All content is copyright Las Vegas Weekly LLC. Las Vegas Weekly is published Thursdays and distributed throughout Southern Nevada. Readers are permitted one free copy per issue. Additional copies are $2, available back issues $3.
ADVERTISING DEADLINE EVERY THURSDAY AT 5 P.M.
20 ALL DAY, EVERY DAY
Dip into the newest pool clubs with our ultimate guide to the season.
COVER ART Photo courtesy Wynn Las Vegas
16 WEEKLY Q&A
Gayle Clinard goes all in on moving Howard Hughes’ historic house to Clark County Museum.
28 NEWS
As Republicans in Congress zero in on a nearby national monument, Nevadans express concerns.
30 SPORTS
The College Basketball Crown tournament returns for a second year in Las Vegas.
32 MUSIC
Santa Cruz hardcore punk act Drain brings o beat optimism to the House of Blues.
34 ART
Explore ancient Egypt’s animal mummies at Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.
36 FOOD & DRINK
Ai Pono Café showcases authentic flavors of Hawaii at Durango Resort.
7 p.m. (& 4/4, 6 p.m.), Lee’s Family Forum, axs.com.
DILLON FRANCIS Noon, Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.
DUKE DUMONT 10:30 p.m., Zouk Nightclub, zoukgrouplv.com.
SHOGUN 10 p.m., Discopussy, tixr.com.
FISHER 10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, taogroup.com.
Courtesy/Medium Rare
GORGON CITY 10:30 p.m., LIV Nightclub, livnightclub.com.
UNPLUGGED PARTY
Banish digital fatigue on the dancefloor at this phone-free rave, where real connections are formed and in-person interactions provide more dopamine than a late-night doomscroll. Founded by 27-yearold music executive Ross Friedman, the Unplugged Party stores your smartphones in non-locking pouches so you can let loose without feeling weighed down by your device. If you just can’t bear to go without, you can also purchase disposable film cameras to capture the moment. Dance along to lively DJs without having to dodge someone’s selfie stick and never worry about videobombing a viral TikTok reel again. It’s the ultimate night out where you can confidently say, “You just had to be there.” 9 p.m., $23-$61, the Portal at Area15, area15. com.
–Amber Sampson
SATURDAY APRIL 4
SLAUGHTER TO PREVAIL
With Whitechapel, Attila, 6:30 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster.com.
Courtesy/AJ Johanson Photo
PUNK ROCK MUSEUM ANNIVERSARY
Never mind the noise, the Punk Rock Museum hits year three and throws a proper parking lot rager. This anniversary is a victory lap for a place that refuses to sit still, packed with punk lifers, music history obsessives and first timers chasing that sonic live wire. Spike and the Gimme Gimmes are slated to headline the gig with Kate Clover while XCOMM, River Ratts and U.K.-based The Whops kick off the day. Born from longtime touring manager Lisa Brownlee and NOFX’s “Fat Mike” Burkett, PRM hums with history and sweat and no matter how many times you’ve been through the museum, there’s always something new to be discovered in the unbelievable archive. Noon, $55, Punk Rock Museum, thepunkrockmuseum.com. –Gabriela Rodriguez
THE RED PEARS
With Together Pangea, High Curbs, 7:30 p.m., the Portal at Area15, area15.com.
KEIKO MATSUI
5 & 8 p.m., Myron’s, thesmithcenter.com.
FORTUNATE YOUTH
6 p.m., the A-Lot at Area15, area15.com.
WE THREE 6 p.m., B-Side at House of Blues, ticketmaster.com.
8 p.m., & 4/5, LA Comedy Club, best vegascomedy.com.
STEAM FAMILY FEST
9:30 a.m., Neon Museum, neonmuseum.org.
DIPLO
11 a.m., Encore Beach Club, wynnsocial.com.
ALESSO
11 a.m., Palm Tree Beach Club, taogroup.com.
ELDERBROOK
11 a.m., Tao Beach Dayclub, taogroup. com.
JOHN SUMMIT 11 a.m., LIV Beach, livnightclub.com.
KASKADE 10:30 p.m., XS Nightclub, wynnsocial.com.
JAKE SHORE
With Omar Strikes Out & AP, Jeromy Rome, 10 p.m., Discopussy, tixr.com.
SLANDER 10:30 p.m., LIV Nightclub, livnightclub.com.
90S HOUSE PARTY
A 90s House Party takes over Fremont Street
Experience with the premiere of Blink-182 and Red Hot Chili Peppers music reels on The Canopy™ and the debut of Fremont Films. The night also features a live performance from ’90s alt-rock favorite Deep Blue Something, plus custom throwback merch, free photo ops and a silent disco on Casino Center. Come dressed in your best ’90s attire to unlock SlotZilla zipline perks and join the throwback in style. 6 p.m., vegasexperience.com.
SPOTLIGHT EVENT
Courtesy
SUPERGUIDE
ROB GUSON
11 a.m., Palm Tree Beach Club, taogroup.com.
MIKE ATTACK
11 a.m., Tao Beach, taogroup.com.
BOXING: CORTES VS. GARCIA
3 p.m., Meta Apex, axs.com.
LUENELL
9:30 p.m., & 4/6, Jimmy Kimmel’s Comedy Club, ticketmaster.com.
“Arachnids are some of the most important yet misunderstood animals on the planet,” Ashley Glenn, marketing manager at the Las Vegas Science & Natural History Museum, said in a statement about the arrival of the country’s largest touring exhibit focused on the creepy, crawly wonders. “By showing guests how they contribute to ecosystems, scientific research, and even inspire innovations in modern medicine and technology, we hope families walk away realizing these creatures are far more fascinating than frightening.”
The exhibit and its activations includes “critter connection experiences” hosted by educators, web-weaving demonstrations, prehistoric arachnid fossils, art installations and more. And don’t worry, all the live spiders will be kept in safe educational enclosures. Thru 8/23, daily 9 a.m.-4 p.m., $7-$14, Las Vegas Science & Natural History Museum, lvnhm.org. –Brock Radke
ORBIT CULTURE With Ov Sulfur, Atlas, 7 p.m., Brooklyn Bowl, ticketmaster.com.
MONDAYS DARK
8 p.m., the Space, mondaysdark.com.
D-MILES 11 a.m., Marquee Dayclub, taogroup.com.
AZTECH Noon, Go Pool, gopoolvegas.com.
FOUR COLOR ZACK 10:30 p.m., Marquee Nightclub, taogroup.com.
SUPERGUIDE
SIN CITY SHOWDOWN DEMOLITION DERBY Thru 4/10, 4 p.m., Core Arena at Plaza, plazahotelcasino.com.
JUSTIN CREDIBLE 10:30 p.m., Omnia Nightclub, taogroup. com.
THE ART OF CAKE
Join in at UnCommons on April 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a joyful outdoor community celebration of cake. Hundreds of bakers will be showing o their decorating skills, unique recipes and family traditions. Local bakeries and partners will be handing out free slices of cake for guests to taste and enjoy. While RSVPs have closed for displaying a cake, come out to UnCommons to view the display tables, enjoy live music in The Quad and snag a taste. uncommons.com.
NATE BARGATZE Thru 4/11, 8 p.m., Encore Theater, ticketmaster.com.
EMERSON, LAKE & PALMER 7:30 p.m., House of Blues, ticketmaster.com.
THE EARLY NOVEMBER With Hellogoodbye, 7 p.m., Bizarre Bar, dice.fm.
DROOK 8 p.m., the Gri n, dice.fm.
RED LEATHER 7 p.m., the Wall at Area15, area15.com.
