Thursday, February 24, 2011

Rio Casino Robbed of $35K in Chips

For the second time in a matter of months, a major Las Vegas casino has been robbed at gunpoint.

At 4:30 this morning, a man reportedly wearing a disguise consisting of a fake mustache and a fedora hat managed to swipe $35,000 worth of chips from a gaming table at Rio before hopping in a cab to escape. The cab driver didn't know the man had just committed the robbery and proceeded to drive him to Terrible's Casino.

In a similar incident, the Bellagio was robbed of over $1 million in chips in December by a man who escaped on a motorcycle. The alleged robber in that case was caught earlier this month.

These are probably isolated incidents, but I would imagine this will prompt the hotels and casinos to at least consider beefing up security a little. Although if a robber has a gun and is willing to use it there might not be much a security guard could do in that situation.

Source: CBS News.

UPDATE: It appears that police know the identity of three men implicated in the robbery and have arrested two of them. The cab driver was allegedly in on the robbery.

Caesars STILL wants Project LINQ

Caesars Entertainment is looking to take out a $400 million loan to finish the Octavius Tower and complete the Project LINQ street of shopping and restaurants between Flamingo and O'Sheas.

Project LINQ was first mentioned by the company in July 2009. It was put on the back burner for about a year before the company confirmed in July 2010 that it still wanted to pursue the project. In October it was announced that an IPO would be issued to raise the $575 million or so needed for the project, along with completing Octavius. A month later (in November) it was announced that the IPO was canceled and Project LINQ presumably dead.

I'm definitely surprised to see Caesars Entertainment continuing to try to get this thing done. With all the funding issues, along with the wide criticism of the project (especially the Ferris Wheel aspect) I would have thought Caesars would have taken their ball and gone home.

On the other hand, they need to finish Octavius sooner than later and probably figure now is a good time with Celine coming back. As long as they're getting a loan for Octavius, why not build the LINQ also? I'm guessing the Ferris Wheel might get scrapped though. With a reduced budget that has to be the first thing on the chopping block.

UPDATE: August 3, 2011.
Caesars Entertainment was able to secure financing and Project Linq will be built. Clark County has approved the project and new renderings have been revealed. See them here.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Insert Coin(s) - Video Game Bar

UPDATE: As of July 10, 2015 - Insert Coin(s) has closed.

Insert Coin(s) is a video game bar and lounge opening downtown Las Vegas in April 2011. The bar will combine "classic arcades, ultra lounge service, console video gaming and the world's greatest VideoDJs."

The location is in the Fremont East district with neighbors including the popular Beauty Bar, Griffin and Downtown Cocktail Room. With this collection of bars, Fremont East is quickly becoming a nice place to hang out.