So you are planning a trip to Las Vegas!!! Now that you have booked your tickets and you have that out of the way you have to start packing and once you get there all the excitement will start!

There are a few things that you just can’t go without. But of course, you have to remember that you are going to a city with some of the best and fanciest shops in the world so finding something that you are missing should not pose a problem at all.

The first thing you should bring is your passport and ID… not that you don’t need this for absolutely everywhere that you travel to, but it is especially important here because you are going to be asked for it all the time especially if you even closely appear underage.

Remember to pack plenty of out fits because you are sure to be enjoying several evenings out where all you will want to do is dress to impress. Las Vegas is a rather fancy city and people are always dressed to the nines.

Other than some ID and some great clothes the most important factor in Las Vegas will be a bank card or some cash – this trip is enjoyable as is, but it will definitely cost you a little if you want to have some real fun!

It’s become a highly anticipated event all around the globe. Poker amateurs and professionals from Las Vegas and the world gather together in Las Vegas to battle it out with skill, strategy and of course an element of luck to compete against each other for the coveted title and the WSOP bracelet in the one and only World Series of Poker.

The WSOP will begin May 26th, 2009 and will continue through to July 15th, with the main event final table concluding on live television November 10th of this year. Most of the events will be taking place in the RIO hotel and casino located at 3700 West Flamingo Road.

The events bring in many players and spectators. Traffic in Vegas is sure to pick up around this time and continue on through the summer months. Las Vegas restaurants and entertainment venues are gearing up to entertain and cater to those that are looking for the most elite in treatment.

Online casinos are strongly supporting those that are looking to get into an event in the WSOP and launching many various tournaments that allow players a better chance to make it to the final table.

Las Vegas officials are saying that they are very happy that this event is coming to town and are hopeful that this will completely turn around everything that has been happening in recent months. Sales are at a loss and hotels are standing in place with plenty of vacancies. Hotels and casinos are excited to see some fresh faces and are ready for change.

The season finale of the popular reality TV show The Apprentice ended their 9th season this past weekend. World known professional poker player Annie Duke walked away with 2nd place in a gracious loss to 76 year old Joan Rivers.

Annie made all poker players across Las Vegas and throughout the world very proud as she raised the most money in Apprentice history for her charity and other charities as well. Poker players from far and wide made a great effort to donate and make sure to support Annie in her fight against Joan and sidekick Melissa Rivers to the end.

Joan made several attempts to knock Annie off of her winning streak but failed and most truly believe that the only reason that she won was because of her age and the respect that Donald Trump felt he owed to her.

Melissa Rivers was a complete embarrassment to watch as she ran around and through worthless fits throughout the entire season. Everyone else was also quite entertaining, the b-c class stars included, Dennis Rodman, Clint Black, Jesse James and Tom Green.

The next season of Apprentice will likely lack the celebrity edge but will promise to be quite entertaining as teams and individuals fight with everything they have to become Donald Trumps next apprentice.

Everyone loves a new hotel to check out or a new destination to visit for shopping and restaurants. But when a city such as Las Vegas is already experiencing quite the short when it comes to visitors, restaurant goers and shoppers opening some new hotels can actually be a bad thing for the ones that are trying to survive with the little action that they currently have.

There will be several new hotels, casinos, restaurants and massive shopping centers that will be opening in Las Vegas before the end of 2009. The City center is likely the biggest project that will be opening and will house one of Las Vegas’ largest hotels, casinos and of course shopping facilities.

The completion of the City center will likely bring some action to Las Vegas as a city but it will also harm the other hotels on the strip because the people visiting the new MGM development may have taken there reservations and their money to one of the other hotels that were currently in existence.

In a normal or good economy the creation of new hotels creates healthy competition and contributes to a thriving economy and hotels can bounce customers off of each other but in an economy that is bottoming out new venues leave much to be desired for the other players in town.

Could it be that things are actually looking up for Las Vegas as a tourist attraction and the casinos that make the city ever so inviting? Reports that came out from Las Vegas Casino giant LVS (also known as Las Vegas Sands) should that while numbers were down; they were still better than projections and indicated that projections weren’t a grim as some may have believed.

While this by no means translates to the end of this ever so chilling recession it does bring hope that we are heading for a much more profitable spring and summer with the hopes of rising stocks and movement in sum very stagnant projects along the Las Vegas strip.

The casinos and the share holders were very happy to hear of this information. Shares rose in overnight trading but fell slightly this morning because numbers were still weak versus the positives that had been seen in years past.

It is not surprising that predictors point in a positive direction for Las Vegas, the city is quite beautiful in the spring and summer months. There are plenty of promotions happening now, so it’s a good idea to book that long overdue trip just in time before the prices for the vacations head up as well.

And if you were one to hold you your stocks or buy when the casino stocks were really low in the single dollar range then you will likely have enough profit to cover the cost of your next trip, just remember to use your gains wisely and don’t leave them all at the tables.

