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Mar 18, 2026
Massive Jackpots, Casino Deals, And Industry Updates
Massive Jackpots, Casino Deals, And Industry Updates
00:00
33:33
Transcript
0:00
This is the big one. This is the- It happens a lot. I told you this, Mike. It happens, like, almost every month. It's really, it's really ridiculous. I'm here every morning at 8:00 AM, and you're here before me. I am.
0:07
And the day that I show up here and you're not here, I'll know you hit the Megabucks. Yeah. Flamingo napping. This, this next story- Yeah. This one I- I'd like to, I'd like to say something about this. Oh, no.
0:15
Yeah To open the Resorts World Poker Room, they actually went around and, and stole a lot of the really good dealers around town. Keep on talking about this.
0:25
Like, it seems like Vegas is caring less and less about the everyday person- Right... like us. [upbeat music] In the category of 'I hope this is us one day'- Oh, oh, oh, dear...
0:40
our lead story is that someone just smashed the $12.3 million- Million dollars... Megabucks. What? Yeah. Yeah, no, this is the big one. Yeah This is the- It happens a lot. I told you this, Mike.
0:49
It happens, like, almost every month. It's really, it's really ridiculous. Not this one. This is the big one. This is the really big one. Yeah, I know what this is. The system wide progressive. I know.
0:56
It's crazy, and what's really interesting is they're not releasing any more data about it yet. Why? Um, well, they just haven't said, like, who it is or where it happened. Oh, yeah. Exactly.
1:03
I mean, usually- People don't want to... well, but you would think the casino would want everybody to know and- Oh, yeah... so I'm thinking maybe next week or the week after. Okay... at some point we're going to know.
1:11
Right. But fun story to lead off with. Yeah. Uh, we don't ever play Megabucks, so I guess it probably won't be us. I do. Do you? But not on camera. Oh, okay. And I only put $21, seven spins. Okay.
1:22
If you're gonna hit it, you're gonna hit it. I don't ever put more than that, uh, seriously. 21 bucks. I- It's three... Well, the ones that I play are $3, and now I think they actually have some that are $5.
1:33
I come here every morning at 8:00 AM, and you're here before me. I am. And the day that I show up here and you're not here, I'll know you hit the Megabucks. [laughs] Oh, no, you'll know before you get here. Okay.
1:41
So you- No, I'll be- I'll get a phone call... I, I might not even get in the car. I might run to your house faster. Okay. All right. Well, I- [laughs] Please don't run and, like, a- and then die- I'll jump in my car-...
1:48
on the way over there-... and run away there... 'cause, like, you don't run anymore, so, like, don't do that. Yeah, I don't run. Um, you know, 25 years ago when David Copperfield started here- Yeah...
1:56
you were still running back then. I did... so that was, that was a while ago. I did. That guy's been here forever. Yeah. It's, uh...
2:01
He, he started his residency, like, and it's just crazy that it's been over 25 years, but it was, like, the turn of the century. Yeah. I saw him live. My w- You see him? My wife got called up on stage. Yeah.
2:13
I saw him live with a group of people at Tahoe. It was crazy. At Lake Tahoe. He took two of the people I was with, wedding rings, and joined them together. Oh, so y- your, your friends were in the show, too? Yeah. Yeah.
2:24
Amazing. That's crazy. And they were th- Um- And I know that it was their rings. I, I... They were my friends. Okay... and they have no idea how it happened.
2:30
It's been so long since this happened that I don't remember exactly what the circumstances were. There were no iPhones yet, so, like, there's no pictures- Right... of any of this. Right.
2:38
Uh, I believe that we got a, a cassette tape as, like, a, like, a little- Memory of it. Yeah... memory of the thing. I believe that. But I don't remember.
2:48
I just remember her, like, kinda getting called up on stage and the rest of it's kinda blank, and then I remember her getting... And who knows where that tape is anymore.
2:53
You don't even remember what he did or, like, did he- Not really. Would have to ask Mrs.- What the, what the trick was or... Okay... I've asked her a couple years ago, and she couldn't remember. Couldn't remember. Wow.
3:00
It's, it's been a while. You would think that if you were called up on stage you would remember that, but- Yeah... you know. I remember when I got called up at SeaWorld and, uh,
3:07
and the dog, a little, a dog came up and started licking my face. I remember that. I got to pet the, pet a dolphin also. [laughs] I got called up on stage for Tape Face. Tape Face? Yeah. Okay. Okay.
3:16
And it was- He's a lot newer than David Copperfield... it was funny 'cause we, we went with our friends Phil and Robin. Right. And Phil gets called up on stage. I'm like... [laughs] Oh, good. Yeah, laughing. Yeah.
3:24
Phil got called. And this sh- sh- like, this was towards the beginning of the show. Right... and throughout the show he's picking more and more people, and the very last thing- Oh, it was you...
3:31
he comes over and grabs me. That's- And Phil's like, "Ha, ha, ha." Exactly. So- Exactly. That's funny... whatever. That's great. Anyway, 25 years coming to an end.
3:38
Uh, the word on the street is that there's, uh, he did some things that they're not thrilled with. I'll just leave it at that. Okay. Uh, and, and they're just... They feel like they should part ways, so- Gotcha...
3:48
I don't think this was necessarily mutual. He kinda makes it out to be that he's got this next thing coming that's gonna be bigger and, and better than anything he's done. Right. That's what they always say. Okay.
3:55
So- Yeah. Uh- Well, I'd like to see what that is... you know, I don't know for sure exactly what happened, uh, but in my research, and there was multiple sources saying that- Right...
