This yr will go down because the one the place two of essentially the most legendary on line casino properties ever shut their doorways for good. However loads of different nationwide tales put Las Vegas casinos within the headlines in 2024. And a few of these weren’t even dangerous…
AI does its greatest to depict Tremendous Bowl LVIII, the Tropicana implosion, and the closure of the Mirage (or “the TNIRACK,” as X’s GROK2 selected to spell it) in a single artificially rendered picture. Sorry, Elon, it’s not there but! (Picture: GROK2.)
FEBRUARY
Vegas Kicks Off Tremendous Bowl-ing
Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce celebrates following his staff’s victory at Tremendous Bowl LVIII in opposition to the San Francisco 49ers. (Picture: Ben Lebenberg/NFL)
Las Vegas hosted its first Tremendous Bowl in its personal NFL stadium, one thing that, 20 years earlier, was thought to have been unimaginable attributable to fears about sports activities betting’s menace to the integrity of all skilled sports activities.
The Nevada Gaming Management Board (NGCB) reported that $185.6 million was wagered on the large recreation between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers. The deal with simply set a brand new report, eclipsing the earlier all-time mark of $179.8 million set in 2022, when the Los Angeles Rams battled the Cincinnati Bengals.
As well as, the Las Vegas Conference and Guests Authority reported an financial impression of almost $1 billion, with internet customer spending of greater than $600 million.
Coming off the success of the Golden Knights within the NHL, the Aces within the WNBA, the primary F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, and critical discuss of each the Oakland A’s and an NBA staff relocating to the Strip, Tremendous Bowl LVIII cemented Vegas’ status as a sports activities city.
Oh, and nobody accused the 49ers of throwing the sport.
AI renders the Welcome to Las Vegas signal melting within the warmth. (Picture: GROK2)
JULY
Climate Disservice
On July 7 at 3:38 p.m. native time, Las Vegas broke one report nobody was glad about. The Nationwide Climate Service (NWS) reported the mercury hit 120°F on the official airport climate station.
Las Vegas had already damaged its personal warmth report when it hit 118°F at 2:33 p.m. the identical day, the climate service stated, besting the 117°F studying recorded on July 19, 2005, and tied on June 30, 2013, June 20, 2017, and July 10, 2021.
Mirage Disappears
The Mirage, and its hundreds of thousands of admirers, get gutted. (Picture: X/@JamesInLas Vegas by way of Scott Roeben/Very important Vegas)
On July 17, the on line casino resort that remade Las Vegas shut its doorways. A whole bunch of present and former Mirage executives gathered — with out the on line casino resort’s disgraced founder, Steve Wynn, who was conspicuous in his absence — to say a tearful goodbye in entrance of the porte-cochère. One closing eruption from the Stripside volcano ensued earlier than the lights had been turned off.
Till 2027, what was in 1989 the world’s largest on line casino resort will likely be reworked by its new house owners, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, into the second Exhausting Rock Las Vegas. That features a 600-suite, guitar-shaped tower out entrance, the place the Mirage volcano as soon as sat in its lagoon.
However whereas the physique will stay on, in response to 1000’s of unhappy social media customers with fond recollections of the Mirage, it’s going to accomplish that and not using a soul.
AUGUST
Resorts World of Hassle
Resorts World Las Vegas. (Picture: Wikipedia)
On August 15, the NGCB charged Resorts World with failing to stick to and implement anti-money laundering legal guidelines. Its 12-count, 31-page disciplinary grievance advisable that the Nevada Gaming Fee (NGC) “take motion” in opposition to the on line casino resort’s gaming “license(s), registrations, and/or findings of suitability.”
Since opening in 2021, Resorts World has served as a backdrop for a collection of playing scandals. These scandals resulted in arrests and federal convictions for the sports activities bookmakers Edwin Ting, Chad Iwamoto and, most famously, Mathew Bowyer.
Bowyer, a Southern California bookie, accepted wagers from Ippei Mizuhara, the previous interpreter for LA Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who stole $16 million from Ohtani to repay his playing money owed.
