Money On The Dance Floor

Trivia – How much did Judy Garland make each week at the Frontier
Hotel in Vegas in 1956? (Closest answer wins if nobody gets it
exact.) Know it? E-mail TheStripPodcast [at] aol.com or call
702-997-3300 by 4/27/11

Email: TheStripPodcast@aol.com
Twitter: @TheStripPodcast
Voicemail: 702-997-3300

This week, on the Strip: The nightclub industry in Las Vegas is a
mystery to many, including us. It’s clearly not one to Rich Wolf
who, along with Jason Strauss and some other partners opened Tao
in 200x at Venetian. They’ve been making unthinkable piles of
money ever since, even though the idea of a hip nightclub at a
Sheldon Adelson business and convention resort seemed nuts when
they spent $20 million to build it. Now they own Lavo at Palazzo
and the newest hotspot, Marquee and the Cosmopolitan. In this
conversation, we hear the mind-boggling numbers behind the
business, try to get to the bottom of where – especially in this
economy – all this money is coming from and what the appeal is of
being in a club with a celebrity. Also, did stars really get
those rumored six-figure paychecks at the height of the boom and
how much are they getting now?

In Banter: Absinthe is a critical hit, Frank Marino’s spending
habits exposed, Cosmo could be cooling off, show tickets rise,
Marriott dreams big and how seriously do Vegas resorts intend
their online responsible gaming efforts to be?