SCOTTY MCCREERY Country star Scotty McCreery brings his fan-favorite songs like “Damn Strait” and “Five More Minutes” to Bel-Aire Backyard on April 10, kicking o the 2026 Poolside Concert Series. belairebackyardlv.com.
BY SHANNON MILLER
Gayle Clinard goes all in on effort to bring Howard Hughes’ Green House to Clark County Museum
A 1950s midcentury modern bungalow tucked behind Channel 8 KLAS’ news station might not be there in the future. No, it’s not getting imploded or bulldozed, as we are so accustomed to here. The mint green home, once leased by Howard Hughes in 1953, is at the center of an effort for relocation to the Clark County Museum to become an exhibit.
The nonprofit Clark County Museum Guild (clarkcounty museumguild.org) is looking to raise $4.3 million for the project, dubbed Heritage in Motion. In 2024, Clark County allocated $1.5 million for early planning phases. Guild members
Gary and Gayle Clinard generously donated $1 million.
Originally from Long Beach, Gayle Clinard, 84, recalls watching Hughes’ H-4 Hercules aircraft, nicknamed the “Spruce Goose,” fly 70 feet above the harbor before landing on the water. That was just six years before 1953, when he would lease a house on Fulcher Road in Las Vegas. One year later, he had the home sealed, instructing aids to tape the windows and close off the fireplace. It remained sealed until after Hughes’ death in 1976.
The Nevada Preservation Foundation’s 11th annual Home + History series (April 16-19, nevadapreservation.org) will give tours of the Green House on April 17. Clinard sat down
with the Weekly to discuss the importance of preservation, education and history.
Las Vegas sure has a reputation for imploding and paving over its history.
We’re blowing up casinos. It seems so much easier to eliminate it than preserve it. But we want to make sure those things are preserved.
How did you find the Clark County Museum Guild and get involved?
I moved to Henderson in 1992. I purchased a trophy shop and [former guild president] Jeanne Brady would come in every month to get a plaque engraved. She ran the guild for all these years and recently retired. I
HOME + HISTORY: GREEN HOUSE TOURS
April 17, times vary, $20, nevadapreservationfoundation.org
these years and recently retired. I went to work for the chamber of commerce in Henderson, and I was there for 10 years. During that time I met Mark Hall-Patton, and he inspired me to get involved with the museum.
My husband, Gary, is a history buff and a rocket scientist who went to Cal Tech and with both his graduate and undergraduate studies, started his own business in his garage and sold it in 1998 for a lot of money. He’s a very generous individual. He was involved in the [Museum of the Northern Great Plains] in Fort Benton, Montana. We have donated $3 million to that museum.
And when we did that, we decided to support the Clark County Museum and the Guild’s [Heritage in Motion] project. That money is to make sure that the house is created as an exhibit. We want to have a place where children can come and learn the history of not only How-
ard Hughes, but the city of Las Vegas.
I certainly can see children benefiting from an immersive exhibit like the ones you already have at Clark County Museum’s Heritage Street. Why do you think it’s important to give them these kinds of enriching opportunities?
I’m concerned about some of the youth and even my own grandchildren and great grandchildren. They can sit in a room and be on their phones or their tablets typing away, and never say a word to one another. Not only will this give them the opportunity to discuss history and discuss knowledge in school, it can also get them away from that electronic world, where they can actually learn and see and do what was in the past.
What’s on your historic preservation wishlist?
What do we not have at the museum? We don’t have a barbershop. We don’t have
a casino or a bar. We don’t have a soda fountain or a drug store. I think it’s important we have something from Boulder City, something from Searchlight [to represent] all of Clark County. We could pull from any area to bring other buildings or history to the museum.
I’m a child of the late ’40s and ’50s, and soda fountains were a very popular thing at the time. Gambling is historic for Las Vegas, so I think we need to represent something from a casino. Maybe a school. There’s lots of things we don’t have yet that we could really use at the museum.
What’s involved in moving an entire house?
This is a real project, because it’s … out of slab rather than a foundation. And because it’s brick, cinderblock and flagstone, it’s going to be a very difficult move. Would it be easier to take it apart brick by brick and build it back up?
What they have to do is, ev-
ery three feet, they have to put up a steel girder underneath the house, and then they have to support it from the inside and the outside so that the walls don’t break. And we’re probably going to have to cut it in half, because it’s got to go down to the museum on Boulder Highway.
Howard Hughes invested in casinos, movies, aviation, real estate. He was really a mogul of anything he wanted, he had so much money. Why should regular, everyday people care about the history he left behind?
If you don’t know what’s going on before you were here, then you can’t understand what’s going to happen in the future. You really need to learn from history. … I think history does repeat itself. I know I have clothes that I wore many years ago that have come back in style. So I think history does the same thing. It’s recurring. This is just a piece of what we want to preserve.
LEFT PAGE
Gayle Clinard of the Clark County Museum Guild
BOTTOM A look inside the historic Green House
Photos by Christopher DeVargas
The arrival of Omnia Dayclub elevates Las Vegas as a full-stop daylife destination
BY AMBER SAMPSON
As the 2026 dayclub season arrives, all eyes are on Tao Group Hospitality. The restaurant and nightlife empire has helped pace the pool party scene since Tao Beach, one of the Strip’s first dedicated dayclubs, opened 19 years ago. Now, Tao Group aims to move the needle again with the 46,000-square-foot Omnia Dayclub and Skybar, opening at Caesars Palace on May 15.
The grand opening kicks off with Australian tech-house producer Fisher, followed by melodic dance trio Rüfüs Du Sol and Dutch hitmaker Martin Garrix over the weekend.
“It’s a very dramatic project. The location, first of all, is one in a million, the best location arguably in the country—definitely in Vegas,” says Jason Strauss, co-CEO of Tao Group. “The almost 50,000-squarefeet of usable hospitality, the level of design, materials and experiences that we’re going to be building
in there is one-of-a-kind. It’s the biggest project we have ever done as far as scope and commitment to the build out.”
Tao Group built Omnia Dayclub from the ground up with the bright beachfronts of Mykonos and St. Tropez in mind. The multi-level venue has two central pools, custom daybeds, and private cabanas and VIP plunge pools that border the edges like exclusive villa retreats.
A bridge connecting Omnia Nightclub with the dayclub also creates a seamless transition, while a grand staircase draws patrons directly from the Strip.
To deliver those festival-tier performances Tao Group is known for, the DJ booth boasts an 8K LED main stage and a L-Acoustics L2 sound system. And many Omnia Nightclub residents like Zedd, Tiësto and Deorro will rotate in for day shifts.
On the second level, Skybar represents another game-changing ad-
dition. The seated dining experience serves up Tao’s best culinary offerings as the party rages below. It’ll also feature a grab-and-go window that’s accessible from Las Vegas Boulevard.
“No other city has this many dayclubs entertaining this amount of people on the weekend with this level of square footage and quality,” Strauss says. “We are, by far, the dayclub capital of the world. The expectation keeps getting bigger, and everyone keeps stepping up their game. This is going to be our version of stepping up our game.”
But this “step up” transcends bigger pools and a better DJ roster. It signals a complete shift in immersion. Where many used to question whether a pool could really anchor an adults-only atmosphere, now people flock to it. Dayclubs are no longer the warm-up to a wild night out—they’re the main event. Where else can you dip into the finest pools, party with world-renowned DJs and head home by 5 p.m.?
“There’s people that come to Vegas that just come for the dayclub experience,” Strauss says. “No longer are they coming for gambling or a show or to see a Michelin-star chef. They are coming for the dayclub experience.”
And these dayclubbers span a diverse demographic, from weekend warriors who marathon the dayclub and nightclub in a single day to older guests who reserve cabanas and younger crowds who belly up to the DJ booth for their favorite song.
