Greed is not an evil in Las Vegas
12:05 PM PT, Mar 13 2008
The investigation into Pure Management Group by the IRS remains the most underreported story in Vegas.At first I thought I was one of the few people in the media grappling with the magnitude of the story despite the fact that it is all anyone is talking about.
Over just a few years the nightclub business went from the fringes to become the signature industry of the new Vegas. The IRS visit to Pure at Caesars and LAX at Luxor was the first such intervention inside a resort since the days of the mob in Vegas. And, though IRS investigations can move slowly, the existence of IRS agents working inside a property that holds an unrestricted gaming license is shocking.
But recently the Sun (the sister publication of Las Vegas Weekly where I am
on staff) has done a series of stories on the practices of the Vegas club scene
resulting in an editorial yesterday opining: "The whole thing smacks of
unbridled greed." Sure it does. But greed, of course, is not an evil in Las Vegas. Dishonesty is the problem. In
general, customers are supposed to know what they are facing from the greedy casinos. Odds are
posted and the games aren't rigged in Vegas. Everything just favors the house; you know that before you start gambling. But the nightclub shakedown practices with customers documented
in the Sun stories are far more insidious, demeaning and underhanded. As for any potential dishonesty with the IRS, well, that is another set of problems.
Meanwhile, The Review-Journal has left the story mostly in the hands of
gossip columnist Norm Clarke who today makes clear, yet again, that while the media may not be focused on this story at least
the casinos grasps the magnitude that any problems in the tenant clubs cause for them.
According to Clarke: "A reliable MGM Mirage source says the repercussions from
the IRS raid at Pure nightclub at Caesars Palace and LAX nightclub at Luxor are
'bigger than you can ever imagine. Change is an understatement.'" We will see.
Meanwhile things continue to run at the nightclubs much like before. Paris
Hilton was partying at LAX on Saturday.
Bookmark it:   |
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83452364969e200e55121ebf58834
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Greed is not an evil in Las Vegas:
"Unbridled greed"? Oh please. To that, we must add unbridled hypocrisy. How sweet of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper to rail against the huge amounts of cash money flowing around the casino nightclubs, when in fact, their sister publication the LV Weekly (also owned by the Greenspun group) features pages & pages of high glossy ads for these very same disco clubs. Advertisements that are deliberately designed to make the nightclubs look like high-class whore houses (Eliot Spitzer, come on down!) by plastering umpteen lurid photos of barely-legal big-boob'd young women to entice the slick sharpie high rollers who perchance are swarming into the "new" Vegas ..
Posted by: RussBBinVegas@aol.com | March 13, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Long before the IRS raid a lot of people have been saying that they have a love hate relationship with the club scene in their city. Even though they don't go to these places ( anymore ) there has been a increase in the arrogance of the people connected with these clubs and that attitude has changed Las Vegas into a less tourist friendly place. Instead of a happy place where the customer is king because the entire city is entertainment driven and customers were made to at least "feel" appreciated ( even if the house had already "calculated" that most visitors would lose at gambling ) at least they would have a good time gambling.
Now the new attitude is if you can't afford this, there's plenty of people who can and a "what's it worth to you -- I'm going to take from you as much as I can get." That attitude in the clubs corrupts the rest of the city when workers see bouncers making six figures while giving most people they deal with a mighty shove it attitude.
A lot of conventioners seem to be grumbling that Las Vegas restaurants and bars are nice but too expensive. It starts to make Denver and Chicago and Miami or Detroit more attractive and at least the city will apprecitate their business.
John
Posted by: John King | March 13, 2008 at 07:28 PM
John is absolutely right! Las Vegas has always been an adult fantasy where anyone can go and feel like he or she is special for a few days. No other place had such a talented tourist industry--not Hawaii, California, or Florida. These clubs are a cancer on the service industry. They are an extention of the high school social cliques.
Posted by: JV | March 13, 2008 at 10:23 PM
WHERE WAS CAESARS PRESIDENT GARY SELESNER? I'll TELL YOU WHERE! ON TRIPS IN THE FIJI ISLANDS WITH STEVIE AND ROBERT! I used to work at PURE. I used to work at the door. Why all of this attention to PURE! Put Selesner under the spotlight too! How can a Casino President sit there at our door night after night and turn a blind eye. Ill tell you why...cause he was on the take too! The media is missing the big story here
Posted by: VegasVIP | March 16, 2008 at 11:15 AM