Las Vegas

Having just returned from a long weekend in Las Vegas I thought I would pass on some observations about what is going on in the great gambling Mecca in the desert. The number one item is crowds. They were everywhere, downtown, on the strip, at all the restaurants, at the gambling tables, and of course at the slots.

I did get the feeling that more tables, like blackjack and craps, are being removed to make room for slots all over town. Depending on whose report you read, casinos are now achieving 60 to 70 percent of their total revenues from slot machines, it’s no wonder management loves slots.

The hotel/casino South Coast and is located about five miles south of Mandalay Bay on Las Vegas Boulevard, almost half way to Primm. The 80,000 square foot casino features 2,400 slots and fifty-two table games. The property has seven restaurants and a hotel with 1,350 rooms, plus a 64-lane bowling center, and a 16-screen Century Theatre movie complex. Unique to South Coast will be a world-class equestrian center with seating for 4,400 spectators.

 A little bit of London has shown up in Las Vegas. It now has double-decker 81-passenger “Deuce” buses that travel a 17-mile loop from Mandalay Bay to downtown and back. It’s an option to get you around instead of the monorail, which doesn’t go all the way downtown. Try them, you might like them. More casinos are planned for this little city, so the next time you go to Las Vegas you will find it changed.