“I’m just proud to be a part of the city and an industry in the city that continues to elevate the game and really set the tone for the rest of the world when it comes to hospitality,” Strauss says.
Dipping into the best dayclubs on the Las Vegas Strip and beyond
BY AMBER SAMPSON AND GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ
In Las Vegas, it’s not o cially spring until the dayclub season launches in full swing. Around here, we take our poolside partying pretty seriously. We plan entire weekends around it, anticipating those sunsoaked afternoons beside the DJ booth or in a cozy cabana. Here are some of the best dayclubs to pencil into your party itinerary.
DAYDREAM
Created for locals by locals, DayDream pool club at the M Resort ramps up as the 21+ sanctuary Henderson has been waiting for. The sprawling venue features an in nity-edge pool, two steamy hot tubs and multiple cabanas and daybeds. And with its ice-railed bar, premium bottle service and DJ lineup, this dayclub’s worth a dip. M Resort, themresort.com.
PALM TREE BEACH CLUB
Fully renovated and reimagined just last summer, Palm Tree Beach Club took over the space of Wet Republic and gave us a season to remember. This year, the lush Palm Springs-inspired oasis returns with a lineup of world-class entertainment, delish nger foods and plenty of craft cocktails. And with globally recognized DJs like Martin Garrix, Tiësto and Kygo, you’ll leave only wanting to come back for more. Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-close, MGM Grand, taogroup.com.
Courtesy
Palm Tree Beach Club (Courtesy)
LIQUID
stellar service and accommo-
Liquid at Aria is a small but mighty dayclub experience. Repeat visitors rave about the stellar service and accommodating poolside hospitality. Gourmet bites, high-end cocktail concoctions and resident DJs give you a taste of the party life without turning it into a full-on rager. Coordinate your experience with a local promoter and soak in the beats and sun on a daybed or private cabana. Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Aria, taogroup.com.
MARQUEE DAYCLUB
ENCORE BEACH CLUB
Looking to make the biggest splash on your Instagram story? Encore Beach Club brings in the big names to guarantee the daytime festivities pop o . This massive complex has enough room to accommodate your party with space to chill and dance even without a rented cabana. Drinks are poured with a heavy hand to get you moving, and the vibes are said to rival the sun-drenched parties of Ibiza, so start your summer here. Friday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-close, Wynn, wynn nightlife.com.
on a daybed or private cabana.
The Cosmopolitan’s iconic rooftop pool had a major glow-up this season. The fully rebuilt DJ booth brings the crowd closer with a lowered stage for intimate poolside performances. And overhead, a new curved LED screen serves as a striking architectural statement piece that brings the music visually to life. The upgraded sound system also provides sunseekers with a hightech audio experience. As Tao Group Hospitality co-CEO Jason Strauss puts it: “The guys over there had been driving a Ford Mustang maybe the last couple years. Now we’re giving them a full Ferrari that can drive Formula 1.” And that’s on top of what already made Marquee Dayclub so great—the bungalow cabanas, the private in nity pools, the stunning waterfalls and the large dance oor that’ll soon be packed for dance heavy hitters like Jonas Blue (April 4), Louis the Child (April 18) and DJ Pauly D (April 25). Daily, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Cosmopolitan, taogroup.com.
Courtesy Wynn Las Vegas
LIV BEACH
This multi-level party palace is built to resemble the sunkissed scenery of the French Riviera with vibes that rival the world’s best beachside resorts. Around here, bottle girls spray thirsty crowds with Champagne and cabanas fill up faster than a TSA line without precheck. At LIV, world-class DJs like John Summit, David Guetta and Disco Lines anchor your afternoons, while surprise guests like Tinashe keep the energy unpredictable. Locals can also secure complimentary entry on Fridays and Sundays with a valid Nevada ID. Friday-Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Fontainebleau, livnight club.com.
David Guetta at LIV Beach (Courtesy)
STADIUM SWIM
If dayclubbing is a game of endurance, there’s no better place to play than at Stadium Swim. Circa’s rooftop dayclub opens earlier than most brunch spots and brings the game to you with a 143-foot HD screen for your sports viewing pleasure. The venue offers six temperature-controlled pools for year-round revelry, along with stunning views of the Downtown skyline. With the March Hoops viewing party on April 6 and the wrestling fan fest CircaMania taking over on April 18-19, Stadium Swim’s shaping up as the place to be. Daily, 8 a.m.-11 p.m., Circa, circa lasvegas.com.
TAILGATE BEACH CLUB
Clique Hospitality’s new sports-driven dayclub will replace Daylight come May 16, with a performance by Snoop Dogg. The venue champions all spectator sports, so you’ll never have to pick between a pool day and a field day again. Laze out on a chaise lounge or one of Tailgate’s heated pools, soaking in the game with over 125 feet of LED screens. Cabanas also feature some head-tohead fun with beer pong, foosball and PlayStations. Expect the poolside energy to heat up as live DJs and frenzied fandoms collide during game day. Thursday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-close, Mandalay Bay, tailgatebeachclub.com.
Courtesy Tao Group Hospitality
Stadium Swim (Courtesy)
TAO BEACH
Tao Beach at the Venetian is pure luxury in motion. This rooftop dayclub has it all—stageside cabanas, bottle service and endless photo ops to make you feel like a true baller. The space is sleek and tropical, blending the brand’s signature Asian-inspired design with bold touches. This is the ideal spot to go all out and let loose. And don’t sleep on the freshly rolled sushi. It’s the refreshing bite you’ll need to keep the party going. Thursday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Venetian, taogroup.com.
A primer on how to navigate dayclubs, from what to wear to how to endure the afternoon
BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ
Soon, the weather will teeter into triple digits, and it won’t take much to convince your friends to make a pilgrimage to your nearest pool. But why not make a day of it? Hell, why not make it a full-on soiree and take advantage of the seemingly endless amount of dayclubs this city has to offer?
Whether it’s your first foray into the dayclub circuit, or a ritual you revisit every summer, a little preparation goes a long way. The difference between a long, sun-soaked afternoon and a short-lived, overheated misstep often comes down to the basics.
Start with hydration. It may sound obvious, but under the relentless desert sun—and with cocktails flowing—it’s easy to burn out. Alternating drinks with water isn’t just good advice, it’s a survival strategy. There’s nothing worse than feeling on the brink of death when you’re trying to get your party on. So, get this through your head: hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! And no, Cutwater doesn’t count.
Packing light is another unspoken rule. Towels are provided, and large bags tend to slow you down at security (and incur locker fees) so leave them at home. Bring only what you really need, including ID, sunscreen, shades and something to pay with.
Dress plays a huge part in your experience. Dayclubs enforce a particular aesthetic: polished but pool ready. Swimwear is essential, and so is footwear that can withstand slick surfaces. Leave anything delicate, or difficult to walk in when wet at home.
Pace yourself. The energy only builds as the afternoon goes on, and those who go too hard rarely make it to the headliner. A successful dayclub outing isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon that’s best enjoyed with a bit of restraint ... and the occasional bottle service. But overall, when you look good and feel good, it’s tough not to have a good time.
IN THE NEWS
POLITICS
Nevada’s Cortez Masto introduces bill to boost protections for road workers, first responders
U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., has introduced legislation aimed at strengthening protections for roadside workers and rst responders on the nation’s highways and roads.
The Safer Roads for Those Who Serve Act would require states to improve how they collect and analyze data on highway worker injuries and fatalities. If those numbers rise over a two-year period, states would be required to incorporate targeted protection strategies into their next state strategic highway safety plan.
