Ladbrokes owner Entain receives offer from MGM Resorts

EDIT - one week after i posted this, Britain's most successful hedge fund manager Michael Platt has taken a 6.5% stake
tl;dr
At-NAV new SPAC with world-leading expertise in online gambling. Worth a bet on potential to be next DKNG on the hype train
   
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Hi all - have had a lot of great tips from this sub. Hopefully this pays some of you back. I have been watching and researching this since 23 December when it first filed S1, awaiting the units to be listed - they are available today trading as ADERU
Positions - 500 units @ 10.42 to start. Will be monitoring and building position below $15, especially if attention starts to build ahead of units and warrants splitting and shares coming available to Robinhood.
(My other SPAC positions are OPEN, IPO-E-F, PSTH, FUSE, PIPP, ACTC, CCIV and DMYD, 100 to 1000 shares each mostly around NAV and numerous warrants and options around these.)
As ever, this is not investment advice and do your own research
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26 Capital Acquisition Corp or ADER
is a 240m SPAC with usual terms - 10$ units, 1/2 warrants. Seeking a merger in "gaming and gaming technology, branded consumer, lodging and entertainment, and Internet commerce sectors".
I think this is highly worth a play on the online gambling hype if you can get in at near NAV, based entirely on the management which is unbeatable in its knowledge of the gambling industry
   
CEO Jason Ader
has held director level positions at Las Vegas Sands Corp. ($42bn one of biggest casino groups in world), IGT (£3.72bn multinational gambling firm specialised in software and slot machines) and Playtech (£1.4bn multinational gambling software firm)
Before starting his own fund in 2013 he was regularly ranked Wall Street's top analyst on the gambling and leisure sector
His fund, Spring Owl Capital, is a small activist fund focused on gambling and leisure. They are probably most famous for ousting the CEO of Viacom in 2016 and a crusade against Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer in 2015.
Ader knows the gambling - and online gambling - industry inside out. He drove bWin to a £1.1bn takeover by gambling giant GVC (now Entain) in 2016, and has been driving similar change and demands for improvement at board level at Playtech
The fund mostly manages money for a select group of wealthy families, which could be a positive sign for the SPAC (although I don't know how much skin in the SPAC the fund has, if any)
Here is a video of Ader from November talking about how he's excited about SPACs. He talks about how he has been advising certain States about legalising sports betting and how to maximise value and liquidity by linking up with European companies in the space (Playtech e.g.??).
Ader is extremely bullish on US legalising online casino and more sports betting options, accelerated by need for revenue because of pandemic
   
Rafi Ashkenazi
One of the most highly respected names in the online gambling world, including COO and CEO positions at major online gambling firms such as Playtech and Stars Group (a world leader in online poker and casino). At Stars he led the $4.7bn takeover of Sky Betting to create the world's largest publicly listed online betting firm in 2018. Most recently he led the £10bn merger between Flutter (biggest gambling company in world by revenue, market cap £26bn), and Stars Group (Ader also involved). Also has connections into the booming Israel tech space which is interesting
   
Joseph Kaminkow
Special Advisor to the Chief Product Officer at Aristocrat, a leading gambling software provider and games publisher, previously Vice President of Game Design at Zynga Inc. This guy is a former video game / pinball designer who is credited with revolutionising the slots industry after moving into gambling software from video games in 1999. Regarded as a "legend" and "hall of famer" in this niche. At Zynga he designed so-called 'social casino games' which don't involve real-money gambling but are otherwise basically gambling apps (revenue from microtransactions etc). 130 patents on gambling/gaming design inventions
   
Greg Lyss
This is a very interesting but extremely low profile person. He was Bill Ackman a.k.a SPACman's right hand man at Gotham Capital. Ackman respected him so much that when Ackman set up a personal hedge fund to invest the Ackman family's money, he put Lyss in charge of it. To repeat - Bill Ackman thinks this guy is such a good investor and trustworthy that he put him in charge of investing his family's money. Don't know anything more about him, but I like this association with Ackman, which suggests to me some integrity around management of this SPAC, especially as the gambling world can be very murky.
The other member of the team is the CFO of SpringOwl with 20+ years' hedge fund experience and not notable (although clearly competent)
   
Thesis / potential targets
Based on the above experience and many public comments by Ader over the past year, I would be very surprised if ADER is not looking to merge with an online gambling technology provider / existing online betting website / social casino app / possibly a supporting technology provider
They are activist inventors, and specifically say in the IPO prospectus that they could look for businesses that can benefit from turnaround or are not being run well. I speculate that their deep knowledge of the European / global online gambling industry means they have a target in mind that they think would benefit from their expertise and US liberalisation of gambling legislation.
   
1) Ader believes the listing of UK-listed gambling companies in US is immediately big in terms of market cap because of the premium on online gambling stocks in US. He has pitched DraftKings to takeover Playtech and called on Playtech to spin off non-core business. This makes me wonder if he would spin off some element of Playtech to list in US to cash in on gambling hype.
This might be Finalto.com / TradeTech which is an online financial platform owned by Playtech. Playtech has been trying to sell this for 200 - 240m since August so it fits. This company provides liquidity and trading to brokerages and runs markets.com a trading site. I wouldn't be that excited although apparently the business has been booming during COVID and there could be a decent pop just on fintech hype.
   
2) This could be a 'picks and shovel' type data/B2B betting software play a la DMYD, or something like e.g. Israel based CRM software Optimove which works with some of biggest online gambling cos and has links to Ashkenazi. This would be interesting but probably not a huge pop
   
3) Possibly - given Ader's links to Sands - an online gambling tie-up with one of the big Vegas casinos who are desperate to get into the online betting space (see MGM's attempt to buy Entain for $8bn last week). Interestingly, Sands' owner Sheldon Adelson, previously a major opponent of online betting, has just died. Ader predicted a few months ago that Sands would be moving in this direction.

