January 31, 2007 | 4:16
pm
Harrah's executive Jan Jones' now retracted statement that Celine Dion's husband gambles $1 million a week raises an interesting question. If you play $1 million a week for 52 weeks how much can the casino expect to win from you in a year? To answer that question I went to gambling expert Anthony Curtis, publisher of the
Las Vegas Advisor. Curtis tells me that Dion's husband is known for his expert play and so given that, here is his analysis:
"The important metric in this question is probably the "hold." While this is an overused and often useless number for casino analysis, it comes into play here. I'm guessing the $1 million, if it's accurate, is the "drop," which is the relatively easy-to-track amount of money a gambler buys in to play with. The hold is how much of that drop is retained in the casino's winnings, and that might run 15% or so (this varies greatly depending on duration of play and skill level). So someone "dropping" $1 million per week is likely losing on the order of $150,000, or less than $7.5 millon per year. These are broad estimates, but close enough. The $7.5 million-per-year number, I'll bet, is way high (Rene is not unskilled)."
January 31, 2007 | 12:55
pm
It seems my report yesterday on Harrah's executive (and, former Las Vegas Mayor) Jan Jones got some attention.
Tuesday on the Buffet I noted that while in England giving an interview, Jones spilled the numbers of a customer's action by claiming Celine Dion's husband gambles a staggering $1 million a week. This is a foundation violation of every resort's basic operating procedure. Or, as
Norm of the Review-Journal put it today: "Thou shalt not divulge confidential customer information." After the Buffet brought Jones' comments to local notice on this side of the pond, Jones was quickly on the phone to
Norm backtracking from the Buffet's report and apologizing. "Shame on me. I should have been thinking," Jones says. Not only that, Jones also retreated from that $1 million number she had claimed Dion's husband gambles each week. "I would have no idea what he gambles," Jones says now, contrary to her earlier statement. She tells Norm now that she was only repeating second hand something a Canadian scientist said on a panel about Dion's husband while discussing pathological gamblers.
Not to be skeptical, but the ignorance Jones claims seems hard to fathom. All of the resorts keep very clear, complex and thorough records on high rollers. I would be shocked if Harrah's didn't know in exacting detail the entire history of any big player's gambling practice, numbers and everything else. I once reported on a well known casino host, Steve Cyr, who has worked bringing high rollers to play at Las Vegas Hilton, the Hard Rock and other properties in town. At a meal at the Hard Rock's Pink Taco, Cyr showed me a printout he gets from a subscription company on gambling customers and even potential customers. The spreadsheet was staggering in its detail about individuals play practice, gambling history, personal finances, credit worthiness and anything else that a resort could possibly want to know. It's hard to believe that Harrah's does not have something at least as complete on their players.
Jones, an experienced resort executive and politician, wants us to believe that it was some anonymous Canadian scientist on a panel who taught the Harrah's executive for the first time how much money a Vegas high roller gambles. Curiouser and curioser
January 30, 2007 | 11:47
am
Apparently, Celine Dion's tenure has been rewarding to Las Vegas resorts for an unexpected reason: her husband. Certainly everyone counted on the tables at Caesars Palace getting a lot of extra action during Dion's sold out stretches. But as a bonus, Dion's husband, according to a high ranking executive at Harrah's, helps that total by gambling a whopping $1 million a week. Harrah's Jan Jones, a former Las Vegas mayor, tells England's Observer: "Celine Dion's husband is a big gambler. He probably gambles $1m a week. But he can afford to." It is rare for resorts to rat out how much a high roller gambles so specifically as Jones does in this interview. The comment was part of her torturous explanation to the reporter about the difference between responsible gambling and addiction. Mr. Celine Dion, you see, despite common sense, is a responsible player since that $1 million a week is within his budget. Interestingly, though Jones was a Democrat, this is the same argument offered by conservative commentator and former high stakes slot player Bill Bennett as to why his alleged millions in losses in Vegas were not a big deal. He too could afford it.
photo by Richard Drew/AP
January 30, 2007 | 11:23
am
Looking for some quiet time in busy Las Vegas? How about taking a ride on the monorail. The Las Vegas Monorail continues to be a joke and an embarrassment. The embarrassment is the failure of the monorail to find riders and the joke is how the officials for the monorail continue to respond by explaining away their pathetic numbers.