4:04
there were some allegations and stuff, and they're just kinda like, "It's best for us-" Yeah. "... to just go-" Part ways... "go part ways." Okay. And it's end of his contract, so they didn't, like,
4:11
you know, just stop it- No big deal... immediately kinda thing. Um- He was done anyway. This is a good time. Contract's over. Okay. April 30th 26, 2026 last chance to go see him over there at, uh, MGM Grand. Right. So
4:23
David Copperfield, yeah. Uh, Caesars Entertainment, this is crazy. D- didn't have this on my bingo card- Yeah... uh, last year or this year, but com- I mean, it kinda makes sense.
4:32
We've been talking about how much Caesars have been struggling. Stock price has been tumbling. I didn't realize, like, how badly until the first story- Oh, yeah...
4:41
that we did, and it was like you go back five years- Yeah... and it's just like, oh, my lord. Um- I went back, I went... I only went back a year I think on the...
4:49
You know the charts that they have if you pull up anything, crypto or anything, stocks, and I went back, like, a year, and it was, like, 123- Yeah...
4:58
dollars per share, and today- And now it's in the 20s or some point like that... it's 20-something. Yeah. That's a massive hit. Crazy. And then, you know, my, my wife, we were talking about this.
5:05
She's like, "The offer's only seven billion," and obviously seven billion's a lot of money. When you think about- But didn't they just buy it for 17 billion? [laughs] I'm not so sure about that.
5:13
I didn't, uh, do that research. I was just thinking more along the lines of if you think about, like, uh, Fontainebleau, like, one billion, they- Yeah... bought for two billion. Right.
5:19
Uh, you know, just for one thing, and Caesars has half the freaking strip, or let's say 25%- Yeah... of the strip, but generally- Well, the El Dorado was the, the, the Toronos were the ones- Yeah...
5:28
that bought it, and I think it was 17 billion. Yeah. I mean, it's, uh- And that was, uh, five years ago-... now it's seven... or four years ago, whatever... so it's, it's almost a third of- Ugh... of what they paid. Wow.
5:36
Um, and then Caesars not only has a quarter or, you know, a third of the strip here, whatever it works out to be, 'cause it's, it's not just Caesars, but you got Flamingo- Right...
5:42
and the Horseshoe, and- Paris, Bally's... uh, Paris, all these things. Yeah. And they own, uh, a bunch of other stuff around the country. Um, it doesn't seem like a lot of money.
5:52
So I mean, like, they're really, really struggling. Uh, we'll see if this ends up happening. They, you know, they also own The Linq and the, uh- Right... the Promenade and all this other stuff. I mean, it, it is...
6:00
kinda nuts. Uh, we'll see what happens. I mean, maybe they come in.
6:04
You know, Caesars is kinda hated in this town now by, by locals and visitors because of things that they were doing to, to customers in terms of gouging. They lost a lot of customers.
6:12
They just, you know, they, they over-gouged. Like, if they- Yeah... talk, "Oh, we're gonna pay $17 billion," and we're just...
6:16
Our business model, and this is a typical thing in, in PE, uh, it's a we're gonna buy and then we're gonna raise all the prices. Right. And that's gonna be- And we'll sell that...
6:23
instead of a seven-year payback, we're gonna get a four-year payback by just charging more. Right. A ty- very typical. We had a company that got bought, uh, one time, and that was the first thing they did. Yeah.
6:32
They just raised all the prices. Yeah, not smart. I like went back and looked, and it just, uh, you know, and they- And they, and they just get crushed... you can get away with it for a little bit. Yeah.
6:37
And then people are just like, "Whatever." Like, "Why?" Yeah. So we'll keep an eye on that. That's obviously a pretty major story. It's a huge story. You know, you know.
6:45
We love going to Caesars for some of the things that they have, but being gouged is no fun. Yeah. No one likes to be gouged. Well, it's major to me because it just... It isn't like a casino someplace [laughs] Yeah...
6:56
you know, and- And they've got some really good restaurants. Yeah. And they've got good shows. I don't know. If they- It, it gives you a sour taste. If they, if they do trade hands, it will be a massive story.
7:05
It could change the shape of Las Vegas forever, hopefully in a good way. I don't know what- Who knows which way it would go... Fertitta would do.
7:11
But- What do you think Fer- do you think he would go with the business line that they have here at Stations, like his brothers? I don't know. 'Cause- I don't know...
7:18
I don't know if that would be the right decision- [laughs] Yeah... on the Strip. But who knows? I don't know. I mean, it's, it's hard to say. I don't wanna speculate on that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that,
7:27
y- you know, the, the goal would be... You just kinda like when the Rio gets a- acquired. Like, you know, the, the, that person, whoever it is, that group, is gonna have their plan. Sure.
7:35
They're gonna, they're gonna go through. Is it gonna be a remodel? Is it gonna be- Yeah... uh, you know, new, new restaurants come in, new things that they have partnerships with?
7:42
Is it gonna be we're gonna bring old Vegas back- Right... and try to get... Who, who knows which way they'll go.
7:47
Well, I worked for the Koranos back in the day, and that's what they were all about, was constantly reinvesting in your building and making it better and better and better. Yeah.
7:57
And it seems like they went away from that when they bought Caesars. Who knows what the Fertittas would do? But hopefully moving forward it, it gets better 'cause it's struggling and it's, it's just- Yeah... it's bad.
8:07
Speaking of, uh- But-... Caesar's property... but wait. There was a, uh, flamingo napping. This, this next story- Yeah. This one I- I'd like to, I'd like to say something- Oh, no... about this guy. Go ahead.
8:15
Um- He's, he, you know- He should-... this is how you become a star... he did- Big ol' feather board... he did get arrested. Yeah. Yes, he did get arrested. This guy's an idiot. He stole one of the flamingos.
8:23
[laughs] That they have. Live birds. Yeah. He was choking it- Oh, really?... on camera. Yeah. I didn't know about that part. Yeah, this guy's just an idiot. I have no problem calling this guy out. Um, he was arrested.
