Casinotoplists - News

The Best and Worst of Horror Films Set in Las Vegas

Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:41:58 +0100

As it turns out, horror movies filmed in Sin City have turned out to be quite a gamble with some paying off huge and others coming up craps.

The Good

Fright Night (2011 Remake)

The 2011 remake of the 1985 horror classic Fright Night was set in Las Vegas with Anton Yelchin playing Charley Brewster and Doctor Who's David Tennant playing Peter Vincent.

This time Vincent is a magician who happens to be an expert on vampires. The story goes along the lines of the original with a vampire moving in next door to Charlie.

While fans of the original did not find the remake quite as entertaining, it still received favorable reviews with many thinking it had a clever mix of horror and comedy.

Resident Evil: Extinction

The third movie in the Resident Evil franchise saw Alice (Milla Jovovich) battle a series of clones that the Umbrella Corporation created in hopes of replicating her powers.

Parts of the film were based on Las Vegas (although filmed in Mexico) and the filmmakers did a fantastic job of making a post-apocalyptic Vegas in stunning detail.

Fans worldwide loved the film as it grossed $147 million, which was the largest grossing film of the franchise up until that point.

Resident Evil: Afterlife and Resident Evil: Retribution both surpassed that total.

The Bad

Vegas Vampires

Vegas Vampires was a film that had the misfortune of being developed five years before Twilight made vampires cool again. That might explain why Tommy "Tiny" Lister was cast in the lead role.

Don't know who he is? He's the bad guy in No Holds Barred. Lister plays a Vegas cop who is trying to take out a vampire king named Q. (No, John de Lancie is not in this film.)

The film is set in Vegas and is loosely based on a video game.

Unfortunately, poor acting and an even worse script remind us why vampires now have to sparkle to get our attention.

Leprechaun 3

Leprechaun 3 was a film that you knew was going to be lacking when it was the first film of the franchise to go directly to video.

This time, Warwick Davis' character is running around Las Vegas trying to get his lucky charms while terrorizing anyone who touches his pot of gold.

Kudos to David DuBos for a setting befitting the character, but the storyline was what made the film franchise more of a comedic horror franchise.

Warwick Davis apparently is one of the only ones who really liked the film as it was among his favorites to make. Critics were not as enamored with the film, however.

It's the worst-rated film of the franchise, which is quite the feat when you realize Leprechaun in the Hood and Leprechaun in Space came after this film.

Should Have Stayed in Vegas

Las Vegas Serial Killer

Anytime you see Ray Dennis Steckler's name attached to a film you know it's going to be bad, but Las Vegas Serial Killer takes bad to another level.

The film is actually a sequel to the 1979 film The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid Row Slasher.

Jonathan Glick is the crazed maniac that is released from prison after only a six-year sentence and heads out to Las Vegas to go on a killing spree.

Much of the dialogue was dubbed over in post-production like many spaghetti westerns did in the 1960s. Many of the scenes are excessively long with little impact on the plot.

Yes, there is a plot to this film, but most won't make it far enough into this film to figure that out.

The acting is poor and the script could have been better improvised by a high school drama department.

It's not surprising that some consider this one of the worst horror films in history. In this case, what is filmed in Vegas should be buried in the desert.

Amazing Things to Do in Las Vegas Outside of the Casino

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 11:08:51 +0100

But while Las Vegas is known worldwide for its gambling and entertainment culture, it's actually a diverse city offering much more to visitors and residents alike.

Check out some of the other amazing, family-friendly activities available for visitors to Las Vegas:

Vegas is For Families

Las Vegas is not just for gamblers and young co-eds as it also offers numerous family-themed activities throughout the city.

The Excalibur and Circus Circus are popular family choices due to their unique and playful offerings.

Circus Circus has Adventuredome, a 5-acre indoor amusement park complete with bumper cars, roller coasters, giant swings and more. The park is available year round.

At the Excalibur, families can enjoy the Tournament of Kings dinner theater. The Tournament of Kings is a live medieval jousting tournament held while guests partake in a "traditional-style" feast, meaning without silverware.

Sword fighting, jousting, dancing horses and more will keep kids on the edge of their seats.

In addition, there are numerous other family activities in and around Las Vegas including the Las Vegas Zoo, Children's Discovery Museum, Grand Canyon Tours and more.

Learn Something!

Believe it or not, Las Vegas has some amazing museums that give guests a unique perspective on history.

For those that love stories of old school Las Vegas, you need to check out the Mob Museum downtown. The Mob Museum gives you a no-holds barred look at the history of not just the mob that ran the city but also the law enforcement officials that helped to end their reign.

For those of you wanting to give your kids a fun educational experience, try out the Discovery Children's Museum.

Unlike many museums, this one allows kids to interact with over 100 exhibits while teaching them about science, history and the arts.