“There’s no stopping online gaming,” Ader said [before Adelson's death]. “(Las Vegas Sands’) initiatives to stop online gaming, at this stage, are largely historic. There hasn’t been a lot of spending recently to do that, especially post-pandemic.”
“I think the company will see the value created by DraftKings and FanDuel and Penn (National) Gaming and others. They’re not foolish,” Ader added. source

   
4) Ader is very confident that Macau will legalise online gambling in next year or two. Sands is big in Macau, the biggest gambling market in the world. A SaaS-type product positioned to capitalise on Asian gambling would be MASSIVE - at present however, China's attitude to gambling and local regulations mean this is unlikely
   
5) I also wonder if they might try to take legitimate one of the offshore bookmakers with big customer databases and brand recognition but which have been grey-area/illegal under US gaming legislation. For example, Five Dimes recently announced a settlement with the FBI to attempt to transition into newly legalised US markets. This might have the most hype potential
   
Potential upside
This is entirely a play on management experience and the meme factor / hype around online gambling in the US. I think if they pick a good target - which given their experience and connections seems likely - and get the right publicity and attention from retail investors looking for the next DKNG this could easily 3x and maybe 5-6x if on DKNG-type hype levels.
There is currently little spotlight on this and it is a good time to get in at NAV
   
Potential Downside

• Ader has been vocal that he thinks US online betting is overvalued and in a bubble - why is he starting his own SPAC in the space then? Does he just want to cash in while the hype is at all-time high or does he have a legitimate business goal?
  
• If he just wants to dump a part of Playtech which he does not like onto retail investors, this is a bad deal.
  
• Other targets could be e.g. hotel industry or other leisure sector which would be zero sexiness to retail. Given Ashkenazi and Kaminkow's background this seems unlikely though
  
• Usual SPAC caveats apply about potential difficulty finding a target, locking up your money for unspecified period of time, and the fact I may have completely misread the potential and my above thesis might be totally wrong
  

A bit of a preface: This isn’t your typical UnresolvedMysteries case, but it still baffles me. It didn’t receive enough media coverage as it should have, and people outside of Las Vegas have frankly forgotten it occurred even though it was the deadliest maas shooting in modern US history. The way the shooter prepared and carried out his plan is fascinating in a terrifying way.
A judge approved a $800 million settlement on Wednesday September 30 for victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting, which is considered the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history. Sixty people were killed and over 700 were injured. Up until two days ago, 58 people were counted in the death count, but two individuals recently died from health complications related to their shooting injuries.
After months of negotiations, all sides in a class action lawsuit against the owner of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas agreed to the settlement, plaintiffs' attorney Robert Eglet told CNN by phone.
The settlement will be divided among more than 4,000 claimants in the class action suit. The exact amounts going to each victim will be determined independently by a pair of retired judges agreed to by both sides.
To this day there is still no motive found regarding the shooting. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in an interview that the FBI, LVMPD, and CCSO were unable to “answer definitively on why Stephen Paddock committed this act”. The shooter, or domestic terrorist as he should be called, was a 64 year old avid gambler, named Steven Paddock. He spent a whole week preparing an arsenal of semi automatic weapons in his hotel room. He used a bump stock when he opened fire, which allows a semi automatic weapon to fire at a higher rate. This is shooting alone actually caused President Trump to completely ban bump stocks in the US.
Stephen Paddock actually had visited multiple other hotels near music festivals. This terrifyingly supports the fact that he had been planning this for at least a year, and was wanting to make sure he could kill the most amount of people before he was found by law enforcement. It was found that he had shot at jet fuel tanks across Las Vegas Blvd, under the assumption that it would distract people on the ground from the shooting if the tanks were to explode. The amount of premeditation is what terrifies me the most.
The Mandalay Bay is owned by MGM Resorts International. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last month, MGM indicated that only $49 million of the settlement would come from the company's funds, with the remaining $751 million being covered by liability insurance.
EDIT: I won't remove this from my original submission just to keep comment context in place, but I would like to take back what I said about the media not generating this enough coverage. I meant to say that it was baffling how no one was able to come up with an official motive that could be backed by LE. I completely forgot about the media cycle and should have remembered that.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/30/us/las-vegas-shooting-settlement-approved/index.html

