The rumor du jour has the owner of the New Frontier and representatives from Harrah's very, very close to signing a deal to redevelop the aging New Frontier property into a new megaresort. Popular wisdom would call it Harrah's Horseshoe, a name the corporation acquired in the deal to reopen Binion's in downtown Vegas. It would also probably be the home for the World Series of Poker, another tasty bit that Harrah's picked up. The deal is not official yet, but you can expect an announcement soon.

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A deal that is done is a doozy: $1.5 billion worth of doozy as a matter of fact.

That's how much money General Growth Properties could wind up paying for the Grand Canal Shoppes, the themed shopping mall inside the Venetian. Half of the deal is for the existing mall, and at least $250 million (and as much as three times that) for space in the Palazzo, the new megaresort to be constructed just north of the Venetian by 2006. The new owners are no strangers to the Vegas mall market -- they own the Boulevard and Meadows malls in other parts of the city.

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Looks like it's also a done deal for MGI Group and its roughly $22 million deal to buy the bankrupt Castaways Hotel near downtown Vegas. The company plans to remodel and reopen the hotel with a Latin theme, but the owners would have a lot of regulatory hoops to jump through before that can happen. I have my doubts about this one, but am eager to be proved wrong.

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Good news for food fans: The $9 million renovation of the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio is complete. The overhaul primarily focused on upgrading the dining areas with more luxe accommodations, but several of the food stations have been redone as well.

The most exciting news? An all-new dessert station featuring over 70 varieties of pies, cakes and pastries from Randy Sebastian, winner of the 2003 National Pastry Championship. If you need to find me, look there first.

Of course, none of this comes cheap. The going rates for the buffet are $12.99 for breakfast, $14.99 for lunch, and 22.99 for dinner and brunch.

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Say "happy birthday" to Sam's Town. The locals' hotel on Boulder Highway celebrated its 25th anniversary last week with cake and champagne for anyone who happened to wander in.

This Week's Trivia

Q: A deal was struck last week to purchase the bankrupt Castaways Hotel near downtown Las Vegas. What as the original name of that hotel when it opened in the 1950s? ANSWER

The Weekly Trivia Question is sponsored by the Online Memorabilia Museum at Vegas4Visitors.com

The Full Story

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