The legislation introduced last week is co-sponsored by Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa. There is no companion legislation in the U.S. House.
The bill would also establish a public awareness campaign highlighting
the dangers faced by roadside workers, continue research and outreach e orts to enhance their safety, and require major infrastructure grant applicants to outline expected protections for both roadside workers and the traveling public.
Nearly 500 roadside workers have been killed on the job nationwide from 2020 to 2024, according to Fatality Inspection Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, fatality reports from respondersafety. com and survey results from the Associated General Contractors of America. Many were tow truck operators and construction workers.
Tra c incidents are one of the leading causes of death for rst responders, Nevada Department of
Transportation o cials said. The department noted that nearly 25 of its employees have been killed while on the job since 1948, even despite Nevada law requiring drivers to slow down and move to the far lane if able when passing o cial emergency response vehicles pulled over on the side of the road with amber lights ashing.
Cortez Masto’s o ce says the proposal is supported by the Association of General Contractors, the National Safety Council, AAA, the Nevada Fire Chiefs Association, the Nevada Police Union, the Southern Nevada Building Trades Union, the Las Vegas Police Protective Association and the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.
–Grace Da Rocha
Second Vegas Super Bowl will ‘raise the bar’
After NFL owners voted on March 30 to bring the Super Bowl back to Las Vegas in 2029, confetti cannons shot o toward a glimmering tile mosaic in front of Allegiant Stadium. “The commitment I just made to the owners was we would raise the bar from Super Bowl 58,” Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill said. “We would go back to work, we would innovate, we would do things and Super Bowl 63 will be even better than Super Bowl 58.” The LVCVA estimated that Super Bowl 58 in Las Vegas in 2024 produced an economic impact of $1 billion and $33 million in tax revenue from 330,000 visitors. It also reportedly created 6,433 new jobs. –Case Keefer
CASINO Lead slot attendant Liz McCrary welcomes guests at the opening of Boyd Gaming’s Cadence Crossing Casino in Henderson on March 25. McCrary started at the Jokers Wild Casino when it opened at the site in 1990. Many former Jokers Wild employees have transferred to the new property.
ENTERTAINMENT
K-pop star Lisa sets residency at the Colosseum
When she takes the stage at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace in November, Lisa will make history as the first K-pop artist to perform a Las Vegas residency. The singer, rapper, dancer and member of the genre’s most successful and influential girl group, Blackpink, will perform November 13-14 and 27-28 at the iconic Las Vegas Strip venue. Ticket presale begins April 22 via Ticketmaster, with the general on sale beginning April 23. The residency announcement follows last year’s release of Lisa’s debut solo album, Alter Ego, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales Chart and reached No. 7 on the Billboard 200. –Sta
Photo by Wade Vandervort
Photo/Evan Agostini
NEW
(Photo by Steve Marcus)
A CHANGE IN MANAGEMENT
Congressional debate over Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante
National Monument hits close to home for Nevadans
BY TYLER SCHNEIDER
Southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is just slightly larger than the entire state of Delaware, encompassing five distinct life zones spanning colorful towering cliffs, winding canyons, arid deserts and alpine forests. For many Southern Nevadans, it also represents an escape with rushing waters, ancient petroglyphs and dinosaur fossils, just four hours away.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), tasked with overseeing this diverse swath of land since it was designated in 1996, approved an updated 362-page Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument management plan in January 2025. It dictates anything from where off-road vehicles
can drive to habitat preservation policies, and reflects several changes made since President Donald Trump reduced the monument’s boundaries by almost half in 2017, and after President Joe Biden restored its original borders in 2021.
With Trump back in office, the future of this management plan is in question. On March 4, U.S. Rep. Celeste Maloy and Sen. Mike Lee, both Republicans from Utah, introduced House Joint Resolution 151, which seeks to use the Congressional Review Act to scrap the management plan altogether in favor of a 2021 version authored under the first Trump administration. Nevada’s lone Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Amodei is one of six co-sponsors.
If it passes a simple majority vote in Congress, it would mark the first time the Congressional Review Act has ever been used to overturn a national monument management plan, and the BLM would be prohibited from issuing another plan that’s “substantially the same” as their prior plans. The implications for Nevada—home to four national monuments—worry public land advocates like Friends of Nevada Wilderness executive director and former BLM employee Shaaron Netherton.
“Utah parks and monuments are incredibly popular for Nevadans,” she says. “And if this is successful, what’s next? From there, any of our land use plans in Nevada could be overturned, including Basin and Range, Gold
Butte, Avi Kwa Ame and Tule Springs [national monuments].”
Netherton, who calls the push a “ridiculous political ploy to undermine collaborative local planning,” adds that nixing the Grand Staircase-Escalante management plan could eventually lead to repercussions for the Silver State’s vast public lands system—up to and including opening up more of it for industrial mining and even land sales. It could also sti e the state’s thriving outdoor tourism economy, she says.
“The plan answers a lot of important questions,” Netherton says. “What’s open for oil and gas? Where are the critical wildlife corridors? How do we manage recreation? Where do we put campsites? What are the guidelines for grazing?”
Netherton’s concerns about weakened land management are underscored by a February 2026 analysis from Prospect Partners that found that federal land agencies in Nevada lost 21% of their workforce in 2025 alone, including its last two Fish and Wildlife administrators. In total, the BLM reduced its total sta in Western states by 18%.
The 2025 management plan, which characterizes Grand Staircase-Escalante as a “living laboratory” due to the world-renowned fossil deposits found in its Kaiparowits Formation, was informed by feedback the BLM gathered through 34 public and stakeholder engagement meetings.
Maloy believes that outreach wasn’t su cient, noting in a March 4 press release that the new plan “was written without the people it a ects most having any real seat at the table.”
“That’s not how land management should work. The 2021 plan was built with local communities, balanced conservation with access, and re ected the realities of life in Southern Utah. This resolution uses Congress’ constitutional responsibility to check executive overreach and returns management to a plan that actually listens to the people on the ground,”
Maloy wrote.
Nathan Waggoner, owner of Escalante Canyon Out tters in Escalante, Utah, begs to di er. He was one of many locals who participated in the public engagement process surrounding the new plan.
“I was very concerned about making sure that recreation was well-managed here, and that it continued to allow us the freedoms that we have now,” Waggoner says. “We wanted the agency to not be limited to certain parts as local guides and out tters, and that’s one of the things we fought for and got in this management plan.”
For 21 years, the Waggoner family has molded its business into a “onestop destination” that now includes a retail shop, a restaurant, a seven-cabin lodge, campgrounds, showers and guided natural history and y- shing tours. The operation began with just Waggoner and his wife, Kristina, but now employs 36—re ective of a recent economic study from Headwaters Economics that found that the Grand Staircase-Escalante region’s population rose by 26% as jobs grew by 51% from 2001 to 2022.
“Now, we’re just hoping that Congress doesn’t take all of our input and just throw it aside and make a decision for us up in Washington. We want to have a voice. We want to keep it free and accessible to everyone,” Waggoner says.
He notes that Nevada residents and tourists who visit by way of Las Vegas make up a huge portion of their clientele.
“Flights into Vegas can be a lot cheaper than they are in Salt Lake [City], and I would say for most of the people that I talk to, Vegas is their destination for launching into this region to enjoy these public lands,” Waggoner says. “We love to see them experiencing these wild places for the rst time and realizing that they’re just scratching the surface. It’s why we keep doing this.”
Back in Nevada, where a February
2025 push to roll back the boundaries at Avi Kwa Ame National Monument in a rapid 15-day review by the Department of the Interior ultimately sputtered out, the threat to Grand Staircase-Escalante’s management plan serves as a reminder of what’s still at stake.
