Earlier this month, MGM Mirage’s name change was finally approved by its shareholders. Now the company goes by the name of MGM Resorts International, to advertise its commitment to expanding its global presence.

MGM began its global expansion in 2007, when it opened the MGM Grand Macau, after which the company began exploring the option of opening casinos in Vietnam and Egypt. Now, MGM plans on opening over 40 casinos worldwide over the course of the next decade.

“This business model enables us to use our existing resources to extend the global presence reputation of our world famous resorts”.

At the shareholder’s meeting, the company also decided to launch a new rewards program called M Life by the end of the summer. It will first start in the company’s regional casinos before heading to Las Vegas at the end of the year.

It is great idea to launch a rewards program to coincide with MGM’s new global expansion, as it encourages players who may not be familiar with the brand to get acquainted with it. Already, experts in the gaming industry believe that MGM’s expansion will be a huge success, becoming one of the first American brands to take over the worldwide gambling industry.

Las Vegas casinos are an advertiser’s dream, as millions of customers come through their doors every year. Despite the economic recession, 28% of the American population visited at least one Las Vegas-based casino last year, making them ideal places for marketing campaigns.

To take advantage of all of the traffic that goes through Las Vegas casinos, Reel TV has launched a new advertising platform that allows television and animated ads to appear on slots machines. While slot machines are not in use and are idling, advertisements from a variety of companies show up on their screens.

Last month, the Las Vegas Sun reported that the Palms was one of the first casinos to utilize this technology, displaying advertisements for Bud Light across video poker screens. Now, dozens of other alcoholic beverage providers are looking into ways to take advantage of Reel TV’s innovative new software. Budweiser, Miller and Grey Goose are among the many companies that are lining up to use this advertising method.

Unfortunately, Reel TV has yet to implement sound technology into its offerings, but advertisers are finding ways around that. They can simply utilize the platform as they would billboards, print ads and other forms of media that do not support sound.

This is truly a unique innovation in the advertising and marketing world, and it will not be long before we see Reel TV in casinos across the country.

The newest resort-casino of Las Vegas, the Cosmopolitan will likely be the last of its kind. The $3.9 billion hotel- casino owned by Deutsche Bank, is scheduled to open its doors in December, and have two-thirds of it operational. Operation of the remaining one-third will commence by July 2011.

In comparison to many other hotels, the Cosmopolitan’s features are closer together.

“I think this really changes how a major casino-resort in Las Vegas is set up,” chief executive, John Unwin told The Associated Press. “It’s still big, but it’s not 15 minutes in terms of getting around the casino.”

Unwin become the chief executive in October, having previously served as the general manager of Caesars Palace. He has stated that the construction of the Cosmopolitan is fully funded, and the plans are in place to complete the hotel for July 2011.

When completed, the 8.7 acre property will feature 2,995 hotel rooms, 100,000-square foot casino featuring first of their kind Casino Cabanas, 3 pools with different atmospheres, and 300,000 square feet to accommodate retail, restaurant, and entertainment space which will include 13 restaurants, a 1,800-seat theatre, spa and fitness centre, a nightclub, as well as convention center. The Cosmopolitan is also the second Las Vegas hotel to feature an underground parking garage.

In August 2008, 3700 Associates LLC headed by developer Ian Bruce Eichner entered foreclosure. Deutsche Bank paid $1 billion for the half-finished development, and hired The Related Cos. to complete construction of the hotel.

There are many types of hotels in Las Vegas and the new Aria hotel and casino is already making an impression on a certain type of visitor. Guests that are coming to the hotel to check it out and stay for a visit are trending to be of the 40+ age group and of a very high income calibre. While the hotel has to be happy with that kind of crowd it is also not as common of a demographic as some others and so it may be a little harder for the Aria to sustain a fully occupied hotel at all times.

The hotel is beautiful but somehow lends itself to the more elite crowd. Those of the younger demographic are still hitting up other hotels and casinos such as the Wynn, the Encore, the Venetian and the Palms. There are many others that Vegas goers like to visit but those are some of the popular destinations for Vegas visitors that are looking for luxury among good company and a good time!

It will be interesting to see if the new hotel continues to attract the same type of demographic moving forward but chances are that the hotels tend to stay pretty consistent with the type of people that visit them until the hotels and casinos become so dated and old that they completely go down in quality which tends to change the situation a little! Either way it is a beautiful new construction project that all should check out if you are heading to the strip anytime in the near future!

It seems that Vegas may actually be picking up in action! Either that is the case or those that are coming to hang out in the city are staying up to the wee hours of the morning! There are many casinos with empty tables for players to join but the popular locations are busier than they have been in a while! It is an interesting turn in events and will be interesting to watch and see what happens as the spring and summer months continue!

Vegas casinos count on players being around all hours which is why they are open around the clock! There is never a day on the calendar that Vegas is closed down! Vegas visitors expect this and often those going to Vegas plan a trip with little to no sleep which is why this is a city that doesn’t sleep! And someone can always find something to do!

Those planning a trip to Las Vegas are normally going there for a short period of time and most trips that are booked with the Vegas hotels are roughly a 3 to 5 day period. In fact, 5 days in Vegas is considered to be a long time as many get very little sleep while they are visiting! But that is what the city is about! Having a great time with your friends, enjoying some gambling, some of the worlds best hotels, some amazing restaurants will chefs that are from all over the globe and of course partying and gambling to your hearts delight!