There are reports that the Las Vegas Sands are considering the sale of their Macau Casino properties. When contact, the LVS authorities would neither confirm nor deny the rumor that the entire Macau operation could be up for grabs in the near future.

There have been many stories surfacing with regards to the LVS Corporation in recent times. Since the casinos and the economy overall have not been doing well in the last year or so, many companies are having to liquidate and land based casinos are now struggling to hold onto investments that they have had for years previous.

The whole casino industry has been taken by storm due to the downturn in the economy. LVS has been hit particularly hard because the company has several operations that were under construction when all the trouble began and travel has also affected the industry.

LVS is also currently rumored to be selling off retail property in Macau. Again this is something that LVS reps are not reporting on directly but the word is that it there has not been much interest in those properties that are available for sale.

The casino industry in Las Vegas itself tends to do better in the spring and summer months than it does in the future. The hope is that this next season will bring some good news not only to this casino and retail giant but to the city as a whole.

It seems that stock advisors change their recommendations about as often as they brush their teeth. From a “buy” recommendation one day to a “sell” recommendation not even 24 hours later.

MGM stock prices have been rallying in the last couple of days, this is largely due to announcements that the company may get funding support from outside sources or may sell of a few of their assets in order to continue on with the City Center project.

Unfortunately most advisors are currently saying that the rally of the stocks is quite premature and there is not concrete indication that the company is anywhere close to being out of the debt that they are currently in.

The MGM Company as a whole has approximately a 10 billion debt that will be due early in 2011. If business does not pick up and surpass projections it will be quite difficult for the company to stabilize and get back onto their feet like they have in the past.

Company reps were contacted for them to comment on the situation that they were in but there have been no responses from reps at this time.

The company and its shareholders are likely optimistic for some funds to be invested into their projects but the unfortunate truth of the economy remains the same and no one really knows for sure when businesses will be back to normal operating standards or when the economy is due to bounce back.

Some financial analysts are hopeful that things can be back to the way we were used to as early as the beginning of 2010.

Casino stocks have been all the talk in recent times and MGM is at the top of the list this week as financial analysts are recommending a “buy” call. The company is planning on liquefying certain properties in order to re-coup some of the billions in debt that have built up due to the struggling economy and the many construction projects that are still underway.

The MGM stock price is currently up to $6.18 which is up more than 50% over the numbers that the company saw last week and the weeks prior to this.

The casino company has hotels and casino all over the US as well as several other properties throughout major tourists destinations in other areas of the world.

The MGM company recently hired Morgan Stanley to help control the sale of two very lucrative hotels for the company these hotels and casinos being rumoured to be the MGM Grand Detroit and Biloxi’s Beau Rivage Casino.

The company hopes that this will help to pay off $13.5 Billion dollars in debt across the board as well as aid in some cushion for the $8.6 Billion dollar city center project that is still only footsteps underway and have a long way to go before nearing completion.

The budgets for the city center are an educated estimated amount; however experts are saying more money may be needed to complete this project since the budgets were made originally with this year in mind for completion.

MGM company reps say that the company is not happy to be losing properties but is certain that they will see a positive turn around sometime in the near future and will grow the company and pick up new business ventures along the way.

While the talk of the town is solely about the recession and how it is affecting the economy in Las Vegas along with other major cities in the world (both those that are tourist attractions and those that are not), it just so happens that Japan is saying just the opposite when it comes to Las Vegas based casino operators.

There is a particular slot like machine that is very popular among the Japanese population. This machine is called the Pachinko and is being installed all over Japan in all the land based casinos.

MGM, Las Vegas Sands abroad are reporting that while they attempt to close the gap by continuing to operate in other countries, they are nowhere near making up for the losses that they have experienced in the US and are tones away from hitting numbers that they have seen and have become accustomed to in years past.

Both the online casino and the land based casino industries seem to be weathering fairly well when compared to other industry in the economic crisis. But unfortunately this does not hold true for Las Vegas as a city that is used to entirely surviving on the money that travel and tourism brings in.

A new report that was issued this past month showed real estate sales for 2009 for the city of Las Vegas. It seems as though while average prices for a single family residential detached home are the lowest that they have been since 2001. The median selling price for the home quoted above is roughly $150,000 USD. The same exact type of home averaged at approx. $250,000 this same time last year, making that a reduction of a whopping $100,000.

As a result and reflection of what is happening in the economy the real estate markets are feeling the burn. It is a historical fact that while the real estate market mimics what happens in the stock market it usually does this relatively slower than the stock market.

And while this is not what appears to be happening at this time, it is likely that we are not yet at the lowest point and home prices will continue to drop in the Las Vegas area and most of the US for the next little while at least.

The bad news: that while the real estate market is usually slower to fall it is also slower to rise back up from the falls that it experiences.

The good news: those that are new to the real estate market in Las Vegas and surrounding states have likely never seen a better time to get into the market as right now or in the next few months to follow. For first time buyers this is nothing but a dream come true and for those few investors that all kept their assets in cash, it’s a great time to pick up and sit on property until there is a turnaround and an opportunity to flip wisely!