June 2, 1010
A federal bankruptcy judge has given initial approval to a plan that will put 11 Station Casinos properties up for auction. The group will include all but five of Station’s “locals casinos,” packaged as a single entity. Not included in the package are Red Rock Resort, Palace, Sunset, and Boulder Stations, along with the Wild Wild West and an adjoining 110 acres of land. The auction will be conducted sometime in August. Will the result be a complete reorganization of the current Las Vegas locals-casino scene? Not necessarily. The opening bid of $772 million is being tendered by a group led by the company’s current principals, who are attempting to retain their control.
Back in Luck: A plan is finally in place for the reopening of downtown’s shuttered Lady Luck, which closed its doors in 2006 for what was supposed to be a one-year hiatus. Reportedly, remodeling and expansion plans have been submitted to city officials, but there’s no word yet on a time frame.
Classic Slots: The Eastside Cannery on Boulder Hwy. has installed several old-time slot, video poker, and keno machines that dispense coins into trays, as opposed to the ticket-in-ticket-out (TITO) coinless technology that now dominates the casino floors. The Classic Slot Room has about 50 of the old-style machines that were the rage in the ’80s and early ’90s.
Up and Down: The first two events in this year’s World Series of poker produced opposite results for participation. The Poker Players Championship brought in 116 players willing to pay the astronomical $50,000 buy-in to play, up from just 95 in 2009. However, the tournament’s lowest buy-in tournament ($1,000) pulled “only” 4,345 players, nearly 28% below last year’s total of 6,012.
Question: Can you recommend a classy place to sip wine and mingle … that’s also a value?
Answer: M Resort’s Hostile Grape wine bar runs excellent happy hours Tuesdays-Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. Decent wines by the glass are $5 and the crowd is distinctly upscale.