Team has been involved in a substantial number of the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries’ most significant merger and acquisition transactions, holding key positions at, and transacting with Scientific Games Corp, Inspired Gaming Group, FOX Bets, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts International Holdings, PokerStars, DraftKings, Mohegan Sun, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Harrah’s Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment, Inc., TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming, Facebook, Inc, Wynn Resorts, Dubai World/MGM Resorts
Here's all the Bios. These guys are stellar! TEKK closed at $10.30 today. Still cheap!
If you don't like to read... you don't like to make money!!!!
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Matthew Davey — Chief Executive Officer and Director
Mr. Davey has over 25 years of experience within the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming ecosystems, as well as experience in the public sector. He is an experienced public company executive officer and board member. He has served in executive management positions across the gaming technology arena. Over the course of Mr. Davey’s career, he oversaw more than ten mergers and acquisitions and over $1.2 billion in debt and equity capital raised to support the companies he has led.
Most recently, Mr. Davey was Chief Executive Officer of SG Digital, the Digital Division of Scientific Games Corp. (“Scientific Games”) (Nasdaq: SGMS). SG Digital was established following the purchase by Scientific Games of NYX Gaming Group Limited (“NYX”) (formerly TSXV: NYX), where Mr. Davey served as Chief Executive Officer and Director. The NYX acquisition provided Scientific Games with a vehicle to significantly accelerate the scale and breadth of its existing digital gaming business, including the strategic expansion into sports betting. In his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of NYX, Mr. Davey developed and implemented a corporate strategy that generated strong revenue growth. Mr. Davey shaped company strategy to focus on digital gaming supplier platforms and content that provided various gaming operators with the underlying gaming and sports betting systems for their online gaming business. In 2014, Mr. Davey oversaw the initial public offering of NYX, and his experience in the digital media, sports, entertainment, leisure and gaming industries helped NYX recognize momentum as a public company. After the public offering, from 2014 to 2018, Mr. Davey oversaw seven acquisitions which helped establish NYX as one of the fastest growing global B2B real-money digital gaming and sports betting platforms. These acquisitions included:
• OpenBet: In 2016, NYX completed the $385 million acquisition of OpenBet. This was one of the more complex and transformative acquisitions that Mr. Davey oversaw at NYX. Through securing co-investments from William Hill (LSE: WMH), Sky Betting & Gaming and The Stars Group (formerly Nasdaq: TSG, TSX: TSGI), Mr. Davey was able to get the acquisition from Vitruvian Partners completed successfully, winning the deal against much larger and well capitalized competitors. By combining two established and proven B2B betting and gaming suppliers, NYX was well positioned to provide customers with exciting player-driven solutions across all major product verticals and distribution channels. This allowed NYX to become the leading B2B omni-channel sportsbook platform in the market and the supplier to over 300 gaming operators globally with an extensive library of desktop and mobile game titles, including more than 700 on NYX platforms and more than 2,000 on the OpenBet platform.
• Cryptologic/Chartwell: In 2015, NYX completed the $119 million acquisition of Cryptologic and Chartwell. The acquisition provided NYX with more than 400 titles of additional leading gaming content, a broader customer base, and direct exposure to PokerStars and Intercasino, part of the Gamesys Group (LSE: GYS) — two of the world’s largest online casino offerings.
• OnGame: In 2014, NYX completed the distressed acquisition of OnGame, a premier poker content, platform and service provider. This acquisition provided NYX with one of the best poker products in the industry, access to several regulated jurisdictions, and a valuable talent pool that was instrumental in the growth of NYX. The addition of OnGame further established a path for NYX to continue its growth in both European and U.S. markets.
These acquisitions, together with meaningful organic growth, increased NYX’s revenue from $24 million in 2014 to $184 million annualized in 2017. During that time, Mr. Davey helped build NYX to have over 200 customers in the global gaming industry and a team of 1,000 employees. Mr. Davey’s success at NYX ultimately led to its sale to Scientific Games for $631 million in 2018.
Mr. Davey joined Next Gen Gaming, the predecessor to NYX, in 2000 as the Vice President of Technology, was appointed as Executive Director in 2003 and named Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Prior to that, he was the Senior Consultant for Access Systems, a company that specializes in the provision of back-end software for licensed online casinos. Prior to joining Access, Mr. Davey worked for the Northern Territory Government specializing in matters pertaining to the internet and e-commerce along with roles in the Department of Racing and Gaming. Mr. Davey received a Bachelor of Electrical & Electronic Engineering from Northern Territory University, Australia (also known as Charles Darwin University).
Robin Chhabra — President
Mr. Chhabra has been at the forefront of corporate acquisition activity within the digital gaming landscape for over a decade. His prior experience includes leading corporate strategy, M&A, and business development at two of the global leaders in the digital gaming industry, The Stars Group (“TSG”) and William Hill, and a leading supplier, Inspired Gaming Group (Nasdaq: INSE). Mr. Chhabra served on the Group Executive Committees of each of these companies. From 2017 to May 2020, Mr. Chhabra served as Chief Corporate Development Officer at TSG and, from 2019 to August 2020, he also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Fox Bet, a leading U.S. online gaming business which is the product of a landmark partnership between TSG and FOX Sports, a transaction which he led. During that period, Mr. Chhabra led several transactions which transformed TSG into the largest publicly listed online gambling operator in the world by both revenue and market capitalization and one of the most diversified from a product and geographic perspective with revenues of over $2.5 billion. Mr. Chhabra’s M&A experience is extensive and covers multiple global geographies across the digital gaming value chain and includes the following:
• TSG/Flutter Entertainment Merger: In 2019, Mr. Chhabra led the TSG M&A team that was responsible for TSG’s $12.2 billion merger with Flutter Entertainment (LSE: FLTR). The merger between TSG and Flutter Entertainment is the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date. The combination created the largest publicly listed online gaming company with approximately 13 million active customers and leading product offerings, which include sports betting, online casino, fantasy sports and poker. The combined entity includes some of the world’s most iconic digital gaming brands such as Fanduel, Fox Bet, Sky Bet, PaddyPower, Betfair, PokerStars and SportsBet. TSG/Flutter Entertainment is one of the most geographically diverse digital gaming and media companies with leading positions in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany and Georgia.
• TSG/Sky Betting and Gaming (“SBG”): In 2018, Mr. Chhabra led the acquisition of SBG from CVC Capital Partners and Sky plc, Europe’s largest media company, in a transaction valued at $4.7 billion. At the time of the acquisition SBG was the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom and one of the fastest growing of the major operators having doubled its online market share in three years. The acquisition of SBG provided TSG with (a) greater revenue diversification, significantly enhanced expertise and exposure to sports betting just ahead of the judicial overturn of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) by the U.S. Supreme Court, (b) a leading position within the United Kingdom, the world’s largest regulated online gaming market, (c) improved products and technology as a result of the addition of SBG’s innovative casino and sports book offerings and a portfolio of popular mobile apps, and (d) expertise in deeply integrating sports betting with leading sports media companies, positioning TSG to create more engaging content, deliver faster growth and decrease customer acquisition costs.