8:36
Uh, alleged flamingo incident, which we have on film. It's everywhere. Oh, yeah. Um, I hope he gets in a lot of trouble. I really do. Well, he's got four felony counts. I hope he- It seems like a lot of trouble...
8:47
I hope he gets in... Well, who knows? I mean, I hope that someone chokes him. [laughs] But without me saying that. Then they would get in trouble. [laughs] Without me saying. Yeah. Maybe they'll keep it quiet. Yeah.
8:57
Maybe they won't, uh, do it on film. I don't know. I just- Yeah... I... There's no, there's no place in society for people that do sh- things. Don't say it. Don't say it, Ryan. Things like this.
9:06
We don't say that on the podcast. I know. I know. That's why I said sh, sh. 6:15 in the morning on March 3rd, 2026. I'd love to know, was this guy, like, out all night? Yeah. Drunk. He's like, "Oh, yeah." Oh, yeah.
9:14
His buddies are like, "Hop the fence, man." 100%. "Grab the flamingo. Do what, man. Come on." 100%. Yeah, one of those types of things. But we're like...
9:20
Luckily, there, there was this one time where we're in a parking lot and I was really drunk. Right. And Ryan's like, "I bet you won't jump on the back of that guy's truck." It's like- I have a picture of that. Yeah.
9:27
We can throw that up on the- Oh, all right... oh, we can throw that up on the screen. Uh, we'll throw it there. Yeah. [laughs] So this... There, there's like this guy had, like... What is that? Like a horse.
9:34
It was like a- What is it called?... a bouncing horse. Yeah. Yeah, like for kids. He's like, "I bet you won't jump up there," and I- I... Did he even have to ask twice. Jump on his horse. Just hop up there.
9:39
Didn't ask him how much he was betting. Some random guy's truck. Yeah. So luckily Ryan was never like, "I bet you won't go choke out a flamingo." [laughs] No, no, no. That would not happen. [laughs] Oh, man.
9:47
I'm not gonna try and, uh, get you to do- I've stopped-... felonies... I've stopped drinking. [laughs] This is, this is why. I don't want you to do any felonies there. So, uh, I love this promo. Yes, yes.
9:58
I love this guy. This guy's awesome. Derek Stevens, man. He is awesome. He's been nice to us. We've stayed down here at his place, Circa. Yeah. This guy's awesome, man.
10:06
It's, it's hard to imagine the CEO of any other casino group here ever spending the type of time that he has with us. Taking time just to talk to you. I mean, just really, really impressed. Yeah.
10:18
Walk up to him at any time. You ever see him, he'll shake your hand. He'll give you- I mean-... a few seconds or minutes of his time... I can't say enough nice things about this guy.
10:24
Now, I don't know that the CEO of Caesars or MGM or Stations- Wouldn't, yeah... wouldn't do that. Right. So, like, they've never...
10:30
Just for full disclosure, never been bad, but, like, they're certainly not ever in a position to be in the same room with us. Right. Like, this guy came down to hang out with us. You know, a bunch of streamers. Yeah.
10:38
We're way smaller than the other people that were there, was, you know, like NG and, uh, Cowboy and Judo- Judo... who we, we were there to support. Yeah.
10:46
And, and know at the time we were, like, 10,000 subscribers, and he didn't ask. He didn't care about any of that. No. He just shook our hands like, "Do you mind if we do a quick interview with you?" No problem.
10:54
Asked a couple of questions. Really, really nice. And he was there for us. And then he does a promo like this, which I think is really smart because there's tension between the US and Canada. Very smart.
11:02
And, and traveling right now. Right. Uh, you know, it just... Not... We don't wanna be into politics stuff, guys. Right. I'm just trying to state some facts. Yeah.
11:09
You know, it, it is more difficult for people to come visit the United States right now.
11:13
The, the conversion rate between the dollar and the Canadian dollar is, is not very good right now for Canadians, and this fluctuates back and forth.
11:19
I mean, there's been times where I've gone to Canada, 'cause I, I spent quite a bit of time in Canada, where, you know, my dollar got me, like, a buck 40 in Canadian. Okay. Okay.
11:26
And there's been times where I've gone up there where it was, like, almost exactly- Exactly... even. Yeah. There was one trip where it was almost exactly par. Right.
11:32
And so this obviously i- is cyclical and goes back and forth, but right now as a Canadian, you come here with a Canadian dollar, you're gonna get... I think it's in the range of, like, 40 or 60 cents, I made. 60 cents.
11:41
So that's a big haircut. Yeah. My friends in Canada that, like, wanna come v- Yeah... like, have traditionally come to visit over the last few years, they're like, "Even staying with you for free- Still a lot. Yeah...
11:50
you know, it's like, it's still a lot. I still gotta go out and do stuff." And, um, so they're doing a part thing where they, e- every dollar that you bring, they're Canadian, they will match it to be a US dollar.
11:59
US dollar. That's pretty cool. And this extends to the Circa, the D, and the Golden Gate, all the properties that he owns. Right. And it extends a bunch of, across a bunch of things.
12:07
The room rate, and, uh, drinks, and shows, and food. Yeah. And gamblingI don't know, man Pretty cool... really, really smart. I mean, now it also just goes to show you how big of a house edge the casinos have.
12:18
Yeah, they- It's like, "Oh, we'll just take a 40%-" Loss off of your-... loss off your gambling winnings... exchange. So I think that that's actually beatable.
12:26
I think that if you're a smart Canadian, you come down, and you gamble smartly- Yeah... you could probably come out ahead on that. And go back with the same amount of money you came down with.
12:34
You know, but the problem is, and, and we all know this, I've been a tourist in Vegas before, time is your biggest enemy. E- even if you have a win- Yeah...