Apart from Amodei—who, along with Maloy, co-sponsored a failed e ort to end the presidential power to declare new national monuments or redraw boundaries for existing ones last year—the remainder of Nevada’s congressional delegation has been more amenable to public land preservation. (Amodei’s o ce did not respond to request for comment.)
“Using [the Congressional Review Act] to attack national monument resource management plans sets a dangerous precedent, and I don’t support using [the Congressional Review Act for this purpose,” Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto writes in an email to the Weekly. “Nevada’s treasured Avi Kwa Ame National Monument is too precious to be threatened by a simple partisan majority in the Senate.”
Steve Bloch, legal director for the conservation nonpro t Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, has been busy collaborating with groups like Friends of Nevada Wilderness and others to help sound the alarm ahead of a potential vote, which must take place within 60 congressional session days of its introduction, or sometime in early to mid-June.
“If Maloy, Lee and Republicans in Congress can undo protections for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, the sky is really the limit for what they might move to next,” Bloch says. “We know that a part of their playbook is to degrade how federal lands are managed and make it easier for them to put it up for sale. So, this attack on the Grand Staircase is really a watershed moment, and we’re trying to move heaven and earth to hold the line here in Utah and defeat their resolutions in Congress.”
Creighton guard Shane Thomas, shooting against Notre Dame in 2024, will be back in his hometown of Las Vegas for the College Basketball Crown. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
ONE LAST HOOPS HURRAH
College Basketball Crown tournament returns for second year in Las Vegas
BY CASE KEEFER
One of the best stories of this college basketball season originated in Las Vegas a year ago. Nebraska, which ultimately broke through with its rst two NCAA Tournament wins in school history, held the nation’s longest win streak with 24 victories to start the season.
That streak started with an underdog run through the inaugural College Basketball Crown tournament last April at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Nebraska downed UCF, another team that went on to reach the Big Dance this year, in the championship game.
The eight teams in this year’s event, which runs through April 5, will be looking to jumpstart a similar bounce-back campaign heading into next season.
The tournament trimmed from last year’s 16-team eld but the stakes are higher. The prize money that goes to the winning team’s players through NIL (name, image and likeness) funds has risen from $300,000 to $500,000.
MGM Grand will still host the opening rounds, but the semi nals and nals will take place at T-Mobile Arena. It’s a tting site for what might have already turned into the second-biggest postseason college basketball tournament.
Teams like Oklahoma and Baylor declined bids to the National Invitation Tournament— which had been the NCAA’s primary backup for decades—to compete in the Crown.
Las Vegas has been a college hoops hotbed for years, but it used to end at conference tournament week. That’s no longer the case, as the Strip has a strong college hoops presence throughout the whole calendar—from the Players Era Festival in November, which Michigan won this year for the $1 million NIL prize, to the Crown.
It all leads up to 2028 when Allegiant Stadium will host the Final Four.
Maybe one of the teams in Las Vegas this year will reach that promised land and look back on the 2026 Crown as the moment the program got on the right track. Here’s a quick glance at the eight teams in the eld.
Oklahoma
The last team out of this year’s NCAA Tournament according to the selection committee, the Sooners arrive in Las Vegas as the de nitive Crown favorite. They won six straight games last month before losing in the quarter nals to Arkansas in the SEC tournament and will be hard to beat if they carry over that momentum.
Colorado
Led by freshman guard Isaiah Johnson, the Bu aloes are one of the youngest teams in the nation. They were inconsistent this season, but could be a team to watch next year.
Baylor
The Bears had a disappointing year but might have the most raw talent of anyone in the Crown eld and the best recent program history, having won the national title in 2021.
Minnesota
Coach Niko Medved tormented UNLV for years while at Colorado State with his modern 3-and-D style. It’s translated well at Minnesota as many picked the Gophers to nish last in the Big Ten but they went a respectable 8-12.
Stanford
Superstar freshman point guard Ebuka Okorie averaged 23 points per game this season and is now reportedly debating staying at Stanford or declaring for the NBA Draft. The Cardinal were another NCAA Tournament bubble team, narrowly missing after posting a 20-12 record.
West Virginia
The polar opposite of Colorado, West Virginia ranks second in the nation in experience per kenpom.com. The rare all-senior starting lineup led by Honor Hu will be looking to end their college careers in celebratory fashion.
Rutgers
One of the Scarlet Knights’ best moments of the season already came in Las Vegas when they crushed UNLV, 80-65, on Thanksgiving. Freshman forward Chris Nwuli is a Las Vegas native who brie y played at Bishop Gorman before nishing high school at a prep academy in Texas.
Creighton
The Blue Jays hope to send out longtime coach Greg McDermott on top as the veteran announced he would retire after the tournament. McDermott has a local on this year’s team in guard Shane Thomas, who played at Centennial and Durango before graduating from Red Rock Academy.
Santa Cruz’s hardcore punk trio Drain brings its offbeat optimism and newest album to the House of Blues
FEEL-GOOD FURY
Courtesy/Atiba Jefferson
BY GABRIELA RODRIGUEZ
Twelve years in, Drain still feels like a band in constant motion: high-energy, scrappy and improbably joyful. Formed in 2014 by vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro, guitarist Cody Chavez and drummer Tim Flegal, the Santa Cruz trio has spent the better part of a decade proving that hardcore doesn’t have to calcify into self-seriousness to hit. If anything, their staying power stems from the opposite.
The band’s early breakthrough, California Cursed, and its sharper, bigger follow-up, Living Proof, established a formula that shouldn’t work as well as it does. It’s hardcore punk crossed over with thrash, filtered through an almost suspicious level of optimism. But on its third full-length, ...Is Your Friend, released via Epitaph Records, Drain doesn’t reinvent its sonic wheel so much as set it on fire and push it downhill.
DRAIN
April 9, 6 p.m., $46.
Still, the secret weapon isn’t technicality, it’s the band’s chemistry. On “Stealing Happiness From Tomorrow” a low-end heavy bruiser, Ciaramitaro rasps about leveling up with your homies and truly soaking in the now. “Who’s Having Fun?” plays like a mission statement disguised as a circle pit catalyst, while the anthemic “Nights Like These” sounds preordained for shouted gang vocals.
“Obviously the riffs are great and there’s dope mosh parts, but the songs are just good overall,” says Ciaramitaro, who cites influences like Terror and Trapped Under Ice. “They can be played on the floor or to 10,000 people and it still pops off.”
House of Blues, ticket master.com.
“We just got better at knowing what seems to resonate at our shows, with our fans, what they like to hear and we like to write,” says Ciaramitaro, invoking the kind of hardcore that translates whether you’re dodging spin kicks in a vet hall or watching bodies pile up at a massive fest.
That ethos defines ...Is Your Friend, 10 tracks recorded live, no click track, no overt digital polish, just real amps and a collective lock-in that can’t be faked.
“Our drummer coined the moniker ‘Drain is your friend’ years ago,” Ciaramitaro says. “We knew we were different … we’re not hard dudes. Drain has never been an enemy of anybody.”
On the record, Chavez’s guitar work leans harder into ’80s thrash, all dive bombs and whiplash momentum, while Flegal’s drumming, especially on “Scared of Everything and Nothing,” feels engineered to test the structural integrity of any room.
That balance of moshready aggression paired with genuine warmth earned Drain the tagline of hardcore’s “most fun band” from Revolver Magazine. And that attitude extends beyond the music. The album’s artwork, designed by Las Vegas illustration wizard James Bousema, features a cartoonish Kewpie shark mascot lounging in the sun, a visual example of the band’s refusal to take themselves too seriously.
