Las Vegas Cab Fare Increase

Taxi fares in Las Vegas are going up again. The Nevada Taxicab Authority recently approved a 20-cent-per-mile fuel surcharge. The extra fare is expected to go into effect at the beginning of May and will add about $1 to the average Las Vegas cab ride.



While I understand the need for taxi companies to compensate for fuel prices, I doubt they will be removing the new surcharge if gas prices go back down. It's a one way street.

Source: Vegas Inc.

Paul Carr Las Vegas Adventure

Paul Carr, a British author and columnist is heading to Las Vegas. His plan is to stay at a different Strip hotel every night over the course of a month. By his count he will be staying at 33 different joints. He will document the adventure via The Huffington Post.

The trip seems pretty unorganized. He is staying at Sahara for the first night (does he know it's closing?) After that he says, "I'll just follow the best deals along the strip, writing about whatever fun occurs along the way."

I've daydreamed about doing a trip like this. I suppose many Vegas geeks have thought about doing something similar. In my dream trip I plan on staying at every Vegas casino-hotel, including downtown and locals places. I think the count would be around 75 hotels.

I'll definitely be following Carr's daily updates. It looks like he will be writing a lot of human interest stories, which is fine but I hope he writes about the hotels also. Check out the first installment at Huffington Post. He also has a Twitter account where he will be updating his exploits.

Vegas Shows Celebrate Milestones

A bunch of Las Vegas shows have passed milestones recently:

- Donny and Marie celebrated their 500th show at Flamingo, and their contract has been extended into 2012.

- Matt Goss has been at Caesars Palace for one year.

- Barry Manilow has been at Paris for one year.

- Absinthe adult carnival has opened at Caesars Palace.

- KA celebrated their 3000th show at MGM Grand.

3 Dice Football

3 Dice Football has hit Las Vegas. The new game is currently available at O'Sheas. Most of the new table games introduced are card games, so it's pretty rare and exciting to see a new dice game.

The game is similar to craps in that you are either betting for the shooter to score a touchdown, or against the shooter "playing defense." Like in craps, if a touchdown is scored the shooter keeps rolling. Also similar to craps are the many prop bets that can be placed on each role of the dice.

The shooter starts at the twenty yard line and tries to score a touchdown with a possible first down at the 10 yard line. The shooter has three throws, or "downs" to get a first down (or touchdown).

There are two green dice and one red. The yardage gained is the value of the green dice minus the value of the red. You can score an instant touchdown by throwing "triples." A one yard penalty occurs when the total of green dice is lower than the red die, and a turnover happens when a red 6 is rolled with a green 1-1 or 1-2.

I think 3 Dice Football looks like a lot of fun. I like craps but it can be devastating when that seven wipes out your whole roll. In this game it seems tough to lose on one roll, and you could even hedge against a turnover for a 66-1 payoff. I don't know what the math looks like in terms of house edge, but I can't wait to play it nonetheless.

UPDATE - July 17, 2017: It appears the game never caught on, and is nowhere to be found anymore.

Will Sahara Closing Help Riviera?

Ever since it was announced that Sahara will be closing, I've been wondering how the closure will affect other hotels around Las Vegas.

People who would be inclined to stay at Sahara will probably move to a similar property. The most similar property to Sahara in terms of location, prestige and history is the Riviera.

Will any of the Sahara's customers move over to Riviera and help out the cause, or will the Sahara's closing make it even harder for a property to make money on the North end of the Strip?

Last week the Sun had an article about the Riv's struggling revenue and income situation. It looks like Riviera is in a pretty bad way financially. They can use all the help they can get, even if that means "stealing" customers from Sahara.