Investigators imagine that Mizuhara deposited money into accounts at Resorts World and Pechanga Resort On line casino, a tribal gaming venue in Southern California. That money was used for on line casino chips and when the chips had been cashed in, the proceeds had been directed to Bowyer.
Resorts World was initially given till December 9 to answer the grievance.
Bowyer, who admitted to laundering cash by different individuals’s financial institution accounts and operating the unlawful operation for 5 years, is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 7, 2025.
SEPTEMBER
Wynn Loses Massive
Wynn Las Vegas. (Picture: Wikipedia)
Wynn Las Vegas introduced on September 6 that it agreed to forfeit $130.13 million to settle a money-laundering declare. Particularly, the US Division of Justice (DOJ) claimed that it labored with unregulated cash switch enterprises to shift capital for the advantage of the corporate.
The DOJ outlined a number of eventualities through which violations at Wynn Las Vegas had ties to China. In a single instance, a visitor of the on line casino resort would use a proxy to wager their funds for worry that in the event that they guess themselves, they’d run afoul of anti-money laundering legal guidelines such because the US Financial institution Secrecy Act.
The Justice Division stated Wynn Las Vegas knowingly allowed such habits to happen with out scrutinizing the strikes or reporting them to the suitable regulators. DOJ additionally talked about the “flying cash” scheme through which Wynn Las Vegas “facilitated the unlicensed switch of cash to and from China.”
The effective, which was a part of a nonprosecution settlement, is believed to be the most important on report for any US-based on line casino firm “based mostly on admissions of felony wrongdoing,” in response to the DOJ.
The UFC Octagon is enveloped by the Sphere’s immense video display screen. (Picture: X/UFC)
Sphere Tries Sports activities
UFC 306, the primary sports activities occasion held on the Sphere, generated the best gross income that both the venue or the UFC has ever seen. In accordance with UFC, the 10-fight spectacle, staged on September 14, earned $22 million in gate receipts, handily trouncing the $17.7 million gross earned by UFC 205 in 2016. Nonetheless, UFC spent $20 million to provide the present on the $2.3 billion venue, so its actual revenue might want to come from pay-per-view gross sales.
Although UFC CEO Dana White vowed by no means to return to the Sphere, he softened his stance on Saturday. He nonetheless informed the assembled media “no,” however stated it was as a result of “I’m beneath contract with MGM.”
OCTOBER
The Trop Drops
The previous Paradise Tower (left) comes down simply forward of the previous Membership Tower throughout the implosion of the Tropicana Las Vegas early Wednesday morning. (Picture: Denise Truscello/Getty Photos for Bally’s Company and the Athletics)
At 2:30 a.m. PT on October 9 — after seven minutes of fireworks and drone animations by Grucci — the Tropicana turned the primary Las Vegas Strip on line casino to be imploded because the Riviera in 2016. The Rat Pack-era establishment, which opened on April 4, 1957, had closed endlessly on April 2, 2024.
From the ashes of the implosion will allegedly rise a stadium for the relocated Oakland A’s and a model new Bally’s on line casino resort. And each officers for Bally’s and the A’s, together with staff proprietor John Fisher, had been readily available to tie the implosion to their future plans within the public’s minds. (The “Las Vegas A’s” brand even made its public debut as a projection on at the very least one of many towers earlier than they got here down.)
To date, nonetheless, that’s nonetheless wishful considering. The worry of many Las Vegas insiders is that the Strip will likely be left with one other vacant lot — very like the one which has but to be developed after the Frontier was imploded again in 2007.
NBA Area Builders Dribble Over to Rio
Many hurdles should be cleared earlier than the Oak View Group can formally announce that its NBA area will likely be constructed adjoining to the Rio. Nonetheless, in response to a number of sources, that’s the present plan. (Picture: Rio)
The Oak View Group (OVG) quietly ended its plans to construct a $10 billion, 20K-seat NBA 5 miles south of the Strip. It then started quietly kicking the tires on the Rio. Not like the Tropicana, the Rio wouldn’t should be imploded to host a big sports activities facility. It sits on greater than 88 acres of land, 22 of which it considers extra.