• William Hill (LSE: WMH): At William Hill, from 2010 to 2017, Mr. Chhabra served as Group Director of Strategy and Corporate Development where he led several transactions which contributed to William Hill’s transformation from a land-based gambling operator in the United Kingdom to a leading online-led international business. Mr. Chhabra led William Hill’s entry into the U.S. sports betting and online lottery markets with the acquisition of four businesses, including the simultaneous acquisitions of three U.S. sportsbooks, Cal Neva, American Wagering and Brandywine Bookmaking, in 2011 for an aggregate purchase price of $55 million. These businesses ultimately led William Hill to achieve a leading position in the U.S. sports betting market with a market share of 24% in 2019. Additionally, Mr. Chhabra played a key role in structuring William Hill’s successful joint venture with PlayTech Plc (LSE: PTEC) in 2008. The combined entity created one of the largest online gambling businesses in Europe at the time of its formation and led to William Hill’s buyout of Playtech’s interest for $637 million in 2013. Prior to the transaction, William Hill had struggled in its attempt to establish a strong online gaming platform and a meaningful presence outside the United Kingdom.
Mr. Chhabra has also successfully completed four transactions worth over $1.2 billion in Australia, the world’s second largest regulated online gambling market, and various partnerships in Asia. Additionally, he completed several technology and media related transactions, including William Hill’s investment in NYX, where he worked with Mr. Davey on NYX’s transformational acquisition of OpenBet.
Prior to working in the gaming sector, Mr. Chhabra was an equities analyst and a management consultant. Mr. Chhabra received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Eric Matejevich — Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Matejevich is a seasoned gaming executive with extensive experience in both the online gaming and traditional casino industries. From February to August 2019, he served as Trustee and Interim-Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Casino Resort (“Ocean”) (formerly Revel Casino, which had a construction cost of $2.4 billion) in Atlantic City, where he successfully led the management team through an ownership change and operational turnaround effort. Over the course of seven months, Mr. Matejevich managed to reduce the property’s weekly cash burn of $1.5 million to an annualized cash flow run rate in excess of $20 million.
Prior to Ocean, from 2016 to 2018, Mr. Matejevich served as the Chief Financial Officer of NYX. At NYX, he focused his efforts on integrating the company’s many acquisitions and multiple debt refinancings to simplify its capital structure and provided liquidity for growth initiatives. Additionally, Mr. Matejevich was instrumental to the executive team that sold NYX to Scientific Games for $631 million.
Prior to NYX, from 2004 to 2014, Mr. Matejevich was the Chief Financial Officer of Resorts International Holdings and later, from 2011, also the Chief Operating Officer of the Atlantic Club Casino, a property under the Resorts International Holdings umbrella — a Colony Capital (NYSE: CLNY) entity. As Chief Financial Officer, he provided managerial oversight for all finance functions for a six-property casino company with annual gaming revenue exceeding $1.3 billion, 10,000 gaming positions, 7,000 hotel rooms and over 11,000 staff members during his tenure. Mr. Matejevich led the transition effort to integrate a four-casino, $1.3 billion acquisition from Harrah’s Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment (Nasdaq: CZR). As Chief Operating Officer of Atlantic Club, he lobbied for and was successful in obtaining the first internet gaming legislation passed in the United States. The Atlantic Club was the sole New Jersey casino proponent of the legislation.
Prior to serving in various gaming positions, Mr. Matejevich was a Vice President of High Yield Research for Merrill Lynch, where he managed the corporate bond research effort for the gaming and leisure sectors and marketed high yield and other debt transactions totaling $4.8 billion. Mr. Matejevich received a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from The College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania.
Our Board of Directors
Morris Bailey — Chairman
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Bailey has been a leader in turning around Atlantic City, as well as being among the first gaming executives to embrace online gaming and sports betting in the United States. In his efforts, Mr. Bailey partnered with two of the largest digital gaming companies in the world, PokerStars, part of the Stars Group, and DraftKings (Nasdaq: DKNG). In 2010, Mr. Bailey bought Resorts Atlantic City (“Resorts”) and initiated a comprehensive renovation which allowed for the property to be rebranded and repositioned. In 2012, Mr. Bailey signed an agreement with Mohegan Sun to manage the day-to-day operations of the casino. In addition to Mohegan Sun’s operational expertise and ability to reduce costs via economies of scale, Resorts gained access to their robust customer database. Soon thereafter, Mr. Bailey and his team focused on bringing online gaming to the property. In 2015, Resorts established a platform to engage in online gaming by partnering with PokerStars, now part of the $24 billion Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR), to operate an online poker room in Atlantic City. In 2018, Resorts announced deals with DraftKings and SBTech to open a sportsbook on-property and online. For 2020 year-to-date, Resorts has performed in the top quartile in internet gross gaming revenue in New Jersey. Mr. Bailey’s efforts in New Jersey helped set the framework for expansion of online sports and gaming throughout the United States.
In addition to his gaming interests, Mr. Bailey has over 50 years of experience in all facets of real estate development, asset M&A, capital markets and operations and is the founder, Chief Executive Officer and Principal of JEMB Realty, a leading real estate development, investment and management organization. Mr. Bailey has notable investment experience within the energy, finance and telecommunications sectors through investments in the Astoria Energy Plant, Basis Investment Group and Xentris Wireless.
Tony Rodio — Director Nominee
Mr. Rodio has nearly four decades of experience in the gaming industry. Most recently, Mr. Rodio served as the Chief Executive Officer and director of Caesars Entertainment Corporation (“Caesars”) (Nasdaq: CZR), one of the world’s most diversified casino-entertainment providers and the most geographically diverse U.S. casino-entertainment company, from April 2019 until its acquisition by Eldorado Resorts, Inc. in July 2020. Mr. Rodio led Caesars through its $17.3 billion merger with Eldorado Resorts, one of the largest transactions in the gaming industry to date. Additionally, Mr. Rodio was instrumental to Caesars’ expansion into the digital gaming industry and oversaw the implementation of new digital segments such as its Scientific Games powered retail sportsbook solution that now operates in various states throughout the U.S. From October 2018 to May 2019, Mr. Rodio served as Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming. Prior to Affinity Gaming, he served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Tropicana Entertainment, Inc. (“Tropicana”) for over seven years, where he was responsible for the operation of eight casino properties in seven different jurisdictions. During his time at Tropicana, Mr. Rodio oversaw a period of unprecedented growth at the company, improving overall financial results with net revenue that increased more than 50% driven by both operational improvements and expansion across regional markets. Mr. Rodio led major capital projects, including the complete renovation of Tropicana Atlantic City and Tropicana’s move to land-based operations in Evansville, Indiana. Each of these initiatives, among others, generated substantial value for Tropicana. Ultimately, Mr. Rodio’s efforts at Tropicana led to its sale to Eldorado Resorts in 2018 for $1.85 billion. Prior to Tropicana, Mr. Rodio held a succession of executive positions in Atlantic City for casino brands, including Trump Marina Hotel Casino, Harrah’s Entertainment (predecessor to Caesars), the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and Penn National Gaming. He has also served as a director of several professional and charitable organizations, including Atlantic City Alliance, United Way of Atlantic County, the Casino Associations of New Jersey and Indiana, AtlantiCare Charitable Foundation and the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming Hospitality & Tourism. Mr. Rodio brings extensive knowledge of and experience in the gaming industry, operational expertise, and a demonstrated ability to effectively design and implement company strategy. Mr. Rodio received a Bachelor of Science from Rider University and a Master of Business Administration from Monmouth University.
Marlon Goldstein — Director Nominee
Mr. Goldstein is a licensed attorney with nearly 20 years of experience in the gaming space. He joined The Stars Group (Nasdaq: TSG)(TSX: TSGI) in January 2014 as its Executive Vice-President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary until his retirement from the company in July 2020 following the merger of TSG with Flutter Entertainment, PLC (LSE: FLTR). Mr. Goldstein also previously served as the Executive Vice-President, Corporate Development and General Counsel of TSG. Mr. Goldstein was also the senior TSG executive based in the United States and was one of the primary architects of TSG’s strategic vision for its U.S.-facing business. During his tenure, TSG grew from an approximately $500 million market-cap company to an approximately $7 billion market-cap company through a combination of organic growth and strategic mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Goldstein participated in numerous M&A transactions and capital markets offerings at TSG, including several transformational transactions in the digital gaming industry. Notable transactions in which Mr. Goldstein was involved include:
• TSG/Flutter Merger: In 2019, TSG merged with Flutter for a $12.2 billion transaction value, the largest transaction in the digital gaming industry to date.
• TSG/Fox Bet Partnership: In 2019, TSG entered into a partnership with FOX Sports to create FOX Bet in the U.S., a leading U.S. online gaming business. Wall Street Research estimates an approximate $1.1 billion valuation for Fox Bet post-partnership with The Stars Group.
• TSG/Sky Betting & Gaming: In 2018, TSG acquired Sky Betting & Gaming, the largest mobile gambling operator in the United Kingdom at the time, for $4.7 billion.
• TSG/CrownBet and William Hill: In 2018, TSG simultaneously acquired CrownBet and William Hill, two Australian operators, for a total of $621 million in a multi-part transaction.
• TSG/PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker: In 2014, TSG acquired The Rational Group, which operated PokerStars and Full Tilt and was the world’s largest poker business, for $4.9 billion.
Through his ability to legally structure large and complex transactions, Mr. Goldstein was integral to TSG’s vision of becoming a full-service online gaming company. Additionally, he assisted in structuring TSG’s capital markets activity, which generated liquidity for acquisitions and strengthened its balance sheet.
Prior to joining TSG, Mr. Goldstein was a principal shareholder in the corporate and securities practice at the international law firm of Greenberg Traurig P.A., where he practiced for almost 13 years. Mr. Goldstein’s practice focused on corporate and securities matters, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, and financing transactions. Additionally, Mr. Goldstein was the founder and co-chair of the firm’s Gaming Practice, a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys representing owners, operators and developers of gaming facilities, manufacturers and suppliers of gaming devices, investment banks and lenders in financing transactions, and Indian tribes in the development and financing of gaming facilities.
Mr. Goldstein brings experience and insight that we believe will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target business. Mr. Goldstein received a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Emory University and a Juris Doctorate with highest honors from the University of Florida, College of Law.
Sean Ryan — Director Nominee
Mr. Ryan is a digital media and technology operator with extensive global experience in online payments, e-commerce, marketplaces, mobile ad networks, digital games, enterprise collaboration platforms, blockchain, real money gaming and online music. Since 2014, Mr. Ryan has been serving as Vice President of Business Platform Partnerships at Facebook, Inc. (“Facebook”) (Nasdaq: FB), where he leads a more than 500 person global organization that manages the Payments, Commerce, Novi/Blockhain, Workplace and Audience Network businesses. Prior to his current role, Mr. Ryan was hired in 2011 as the Director of Games Partnerships to lead and grow the global Games business at Facebook. While the Director of Games Partnerships, Mr. Ryan focused on re-shaping Facebook’s games and monetization strategies to derive more value for Facebook, its users and its partners, including the addition of a Real Money Gaming offering in regulated markets. Mr. Ryan’s team helped accelerate a major trend in engagement through cross-platform games and therefore the opportunity to increase users through establishing games on multiple platforms. Prior to joining Facebook, Mr. Ryan created the new social and mobile games division at News Corp, an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by Rupert Murdoch. While at News Corp, Mr. Ryan led the acquisition of Making Fun, a San Francisco social-game start-up, that created News Corp’s games publishing division.
Before joining News Corp., Mr. Ryan founded multiple digital businesses such as Twofish, Meez, Open Wager and SingShot Media. Mr. Ryan co-founded Twofish in 2009, a virtual goods and services platform that provided developers with data analytics and insights for individual application’s digital economies. Twofish was later sold to online payments provider Live Gamer, where Mr. Ryan served on the board of directors. From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Ryan founded and led Meez.com, a social entertainment service combining avatars, web games and virtual worlds. The white label social casino gaming company Open Wager was spun out of Meez and was later sold to VGW Holdings, Mr. Ryan also co-founded SingShot Media, an online karaoke community, which was sold to Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: EA) and merged into its Sims division.
We believe Mr. Ryan’s experience will be valuable to a potential initial business combination target and would provide an expanded perspective on the digital gaming landscape. Mr. Ryan received a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Tom Roche — Director Nominee
Mr. Roche has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry as a regulator, advisor and independent auditor. Mr. Roche joined Ernst & Young (“EY”) as a partner in 2003 and opened its Las Vegas office. He was subsequently appointed as the Office Managing Partner and Global Gaming Industry Market Leader. In 2016, Mr. Roche relocated to the EY Hong Kong office to supervise the expansion of the EY Global Gaming Industry practice in the Asia Pacific region. Mr. Roche has been integral to numerous transactions that have shaped the current gaming landscape, including:
• Wynn Resorts (Nasdaq: WYNN) initial public offering: Mr. Roche was the lead partner on Wynn Resort’s initial public offering, which raised $450 million in 2002.
• Harrah’s Entertainment/Apollo Management Group & Texas Pacific Group: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory advisory services on the buyout of Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s largest casino company at the time, for $17.1 billion.
• Dubai World/MGM Resorts: Mr. Roche headed the regulatory and due diligence advisory services to Dubai World in its approximately $5.1 billion investment in MGM. Dubai World bought 28.4 million MGM shares, or 9.5 percent of the casino operator, for $2.4 billion. It then invested $2.7 billion to acquire a 50% stake in MGM’s CityCenter Project, a $7.4 billion 76-acre Las Vegas development of hotels, condos and retail outlets.
• MGM Growth Properties (NYSE: MGP) initial public offering: Mr. Roche provided tax and structural transaction services to MGM Resorts in the creation of MGM Growth Properties, a publicly traded REIT engaged in the acquisition, ownership and leasing of large-scale destination entertainment and leisure resorts. MGM Growth Properties raised $1.05 billion in its 2016 initial public offering.
Mr. Roche also directed EY advisory services to boards and management teams for profit improvement and technology related initiatives. In addition, Mr. Roche provided advisory support to the American Gaming Association on several research projects, including those specifically related to sports betting, the revocation of The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) and anti-money laundering best practices in the gaming industry. Equally, he has assisted government agencies in numerous international locations with enhancing their regulatory approach to governing the industry especially in the online gambling sector.
Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Roche served as Deloitte’s National Gaming Industry Leader and as the co-head of Andersen’s Gaming Industry Practice in Las Vegas. In 1989, Mr. Roche was appointed by then Governor of the State of Nevada, Robert Miller, to serve as one of three members of the Nevada State Gaming Control Board for a four-year term, where he was directly responsible for the Audit and New Games Lab Divisions. As a board member, he spent a substantial amount of time assisting global jurisdiction regulators enact gaming legislation in the design of their regulatory structure. During his career, Roche has been involved in numerous public and private offerings of equity and debt securities. His background includes providing casino regulatory consulting services to casino licensees and to federal and state agencies including the National Indian Gaming Commission and the Nevada State Gaming Control Board, and industry associations such as the Nevada Resort Association and the American Gaming Association.
We believe Mr. Roche’s highly regarded reputation as a gaming auditor and advisor in the gaming industry will be valuable for us and a potential business combination target. Mr. Roche is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is licensed by the Nevada State Board of Accountancy and Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Southern California.