The Luxor has one of the more unique museums in the city. "Bodies: The Exhibition" allows guests to examine the human body much the same way that a medical student would, with live exhibits.

Body and organ samples from around the world are on display here so it's not for those that might faint at the sight of blood.

Get Physical!

If you're someone that loves to do more than sit at a table and play cards, Las Vegas can more than fit the bill.

Whether you like to hike, run, ski or bungee jump there are plenty of things you can do in the Vegas area.

For the more adventurous visitors to sin city, Vegas offers both the Vegas zip line and two spots for bungee jumping. The downtown Vegas Zip Line offers thrill seekers the chance to zip over Glitter Gulch along an 800-foot controlled descent.

Vegas has two spots where folks can take their leap of faith. The first is Sky Jump at the top of the Stratosphere and the other is the "T-Tower."

The T-Tower is located near Circus Circus and is home to the largest double bungee platform on the planet.

If you love to run, then you want to try out the running trails over at Red Rock Canyon.

Red Rock has over 30 miles of running trails that stretch out over the 195,000 acre park. It offers some of the best views in Vegas and is a lot safer than running the street routes.

Mount Charleston is about 30 minutes outside of Vegas, but if you want to go hiking, biking, spend a night camping or go skiing, that is going to be your destination.

A natural oasis in the middle of the desert, Mount Charleston has excellent views and the best examples of plant life and wildlife in the region.

Vegas is for Pets Too

You may not know this but Las Vegas is one of the more pet-friendly cities in the United States.

Several major casinos and every property owned by Caesar's Entertainment allows guests to stay with them during their vacation to Vegas.

If your plans wind up sending you somewhere in Vegas that does not accept pets, no problem. Vegas also has several upscale boarding houses for pets including the Animal Inn and the A-V.I.P. Pet Resort.

Friendly, professional staff take care of your pets for a lot less than the "name brand" boarding houses.

Steve Wynn Helps Bankrupt Girls Gone Wild

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 10:53:29 +0100

The company that owns the Girls Gone Wild franchise announced early in March that it was filing for bankruptcy. The company has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization, listing $50,000 in assets and $16.3 million in debt.

Company owner and founder Joe Francis founded Girls Gone Wild in the 1990s and reportedly built a very profitable business based on the premise of drunk girls on spring break doing all sorts of naughty things -- conveniently caught on camera, of course.

The company expanded from videos to magazines and online Web sites and Francis built up a mound of personal cash estimated at $150 million.

The empire began to crumble, however, after an epic gambling spree at the Wynn Casino that saw Francis run up a tab of $2 million in 2009 that he refused to pay.

Bizarre, Soap Opera-esque Storyline

Steve Wynn’s attempts to collect on the debt eventually turned into a bizarre soap opera-esque storyline, with Francis claiming that Wynn was guilty of deceptive practices at his casino and that Wynn had threatened to kill him with a shovel in an e-mail.

Francis described the e-mail as follows in an exclusive interview with Good Morning America:

"In all caps, and then exclamation points -- like a crazy person's email – [Wynn wrote], 'I'm going to hit to him in the back of the head with a shovel and have him buried in the middle of the desert,'" Francis said. "I was afraid for my life. He made it very clear that he wanted to kill me."

During the actual ensuing trial, however, Francis’ story fell apart, with Quincy Jones testifying that he never saw such an e-mail and Francis backtracking and saying that he only saw a flash of the e-mail in print form in a stack of other papers.

Jurors sided with Wynn and awarded him $20 million in damages; attempts to collect the money personally from Francis failed with the next step being to attempt to collect it from his company, which was the impetus behind the bankruptcy filing.

Some believe Francis emptied the corporate accounts in an attempt to hide the money and rid itself of the debts it lists as owed to Wynn.

Is the Airline Industry Ready for In-Flight Gambling?

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 07:30:00 +0100

AirJet Designs and Frédérique Houssard (the founder of design agency Designescence) have unveiled designs for a new concept called Casino Jet Lounge which includes a blackjack table -- complete with a dealer -- as well as high-end lounge chairs and a cocktail bar.

The Casino Jet Lounge would have its own dedicated space on certain planes and offer a very unique twist on the concept of in-flight entertainment.

"We're trying to bring back the glamor of the '50s and '60s a little bit; the kind you see in the James Bond movies," says Houssard.

So far no airlines have anted up to try the idea and it may be a tough pitch. Not only is space extremely limited on many flights but past attempts to introduce gambling on airplanes haven’t been met with much success.

Singapore Airlines briefly offered slot machines on some flights from Singapore to San Francisco in the 1980s. Swissair offered poker, keno, blackjack and other games via its in-flight entertainment system on some of its flights in the 1990s.

Ryanair passengers can buy scratch tickets on most flights and the airline has hinted that it’d like to offer online gambling via WiFi on some flights.