“We wanted someone young and hungry, like us,” Ciaramitaro explains. “And he absolutely smashed it.”
These are musicians who came up together—working restaurant jobs, scraping together van money, cutting their teeth in their hometown DIY music scene— and who now navigate the surreal shift into a sustainable career.
“It’s really crazy … all of a sudden we’re doing real big boy s**t,’” Ciaramitaro says.
No matter how big or small the stage gets, Drain has resisted any urge to scale back the chaos. While on their U.S. tour with No Pressure, Haywire and Secret World, the trio’s still treating every set like it could be their last.
From Icon To Author: Brooke Shields On Life In The Spotlight
Monday, April 20, 2026 | 7:30 p.m. Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall
Tickets are strictly limited to 2 per person and are ONLY available at the UNLV Performing Arts Center Box Office, Tuesday–Saturday 12 p.m.–6 p.m. For information, call (702) 895-ARTS; however, tickets cannot be reserved by phone.
UNLV Faculty, Staff and Students may obtain tickets beginning at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1. A valid UNLV Rebelcard is required.
The General Public may obtain tickets beginning at 12 p.m. on Saturday, April 4.
TOMB RAIDING
BY AMBER SAMPSON
Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt unearths a centuries-old tradition at Bellagio
The Egyptians had their faves. Certain animals—Ibis birds, crocodiles, felines and Apis bulls—were sacred due to their spiritual relationship with deities like Thoth, the god of wisdom and writing, and the erce goddess Bastet. Soulful Creatures boasts several mummies of each. Some have been wrapped in intricately woven cloth, while others—such as the Ibis—have been placed in elaborate, gilded co ns to guide the bird’s transition onto the next plane. They’re well-preserved, and it’s easy to get lost in spotting little details like the curve of a cat’s ears or the physique of a
Animals were essential to language. A sizable amount of hieroglyphic signs actually represented animals—but not because we’re obsessed with them. Images often featured animals to signify different phonetic sounds, revealing just how integral they were to the Egyptian language. Funnily enough, depictions of animals imitating humans, like a cat walking on its hind legs, were also early attempts at satire. Nothing like an ancient Egyptian meme to get the people going.
Co n games were strong.
Animals and humans share a bond that can be traced back through centuries. In Ancient Egypt, many animals were prized pets of royal families and even seen as deities incarnate. They were worshipped and in some cases buried with their owners and mummi ed to join them in the afterlife. Now, that centuries-old tradition can be seen at Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, where Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt sits on display through September 13.
After deceased animals were dried out using a natural salt called natron, embalmer priests wrapped them in linen and sometimes placed them inside co ns. That nal resting place was an indicator of wealth. Ceramic jars were commonly used as inexpensive co ns and more a uent ones were forged out of wood, bronze and gold. Sacred animals, like felines, had co ns created in their image as a sign of reverence.
Curated by Yekaterina Barbash and Edward Bleiberg of the fascinating
Curated by Yekaterina Barbash and Edward Bleiberg of the Brooklyn Museum, Soulful Creatures is one of the rst major exhibitions to cover this fascinating religious practice. The exhibit showcases approximately 36 animal mummies from as early as 760 B.C.E., alongside well-preserved artifacts, co ns, ancient jewelry and statuettes. Here are some cool things we learned after browsing it.
baby crocodile.
Photos courtesy Bellagio Gallery of Fine art
Not every mummy was created equally.
A good number of animal mummies were votives, which were prepared and buried to deliver inscriptions and prayers to the Egyptian gods. Worshippers often used these mummies to address the gods with their grievances, sort of like a primordial message board. Votive mummies also served as o erings, though some have famously only contained parts of the animal’s remains or none at all, leading to theories of perceived trickery from embalmer priests. At the end of the Soulful Creatures exhibit, you can view CT scans and X-rays of mummies to see what’s really inside. The results may surprise you.
SOULFUL CREATURES:
ANIMAL MUMMIES IN ANCIENT EGYPT Thru September 13, daily, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., $29. Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, bellagio.com.
Photo by Wade Vandervort
Three Generations of Polarized Light Art turns viewers into participants at Sahara West Library
In 1967, artist Austine Wood Comarow invented “Polage,” short for polarized collage, and brought it to Las Vegas in 1976. That very invention spawned an entire lineage of Polage artistry, which requires the viewer to look through polarized filters to see the art’s colors and designs. Comarow and her husband David Comarow opened their first studio and gallery in Boulder City in 1985 with eldest daughter Cara (now Cara Wood Ginder) working as studio manager. Their younger daughter, Erika Wood, joined the business in 1998. Cara’s daughter Charlotte Ginder joined in 2019 before Austine’s sudden passing in 2020.
THREE GENERATIONS OF POLARIZED LIGHT ART
Thru May 2, Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sahara West Library, the librarydistrict.org.
On display at Sahara West Library until May 2, the exhibit Three Generations of Polarized Light Art gives a peek into the possibilities of this medium—and the family so deeply influenced by it. Cara’s renderings of historic lodgings and neon signs, and Erika’s bold and playful portraits and patterns use LED lights. Several of Austine’s works are not lit, but rather simply and beautifully made with reflecting polarizing filters and bifringent materials. With LED lights, Austine’s “Breaking the Surface” pops with colorful coy fish and lilies in an aquatic amalgam. Erika’s “Nine Portraits” depicts di erent women initially hidden behind various symbols and shapes. Cara’s “Mirage” captures a moment in midcentury history on the marquee of the defunct motel. Charlotte’s “Neighborhood” shows black and white snapshots featuring suburban architecture and skylines through the polarized lens of midcentury-style shapes. Each piece makes perception of the art an active component of the work and showcases unique styles within one family keeping an artistic tradition alive. –Shannon Miller
FINGER-LICKIN’ LUAU
Gene Villiatora takes Las Vegas diners deeper into Hawaiian cuisine
POKE NACHOS
KOREAN SHORT RIB
DA SIDE CHICK
Photos by Christopher DeVargas
BY TYLER SCHNEIDER
Durango’s Ai Pono Café is just the third Hawaiian-owned restaurant in a Las Vegas casino, according to its un ltered, tattoo-clad founder Gene Villiatora. But the seasoned chef and selfstyled “culinary gangster” is con dent his Hawaiian street food is the most authentic in the Valley.
“The whole concept of Ai Pono is that we want to re-educate everyone ... because what the general public knows as Hawaiian food is not Hawaiian food,” he explains. “Chicken katsu is actually Japanese, and kalbi short ribs are Korean. And we have those same things here, but we also have original, gnarly combination plates of di erent avors that make it a much better experience for people who want to try it.”
contestant on Top Chef Villiatora channeled these experiences into opening a California-based meal prep service ahead of launching the rst Ai Pono in Costa Mesa in 2019. The upstart ultimately thrived amid the uncertainty of the pandemic, and when it came time to scout for a second location, Las Vegas seemed like a no-brainer. Then, a chance encounter solidied its fate.
The savory beef short ribs ($25) are bolstered by Villiatora’s signature OG Black Magic teriyaki marinade, while newer, creative additions like the poke nachos ($16-$18)—served with spicy or shoyu-style poke atop 100% Mishima beef tallow-fried wonton chips, blanketed in garlic aioli and unagi sauce—are equally drool-worthy.