12:41
even if you, like, are able to arbitrage the difference in the, the, the dollar to the Canadian dollar- Yeah... you're now at the Circa. What up? It's a great property. [laughs] The casino's right downstairs. Yeah.
12:52
We spent, uh, 72 hours or whatever it was at the Circa this summer. Yes, we did. Uh, we went to- It was a lot of fun... the pool. They had a great promo, and even I fell victim to that.
13:00
I think, you know- I think I lost $500. I lost more than that. [laughs] Ugh. I had to go to the ATM. It happens. Yeah. It happens. Yeah. Any rate, it's a great, it's a great promo. They had us. They had us.
13:09
Go check them out. We were- It's, uh, it's been really successful. Yeah. Uh, 15,000 plus Canadians have come down and done that. Seems pretty good to me, so. That's pretty strong.
13:17
Uh, if you're up in Canada- Over 2,700 rooms booked... check that out That's strong. Yeah. And then on top of it, if you're a Canadian and you come down there, you can meet us. Yeah. Just email
[email protected]
.
13:28
Uh, big, another big jackpot. Another big. $5,000 top dollar. Yeah. Uh, that's pretty cool. That was on March 5th, 2026. At the Golden Nugget. Yeah. We played there. Yeah. But not on camera. No.
13:39
Well, I think that, uh, they won't let us film. [laughs] Well, the lady didn't know. That was pretty funny. She didn't think you were allowed to film anywhere. N- no, nothing against the Golden Nugget. Right.
13:47
Uh, we, we... So we, one day, we, like, we walked all of Free- uh, Fremont Street. Yeah. We started down at El Cortez, and we ended at The Plaza. And we walked into literally every single casino to ask their policy.
13:57
Right. And then I took, like, really good notes, just so I can know in the future- Right... where we can go and where we can't go.
14:02
'Cause we figured, oh, we're gonna do like a Fremont Strip crawl, uh, Fremont Street crawl one day- Yeah... or some other thing, 'cause it, it's easy to hit a bunch of casinos at once.
14:10
And we walk in the Golden Nugget, and they're like, lady's like, "You can't film anywhere in this town." Yeah. Security video. "So you can't take any pictures any..." I'm like, "Like, we just- What are you talking about?
14:18
"... just filmed." Look at my phone. This is us in a casino again. Yeah. She's like, "Oh, no, that's illegal. You can't do that." It was- Yeah, I would never do that again... pretty funny. So. Yeah. She just didn't know.
14:25
She didn't know. But any rate, Golden Nugget, uh, great. I, actually, I really like. That's one of the nicer places down there. I think before Circa opened up, I thought that was the best one.
14:32
They did that really nice remodel. Circa. Circa's nice. They have a slide through a pool. You can go down a water slide right into a shark tank. Golden Nugget's pool was really cool. Uh. Yeah.
14:40
Um, not too much more on this. I just, again, one day maybe we'll hit a $400,000 jackpot. We're not gonna. I sure would like that. I just wanna hit the $12,000 grab. Yeah. Right. [laughs] Just once. My lord.
14:49
Lot of resor- uh, Resorts World news right now. Lots. We'll start with the, the, the fun stuff. Yeah. It is, right now as this comes out, right in the middle of March Madness or the beginning of it. Right...
14:58
March Madness. Everything in town changes. I thought that this was an interesting story. Uh, they are converting their Fear, like where we saw Theo Von. Yeah. Like, where we've seen, uh, what else have we seen?
15:08
It's the four busiest days in Vegas each year. Uh, what was it? Carrie Underwood. March Madness. Yeah. We've seen, we've seen other things in there. I mean, it's a giant- It's a bunch of, bunch of-... giant theater.
15:15
Yeah. Holds thousands of people. Right. Uh, it's like 200 bucks- Just for March Madness... to get in here and come watch. 200? Wow. Yeah, minimum I think. Starting, yeah, starting. Depending on how good your seat is.
15:23
Everything at Resorts is expensive. Okay. Right. You wanna be closer to actually see the game. Sure. If you want- Well, they're gonna have big screens there...
15:28
it's $200 for the ticket, and it's probably $40 for the binocular rental. [laughs] There you go. So, you know. Yeah. 'Cause if you're at the back, yeah. Um- Makes sense...
15:36
one thing you won't be doing much more at Resorts World is playing poker. No. That's closing. I know. End of the month. Crazy. Yeah, they- I didn't see that coming either...
15:43
when they opened the Resorts World poker room, they actually went around and, and stole a lot of the really good dealers around town, and promised them how great it was gonna be. It's called poaching. Yeah. Yeah.
15:55
It's called poaching. Poaching, yeah. Yeah. Um, and they got a lot of good dealers and floor people.
16:00
And th- they knew within about the first two months, 'cause I'm in the poker industry, that it was a bad move, especially the ones that left the Wynn. The Wynn dominates in this city for poker.
16:10
We have a funny story from the first day that they, that it opened. We went to play poker there. Yeah.
16:14
And they use RFID in all the chips there, which is, like, a little computerized chip inside all the poker chips- Right... all the casino chips. All the chips. Yeah. Uh, you know, it's like the $1, the $5, the $25.
16:23
The, the chips that you use to play blackjack, et cetera, with. Yeah. Same ones that you play poker with. And so we went to cash out. I can count. Yeah. That's just one of my gifts. Yeah. I'm able to count.
16:32
Yeah, he's, he's got a gift. [laughs] I can probably count up to 1,017. At least. And luckily I didn't win that much. I only- You only had 620-something, I think it was... whatever it was. I forgot the number now.
16:41
Around that. Any rate, the lady's, like, trying to convince me that I was several hundred dollars light. Yeah, like 400. And I'm like, "That's-" But it says it. The, the chips are read on- Yeah...