Not Financial Advice (NFA)
Warning: Wall of Text. If you hate reading just skim through the bolded/italicized
Ever since I publicized my findings on DKNG, the stock has underperformed & probably has fucked a lot of people here, especially given the overly bullish stance back in June. Unless you took my advice & got into Puts then, congrats, welcome to tendie town. For the ADHD retards, here’s what the next wall of text is going to summarize: I believe at the current price of ~$30, the stock is oversold.
A tech-focused, high-growth Company that has made sports betting easy to understand with an aesthetically pleasing interface similar to how Robinhood has neatly laid out stock market gimmicks so even high-schoolers can make sense of it I believe, is underpriced at these levels.
Let’s get into some details as to why the stock has underperformed:
First off, the news slate revolving sports with the rumored delay/cancellation of the MLB season & the NFL watching from the sidelines is in my view, just a part of why the stock has underperformed. We’ll revisit this later in this post, but I want to focus on the drivers of the stock’s recent underperformance, & why these factors are now in the rearview mirror.
Part I – The Past Has Passed – SPAC-related Equity Dilution
History lesson first: DKNG went public via a SPAC merger, which has exploded in popularity recently. Anyone serious about analyzing stocks going forward needs to do their homework on this, Google is your friend.
A feature of most SPAC merger to public listings that creates a headwind to near-term share prices are embedded equity dilution events, usually in the form of earn-outs (stock bonuses to execs, the SPAC sponsor) & conversion of Warrants.
On 5/24, the earn-outs were triggered, adding 6m shares to the share count.
On 6/26, 16.3m warrants converted to DKNG, netting them ~$188m of cash.
Stepping back a little, in addition to the above, on 6/18 DKNG launched a follow-on equity offering of 16M shares @ $40/Share [1], receiving $621M in proceeds.
The last part is tricky to understand from a dilution perspective. To simplify, historically it’s almost a coin toss whether a Company’s shares outperform on the onset of an equity offering. While issuing shares does dilute the existing shareholder base, it theoretically shouldn’t, if the proceeds from the offering are earmarked for investments/projects that yield outsized returns. This is the reality for the long term, theory for the short-term. For the short-term, the ‘reality’ isn’t that the proceeds will be used for investments/projects that yield outsized returns, it is more about how convincing management is to investors that the investments they intend to pursue with the proceeds will outweigh the dilutive effects of issuing incremental shares. That’s a mouthful, but hopefully you get what I’m trying to convey.
All of this stuff put together – the Company has increased its share count by ~39M, but now has a whopping ~$1.4Bn of cash [2]. More on this in the next section.
Part II – MLB News Should Not Fucking Matter & DKNG Is Positioned As the Leading Online/Mobile Sports Platform
DKNG should not be so tied to MLB news or any of this shit as the ongoing success of the NBA/NHL season + Soccer in Europe has effectively created a blueprint on how to regulate player behavior so that they maintain professionalism amidst the pandemic. I’m going out on a whim here, but I truly think the MLB threatening a cancellation of the season is pure posturing to get these fuckers to behave appropriately. Maybe a ‘bubble’ is what it takes to get these players to focus on their jobs instead of going out & contracting COVID, but I argue that isn’t necessarily required given Soccer in Europe. So there’s already a proven path here without the need for a bubble in Soccer, so MLB/NFL should be fine, and execs need to study how they got it done in Europe. Okay, back to some facts.
Anecdotally, I’ve kept in touch with a handful of sports bookies from California to New York & even internationally about what they’re seeing – all of them say that since the NBA season started on 7/30 & since Soccer (especially the Premier League) resumed in June, along with other leagues like La Liga & Serie A, they’ve seen massive increases in betting.
These numbers are also showing up in the official data [3]:

• Average % increase in sports betting handle from April 2020 to June 2020 (handle is the total $ wagered in sports bets) from the states that reported up to June 2020 (NJ, PA, MS, RI, WV, IA, IN, NH) of +258%!
  
  • Note: NV is left out due to the site I sourced showing a weirdly negative number – so I dug into the official filings & show specifically, Sports Mobile betting growth from June since April has growing by at least +73% [4]

REMEMBER: This is for June only! No NBA, No NHL, No MLB, just Soccer, Golf, NASCAR & UFC.
The data clearly shows that there was a ton of pent-up sports betting demand, which leads one Wall St. analyst to think that betting on the NBA/NHL could ABSORB the MLB’s sports betting handle (handle = total $ size of sports bet) [5]. Remember, the MLB season is still ongoing, with games being played. The entire focus is on the Miami Marlins & St. Louis Cardinals. Fucking retards.
Additionally, I want to remind everyone that DraftKings.com is the #1 Fantasy sports website in the U.S. [6]. Also, since April 2020 site visitations are up +86% [7] & Google Search Trends for “Draft Kings” is up ~3x compared to PRE-COVID levels [8]. What does this mean? They are piquing more people’s curiosity than prior to COVID/ongoing slate of sports.
This is important because remember that ~$1.4Bn chest full of cash I mentioned DKNG had assembled earlier? Well, that money is being put to work & results are already coming in, which is exactly what DKNG intended to do with it.
Part III – Legalization of Sports Betting in the U.S.
I could write a fucking bible on this topic alone, but for now we’ll stick to some basics. Due to COVID, it’s easy to understand that each State’s financial situation is clearly in shit. Because of this, you better believe that these guys are going to start taking a hard look at how they can extract additional tax revenues, & what’s one of the easiest ways to do this? Legalization & taxation of gambling.
The big players: CA, TX, FL & NY. First, CA pushing its legislation out to 2023 was fucked up, but here’s a twist I want to add to this: Anything that has to do with gambling in CA you better believe is lobbied against by not just the Tribal casino owners in CA, but by the deep pockets of Las Vegas money. Similar thing can be said for FL, but let’s take a look at some actions by LV/nationwide gambling companies that are starting to align financial incentives with guys like DKNG.

• MGM / GVC Holdings JV in BetMGM - $450m total invested
• PENN invests $163m into BS Sports
• Caesars has a 20% stake in William Hill plus partnership deals with The Stars Group (TSG) & our winner DKNG for operating its sports books

So it’s safe to say going forward, nationwide legalization of sports betting will reap rewards for everyone involved, & no longer be something LV money is completely focused on safeguarding.
Let’s also not forget that DKNG didn’t become the Company they are today because of their fancy app, but because their management team has a HISTORY of navigating the U.S.’s legal framework to get what they want out of it.

• The Crown Jewel – The Internet Gambling Prohibition & Enforcement Act: I said it in a previous post, but I want to emphasize that them getting Fantasy Sports to be labeled a ‘game of skill’ by FEDERAL Law as opposed to gambling is just something for the history books. Fucking genius shit. When this happened I bet every casino from LV to every Indian Tribe that has one was against it, yet DKNG & other DFS providers won.
• There’s more, but more recently: Getting into IL:
  
  • In IL, there’s an 18-month ‘penalty box’ for Companies that offer DFS to offer sports betting. Our guys at DKNG created a workaround to this situation with their partnership with Casino Queen [9]. DKNG being savvy again.

These guys are at the cutting edge of creating legal frameworks to successfully launch their products & now with more of their ‘competitors’ financially aligned with them, combined with financial deterioration of State budgets, we should see an overweighting of good news vs. bad on the legal front.
Final Part – Share Price Targets
Under-fucking priced at anything below $42.50
Near-term catalysts:
8/14: DKNG files 2Q’20 results, might be shitty, but you can bet that the Earnings Call is going to contain rhetoric on how massive the uptick in sports betting has been since late June/July.
Sometime from now until November: NY releases ‘study’ by Spectrum Gaming on online/mobile sports betting.
8/20 – 9/7: PGA Championship for FedEx Cup Title
9/5 – KY Derby
9/10: NFL KickOff Game
9/17: PGA U.S. Open Start Date
Month of October: NBA/NHL Playoffs
10/1: Estimated launch of online sports betting in TN
11/1: Estimated launch of online sports betting in VA
[1] https://draftkings.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/draftkings-announces-proposed-public-offering-class-common-stock
[2] Wall St. Research – DKNG on 6/29/20
[3] https://www.legalsportsreport.com/sports-betting/revenue/
[4] https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=16984; Note: Nevada did not break out April/May figures but from the Revenue difference of 3 month ended June 30 of 4,950 vs. month of June of 2,297 for a total difference of 2,653 spread evenly over April/May for a base case April estimate of 1,327.
[5] Wall St. Research - 7/27/20
[6] https://www.similarweb.com/top-websites/category/sports/fantasy-sports/
[7] https://www.similarweb.com/website/draftkings.com/#overview
[8] https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?geo=US&q=draft%20kings Feb 23-29, 2020 vs. Current Aug 2 – Aug 8, 2020
[9] https://www.legalsportsreport.com/42314/draftkings-illinois-sports-betting-market-access/

Following his release from prison, Danny Ocean violates his parole by traveling to California to meet his partner-in-crime and friend Rusty Ryan to propose a heist. The two go to Las Vegas to pitch the plan to wealthy friend and former casino owner Reuben Tishkoff. The plan consists of simultaneously robbing the Bellagio, the Mirage, and the MGM Grand casinos. Reuben's familiarity with casino security makes him very reluctant to get involved, but when he starts to think of it as a good way to get back at his rival, Terry Benedict, who owns all three casinos, he agrees to finance the operation. Because the casinos are required by the Nevada Gaming Commission to have enough cash on hand to cover all their patrons' bets, the three predict that on the upcoming night of a highly anticipated boxing match, the Bellagio vault will contain more than $150,000,000.
Danny and Rusty recruit eight former colleagues and criminal specialists: Linus Caldwell, a young and talented pickpocket; Frank Catton, a casino worker and con man; Virgil and Turk Malloy, a pair of gifted mechanics; Livingston Dell, an electronics and surveillance expert; Basher Tarr, an explosives expert; Saul Bloom, an elderly con man; and "The Amazing" Yen, an accomplished acrobat. Several team members carry out reconnaissance at the Bellagio to learn as much as possible about the security, the routines, the behaviors of the casino staff, and the building itself. Other members create a precise replica of the vault with which to practice maneuvering through its formidable security systems. During this planning phase, the team discovers that Danny's ex-wife, Tess, is Benedict's girlfriend. Rusty urges Danny to give up on the plan, believing Danny incapable of sound judgment while Tess is involved, but Danny refuses.
On the night of the fight, the plan is put into motion. Danny shows up at the Bellagio purposely to be seen by Benedict, who, as predicted, locks him in a storeroom with Bruiser, a bouncer. However, Bruiser is on Danny's payroll and allows him to access the vent system and join his team as they seize the vault, coincident with activities of their other team members in and around the casino. Rusty calls Benedict on a cell phone Danny dropped in Tess's coat earlier and tells him that unless he lets them have half of the money in the vault, they will blow it up; Benedict sees video footage confirming Rusty's claim. Benedict complies, having his bodyguards take the loaded duffel bags to a waiting van driven by remote control. Benedict has his men follow the van while he calls in a SWAT team to try to secure the vault. The SWAT team's arrival causes a shootout that sets off the explosives and incinerates the remaining cash. After affirming the premises otherwise secure, the SWAT team collects their gear and departs.
As Benedict arrives to examine the ruined vault himself, his men stop the van and find the bags were only loaded with flyers for prostitutes. Benedict studies the video footage and recognizes that the flooring in the vault on the video lacks the Bellagio logo, which had been added only recently to the vault. It is shown that Danny's team used their practice vault to create fake footage to fool Benedict. Furthermore, they themselves were the SWAT team and used their gear bags to take all of the money from the vault right under Benedict's nose. Benedict goes to see that Danny has seemingly been locked up in the storeroom throughout the heist and thus innocent of any crime. As Tess watches via CCTV, Danny tricks Benedict into saying he would give her up in exchange for the money. Benedict, unsatisfied with Danny's plan to get back the money, orders his men to escort Danny off the premises and inform the police that he is violating his parole by being in Las Vegas. Tess leaves Benedict and exits the hotel just in time to see Danny arrested. The rest of the team bask in the victory in front of the Fountains of the Bellagio, silently going their separate ways one-by-one. When Danny is released after serving time for his parole violation, he is met by Rusty and Tess. They drive off, closely followed by Benedict's bodyguards.