This blend of the traditional and innovative was informed by Villiatora’s upbringing in Whitmore Village, Oahu—“where all the pineapples are”—as well as his 1993 relocation to the Ninth Island, where he initially found work as a dishwasher at Aloha Specialties in the Hawaiian-favorite California Hotel and Casino. From there, he put in time at Tao Asian Bistro, Rainforest Cafe, House of Blues and even served as the personal chef for Station Casinos owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta. In 2008, he also became the rst Hawaiian-born
“Whenever I come to visit Vegas, I stay at Red Rock,” he says. “I was staying there before I had a meeting with Boyd Gaming to bring my cafe to one of their properties. As I was leaving for that, I bumped into Lorenzo [Fertitta] and we started catching up.” Fertitta didn’t hide his interest, and Ai Pono landed at Durango Casino & Resort instead.
Now, guests can explore staples like Da Side Chick ($14), a delicious take on a spicy chicken sandwich nestled inside a purple ube brioche bun; Crackhead Chicken ($18), made with a secret batter, “Sob” sauce and coconut-garlic miso glaze; the self-explanatory guava chili pepper chicken ($18); and varied combination plates with proteins ranging from poke, shrimp and beef nestled alongside accompaniments like Hawaiian mac salad, rice and greens.
Consistent with the Ai Pono name—roughly translated as “to eat or nourish” and “with ease, naturally, in harmony and wholeness”— Villiatora touts his use of quality ingredients like beef tallow and cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil he sources directly from Lebanon.
“With just those two components alone, we’re already above, as far as being health-conscious,” Villiatora says. “That, as well as the creativity of our menu, is how we stay ahead.”
DINING NEWS
Bob Taylor’s Ranch House, NADC Burger, Copper Sun and more
Las Vegas is still waiting to find out which local semifinalists in this year’s James Beard Awards will advance to the next round, but we’ve already got one winner to celebrate. The foundation’s 2026 America’s Classic Awards recognizes six recipients including Bob Taylor’s Ranch House, the northwestern steakhouse originally opened in 1955. The ranch house is currently open daily for lunch and dinner, and you can make a reservation at bobtaylorsranchhouse.com.
After a strong pop-up run at Resorts World last summer, NADC Burger is set to open a permanent Las Vegas location Downtown in mid-April at 124 S. Sixth Street. “The response in Las Vegas made it clear this wasn’t just meant to be a pop-up—it was something people wanted to come back to,” co-founder Phillip Frankland Lee said in a statement. “Opening Downtown felt like the natural next step—it’s where locals actually go to eat, hang out and be part of the city.”
Happy Lamb Hot Pot restaurant group’s first fine-dining concept, Copper Sun has opened at Resorts World, a modern hot pot experience rooted in Inner Mongolian culinary tradition. It’s open nightly starting at 5 p.m.
Charter 75 Modern Kitchen, an original gastropub concept, as well as new locations of Steak ‘n Shake and Tacos el Pastor have opened at Gold Coast.
Blue Bottle Co ee has opened a new location at the Fashion Show mall.
AmeriCAN Beer & Cocktails has opened its new location at Treasure Island.
San Diego transplant Pappalecco, an Italian-inspired cafe serving co ee, fresh gelato, pastry, panini and more, is set to open April 9 at 4700 S. Maryland Parkway. –Brock Radke
NADC Burger (Courtesy)
DIGITAL SHIFT RESHAPES CHARITABLE GAMING
BY KATIE ANN MCCARVER VEGAS INC STAFF
When Light & Wonder acquired Grover Gaming’s charitable gaming assets last year, the Las Vegas gaming giant wasn’t chasing jackpots—it was chasing bingo halls.
It’s a quieter corner of the industry, one built on community fundraisers rather than casino oors. The staples are familiar: bingo, ra es and paper pull tabs, those little perforated tickets that for decades have funded everything from youth sports leagues to food pantries.
But the space is changing.
Electronic pull tabs—the digital, more dynamic evolution of their paper predecessors—are giving charities a low-cost, low-maintenance way to modernize revenue without overhauling their entire operation.
“The charities themselves, they obviously use every single one of these lanes to be able to build revenue, to really provide di erent aspects of their mission-driven purposes to their communities,” said Brian Brown, Light & Wonder’s CEO of Charitable Gaming, who oversaw Grover Gaming’s business units before the acquisition.
The latest frontier: Indiana, one of the newest states to legalize electronic pull tabs and the sixth state where the company now operates.
For Brown, it’s a sign of where things are headed. “We see this as an opportunity of continued growth,” he said. “We see the need for charities to desire the modernization across all jurisdictions. And, of course, we want to help facilitate that wherever we can, and grow alongside of any of that expansion that takes place in a meaningful way, in a controlled way.”
The landscape is anything but uniform.
Gregory Gemignani, an attorney at Dickinson Wright and a lecturer at UNLV’s International Center for Gaming Regulation, describes charitable gaming as fundamentally state-sanctioned—a system designed speci cally to bene t the organizations doing the fundraising. But where one state draws the lines, another may draw them very di erently.
Nevada, for instance, requires that net proceeds from charitable gaming stay within the state. Most states also cap what promoters can earn and how much gaming
can actually take place. For a company looking to expand nationally, that patchwork of rules is simply part of the terrain.
“Because, historically, if you don’t put limits on it, what you end up nding is somebody that runs a casino in a semi, where they pull up and they’ll just move from church to church to church each week,” Gemignani said. “We have a business that’s running all the time and just nding di erent charities.”
Brown calls it “gaming with a purpose”— and the mission is a speci c one. Grover Gaming’s partners aren’t casinos or resorts. They’re Moose and Elks lodges, Veterans of Foreign Wars posts and similar community organizations trying to keep their doors open and their programs running.
That sense of mission, Brown believes, is part of what kept the team intact through the transition. All approximately 120 charitable gaming sta from Grover Gaming stayed on after the acquisition.
“It showed they believe in the mission,” he said. “They believed that Light & Wonder was going to continue to help us get to a place that we could really grow what we were doing, and really lean in on the mission that we get to support with our charities.”
What the acquisition brought, Brown said, was an in ux of research and development resources, for both hardware and content, that Grover Gaming simply didn’t have on its own. The goal now is to channel that into better technology, better games and, ultimately, better outcomes for the charities depending on them.
Grover Gaming provides the games at no cost to the charities, deploying a free gaming device inside the charitable location so they immediately can start earning revenue to support their mission.
As charities consider how to modernize their o erings and grow revenue to maintain their missions, they are going to their state legislators and advocating for the bene t of charitable gaming—particularly electronic pull tabs, Brown said.
“It’s highly regulated,” he said. “So it’s a great opportunity for states to feel incredibly comfortable about the product that’s going into these charitable locations, that it’s a great environment, it’s a great gaming experience and it’s a great way for these clubs to make meaningful revenue.”
VEGAS INC NOTES
Henderson announced that Anthony Molloy is its new director of redevelopment, economic development and tourism. He served as interim director for three months and brings 18 years of experience at the city, and almost 30 years in public service, to the role. As director, Molloy will oversee strategic planning, implementation and community impact for major public-private development projects.
The Nevada Restaurant Association announced its 2026 board of directors. John Iannucci, CEO of Mas Mex, was elected board chairman. Nick McMillan, managing partner of Golden Steer Steakhouse, transitions to immediate past chairman. Other members are Christopher Smith, vice chairman of restaurants and owner, operator and partner with FRSCO Corporation; Eric Cardinali, vice chairman of allied and regional sales manager of gaming for
JOB LISTING
Marketing Specialist: Req. Any BA/BS Wage:
$50,000/YR Worksite: Las Vegas, NV Mail resume: BKJ LLC 2721 W SAHARA AVE, Las Vegas, NV, 89102
PepsiCo; John Anthony, treasurer and vice president of operations at Spaghetti On the Wall; Ericka Aviles, founder and owner of Ericka Aviles Consulting; Tharon Corbin, chief operating officer of Hash House A Go Go; and Jason Guinane, director of local sales at Sysco Las Vegas.