16:48
this little panel they have on the counter. But if the chip is just a little outside of that, it won't register. Yeah. So I'm, like, moving around. You got to figure out. Yeah.
16:55
She's like, "The screen-" She goes, "I'm telling you, the screen says it's 400." It was, it was really funny. So I had to get the manager over there. Yeah. And they're like, "Well, we can't pay you out more than this."
17:02
Well, just- And they're, like, both now arguing with me. Like, "No, no, recount it." Like, "It says cashier here." Yeah. [laughs] "You guys should know how to count." Yeah.
17:07
They're like, "We can't, we're not authorized to give you anything more than what the thing says on the screen." Oh, it was crazy. It was crazy. Well, it was their first day. They were, they were just learning.
17:14
[laughs] Yeah. They were also learning how to r- run the food court. That's true. I, I feel like I sound like Vegas Polly C right now. I kind of do want- Yes, you do sound bad. Yeah, he sound- Move on...
17:20
he doesn't like it over there either. Yeah. He really doesn't. We're gonna move on. It's a beautiful casino. We've, we've had a lot of good times there.
17:25
They don't let us record there anymore either, so I got stole- Yeah, anyone. Yeah. Yeah. Because- It's not just us... they made... We didn't make any mistakes. Yeah. Someone else made a mistake for everyone.
17:32
My, my actual hope is that they go back to letting us record, letting us come there more. I, I like the property. Yeah. It's bright. Yes. They have good food.
17:40
My hope for them is that they lower the prices a little bit, get it... You know, just again, there's a lot of gouging kind of stuff that happens. Right. Let us record. Nice hotel. We've stayed there.
17:48
I, I, uh, back in my old days, I spoke at a convention there. Yeah. And they gave me a free room, so we, my wife and I went there to stay. That's very nice. Beautiful room. Went down there, did my talk. Yeah.
17:57
Then I, yeah, had to go to the ATM. Great food. Great food. Yeah. Really good food. Uh- This is a weird one here. The construction job? The construction, yes. Well, I think it's a prelude.
18:05
We keep on talking about less visitors. Yeah. Gambling revenues down. Less people moving here. Then, then- Which is weird, 'cause everyone's bailing out of California.
18:14
Yeah, but they're, I mean- But they're skipping right over us- Right... and going to Texas or going to- Colorado's a big one... Utah or Colorado. YeahYeah.
18:21
You start to see additional foundational cracks, no pun intended. Right. Like, thought of... I've been work, saving that one up all day, right? That was, that was pretty funny. Thank you.
18:28
[laughs] Um, the, you, you see more and more things happening here that just kind of point to some uh-oh problems. Right. Again, it's, you got visitation down. The, the airport numbers coming down. Right.
18:38
You got gambling revenue is down. You have construction now down. This is the largest construction decline in the country. There's 330, 360 metro markets that they analyze, so it's, like, the top...
18:50
That, that's, like- Right... probably 90 something percent of the population of the country, the top 360 metros. Right. Um, they lo- they lost 8,600 construction jobs. Insane.
19:01
This is on par with what's been happening in New York City. Right. New York City has lost a lot of construction jobs. It's having a s- a, an exodus as well.
19:07
It's very interesting to me because Vegas and Nevada has been the, the number one in influx state- Yeah, yeah... for all these years. Years and years. Or number two or three. Yeah. It was always, like, up there.
19:17
I think, uh- When we first moved here, it was number one... I think the Phoenix, uh, area- Like, Idaho-... passed us... was really up there. Texas is way up there right now. Yeah.
19:25
Well, Nevada's, like, starting to lose that edge. Right. But I don't know that there's... You know, I think in some cases, you know, again, not try...
19:31
I don't wanna be in political, uh, territory, but a, a lot of cases, people are leaving these other states because they don't like the way they're being treated. Right? Yeah.
19:40
They're, they're leaving because of high taxes, high cost of living, whatever it might be, their, their political beliefs. And Nevada's been a very purple state, so it's, like, it's appealed to a lot of places.
19:48
It's a s- tax free state. Right. It's, it's got a lot going on. But when the economy has underlying problems, now it affects this as well. Yeah, for sure. And it's gonna start to affect- For sure...
19:58
you know, dealer jobs, and show jobs, and, uh, culinary union jobs. Well, when- And now construction jobs... tourism's down, you work less hours if you work in the casinos. Yeah.
20:07
They don't need as many people to be there, so it's... As a percentage, it's an 11% decline. As a raw number, again, it's, it's on par with New York City. Big numbers. Yeah, big numbers. I hope this turns around.
20:15
Obviously, we live here. Our, our future- Mm... and, and everything that we do, uh, is predicated on Vegas doing well. And we like to have places- So-... different places to play. We don't wanna- You know?...
20:25
just have to play in one casino. But, but you know what number is going up because of us? Just because of us? The airport number. We're gonna fly next month. Oh, yeah, the airport. Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna fly.
20:36
We're gonna leave the state. And then people come vi- And we're gonna fly back... people come visit us, too, so it's like a- Yeah... a full circle thing. Yeah. That number's gonna go up by four people. Yeah.
20:44
Four tickets. The, uh, number of incidents with TSA might go up as well. I hope that it- From you or me? Yeah, me. Oh, okay. I don't like TSA. Yeah. I heard PreCheck's closed right now. Oh, wow. They're outta the way?
20:54
I heard that. My skin kinda crawled. I hope they reopen it by- Oh, I don't have PreCheck... the time we leave. I, I'll be- You'll be waiting with me in the regular line...
20:59
I'll be standing there staggering, like, "No, no, no, no." Well, PreCheck's closed. Maybe you can, you can, like, pet me and, like, calm me down. [laughs] Uh. This guy's, this guy's cool. Someone, someone's leaving.