Many participated in the event that cities around the world took part in! The lights were out all across the globe as people participated in Earth hour from 7:30pm until 8:30pm but it was especially interesting to see a dark strip as the city of Las Vegas as well as the hotels located on the strip and in the downtown core participated in this one hour event to conserve energy and make the world that we live in a better place for all of us!

It is interesting to see something like this in Las Vegas as more often than not you can be assured that you will come to the strip and see all the hotels and casinos and lit up with many lights. After all the city has been known for the city of lights for quite some time and there is a reason for this.

Everything has been leaning to becoming more green and there has been a growing concern for our planet as a whole. The Las Vegas hotels and casinos are certainly trying to do their part in helping the situation. There have been many hotels that are converting and switching their lighting, those that are doing more to recycle and many that are just trying to run more efficiently as to increase awareness for their patrons as well as save some money while they are at it.

The earth hour is something that is said to be happening more frequently in the near future and we hope that many will come together in making it possible to prolong the future and make the whole world a better and healthier place to be!

Many come to Vegas in March! There are special deals and you can bet that all the sports books in the casinos will be packed as the fans from all over the states gather to watch, drink and bet on college basketball as March madness begins in a few short weeks. While gambling on college sports is not encouraged and sometimes frowned upon it is still a widely popular activity as many college students head to Las Vegas to enjoy their reading week as well party a little.

March is a busy month for Las Vegas as the weather begins to get better and the crowds begin to get a little busier. Hotels offer some great rates at this time and there are some amazing deals with respect to airfare as well. The best way to take advantage of the great deals right now is to sign up directly through the individual hotel website and make sure that you receive all the emails that are sent out every time there is a new promotion. Another good way to find out about good deals is to become a loyalty member at the actual hotel and casino when you are visiting Vegas. These rewards programs will rank your play and send you promotions that are catered to you and your wants.

There are also great ways to get deals on the travel sites on the web. Many are currently offering special promotions if you book your trip slightly in advance. So make sure to check out all the special offers and you are likely to get a very good deal for sometime in the very near future!

While LVS is certainly performing much better than this time last year they are not doing as well as expected and could not report extremely positive 1st quarter results for this year. The company did have quite a success in Macau but the situation in Las Vegas was still not as good as the company projections would like it to be.

The company that is headed by Sheldon Adelson has been through many ups and downs through recent times but with the newly developed and completed project in China they believed that they would have results that are over the estimates. The hope is that the company will push through the end of this recession and end up on top.

The properties that are not within the US are doing quite well but the staple hotels and casinos located in Las Vegas are bringing the company down. However, it is important to note that when these hotels are at their best they bring in the majority of the income and it is only fair to take the good with the bad.

It is not as if the LVS group of casinos and hotels within the US are the ones that are performing badly and the other hotel and casino companies are doing well. It is fair to say that the entertainment and spending on travel industries have all suffered immensely and all that is really left to do is consolidate spending as much as possible and try to run the more efficient type of business while waiting for the economy to fully recover so that better numbers can be reported.

The very popular casino and hotel company known as LVS or Las Vegas Sands is rumoured to be opening a new casino in Singapore this coming April. The casino and hotel was originally planning to open its doors to the public this coming march but it looks like those plans will be experiencing a short delay and its a little shocking that the company is expanding at all as the year for the land based casino industry has been anything but fulfilling.

The project was originally schedule to cost approximately 3.2 billion but has gone way over budget at 5.25 billion dollars. There have been several issues that added to this problem. There has been a shortage of workers as well as a change in the markets and many forks thrown in the road along the way.

The project will feature a whole assortment of luxury beauty to take in as a visitor for business or for pleasure. Apart from the stunning lavish casino the complex will hold a beautiful hotel, stunning pools and gardens, a convention centre, a performing arts theatre, and a line up of the most popular and top of the line in retail shopping stores that are sure to satisfy the most discerning shopper.

There will be many new projects that stand to be completed this year. It will be interesting to see what happens and when projects are actually completed but we will just have to wait and see what happens! One thing is for sure any project coming from Las Vegas Sands is sure to be completely and utterly gorgeous both inside and out!

Everyone loves to get something for free so its good to know who is doing what and where you can find some great freebies! Well if you are looking for some freebies in Las Vegas it may be a little hard to find considering there is a ton to pay for and there are sounds of money all throughout the city itself.

But we have done the hunt and there are a few great freebies that you can take part in if you will be in the Vegas area because it always fun to get something without paying for anything. So, are you wondering what it is that you can do?? Well depending on what you are looking for you can get anything from a free dinner to a free weeklong stay in the city on your next visit.

If you are thinking that there are strings attached – there are a few strings but nothing to worry about. So if you are looking to a get a free dinner the first thing you will have to do is find a salesperson that is trying to sell a time share in Las Vegas. These people are walking randomly throughout the hotels looking for tourists just like yourself to talk. These people will invite to a two hour presentation where you will listen to a pitch about the timeshare and they will harass you to sign some paperwork. But through your good will and strong resist to temptation you will say no and you will receive a free dinner voucher at the end of your session.

There are also great ways to get some free cash! Stay tuned for our next update and we will tell you how!