So far the cost has been prohibitive as far as offering both gambling games and WiFi on its low-cost flights throughout Europe.

Online gambling would seem to be a natural fit for airlines but they’d also be competing with existing online gambling sites now that WiFi is becoming more commonplace on flights.

The potential profits that could be made from running their own gambling sites also are outweighed for many airlines by the potential legal complications -- especially for flights over countries where online gambling is illegal.

Brazilian Football Star Ronaldo Leverages Fame for Sports Marketing, Rio Olympics

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0100

Ronaldo retired from football in 2011 at the age of 35 when numerous injuries over the course of his career finally became too much to overcome.

Hailed as one of the greatest football players ever, it wouldn’t be long before he was once again in the news as he’s been very active juggling business endeavors and a very busy personal life.

Nazario owns a 45% stake in sports marketing agency 9ine and is working with various big name brands such as Duracell and GlaxoSmithKline to ramp up their sports marketing campaigns.

Businesses from around the globe are targeting Brazil in preparation for the World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics and Ronaldo leveraging his fame and connections to help them get their marketing messages across.

9ine is also looking to tap into the rising popularity of poker in Latin America and has signed deals with poker players such as PokerStars Pro Team member Andre Akkari. Akkari signed with the company in early 2013 and will be representing 9ine at major poker events around the world.

Personal Life as Crazy and Impressive as Football Highlights

Ronaldo is no stranger to having to “spin” stories in a positive light as his personal life has had some highlights just as crazy and impressive as some of his football performances.

He’s been linked to a string of models and actresses over the years -- including fathering a child with Brazilian footballer Milene Domingue. His marriage to Brazilian model and MTV VJ Daniela Cicarelli lasted all of three months after a $1 million wedding.

In 2008 he managed to get entangled in a transvestite prostitution scandal. Ronaldo dropped off his girlfriend and then unknowingly picked up three transvestite prostitutes and checked into a motel.

When he discovered they were men he tried to pay them off but one allegedly insisted on trying to blackmail him in exchange for $30,000. Ronaldo refused to pay and shrugged off the incident when it became public, claiming that he liked to have a good time and blaming it on bad decisions stemming from a recent surgery.

Hachem and Warne Poker Charity Event Brings Out Stars

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:30:00 +0100

Raising money for the Shane Warne Foundation, the January 20 event saw plenty of celebrities and poker pros try their luck at the tables at the Crown Casino in Melbourne.

Warne and girlfriend Liz Hurley were of course there along with Joe and Tony Hachem, Annette Obrestad, Robert Williamson III, Glenn Robbins and Andy Lee.

Warne is better known for his cricket prowess but he’s been a regular feature at big poker events such as the World Series of Poker and the Aussie Millions in recent years.

A sponsorship deal with online gambling operator 888 features Warne heavily in various marketing campaigns.

Joe Hachem is a former chiropracter and WSOP Main Event winner who has remained active in poker circles, winning nearly $12 million in poker tournaments in his career.

Changing the Lives of Underprivileged Children

The Shane Warne Foundation was launched in 2004 with the following goals for its poker charity event per a recent press release:

“With the support the Foundation receives from Crown, the event just keeps on getting better each year. It’s proving to be one of the biggest charity days of the year, but it’s important to remember why we do it. The Shane Warne Foundation raises funds for seriously ill and underprivileged children. As an umbrella foundation, we fund many children’s charities, which need our funding to continue the work they do.”

About 100 players took part in the 2013 poker charity event with the winner of each starting table moving onto the finals. Neither Warne or Hachem would make the final eight players. Amateur Mike Turnley defeated 2012 APPT Melbourne runner-up Keith Walker for the win.

The 2013 Joe Hachem and Shane Warne Charity Poker Tournament raised over $300,000 for the Shane Warne Foundation.

Big Year in Store for Mobile Gambling in 2013

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:30:00 +0100

Several U.S. states are close to offering legal online poker and casino games to their residents while Zynga, Facebook and others are pushing quickly into social gaming for real money.

Real-money gambling apps have been around for several years now on smartphones and tablets but they’re still limited by anti-gambling laws in the U.S. and other countries.

If you live in the UK or other countries where online gambling is legal, you’ll have several different choices -- including mobile apps from PokerStars, bwin and PartyPoker -- but otherwise you’ll be forced to compete for play chips only.

Zynga Poker and Slotomania are some of the most popular play-money apps for iOS. Those two plus Slot City and Live Hold’em Poker Pro are among the most popular Android apps available at Google Play.

Partnership Efforts Will Pay off in 2013

Zynga and Facebook are both poised to step up their gambling efforts in 2013.