21:07
Yeah. I love this guy. This guy's cool. I love this guy. We've seen his show, Matt Franco. We have. Yeah. Just signed a five year extension at The LINQ- Yeah... through 2030, which, uh, I, I don't know if it was...
21:17
'Cause that math doesn't quite add up. Maybe it's... You know, I don't quite know. But they said through 2030. They're giving him a huge contract, and then they might sell. Yeah. [laughs] Right. Yeah.
21:25
Hopefully he has it in his clause that if it- Right. Doesn't matter who owns it... sells, it has to transfer. Right. They have to buy it out. Uh, he's, he- He's, he's a cool, cool show. Matt Franco, if you- Yeah...
21:33
if you come to Vegas... And he's not that expensive either, and there's actually a lot of ways you can get free tickets to Matt Franco. There's guys on the strip that'll say, like, "Go see a timeshare. Go see..."
21:43
Whatever these things are. "Do you wanna see a free show?" These people sometimes... Matt Franco's on this list sometimes, so yeah, it's a cool show. Yeah, it really is a good show.
21:52
It would be one that I would pay for- Yeah, yeah... and, and feel like I got my money's worth. It's even better when it's free. Yeah. We got to go for free. There's some local, uh, deals here. Yeah.
21:59
It pays to be a local in some ways. It sure does. We get, we get that. Um. Sure does. Super charismatic guy. Yeah. Great performer. Um, I encourage you to check out his YouTube channel as well.
22:09
I mean, the guy just, uh, he, he really interacts with people in a, in an amazing way. He just has, like, this, these great facial expressions, and he's just a consummate professional.
22:18
We even had- He's really, really impressive... in our notes that he's an undervalued performer, that people... You don't realize how good he is- Yeah...
22:24
until you see him, and then you're like, "Wow, how is this guy not bigger or just more popular?" I mean, and he is popular, but I mean bigger. How, how come not everyone's talking about this guy? Yeah.
22:35
'Cause he's that good. I think he, I think he won America's Got Talent. He certainly was on there. Yeah, he's, he's, he's great. Uh, I think that he started with the million dollar, uh, show or whatever.
22:43
So anyway, going to your- That's all you right here. No. Number 10. No, no, no. This is all you. I, I don't have, I don't have, uh... No, I, I don't even know anything about this. Oh, well, this is at Zerobond.
22:51
It's, uh, opening- Yeah... uh, at, at the, uh, the Wynn. And this just kinda goes towards this... We keep on talking about this. Like, it seems like Vegas is caring less and less about the everyday person- Right...
23:02
like us, that, that's one, two, three, four, five hours of spin. Yeah. Plays five, 10, $25 a hand at blackjack. Right. Something in this range. This has kinda been our sweet spot our whole life.
23:17
Well, now they're looking for people that are in the high-limit room, that are betting 25, $100 a spin. Right. And they're catering more towards that. You want a free room, you gotta be at that l- those levels.
23:24
This level, yeah. You gotta be playing a couple hundred dollars a hand blackjack. Blackjack. Okay. You gotta be interested in spending $500 a couple on a meal. Well, this goes towards this.
23:33
This is a, a club that's opening, Zerobond, at the Wynn. 27 hundred dollars in annual dues, plus a thousand dollar initiation fee. Oof. It's, it's a club at the Wynn.
23:43
They're just, like, they're trying to get more affluent people to go over there. This is something similar to, uh, the club at the top of Mandalay- At the top of Mandalay, yeah... Foundation Room. Foundation.
23:50
Uh, we actually considered joining that at one point. And that might be something we go do. We have to go look at this thing, um- After. You know? They're in the middle of renovations there- Yeah... for that.
23:58
But I'm wondering if this place is, is really gonna be comparable to that or... 'Cause Foundation Room has food, where you can spend your- Right... your dues on food.
24:08
They give you free stuff that- We were looking at a-... drinks every time... uh, it could be a write-off. So you get the, you get the- Yeah... tax write-off. But I'm wondering here- And it includes-...
24:15
do you, does the membership-... the fa-... just get you in, and then you have to buy all your drinks and whatnot? They haven't said yet, that I could find. I was looking. Yeah.
24:20
Uh, it's a foundation here, so it's just, you know. Right. Uh, it, the price is gonna go up from here, is what they were saying. Uh, it's a private members only club.It's not a bad place to be. You know?
24:29
The wind is beautiful. I mean, I love the Wynn. The Wynn is great. It just, again, it just shows you that more and more focus and energy's- Right... moving towards people that have- Moving towards that...
24:37
this kind of, this kind of money. Yeah. Um. And where are these people coming from? You know, we were, we were like- [laughs]...
24:42
looking at, okay, Mandalay Bay, this is just inside baseball for us, it's the closest casino on the Strip from our house. Right. We could be there in like 11 or 12 minutes. Right. It's actually a beautiful place.
24:50
Got a beautiful view. A great view. And then again, it was like a couple thousand dollars a year. Mm. We were gonna get $1,600 of that back. We were gonna... looking at splitting it. Right.
24:57
So it was gonna be like basically effectively 200 bucks. It was like 20 show tickets to House of Blues also. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you could go to anything at House of Blues. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty awesome.
25:06
We're recording this at like 8:00 in the morning and our friend DQ's in town. I- He's already texted me- You know what I thought that said-... he's already up and doing things... when I saw that pop up, pop up on there?
25:13
What's that? I thought it said Justin Timberlake. No, no, I don't know him. [laughs] Yeah. Like, when did you meet Justin Timberlake? Yeah. DQ's the kind of guy that would really like this, this place. Yeah. Hello, DQ.
25:21
Hope you e- He would love it. He would love it... hope whatever you just texted me was like another big win. You just said, "Hello, DQ," and I looked over there. No, no, no. I was like, "Squirrel."
