Atlantic City layoffs, homeless Liberace, Las Vegas death ray

A brief whip-round of things in the land-based casino world…

Layoff notices have been mailed out by Resorts Atlantic City, warning employees that layoffs would take effect on Dec. 1 as the operation prepares to transfer control to new owners Dennis Gomes and Morris Bailey. The landmark Resorts had long since fallen out of favor with the region’s gamblers, and was sold in August for just $35M, the lowest selling price ever for an Atlantic City casino.

Speaking of faded icons, the Liberace museum is closing in Las Vegas after 31 years. The joint used to pull in 450K visitors a year, but outside of a surge in attendance since the Oct. 17 closing date was announced, the tsunami of visitors had become a trickle. Various rhinestone candelabras and the 400+ costumes in the museum’s possession are now in search of a curator. The flamboyant entertainer — whom the Daily Mirror once described as “a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love” — deserved better.

Also deserving better are the people who plonked themselves down poolside at the fabulous Vdara hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Seems the 57-story hotel’s glass façade and concave design have combined with natural sunlight to create a death ray that we’re sure the Pentagon is trying to replicate as we speak. The technical name for the effect is ‘solar convergence’ but residents are comparing it more to sitting inside a microwave oven and have posted online photos of plastic bags melting. Still waiting on our first report of human spontaneous combustion. (See, this is what happens when you build a casino-free hotel in Vegas — you rouse Satan.)

Meanwhile, over in Macau, a bunch of casinos made a shitload of money.

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