VegasChatter

Tags: Gambling / Sportsbooks / Bets / Hard Rock / → All Tags

The Hard Rock Already Planning for Life After Wasted Space; Announces Wireless Betting

Girls will have to find new places to kiss other girls now that Wasted Space is closing to make way for a new and improved sportsbook, yet The Hard Rock is wasting (heh) no time in tricking this new venue out with the latest in gaming technology.

The new sportsbook isn't set to open until Spring 2011 but Hard Rock has already announced their partnership with Cantor Gaming to provide wireless betting during sport games. This is the same sort of technology that you can already find at the M Resort's sportsbook. [Update: and we forgot to add The Palazzo.]

Even more interestingly, according to Mr. Pappagiorgio, the soon-to shutter poker room may be opening up next to the new sportsbook.

more ›

Tags: Closings / ESPN Zone / New York-New York / Sports Bars / Sportsbooks / → All Tags

ESPN Zone to Go Way of Twilight Zone

Farewell Mike, and farewell Jarred - two of our favorite restaurant staff in Vegas. And farewell free wifi. Sob.

Word out of Disney is that most ESPN Zone locations will be shutting down. The parent company has decided to keep only those locations tied to a Disney property, which by our count leaves the Downtown Disney spot in Anaheim as the sole golden earring goose.

more ›

Tags: March Madness / Gambling / Sportsbooks / Bets / → All Tags

The Madness Ends Tonight

NCAA men’s basketball is almost over and there’s one last chance to make up for our bracket losses. While we had plans to run thousands of Butler vs. Duke simulations to come up with our own predictions, we got distracted by the fact the game is being broadcast in 3D. After pulling ourselves away from thoughts of college aged pom-poms bouncing through the screen, we instead hit the Vegas sports books to check their numbers.

more ›

Tags: Dudes in Vegas / Tips / Steak / Sportsbooks / Venetian / Palazzo / → All Tags

How To Avoid Exercise in Vegas

It’s time to hit Vegas with the guys for a two or three day weekend and you don’t want to move around much. To avoid spending your time waiting in cab lines, sitting in traffic, or walking from casino to casino, where’s the best place to stay?

If the going rate matches your weekend wallet, one recommendation is the Venetian or Palazzo. There are several reasons you’ll never have to leave these connected properties once you arrive:

more ›

Tags: March Madness / Gambling / Bets / Sportsbooks / Survival Strategies / → All Tags

Betting on March Madness: Vegas Secrets to Bracketology

Buckle up, sports bettors—save for Super Bowl Sunday, there’s no better time to hit Las Vegas sports books than the annual National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament, which starts with a play-in game on March 16.

This ritual, known as March Madness, plays out over the course of three weeks every spring, and pits the 65 best teams in the country against each other for a shot at the national title.

The 2010 national championship game is April 5, but the best part of the tournament is the first full weekend—March 18-21. Sports fans like this weekend because 48 of the tournament’s 64 games take place over four days, providing virtually non-stop tailgate-like excitement in the books. Bettors like these matchups because, inevitably, oddsmakers undervalue certain teams, providing ample opportunities to strike it rich.

We won’t waste this space to tell you where to watch the games (after all, we’ve already rated the best sports books in town). We will, however, provide you with five important pointers on how to get the most out of your March Madness experience, and how to ensure that the ritual doesn’t leave you, well, mad.

more ›

Tags: Super Bowl Parties / Sportsbooks / → All Tags

A Guide to Las Vegas Super Bowl...Er...Super Game Parties

Since the NFL is cracking down on the unlicensed use of the name "Super Bowl" as well as pay-for-showings of the Super Bowl, casinos, sportsbooks and restaurants on and off the Strip are getting creative with their Game Day parties.

VegasTripping has a good round-up of the action on Sunday as well as some betting tips and we've got even more party specifics for you to choose from.

A couple of hints: calling around and making reservations, is for some reason, difficult. We've been left on hold, given two different answers many times and also told abruptly that parties are either "sold-out" or "nothing is going on." Blech.

Our best advice at this point is to make a couple of reservations at restaurants or lounges that you know have flat-screen TVs (and pretty much, every place in Vegas does these days). This way you will not be stranded when kick-off happens. But don't put any money down or buy into a party ticket because then you are committed.

In the meantime, scope out the sportsbooks and bars near the sportsbook on Saturday or even early Sunday morning. The truth is, everyone will be showing this game in some way or form (but probably not in the spas) and it may just come down to whatever bar or sportsbook feels right at that time.