Zynga has signed a partnership deal with bwin.party that will see it roll out over 100 real-money casino and poker games to Zynga players in the UK - meaning Zynga Poker players will finally be able to put their poker skills to the test with real cash on the line.

Facebook has signed several partnerships of its own that will see it offer slots, casino games and poker for real money in some European markets.

Nevada is leading the charge for U.S. states looking to roll out real money poker and casino games to state residents. The first real-money poker hands in the State will likely be dealt in early 2013.

Many different companies have applied for licenses in the state and it’s likely just a matter of time after real-money play begins for apps to hit the market.

Zynga Gets Serious About Real-Money Gambling

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 10:00:00 +0100

Zynga was the darling of the social gaming world after a high-profile IPO that raised $1 billion but the company’s stock price cratered over the next year as it saw its revenue growth drop dramatically for many of its core games such as FarmVille and CityVille.

One of the few bright spots for the company has been its Zynga Poker game. One of the first games it developed, Zynga Poker is on track to pull in over $200 million in revenues for 2012 with nearly all that money coming from players using real money to buy extra play chips in the free game.

The company had initially been reluctant to enter the tricky waters of real-money gambling but a dismal 2012 left Zynga little choice.

It doubled down on its game development efforts -- focusing on adding new slots and bingo games -- and began looking for partners to offer real money gambling in international markets where it is legal.

Zynga signed a pact with bwin.party in late 2012 to roll out casino and poker games to its customers in the UK. The first games will be offered in early 2013.

The company wasn’t done, though, applying for a license in Nevada to potentially offer real money poker to Nevada residents if its application is approved.

Zynga also bulked up its patent portfolio for real-money online gambling by acquiring over 30 patents and developing more itself related to various aspects of casino gambling and related technology.

Rolling out real-money poker, slots and bingo games in 2013 likely won’t immediately reverse Zynga’s fortunes -- and they come with plenty of obstacles, both technical and legal -- but new revenue streams could help the company reverse its recent fortunes and generate a little investor excitement once again.

Megabucks Jackpot Winner Free Plays Her Way to $17.3 Million

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:00:00 +0100

The winner -- a woman from the Las Vegas area who has chosen to remain anonymous -- dropped into the M Casino in Henderson to use up some free-play credits.

She decided to take a spin at the Megabucks machine before cashing in some food vouchers as well.

A few spins later and she could afford to pay for dinner herself after hitting the $17.3 million jackpot -- although another player had to convince her that she’d just won one of the largest slots jackpots in Nevada history.

She told slot manufacturer IGT -- which makes the Megabucks machine -- that she planned to use the winnings to pay off her house and take care of her family.

Not the Biggest Jackpot in Nevada History

This was the first time since 2011 that the Megabucks jackpot has been hit, which is a progressive jackpot that is fed by slots in casinos throughout the state of Nevada.

The jackpot winner in 2011 took home “only” $10.3 million.

Since 1986, IGT has awarded Megabucks jackpots of more than $1 billion nationwide and $728 million in Nevada.

It’s far from the biggest slots jackpot in Nevada history, however, as that honor goes to a California man who won a huge $39.7 million jackpot after sticking $100 in a slot machine at Excalibur.

Cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan won $34.9 million on a Megabucks machine at the Desert Inn in 2000 but her lucky streak was short-lived; she was in a car accident just weeks later that killed her sister and left her paralyzed.

PokerStars to Buy a Casino in Atlantic City?

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 09:00:00 +0100

The Wall Street Journal has reported that PokerStars is in talks with investment group Colony Capital to potentially buy the Atlantic Club in Atlantic City.

The Atlantic Club is one of the smaller casinos in AC and on the surface would seem an odd target for PokerStars but the online poker giant’s real intent is be to position itself for a foothold in the market if New Jersey legalizes online poker for state residents.

The New Jersey legislature previously approved a new law to offer online poker for residents but it was vetoed at the time by Governor Chris Christie.

The continued struggles of the gambling industry in Atlantic City has led many to speculate that Christie would not veto a similar bill if it were passed today.

PokerStars Makes Move Despite Swooning Revenue in Atlantic City

Christie has been vocal in supporting New Jersey’s current push to offer sportsbetting at its casinos, which has been approved and is in the works despite a federal law that forbids the state from offering sportsbetting.

Any online poker bill in New Jersey would likely limit operators to existing casinos, which would explain PokerStars’ interest in buying its way into the swooning gambling market in Atlantic City.

Competition from newer casinos in neighboring states such as Pennsylvania has decimated revenues for AC casinos.

Hopes were high that the new Revel casino would spur new traffic and gambling interest but so far the majority of casinos -- including the Atlantic Club -- have seen revenues and gambling traffic continue to dwindle quarter after quarter.

Nevada is poised to be the first US state to offer its own online poker sites for residents, with New Jersey and others likely to follow in its footsteps if games are successfully launched.