25:27
Yeah, that could be it. [laughs] It's not here. All right, let's move on. We have a new art museum coming, right? Yes. Yes. The Southern Nevada Art Museum opens in the Art District. Mm.
25:34
This is a really fascinating area of Las Vegas that most visitors never go to. True. True. Uh, but as a local- It used to be a little shady back in the day, so it's- Not a little... it, they're cleaning it up.
25:43
They're really cleaning- Not, not a little. I know. This was like the type of town that part of town- You didn't walk around at night... yeah, or during the day. Well, I'd walk around during the day. Maybe heel. Yeah.
25:49
I didn't really want to be down there during the day. Walk around during the day. It is... I love these parts of the country- They are cleaning it up... that have been revitalized and- Yes...
25:55
you know, there's some spots back where we're about to go visit Washington, DC, uh, which is my hometown, and the- Okay... the, the stadium district where the Nationals are is a r- another really great example of this.
26:07
Right. I mean, that was one of the scariest neighborhoods- Not safe. [laughs]... in the country. San Diego has a similar area by Petco Park that was not a great area. Right. Uh, this is not a stadium district.
26:16
I don't think San Diego's Petco Park compares to DC's- Not quite... Nationals [laughs] Park. Yeah, Taylor Costillo. San Diego's pretty soft. [laughs] N- Navy Yard.
26:24
Oh, man, that was, that was just a spot that I, I drove through every now and then. I was like, "Please don't let my tire go flat." Yeah, right. [laughs] Please don't let my tire go flat now.
26:30
Please don't let my car break down. [laughs] Um, this is pretty cool. I mean, the, the Arts District, bunch of new restaurants, bars, shows. It's really cool. First Friday. One of the best barbecue places- You know...
26:39
we've been to in a while down there. It's my favorite barbecue. Um, and Esther's, uh, Esther's is amazing. Well, that's not barbecue, but- No, I'm saying it's another restaurant. Yeah. Esther's is amazing.
26:47
There's a really good brewery down there. Yeah. A couple actually. Um, there's a wine bar across from Esther's. There's a sushi place across. They're all, like- Yeah... so close, walking distance.
26:57
If I was- A lot, a lot of fun... forced to pick my single favorite restaurant in Las Vegas- Restaurant, Esther's... I probably would say Esther's Kitchen. I, I, it's, it's definitely in the top three.
27:04
It really is that good. My favorite, like, Vegas experience restaurant is The Mayfair. Mayfair is amazing, yeah. But in terms of, like, a place that we're gonna go- The actual food...
27:12
on a regular basis, I mean, uh, Esther's Kitchen, it's off the Strip. And prices. Prices are good. Yeah. The food is- Phenomenal... as good... Like, you feel like you're in Italy. It's, like, all freshly made pasta.
27:20
Oh, oh, so good. It's, it's these artisan dishes. It's not just your spaghetti and meatballs. Yes. Although, their spaghetti and meatballs- Yes... is really effing good. Everything.
27:27
So, um- I haven't had a bad dish there... really excited about the, uh, about this art museum. Just go check it out. Just something different. Uh, there's no date on...
27:36
Oh yeah, early March, so it, it's gonna open up soon. So we might go down- Mm... the first Fridays in, uh, in April and go check it out. Yeah. 'Cause there's, that- that's the first Friday of every, of every month.
27:45
So we have the last Friday of every month- Right... is our group haul. If we're here. If we're here. First Friday, I think we're gonna be here. Mathematically it can't be any more than the 13th. Yeah.
27:54
So we could, we, we, we should be here. We could be here. We should be here. Yeah, we should be here. So maybe we'll check this out. We do have some things coming up here in the future. Go get some pictures.
28:00
Um- We've said it in many videos. Yeah. You check out the website to find out about all the things coming up in the future, so. We're all over the place these days, guys. Uh, another residency. Oh.
28:07
I might go see this one. Maybe. I actually have an interest in this. I've never seen him. Never seen him. Uh, we don't really have a relationship with Caesars- Pretty big name...
28:13
so there wouldn't be any comps, but he's gonna be here October 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th, 10th. That's a lot. Uh- Five nights, solid... my guess is it sells out, then there's more dates. Yeah. Yeah. This is the trend.
28:23
This is Josh Groban. Uh, if you haven't seen a show at Caesars Palace at The Colosseum, great venue. Great venue. Uh, I'm not a fan of the, the, the upper, upper deck. No, I don't like being up there either.
28:31
I feel like I'm, I'm, I'm just watching it on TV somewhere. But if you can get a mid-deck or a lower deck seat. Mid, lower deck. Yeah. Uh, we've seen some great acts there.
28:39
I've seen, uh, Brooks & Dunn's with Reba McEntire. We saw Garth Brooks in there. We saw Rod Stewart in there together. I, I saw Chelsea Handler there. I'm like... Oh, yeah?
28:46
[laughs] I mean, that would be something that I wouldn't mind being in the upper, upper level. And Josh. Yeah, it didn't matter. It's comedy. Yeah, it's comedy. But it was still... It's a great venue. She's funny.
28:54
I like her. It's, I saw, I've seen a couple of things. I- Sure... she sticks out. She's got that nasty, raunchy humor, you know? I like it. Yeah, I know you do. I know. I, I...
29:00
There's, there's one fan of ours that watches that probably wouldn't appreciate her. Doesn't like her, no. Or he was a fan. He said he unsubscribed. Yeah. Yeah. No, he doesn't like her.
29:05
Uh, we also saw Lance Morrisette in there. Yeah. I'm not sure if she's coming back. I, I've always been a big fan of hers. Jacqueline- It would be ironic if she didn't come back... it would be.
