Welcome to Kimo’s Vegas… The Players Edge!!

Between December 15^th and January 5^th IGT slot machines paid out almost $12.7 million in 14 jackpots in eight states. Thirteen of them were on Wheel of Fortune machines. The biggest was over $3.8 million at the Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne, Calif. and there were jackpots on New Year's Eve, including the $264,876 that Helen Moreland hit on the quarter Wheel of Fortune at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.

Now you can get “Kimo’s Vegas” tip’s and updates on your mobile phone from Oceanic Time Warner's Vegas community, just text OCEANIC VEGAS to 32862.

Brigham Young University-Hawaii is having an all class Vegas reunion, April 6^th call Vance Cannon at 702-892-8111 or pukuniahi@aol.com for more details. Send your Vegas reunion to me at Kimo@KimosVegas dawt com.

Hall of… at last week’s AVN awards actress Tera Patrick was inducted into the adult entertainments Hall of Fame. Unlike its rock n roll counterpart you can’t go visit it in Cleveland.

“The Spirit of Ecstasy” is not the title of a Ms. Patrick movie… it’s actually the official name of the iconic ornament that adorns the hood of every Rolls-Royce that leaves the factory. The Silver Lady also comes in a limited edition platinum & diamond crusted version that’ll add another $200,000 to the price of your ride.

Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis and Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt are seeking a different kind of stimulus package for the adult entertainment industry. They’re asking Congress for a $5 billion deal similar to the one they gave car makers according to Francis its “Just to see us through hard times”. Sales of DVD and rentals have decreased by 22 percent in the past year… perhaps that’s the reason he stiffed the Wynn hotel for $2,000,000 last year.

Times are hard all over… Playboy has announced that they will not be hosting their annual Super Bowl bash this year in Tampa. It’s all part of the company’s plan to reduce operating expenses by $10 million.

A George in Vegas-speak is a good tipper… King George is code name for people like Drew Carey who’s known for leaving a $5,000 tip.

To make ends meet some Las Vegas eateries are serving smaller portions… you’ll get a 10 ounce rib-eye instead of the pre-economic slowdown’s 12 ounce for the same price.

Gambling revenue was down 16 percent in November, making it the 11^th month in a row of declines for Las Vegas Strip casinos. The soft month is partially attributable to how the casinos report slot revenues… November 29^th and 30^th get rolled into December.

State lotteries on the other hand are showing an increase in sales during the last half of 2008 and Washington D.C. was up the most at 11%.

In July one of the largest jackpots in the history of the New Jersey Lottery was hit but it wasn’t claimed until last month. Clelia Lopes bought the ticket while grocery shopping and said that it took her and husband George a long time to sink in... Then she signed the back of the ticket, placed it in a safe deposit box and hired a team of attorneys and financial experts for advice on the $126 million dollars they just won. The couple took the lump sum payment of $75,499,102.

Almost as good as being there… boxing’s biggest PPV audience was last year’s Oscar De La Hoya-Manny Pacquiao fight that was viewed 1.25 million people. Promoters expect even more folks will be watching the match between Pacquiao & Hatton this year.

Get more Kimo’s Vegas here online at Around Hawaii, and in both issues of MidWeek.

© 2006 www.KimosVegas.com Kimo Akane