decks of cards per year.  Twenty million of its decks are sold to casinos. (Casino Player Magazine)
2/12/12 - By 1955, Las Vegas attracted an estimated 8 million visitors. That was more than the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon combined. (Las Vegas: an unconventional history book).  In 2011Vegas had 38.9 million.
2/5/12 - On May 23rd 2009, Pat DeMauro rolled craps for 4 hours and 18 minutes before crapping out.  She hit 154 numbers while crushing two all-time craps records. 
  • The former time record holder was Stanley Fujitake’s roll of 3 hours and 6 minutes in 1989 and the number of points hit set in 2005 at 147.  
  •  Pat was having no luck that night when she and her friend decided to take the last $100 they would spend that night on craps.  If she lost, they would get something to eat and go to bed.  
  •  The odds of doing what she did are 5.59 billion to 1. 
  •  The Casino lost $185k on her historical roll.
1/29/12 - Most famous run at roulette happened in 1875 at the Monte Carlo Casino.  Joseph Jagger (British engineer) noticed the wheel was slightly off center and caused a group of 9 numbers to hit more frequently than normal.   Known as “the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo.  Before he was done, he won $700,000.  Nowadays, people who try to cheat a roulette use concealed computers that use physics to track the speed of the ball to determine the mostly likely number it will land on
1/22/12 - When the Stardust opened, it was the largest hotel in the world with the largest electric marquee in the world: 216 feet long, 27 feet high, composed of 6 miles of wiring and 7,100 feet of neon tubing. By comparison, an American football field is 300 feet long.  (CPM)
1/15/12 - Luxor’s pyramid is 36-stories tall. 30 stories are rooms about the casino and the last 6 stories house the 39 Xenon lights that make up the beam. (@luxorlv)
1/8/12 - The iconic “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” Sign was never copywrited which means the designer; Betty Willis hasn’t received a penny of royalties from the thousands of pieces of merchandise that use the image since it was installed in 1959.  Betty considers her design a gift to the city of Las Vegas. (Pulse of Vegas)
1/1/12 - Over 7 million people who came to Vegas in 2011 did so for the first time.  That group makes us 19% of 2011 visitors. (@unlvgaming aka Dr. Dave Schwartz)

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

12/18/11 - Youcan find $5.00, 3:2 BlackJack at…Bellagio!  Bellagio has 2 of these tables.  One is in the pit by the lobby and the other is between the craps tables and Hyde Lounge. You may have to wait for a seat, it isn’t available 24/7 and two of the seats are Handicap spots but if you are patient, you can get great odds, dealers, booze and $5.00, 3:2 odds blackjack at Bellagio (Neon Dice)



12/4/11 - The Stratosphere was originally conceived to have a giant ape that would carry riders up and down one of the tower’s columns. (Pulse of Vegas Blog)

11/20/11 - There are 42,162 light bulbs in the Four Queens Building signage. (@4Queenslv)
11/13/11 - Statistically numbers 4/10, 5/9 & 6/8 have equal chance of being rolled in craps.  If one is point, bet n the other number also.  (Viceloungeol twitter)
11/6/11 - If you play video poker at a normal rate of 500 hands an hour, you should average one royal flush every 62 hours (CPM)
10/30/11 - In 1492, all sailors aboard Columbus’s ships threw away all their playing cards, believing them to be bad luck.  Almost immediately after, they spotted land. (CPM)
10/23/11 - A million dollars in $1 bills weighs one ton. (Running Scared book)
10/16/11 - In 2009, Caesars entertainment (formerly Harrah’s) filed criminal charges with Clark County against Nebraska philanthropist and avid gambler Terrance K Watanabe for allegedly failing to repay 14.7 million in markers to two of its properties, Caesars Palace and Rio. Watanabe countered by claiming Harrah’s supplied him with alcohol and prescription painkillers to keep him intoxicated at the tables in 2007, causing him to suffer massive loses. Gaming regulations prohibit allowing “visibly intoxicated” players to continue to gamble. (Casino Player Magazine)
10/9/11 - Oct 4th, 1999. The "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign goes dark for about a month when the company that had been paying the power bill is bought by another company, which neglects to do so. When the problem is discovered, payment of the past due amount is arranged and the power is turned back on. The amount owned was less than $60. (Casino Player Magazine Facebook Page)

10/2/11 - Slot manufacture’s commonly us the symbols 9, 10, J, Q, K and A as a way to quickly identify to players which symbols are worth more. The call it symbol hierarchy. (@BurkeAndrew director of business development for American Gaming Systems (AGS))
9/25/11 -  Elmer Sherwin won 4.6 million on a megabucks slot jackpot at the Mirage on Nov 1989. Sept 2005, he won another megabucks slot jackpot of 21.1million at The Cannery Casino in N Las Vegas. He is the only person known to win the big prize twice. (Casino Player Magazine)
9/18/11 - Despite the worst economy for gambling on record, casinos attracted a record 62 million visitors in 2009, 28% of the US adult population (Casino Player Magazine)
9/11/11 - The original volcano at the Mirage cost $30 million to build in 1989 which is how much it cost to build all of Caesars Palace in 1966 (Casino Player Magazine)
9/4/11 - In 1991, the Mirage was the first resort in Vegas to pump a scent into the casino via the properties HVAC. (Dr. Dave Schwartz twitter...5 scents of Las Vegas)
8/28/11 - The music on all slot machines are tuned to the musical key of "C" so that the sounds of slots based next to each other won't clash (Casino Player Magazine Facebook Page)
8/14/11 - 18th century English gambling clubs hired one employee whose job was to swallow the dice in the case of a raid.  (Casino Player)
8/7/11 - During a break from a poker game at Aria, Todd Brunson (son of Doyle Brunson) decided to play some 50 hand Double Bonus video poker at $1 per hand, that's $250 in play. He ended up being dealt 4 Aces which equates to a $40k jackpot.  read the story
7/31/11 - YouTube video of a villa at Bellagio.  Amazing.  click here.
7/24/11 - Over 43,000 people have jumped off the 108th floor of the Stratosphere tower and fall 855 ft to the ground since the SkyJump attraction opened in April 2010.  Our co-host Mark and his wife, Keren, are two of those people.  Here is the video of Keren's jump from out YouTube channel.
7/17/11 - Tryst has or is testing a new 3D projection mapping feature on the club's waterfall.  Check out the video on YouTube.
7/10/11 - The Cirque show "Le Reve" at Wynn uses a 27 ft deep pool that is kept at exactly 89 degrees in its show.
7/3/11 - Wynn Las Vegas has the only factory authorized Ferrari dealership in Nevada
6/26/11 - The cast of the Venetian production of Phantom of the Opera will have spent 2,200 hours in hair and make-up by their upcoming 5th anniversary.
6/19/11 - Swim-up Blackjack is available at Caesars Palace, Tropicana, Hard Rock, Mandalay Bay & Palms.
6/12/11 - The Gold Lounge at Aria, inspired by the Viva Elvis Cirque production, has details including fabrics and patterns taken directly from Elvis' mansion Graceland.