The Review-Journal reports today, "The Las Vegas Monorail saw a ridership collapse by more than 30% in 2006, capping a disappointing year with its worst ridership month ever in December, according to monorail statistics."
How did things get so bad? The monorail responded to having too few customers by charging the ones they had more. Despite the predictable result , the monorail sort-of predicted anyway that ridership would rise 11%. This is consistent with the way the monorail has worked with numbers since opening in 2004. Back then the monorail estimated that it would have 50,000 riders a day. The actual number for last month: 15, 430. No worries. The lords of the monorail have another plan for success: an airport extension. The only huge caveat is that someone has to pay $500 million for building it. You can see why the
Review-Journal reports the monorail is rated by one expert agency as a junk bond at risk for default.
So, how have monorail officials responded to this dismal outlook? No worries (of course). First monorail spokeswoman Ingrid Reisman denied that anyone made that pesky 11% rise in ridership prediction that
the Review-Journal reminds readers the head of the monorail made on December 14, 2005. Even better is Reisman's apples and oranges celebration of the terrible numbers on ridership, telling Review-Journal: "The monorail's current daily ridership...still far exceeds most rail systems throughout the country." Maybe when the Vice President's term ends, they can hire Mr. Cheney to crow about this and the other tremendous successes of the Las Vegas Monorail
January 29, 2007 | 10:19
am
Artie Lange Interview, Part 2
Q: Can you describe the experience of quitting heroin?
A: It's awful. I've done it three times in my life from heroin or opiates. Picture the worst flu you ever had times ten. You are sweating and you can't get relief. If you take a shower, you are sweating in the shower and puking. You got the chills. You got stomach pain and you just want to tear your skin off. But you get through it, the physical part and you start living normal again. You got to do it under a doctor's care. Some people think they can do it like Miles Davis supposedly did. He just told his father he was going up to the attic for a couple weeks and not to come up for him even if he screamed. Though I am not going to call Miles Davis story BS, that is probably an urban legend. You got to have a doctor's care. A doctor gave me some medication not methadone, but some other stuff, Subutex. It happened on the road and I stayed off it ever since. When I am clean and sober I really do kick ass work on every level.
Q: Having quit twice why start again?
A: Heroin?
Q: Yes.
A: What happened is that the six months before I started shooting Beer League I put out a stand-up DVD so I booked a lot of road work to promote it. So, right after the show Friday morning I would, say, fly to St. Louis. I would do a show in St. Louis on Friday night. Then Saturday morning or afternoon, I'd do a signing of my DVD in a record store. Then Saturday night I might do another stand-up show and then fly back Sunday. That burns you out. I had to go to sleep at certain times and get up at certain times. So, I started taking pain killers to sleep. And I was in Boston and this guy I knew at this hotel I was at said, 'Do you want anything stronger to help you sleep?' and, I said, 'If you know anybody who can get me some heroin?' That's how it started. I snort it. I don't shoot it. Sure enough I got some old contacts and for six months I was living fix to fix.
January 29, 2007 | 10:14
am
At what job are you encouraged to get drunk at work? Not many. But there are a few jobs in Las Vegas where alcohol consumption can be part of a night's work. Stripping is one of those jobs. Dancers are offered drinks by customers and are encouraged by clubs to keep customers drinking. So, occasionally I get calls like the one I got at six this morning from a friend who works at Sin on Russell Road not too far from Mandalay Bay. She knows how early I getup and needed a ride. Her shift had just ended and she had too many drinks, all paid for by customers. "I am so sorry," she said. "It was the racists." Apparently, she was sober, in the dressing room, and at the end of her shift when she was summoned out because customers requested "a white girl" and she was the only one available at 5 am. They were on their way to work and wanted a few lap dances first. One problem. "I am not white," my friend insisted. She is part Asian. "Close enough," she was told. "You bet I let the racists buy me drinks," she explained as I gave her a ride. How many did they buy her? "A few..ish." They also bought $80 worth of dances from her. Anyway, I am glad she didn't drive.
