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John Katsilometes
The casino floor fills with ticket-holders hoping to win $500 in the Sahara’s cash giveaway on Friday night.
Published Saturday, May 14, 2011 | 12:34 p.m.
Updated Saturday, May 14, 2011 | 12:34 p.m.
The poker room at the Sahara, inactive during the drawing for the cash giveaway.
This morning at the Seattle’s Best Coffee at the Sahara, which has become sort of a Kats Report sub-bureau, a woman told me, “We’re all winners just for being here!”
But it would have been doubly rewarding to be a winner, monetarily. Then you could “be here” and, in this instance, be $500 richer.
As required by the state Gaming Commission, the hotel doled out the money it was keeping onsite to pay cash jackpots before the casino shuts for good Monday morning. That was a little more than $31,500, and guests were welcome to fill out raffle tickets from 1 to 6:30 p.m. Friday and drop them into a big, clear plastic drum.
Beginning at 7 p.m., the hotel’s outgoing director of slot operations, R. “Mac” McKinney, began shouting names, 10 at a time, giving those who were called 10 minutes to hustle to collect their money. Only two were absent.
The event drew hundreds of people. The casino floor was stuffed with guests -- and even employees -- hoping for some quick cash. But at the end, nearly everyone in that crowd swiftly seeped out of the hotel.
At the end, the Sahara can barely give it away.
Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats. Also, follow "Kats With the Dish" at twitter.com/KatsWithTheDish.
The Sahara was the site of one of Liberace's most outrageous birthday parties ever! He was lowered onto a cake in front of the hotel and left the event flying high above the strip in a hot air balloon.
Interesting connection that exactly 44 years later to the day the site of this party is closing.
Check out the pictures on my blog here http://t.co/nDz05it
We, who live here, recognize an era is dead. We have known this for awhile now. As the roads clear for the new boom, a shadow of what Vegas was comes back. It's not the same. Adelson, Wynn, Korion(sorry if I spelled wrong), Gaughan, and others are retiring or up in age to delegate to the next Board of Directors whom we don't know and never will. In older times, the owners walked the casino. Now, they are flying to holdings in Macao, Dubai, England, and other places; outsourcing jobs that will never come back. This was one of the last places to get a good jobs without standard education & customers had the personal service. Now, there is nothing left. Empty houses, businesses, and schools, with politicans creating worse to save their careers and money. Sahara's closing is a symbol of this new cosmo era here where we are not wanted. Next, is the Stratosphere.
What great times starting at 4 in the morning experiencing Louie Prima and Keely and Sam and the guys, or Don Rickles fracturing Nat "King" Cole and calling this former blond-haired youth, "Nazi". The excitement of attending Las Vegas lounges, such as the Sahara's, were unforgettable.