29:14
B- because she put so much work into the show. Terrible joke. You know? No, it was good. [laughs] It was g- ba- da bum bum. I had the, the, uh, cracks in the foundation with the construction guys. Yes. I know.
29:22
You got the ironic thing. It was a great show. It wasn't just your typical concert. She was basically, like, reading her diary- Yeah. That's weird...
29:29
if you will, explaining the songs, explaining her life, all the things that came together. There wasn't really a dry eye in the house. I mean, it was pretty emotional. Oh, had you crying. Really? Yeah.
29:38
I, uh, I was crying 'cause Michelle was crying. I was- I was upset that she was upset. Yeah. I, I didn't- Oh, man. You know? Mike, you got that... I got that too. Yeah.
29:45
Whenever Melanie starts tearing up, I'm like, "Oh, don't do that. Why would you do that?" She had some, you know, abuse issues. Yeah. And so she was, you know, talking about it, and it's sad.
29:55
Yeah, you don't want to hear about that stuff. And, and there was one of the songs that, uh- She had to get it out though. I think that's a part of moving on. Yeah. So. Oh, peak- speaking of moving on. Yeah.
30:03
We can move on to the last topic. We're here. Okay. And speaking of traveling. This is pretty awesome. Yeah. Nonstop. Not that we're going there, 'cause we just found out that the return to player in Australia- Yeah...
30:16
is absolutely horrible. [laughs] But we, but we would still go to just to have a great trip. We could just go for fun. It's a beautiful country. Maybe we could go back for the tennis, uh, tournament that you went to.
30:24
Oh, I would... Dude, I would love that. And, uh- There's a casino in that one too... I've never been. I've never been to a tennis tournament like that. One of my favorite... I've been to 70 countries. Yeah.
30:31
I'm a, the, if you guys have been following this podcast for a while, like I'm a pretty well traveled person. It was a passion of mine. Now I really don't want to go anywhere anymore.
30:38
And one of the reasons being- You would go on this... I would, 'cause Qantas is one of the best airlines- Right... in the world. Nonstop. And it's nonstop, which is- To Sydney? You have me at nonstop. Right.
30:46
Like, the ideaOf having a flight to San Francisco, and then, you know, maybe to, to, to Hong Kong, and then go to A- A- Australia. That sounds terrible. Yeah. But a nonstop flight sounds great.
30:57
And switching planes, and yeah, I don't wanna do all that stuff. First flight's December 29th. Maybe we can be on that first flight. We can promote Qantas- This is a-... if they're listening... 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.
31:08
This is a Dreamliner. I've been on one of those before. It seems like it'd be pretty awesome. It's a gigantic plane. Yeah. It's, it's, it's a beautiful plane.
31:13
Uh, I believe that, if I remember correctly, and I, I'm trying to get all my airlines and things straight- Right... but we did a Singapore Airlines flight once, and I think that was the Dreamliner. Same, same plane.
31:22
And we, we used to get all these miles- Yeah... that we don't get anymore, so at some point here I'm gonna run out of miles and be very sad.
31:29
But in our old business we just earned basically- Yeah, you're buying a product... unlimited miles. And yeah. Yeah, and we did- and we ran ads. Yeah. That was the key. Right, right.
31:35
We ran ads, and, and you could pay with your credit card, and they give you, like, 3X points. Oof, man. And it's all gone now. Ads are fast. Like, they, they... the, the...
31:41
these companies are not let- not letting you use a credit card anymore. Right. But any rate, we, we treated ourselves to a Singapore suite.
31:46
We had, like, an apartment on the airplane, and I believe that was the Dreamliner. Same, same plane. So maybe, maybe Qantas wants us to demo that. Oh. We can go on the plane. Yeah.
31:54
The four of us, we can share an apartment together. Do a, do a video? Yeah. We can show the whole experience, and their lounge, and their airplane, and go take a shower on the plane. I would do that.
32:01
We could black that part out. I don't need to see you in the shower. No. That's for sure. Right. You know. No. That's it. That's the end of the episode, guys.
32:09
[laughs] We welcome our friends from Australia to come visit us on a more convenient flight. Yes. I've never been to Sydney. I only went to Melbourne, so... I've never been to Australia- It's-...
32:17
and I have family that lives over there... awesome place. I really love Melbourne. It's a hop, skip, and a jump. We could do... Yeah, it's, it starts December 29th. Yeah? The Australian Open's in January. Oh, perfect.
32:26
If your thought is lining up your whole plan- Perfect... this is perfect, Ryan. I didn't even know that. Yeah. So that's pretty ironic again. [laughs] Oh, boy. Here we go. That's it. All right.
32:37
Uh, we have some events coming up. We'll, we'll leave with that. Uh, this is coming out, yeah, so March 27th, Ellis Island Group Pull. Yes. March... Sorry, April 14th- April... at National Harbor- Oh, can't wait...
32:48
in Washington, DC. MGM. We're doing a meet and greet. Whole bunch of people are already signing up for that. Tuesday night. We're gonna be live. 2028 live stream.
32:55
Then we have April 24th, another group pull at Ellis Island. You'll see a trend here.
32:59
It's the last Friday of the month every month until October, in which case all of a sudden now November is Black Friday, and we're gonna move that date. We're gonna move that one, yeah.
33:07
So through October, it'll be the last Friday of the month. Then we have July 18th at the Rio. I'll go over the, uh- Big party... check that out. DesertDGens.com. It's the new website's up. You can go check all that out.
33:18
Sign up for the mailing list. We got, um, emails about the podcast every week as well, keep you up to date, what's going on in Vegas. And download all- Yeah... the strategies. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Strategies.
33:27
You wanna- That's it... you're gonna want those with you when you go to the casino. Yeah. All right. [laughs] Bye, everybody. Bye, everyone. See you next week
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