Las Vegas Insider News
by Atoosa Arfa
OnlineTickets.com
Harrah’s Plans Name Change to Caesars
Wednesday, Apr. 16 – Harrah’s Entertainment Company is planning to change its official business name to Caesars Entertainment Corporation.
Harrah’s, which acquired Caesars Entertainment in 2005, is hoping that the name change will help the company boast better reputation and more successfully build new casinos overseas. The name “Caesars” is much better known abroad than the “Harrah’s” name, thanks to the famous, luxurious Caesars Palace resort in Las Vegas in comparison to the Harrah’s riverboat casinos in the South.
Besides Caesars Palace and the Southern casinos, Harrah’s also operates Flamingo and Bally’s in Las Vegas as well as Bally’s in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The official name change has yet to be approved by regulators, but it is expected to do so soon.
Las Vegas Wants You To Visit – Right Now!
Friday, Mar. 14 – What happens in Vegas will always stay in Vegas, but Las Vegas city leaders want people to visit Vegas, right now.
Indeed, “Vegas, right now” is Las Vegas’s new city marketing slogan. Original plans were the unveil the slogan months from now, but Las Vegas has dealt with a one percent fall of traffic at McCarran International Airport in recent months, as well as a four percent fall of Clark County gaming revenue since January 2007. Due to the slowing economy and peoples’ desires to spend money more on basic needs than extravagant purchases, Las Vegas city officials have decided to jumpstart the new campaign in time for the spring and summer traveling season.
The purpose of the slogan “Vegas, right now” is to guide visitors and tourists to the website LasVegas.com to inform them of everything that is going on in Las Vegas, well, “right now.” The city officials will update the website constantly and advertise the slogan in major cities across the United States.
Sin City to Disneyland Dream Ride?
Monday, Mar. 10 - For nearly two decades, there have been plays to install a high-speed train that could transport people from Las Vegas to Disneyland in less than two hours. Called a MagLev, the train would operate using magnetic force and could reach speeds of more than 450 miles per hour.
Currently, the 250-mile drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas usually takes around five hours, thanks to the clogged, traffic-heavy Interstate 15. The drive is also wildly popular among Californians – an estimated 10 million Californians drive to Sin City every year.
However, it has been very difficult to receive government funds, including a drafting error that stopped $45 million the project was supposed to receive in 2005 - severely delaying the plans to create the MagLev. In fact, the lack of funds have caused some to look towards a cheaper alternative, called the DesertXPress, which would take riders to Las Vegas from Victorville, California, in three or four hours at 125 miles per hour.
Instead of an estimated $12 million the MagLev project is estimated to spend, the DesertXPress would cost roughly $4 billion and would also be privately funded. However, the DesertXPress would not contain the new heavy technology the MagLev contains, such as electricity and magnetic attraction.
As of now, nobody can say whether either of these two trains will ever reach existence.
Cher to Join Bette Midler at Caesars Palace
Thursday, Jan. 7 - In only a couple of weeks, Bette Midler will officially succeed Celine Dion and start her much-hyped "The Showgirl Must Go On" at Caesars Palace. But when May comes rolling around, Bette is going to have to share the stage with another living musical legend, Cher.
Starting May 6, Cher is going to return to the stage and perform four shows each week during that month. She'll return to Caesars Palace in August and then officially end in October. However, Cher's contract with AEG Live lasts three years, so she might just continue well into 2009.
What can audiences expect from the show? Cher may be 61 years old, but we can place a sure bet that she can make a fantastic show that will be "visually unbelievable." Cher plans to perform songs from all facets of her career, ranging from her hits during the Sonny and Cher days to her hits in recent years.
Cher's Farewell Tour from 2002-2005 proved to be a huge hit, raking in $192.5 million dollars total and becoming the ninth highest-grossing tour in the history of the music industry. With a history like that, it's certain that Cher's tenure at Caesars Palace will be just as successful!
Fire at the Monte Carlo Hotel
Saturday, Jan. 26 - Yesterday morning, the Monte Carlo Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip caught a blazing fire on its roof. Thankfully, more than a hundred firefighters prompty came to end the fire, and no serious injuries occurred.
The roof and the main sign of the Monte Carlo Hotel, which has 32 stories, became engulfed in flames around 11 am. The fire spread throughout the upper floors, which had been made of foam materials. The fire melted the side of the building and triggered more fires on the stories below.
The famous 1980 fire at the old MGM Grand Hotel (now Bally's) had taken the lives of 87 people, and as a result strict fire codes had been adopted for the Las Vegas hotels and casinos. Yesterday, seventeen people were diagnosed with minor injuries after being taken to local hospitals, due to inhaling the heavy smoke or trying to flee the hotel. Yet because of the fire codes, evacuation was prompt and lives were spared.
As of now, the cause of the fire remains unknown.
First Las Vegas Resort In Three Years
Thursday, Jan. 17 - Today, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation will officially open Las Vegas's first resort in three years - the $1.9 billion Palazzo Casino and Resort.
The Palazzo arrives three years after Steve Wynn created the Wynn Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip back in April of 2005. In a new Las Vegas Strip standard of upscale, polished architecture, the Palazzo certainly holds its own with its 3,000 elegant hotel suites, casino with magnificent glass domes, restaurants owned by celebrity chefs such as Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, Mario Batali, and Charlie Trotter, a Canyon Ranch spa, a third installment of Jay-Z's 40/40 Nightclub, and a majestic two-story waterfall. For shoppers out there, the Palazzo shopping center contains such high-end stores such as Barneys New York.
The Palazzo will also be neighbors with the Venetian Casino and Resort, another hotel owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp that opened back in 1999 at $1.5 billion. Together, the Venetian and the Palazzo will create the largest hotel complex in the world.
So next time you head over to Las Vegas - either to gamble, attend a hot nightclub, or watch one of the city's fantastic shows such as Cirque du Soleil - be sure to book a room at the Palazzo Casino and Resort!
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