Stephanie Garcia-Vause, city manager and CEO for Henderson, was named Public Sector Person of the Year at the Henderson Chamber of Commerce’s 25th Annual Economic Development and Small Business Awards. Other honorees included: Summitz Footwear, Economic Development Project of the Year; M Resort, Economic Development Expansion Project of the Year; and Cadence Village Shopping Center, Redevelopment Project of the Year.
The Pizza Hut Foundation, in partnership with the Book It! reading program,
awarded a $10,000 Slice of Literacy Grant to the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. The funds will help support the Barbershop Books program, which encourages youths to discover the joy of reading through the safe, welcoming space of their neighborhood barbershops.
Cox Communications presented The Just One Project, Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth and Las Vegas Science & Natural History Museum with $75,000 Cox Charities grants in celebration of the company’s 30-year Cox Charities giving milestone.
Palms Casino Resort announced the promotion of Laura De La Cruz to assistant general manager and Crystal Robinson-Wesley to vice president of marketing and entertainment, as well as the hiring of Janice Fitzpatrick as vice president of finance.
JOB LISTING
Manager, Payments & Risk sought by Allegiant Air, LLC in Las Vegas NV to perform the following duties: Communicate issues to broad crossfunctional teams, as well as remediation & next steps in time-sensitive situations. Ensure fraud loss & charge-back rates are minimized. Oversee & supp. other treasury & revenue collection functions to ensure seamless integration & efficiencies across financial operations. Manage, coach, & dvlp. employees to have successful careers & meaningful contributions to the dept. & comp. Req: Bachelor’s degree in economics, business management, a rel. field, or foreign equiv. Employer will accept a 3-or 4-yr. Bachelor’s Degree from the U.S. or another country & 2 yrs. exp. with payments, risk, management & minimizing fraud loss. Must also possess 1 yr. of Supervisory exp. Employer will accept any suitable combo. of education, training, or exp. Telecommuting permitted on a part-time basis. Salary: $79,102.00- $92,500 per year. To apply, send resume to: Jessica.Lowe@allegiantair.com.
JOB LISTING
Senior Manufacturing Engineer sought by Aristocrat Technologies, Inc. in Henderson, NV. Delivery of new products to mfg. MS+2 or BS+5 req. <5% domestic travel req per yr. Apply by email to: Aristocrat Technologies, Inc. totalrewards@aristocrat.com (Ref. Job code: NV0417CD)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Now is an excellent time to decide your favorite color is amaranth (a vivid red-violet), sinopia (earthy red-orange) or viridian (cool blue-green, darker than jade). You might conclude that your favorite aroma is agarwood (deep, smoky, resin-soaked wood), or heliotrope (cherry-almond vanilla), or petrichor (wet soil after a rain). You are primed to deeply enhance your delight in smells, tastes, physical sensations and qualities of light. Indulge in sensory and sensual pleasures. The universe is inviting you to sharpen your appreciation for the world’s detailed beauty.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): My friend Elena buries notes of gratitude in her garden, feeding the earth with appreciation. This “Taurean genius” ensures that her life and garden flourish, as recognizing blessings attracts even more abundance. I invite you to create your own rituals for expressing thankful love. Give your appreciation weight, texture and a physical presence in the actual world.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): We often slip into daydreams that life would be right if only our circumstances were di erent. We imagine a new partner or a di erent career is the missing piece to our puzzle. However, you are likely to discover a surprising ease with your life exactly as it is. Prepare to feel a genuine, grounded peace that requires no external changes.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): A cautious voice in your head may murmur to proceed carefully and stick to dependable, expected methods. Your bold genius should interrupt that boring narrative immediately. You have earned the right to be an inquisitive wanderer, an ingenious lover and a laughing experimenter. Tell the fussy, restrictive thoughts to shut up so your fanciful storytelling can take over.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In medieval European gardens, there was a tradition of creating “pleasure labyrinths.” They were walking meditations that spiraled inward to a center, then back out again. There were no decisions and no wrong turns, just the relaxing, meditative journey itself. You deserve a metaphorical version of this right now, as you have been treating every choice as a potential dilemma. Trust that the path you are on will take you where you need to go, even if it meanders. You are o cially excused from second-guessing every turn.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22):Your eye for imperfection is a gift until impossible standards immobilize you. In the coming weeks, use your discernment in the service of growth and pleasure rather than constraint. For every flaw you identify, challenge yourself to find two things that are working well. This buoyant analysis will empower constructive change without letting your inner critic take total control.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Do not expend excessive e ort trying to force the external world to be more tranquil. That futile task distracts from your essential work of cultivating serenity within. One reliable way to shed tension is to continually place yourself in the presence of beauty. Recommit to surrounding yourself with elegance, grace and loveliness to help your spirit relax.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): In computer science, “graceful degradation” allows a system to keep running even when it encounters an error. Something in your life—a project or relationship—isn’t working as planned, but you shouldn’t burn it all down. Keep what still functions and release only what is actually broken. Not everything has to be all-or-nothing. You can be partially out of whack and still be incredibly valuable.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): At your brightest, you are a noble hunter pursuing adventures that nourish your curiosity. You make brave forays into unfamiliar territories where new truths shimmer and wait to be discovered. As the world drifts into chaos, you are called to respond with even more exploratory audacity. Refine your hunter’s craft and lift your seeking to a higher, more luminous form.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Meditation teacher Wes Nisker understood that excessive striving can sabotage the very peace we seek. I o er you permission to temporarily suspend the exhausting drive to constantly be more accomplished. Just for now, loosen your high-strung grip on self-improvement and simply be your authentic self. Allow yourself the radical, necessary luxury of being entirely purposeless.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):You sometimes spend so much energy fixing the big picture that you neglect what is up close and personal. Your gift for objectivity is immense, but it may divert you from the messy, intricate intimacy that transformation requires. Attend eagerly to the immediate details of your life. I bet they will be more interesting than you currently imagine.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In horticulture, “hardening o ” is the process of gradually exposing seedlings started indoors to outdoor conditions before transplanting them. Too much exposure too fast will shock them; no exposure at all will leave them unprepared. I believe you are being hardened o . Life is currently making small, increasing demands on your tender self to prepare you for open ground. This is preparation, not cruelty, so do not retreat into your safe greenhouse. Stay present and allow yourself to be readied for this coming shift.
LIVE THE VEGAS EXPERIENCE LIKE A PRO
Download the insider’s guide to dining, shopping, entertainment...and save money too!
DOWNLOAD THE APP FOR FREE
1,000+ VEGAS HOT SPOTS
ENABLE LOCATION TO UNLOCK NEARBY DEALS FIND WHAT’S NEAR YOU—FAST SEARCH IT. FIND IT. GO.
ENJOY EXCLUSIVE OFFERS
EXPLORE OUR COMPLETE EVENTS CALENDAR
BACKSTORY
SOULFUL CREATURES: ANIMAL MUMMIES IN ANCIENT EGYPT | BELLAGIO GALLERY OF FINE ART Historians say that many of the mummified ibises from ancient Egypt were wild-caught and saved for sacrificial purposes. The wading water birds, which thrived near warm wetlands along the Nile, were sacred and often associated with the Egyptian god Thoth. To honor that spiritual connection, ibises received embellished burials—and resting places. This ibis coffin on display at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art is one striking example of that. Carved in the shape of its namesake bird, the vessel was forged from wood, gold and silver fittings, and contains a mummy that was possibly recovered from the Tuna el-Gebel cemetery in Egypt. They loved their animals, didn’t they? –Amber Sampson
Courtesy Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art/Photographer Gavin Ashworth