Yes, we know you may have to leave your urge to have your Vegas itinerary planned to a T on Super Bowl Sunday but so long as you do things early, you should be able to find a comfy seat somewhere to drink beer, eat wings, scope out the girls and oh yes, watch the game.

more ›

Tags: Sportsbooks / Survival Strategies / Super Bowl / March Madness / → All Tags

The Five Best Sports Books in Las Vegas for 2010

Now that it's winter, it’s high time to head to a Las Vegas sports book. Between The Super Bowl and March Madness, there’s no shortage of reasons to spend inordinate amounts of time in these gambling Meccas.

In addition to being the best places to bet on sports, books are arguably the biggest and baddest sports bars in town—the perfect spot to grab a cold one (or six) and sit back to watch your team bring it home.

Not all sports books, however, are created equal. We created a list of the best Vegas venues to place your sports bets back in 2005, but this is a different city in 2010. Places have changed and so has the technology.

So after years of taking points, giving points, parlaying and teasing, yours truly has pulled together this list of the best of the best. Here are the Best Five Sports Books in town, with a rundown on what makes each of them worth your time.

· #5.
· #4.
· #3.
· #2.
· #1.
· Dishonorable Mention

Tags: Sportsbooks / Luxor / NFL / Betting / → All Tags

Make Time for Football Promotions Under the Pyramid

Sports bettors accustomed to spending time and money in some of the Strip’s biggest sports books may want to consider adding a new destination to their list: the book at Luxor Las Vegas.

The book itself is nothing particularly special: with seating for 110 and a total of 128 televisions (including four projection-screens and 110 individual monitors), it’s just about average size for Vegas resorts.

The promotions, however, can’t be beat—especially during this year's pro and college football seasons. During Monday Night Football on Monday nights, bettors enjoy $4 draft beers and can enter a drawing to win prizes such as authentic jerseys and tickets to games in either San Diego or Arizona.

Gamblers earn drawing entry tickets for each $20 football parlay bet or $50 straight bet. Drawings are be held at the end of the third quarter.

more ›

Tags: Sportsbooks / World Series / Red Rock Resort / Caesars Palace / MGM Grand / Baseball / → All Tags

Best Sportsbooks to Watch The World Series

Okay, okay – the matchup for this year’s World Series isn’t set in stone just yet (Go Yankees!), but you don’t need to know who’s playing to know which Vegas sportsbooks to support.

Betting on baseball is easy—unlike basketball and football, the two basic wagers are moneyline bets (which wager on the outright winner) and over/under wagers on the total number of runs scored. Sure, there are proposition bets (dubbed “props”) at some casinos, but those are generally crapshoots anyway.

Watching baseball, however, now that’s another issue. Because the ball is so small, because the camera angles are so wide, it’s important to pick a sports book with big, unobstructed televisions to maximize viewing pleasure.

(Of course you also want books that mute the sound, because Fox's announcers, Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, can be insufferable.)

more ›

Tags: Gambling / Sportsbooks / Palazzo / Venetian / PocketCasino / Electronic Gaming / → All Tags

The Palazzo and Venetian Unveil PocketCasino for Sports Bets

In sports books at both the Palazzo and Venetian, it appears that ticket writers are getting some stiff competition from elsewhere in the sports book.

The casino resorts, both owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., recently unveiled In-Running Wagering, a mobile gambling system that allows gamblers to place wagers during games on whether a team will make the next first down or make a field goal.

The system, branded as “PocketCasino,” also enables bettors to throw money behind point spreads and money lines for selected games. Las Vegas-based Cantor Gaming developed the technology.

more ›

Tags: Sportsbooks / Football / The Plaza / Lucky's Sportsbook / → All Tags

Football Bettors Seek to Get Lucky at Lucky’s Sportsbook

How well do you know your National Football League teams? If you think you know them pretty well, perhaps it’s worth entering a free, $100,000 football contest at Lucky’s Race & Sports Book in the Plaza Hotel & Casino in downtown Las Vegas.

The contest, which doles out a progressive weekly prize of up to $6,000, started Sept. 13 and ends when the NFL regular season ends on Jan. 3, 2010.

Here’s how the contest works. Participants pick winning teams for each week’s NFL football games. There’s no point spread, no over/under—just winners. The player who selects every winner correctly will receive a purse of cash.

Most weeks, the purse is $6,000. Last month, however, because nobody won the weekly jackpot for three weeks in a row, the purse ballooned to $18,000.

more ›

Tags: NFL / Sports Bars / Sportsbooks / → All Tags

Five Best Sports Bars For Watching The Gridiron Games This Sunday

After talking a whole lotta smack during the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup play-off game and placing a downright risky bet (which we narrowly won), we’ve kept a safe distance from Sportsbook, but not from being our usual boisterous sports spectator self. With pigskin season kicking off this week, we’ve busted out the Terrible Towel and are bringing you our Top Five Vegas ppicks for watching the games.

more ›