T-Cellular, which seats as much as 20K attendees and will simply accommodate a brand new NBA staff, was constructed on solely 16 acres. Nonetheless, the NHL and NBA seasons overlap, so T-Cellular’s dedication to the Vegas Golden Knights NHL staff could not appear perfect to an NBA growth staff.
The switcheroo reportedly prompted Sphere proprietor James Dolan to sever a September 2023 settlement with OVG over naming rights, because the basketball area’s new location would place it in direct competitors with the Sphere for live performance acts.
Strip On line casino Income Falls
October marked the third time in 4 months that Nevada on line casino income was decrease than in the identical month of the earlier yr. This was the primary time this occurred since earlier than the pandemic. Las Vegas Strip income fell greater than 3% to $692 million to mark the Strip’s fourth straight month-to-month income year-over-year decline.
The LINQ Promenade. (Picture: Vegas Means Enterprise)
Caesars Sells LINQ Promenade
On October 29, Caesars Leisure (NASDAQ: CZR) introduced that it’s promoting the LINQ Promenade for $275 million as a part of the gaming firm’s ongoing debt discount efforts. A joint partnership comprised of TPG Actual Property and Acadia Realty Belief funding administration platform is buying the gathering of retail and boutiques positioned close to the Caesars-operated LINQ Resort. That on line casino resort isn’t a part of the transaction.
NOVEMBER
Strike at Virgin Inns
The Culinary Union launched its first open-ended strike in over 22 years on November 15, taking 700 employees at Virgin Las Vegas out in an open-ended strike that started at 5:00 a.m on November 15. Whereas this negatively impacted tourism for the remainder of the yr, it additionally highlighted issues about working circumstances amongst hospitality employees.
DECEMBER
Sibella Surrenders Gaming License
Scott Sibella was fired from Resorts World in September 2023, when the on line casino resort discovered concerning the federal investigation into his ties to money-laundering. (Picture: deluxeversionmagazine.com)
On December 19, Scott Sibella, former president of Resorts World Las Vegas and MGM Grand, had his gaming license eliminated by the NGC. The settlement, negotiated by the NGCB every week earlier, successfully ends his profession within the on line casino trade for at the very least 5 years.
The settlement settled a three-count grievance filed by the NGCB in April that alleged that Sibella allowed Wayne Nix — a former minor-league baseball participant recognized by Sibella to function an unlawful sports-betting enterprise — to gamble hundreds of thousands of {dollars} on the MGM Grand from August 2017 by February 2019.
Sibella had already pleaded responsible in January 2024 in federal court docket for violating the Financial institution Secrecy Act in relation to the identical allegation. (He acquired one yr of probation and a $9.500 effective.) In accordance with that federal statute, Sibella was required to file a suspicious transaction report following every incident of wagering by Nix that he was conscious of.
Sibella had been a beloved rising star within the trade who even starred on CBS-TV “Undercover Boss” in 2011. (He posed as an MGM Grand blackjack seller named Paul Thompson.)
Although the grievance solely lined his tenure on the MGM Grand, regulators agreed that the settlement additionally covers Sibella for any potential violations he dedicated whereas presiding over Resorts World.
AI renders the outlawing of hidden resort charges. (Picture: GROK2)
Hidden Resort Charges Outlawed
On December 17, the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) gave an early Christmas current to shoppers who guide Las Vegas on line casino resort stays by way of on-line journey businesses.
It handed a bipartisan rule requiring that every one resort resort charges be disclosed to on-line resort clients upfront. Sometimes, they’re tacked onto resort costs solely throughout on-line checkout, not marketed as a part of nightly room charges.
“Folks should know up-front what they’re being requested to pay — with out worrying that they’ll later be saddled with mysterious charges that they haven’t budgeted for and may’t keep away from,” stated FTC Chair Lina Khan.
In Las Vegas, resort charges vary as excessive as $55 per evening at properties like Bellagio and Mandalay Bay.
