On my recent trip to LV, I found out that the Railroad Passage Hotel Casino (I hope that's its name!)has been purchased by the Mandalay Bay group.

But I was personally assured by the part time cocktail waitress who just started her job that morning, they they would continue to offer 25 cent Craps every day.

And here's another thought ...... With one corporation owning the majority of the hotel/casinos on the west side of the Strip, we should all expect to be seeing a sharp increase in hotel room rates all over the Strip.

Doesn't the Gambling Commission have some kind of a rule about one company having so many gambling permits? Isn't there some sort of monopoly ruleing someplace in that town?

And here's another thought..... I think that there should be more inexpensive (30 bucks or less) shows in Las Vegas even if they have to hold them in the afternoon. The two that I saw (Ron Lucas the Ventriloquist and Mac King the Comedian Magician) were a couple of great shows that entertained me as much as (and sometimes more)than any $100+ show that I have seen on the Strip.

AND...... For your info during the month of July, the cheapest gas was $1.91 at two of the gas stations I passed during my full tank drive-bys.

One was at one of the Terrible's stations on the west side and the other was at that little Strip station ajacent to and on the south side of The Mandalay Bay.

And ...... I did notice a lot of 6 to 5 Blackjack payoffs in a lot of the casinos, but it is not universal and mainly in the single deck games or the $1 - $2 games.

I played that game in the Pioneer in Laughlin ($2 table) and no one seemed to mind that they were not getting 3-2.

And...... I only got mad when I got a Blackjack!

And ..... At the Pioneer, they give you a useless scratch card whenever you get a BJ to make up for it I guess.

I say "useless" because during the three days I played there, I saw an awful lot of Scratch Cards of the top of some western critter, but the bottom part (the pants!) never did show up.

That got be a standard joke throughout the casino and caused more bad ill-will than good!

And......While in Laughlin, take that Jet Boat ride to London Bridge on Lake Havasu.

Here's how it works.....

Buy your ticket dockside the day before. (About $50 per)
Show up at the dock before 10 AM the next morning with your hat, sunglasses, and a good sunscreen cream, and definitely a pair of ear things to keep the wind out of your ears.
Cruise at high speed along the Colorado River heading south for 1 hr and 45 minutes till you reach Lake Havasu.
Stop for a one hour lunch at the London Bridge Shopping Center. (Good restaurants there)
Return to Laughlin on the Jet Boat.

Entire trip is about 5 to 6 hours.

This is a great way to see the river and some darn impressive riverside homes along the way.

You will also see Topock Gorge (just south of Needles, California) and a very large and very impressive Lake Havasu.

On the way back the boat makes a short stop and gets as close as possible to the east side riverbank so you can all see an ancient Indian "hirogliphic" and an ancient "sunburst" drawing.

Everyone appeared to like that a lot.

I was not impressed by London Bridge except for a small part of it that was hit by a bomb during WWII. I did discover that the bridge was built on dry land and once it was up, they dredged the water-way under it.

A lot of people on the river appear to enjoy finding a shallow bank and gather together to walk from boat to boat to talk story and enjoy some beer. There must have been over 100 boats gathered together at one small spot in the vicitnity of Topock Gorge on one lazy midweek afternoon.

Be prepared to do a lot of hand waving whenever you pass someone on the river or on the riverbanks or in a boat or on a jetski.

And don't forget your sunglasses to protect your eyes from the wind. You do speed along at about 45 miles an hour, so the wind gets your eyes and ears.

And a quart or more of ice cold water!

A beer or two when you get back is mighty refreshing.

And....... this is only a personal observation but I do think that most people who play those Penny Nine Liners (more lines are available, but that's the name we gave it) are playing for the fun of the game and not to win!

Some of these new machines offer FUN over PROFIT and I think that they were engineered with that intent.

I think that these "Penny Machines" will be the fastest growing and income producing gambling apparatus in the State of Nevada.

And......... Poker rooms appear to be popping up all over the place while just about three years ago, the were closing down all over the place.

TV brought Poker rooms in LV back to life.

The cheapest game I found in LV was at the Excalibur (or was it the Luxor????) that offered Poker Lessons at 2 PM followed by a $1/$2 game.

Most of these new Poker Rooms offer $1/$3 games so you don't have to have a huge bankroll in order to sit in for an hour or so.

Months ago it was only the old timers playing Poker but now the tables are full of kids just out of their knickers. In fact the cocktail waitress was serving an awful lot of chocolate milk and cookies that afternoon.

And....... Many years ago, Benny Binion gave me (and many others) a two dollar roll of nickles to keep on playing one of his slot machines. He walked up and down the aisles passing out nickle rolls many times throughout the day.

I recall that vividly now because it is never done no more, BUT..........

I was sitting at one of those penny machines in The Barbary Coast one early afternoon and the machine kept paying off so I was able to keep on playing for about an hour or two.

An impressive gentleman in a suit and tie walked over to me and thanked me for playing at the Barbary Coast and asked me it I would like a comped meal (steak dinner for two).

I said, "Sure!, Thanks!" and he signed a slip of paper and placed it in my hand.

Hours later I took a close look at it and, sure enuff, it was a steak dinner for two anytime within a year at the restaurant (but not Michael's).

We had a very enjoyable meal that evening.

They should do that more in all of the casinos. It brings back memories of how things used to be which is always a memorial experience.

And, BTW, why don't these casino big wigs come up with a beter payoff on those Blackjack Insurance bets? Lower the house advantage a bit and increase your bottom line by getting more players to make that bet.

And the same with KENO........... Limit your house advantage to 8 to 10% and watch your bottom line sore through the rooftops.

Why do I gotta tell you this?!

And........ Lastly but not leasely..........

Each and every hotel in Las Vegas should have a real live "figurehead" associated with that casino.

By that, I mean that each casino should have an close association with someone who is well known.... and it is always best if that well known person was the owner.....

Take for instance .......... In the old days, the Hacienda was well known due to "Doc" and his wife. This "association" made us feel like we were visiting the home of Doc and his misses, and not a huge and cold corporation.

And then there was Benny Binion. I always went to see Benny Binion. And I had that warm feeling while in his casino like I was in his personal home.

Most recently there was Bob Stupak who owned Vegas World. He served me a Polish dog out of a Polish hot dog cart on the casino floor one afternoon. That had a homey touch to it.

And then of coure, Steve Wynn. I don't know how he did it but he always made things go right when he owned the place.

Today, his absence is extremely noticeable in all his former joints.

So there is something GOOD about associating a NAME with a casino. We tend to think that it is something other than a Corporation.

Back in those old days, they knew how important this was and hired good old boys like George Raft and Jack Dempsey to meet and greet at the "front door".

And they "meeted and greeted" one and all. Not just the high rollers.

These big Strip casinos have got to do something to AVOID THAT CORPORATE IMAGE!

And I'm not gonna tell them how to do it unless they pay me lots of money, but I do hear more and more young people in LV complaining about the "corporate image" that the major casinos are projecting.

This may not be evident to those corporations yet, but I guarantee ya that they will be trying to solve that problem soon.

Ya gotta listen with open ears when this younger generation talks.

I think Steve Wynn is hearing them and is stepping off in the right direction by useing his personal name for his new venture. It will be interesting to see how he handles it when he opens but I bet he does it right and top notch.

Ok, that's the end. Thanks for listening.

Will