January 26, 2007 | 12:20
pm
Artie Lange missed work yesterday because he was ill and is worried he may
have to go to the doctor today. Nothing serious, he says, normal sick. But last
night he was nice enough to call me for our interview: "Sorry," he said. "I keep
crazy hours." Of course, Lange is out East and in Las Vegas it was a lot
earlier. Lange will never be tabloid fodder because he is too quick to expose
his worst behavior to his fans: hard drugs, drinking, sexcapades, etc. But
Lange's walk on the wild side is balanced by a workload that includes five hours
on Sirius satellite radio every morning, stand-up and movies. As for television,
Lange recently taped a guest shot on Entourage that he tells me everyone is
exuberant about. "The were so happy they want to have me back," Lange said. This
was followed immediately by, "I got to try to get happy myself." The dynamic of
Artie Lange in a nutshell. Lange will be bringing his stand-up to the Luxor
February 2-3 for two shows a night. Here is Part 1 of my talk with him and I
will have the rest for you on Monday.
Q: I get the feeling you have the sort of job where people don't call in
sick. Is it unusual for you to call in sick?
A: This is maybe the 5th time I've called in sick in my years on Stern and
3 days had to do with withdrawing from heroin.
Q: Are you feeling okay to do an interview with me now?
A: Yeah, I don't know how I am going to feel tomorrow or if I am going to
be at a doctor, so let's do it now. I feel alright right now.
Q: What has been going on with you?
A: In my career things couldn't be better. The Sirius show is great with
the lack of censorship being so much fun particularly for me being a nightclub
comic. I have a deal for either a sitcom or a late night talk show that I signed
with Fox last month. It's a pretty lucrative deal. And, stand-up is through the
roof; I am selling 3,000-5,000 seats in half an hour. It is unbelievable. So,
the money has never been better and I am busy and everything is going
well.
January 24, 2007 | 2:23
pm
Three tidbits involving more money than you will ever have:
1.
The Smoking Gun has the paperwork for the lawsuit between Steve Wynn and the insurance company Lloyd's of London. Readers of the Buffet will recall that back in September Wynn punched his elbow through Picasso's "Le Reve." This was shortly after Wynn had agreed to sell the painting for $139 million. Lloyd's agreed to pay the costs to fix and restore the painting; nonetheless, after the accident, the sale fell through. A Freudian might say Wynn never wanted to sell it anyway. Now to the lawsuit, if I understand this legal mumbo jumbo right: Even repaired Wynn estimates the value of his Picasso painting has now dropped to a mere $85 million. So, Wynn wants the insurance company to compensate him $54 million for the value the painting lost to his elbow. Wynn by the way bought "Le Reve" in 1997 for only $48.4 million. So, if things work out Wynn's way, that elbow was a pretty good mistake for him to make. Wynn claims he is entitled to keep the restored painting as well as to collect a check from the insurance company for $5.6 million more than he originally paid for "Le Reve." With deals like that available why not poke a fork through the rest of the collection and build another resort with the profits?
January 24, 2007 | 1:00
pm
A blond diva yes. But not the Britney Spears concert some had hoped for nor the Paris Hilton concert others had feared. The Palms new concert venue, The Pearl, will have its Grand Opening April 21 with a Gwen Stefani concert
January 23, 2007 | 2:53
pm
There are advertisements all over town and today I got an e-mail reminder, too, all for the surprise party tonight being thrown for Ultimate Fighter Tito Ortiz at Pure tonight by his girlfriend Jenna Jameson. The only way he is going to be surprised is if he is illiterate. Anyone know if Tito can read?