I'm Rodney, and you can see my Roomie Match compatibility profile below. Besides the compatibility assessment attached below, I’ve included a great deal more information about myself after the assessment and interview. This includes an ad of my own with more details I ran on Craigslist and even more below that about me and who I am, including various links of projects I’m involved in to varying degrees.
You can reply to this email to get in touch with me. I hope to hear from you soon.
Here's a summary of the compatibility areas they assessed:
​
I am: One man
I would prefer my roommate(s) be: Any gender is a good gender.
My sexual orientation(s)? Heterosexual
I would prefer my roommate(s) be: I am universally tolerant.
How old am I, in calendar years? over 50
I would prefer my roommate(s) be: Age is nothing but a number.
Pets? I have no pets, but could probably live with yours.
Tobacco smoking? I do NOT smoke; I COULD tolerate an indoor smoker.
* How do I keep HOUSE?
How often do I do my dishes? Not right away, but before the following day.
How long does my takeout stay in the fridge? I remove anything that offends within 72 hours or so.
Recycling? If it's easy I'll do it, but not if it's a big fuss.
Personal items left in common areas shall be . . . Placed in the owner's bedroom after 48 hours
Common area household cleaning? Cleaning of common areas can be divided if needed.
* How do I keep COMPANY?
Where am I social? One or two friends occasionally, but I'll carouse elsewhere
Household noise? If it's not really loud in my room, it's not a problem.
How often should 'significant others' stay the night? It's cool, but they should be at THEIR house more than ours.
Roommate's potential promiscuity / 'one night stands'? Occasionally might be fine. Frequently may annoy.
My attitude toward out-of-town friends staying over? Overnighters are OK, if agreements are made in advance.
Family members stopping by? They may put in an appearance once or twice a year.
* How do I keep MY END?
My attitude toward money? All of my accounts are always paid on time, in full.
What household consumables would I like to share? Food and drinks separate, then share other household stuff
Personal security issues? Let's touch base every 48 hours, no worries before then.
Home furnishings? I doubt I'd ever damage anything. If I did, I'd pay for it.
Borrowing stuff? Borrowing some things sometimes, if agreed to in advance.
* How do I keep MYSELF?
Household clothing preferences? I will observe public decency laws indoors as well as out.
Consumption of alcohol and/or recreational drugs? I'm straight edge/clean and sober; what you do is up to you.
Dietary habits? I have an occasional craving for red meat.
Personal grooming habits? I'm clean and hygienic, but not compulsive about it.
* How do I keep BUSY?
TV? I tune in for a few more shows than I'd care to admit.
Educational level? I hung out in college for awhile.
Criminal activity? I'm completely law-abiding, and proud of it!
Personal cosmologies? I steer clear of any and all religions.
What do I usually wear on weekdays? Business casual
Political outlook? left-wing - liberal - social progressive
* My FREETEXT Q and A section:
(Q: Why are you looking for a roommate now?) Rent is significantly rising in a few weeks to a rate that is far and above current rate
(Q: What do you like to do in your free time?) I collect music and films. I have probably every hit record ever and roughly a thousand films and television shows -I'm kind of an expert on all of that-plus a 4K TV, 4K Blu Ray player, computers, iPads, iPhone, etc
(Q: What do you do for a living?) I work in music licensing and publishing as an artist liaison online. It's a full time legitimate job that pays decently and one in which I set my own hours. Consequently, I sometimes work very late, very early or all night. It's not something that requires loud volumes
(Q: Are you extra sensitive to anything?) Not that I know of physically
(Q: Anything NOT in the questionnaire, but important about you?) My health isn't the greatest. I am still self sufficient
(Q: Did you have a conflict with a previous roommate?) No I haven't had a roommate for years
(Q: What might be your ideal roommate situation?) Somebody understanding who realizes this is not unlike a job. There is no such thing as a perfect fit and even the most ideal situation requires adjustment, compromise mutual respect, and mutual effort
Music / Entertainment Pro - Need Housing starting January 1 or Earlier (Westside Los Angeles, Pasadena, Beverly Hills)
I am a Music industry professional behind the scenes. I work from home in a legitimate full time music job (publishing and licensing), so I can live anywhere that has a reliable high speed internet connection. I am very knowledgeable about certain aspects of the music, film, television and commercial industries, music placement and licensing.
I collect many films and television series on Blu Ray, 4K Blu Ray, 3D Blu Ray and DVD. Maybe a thousand or so thus far. I actually keep a complete list of them which I can send upon request.
If you love music, as far as I know, I have literally every hit record and classic album track ever, digital downloads, CD's, some vinyl. Many thousand titles of those, the iTunes library alone is nearly 30,000 tracks right now, and none of them are streaming. They’re all physically owned downloads, most of those which are not out of print are from Apple’s iTunes store. I am also interested in DJing and Broadcasting.
If you are an individual or couple in the industry, I could be of use to you creatively and behind the scenes. Or if you are also someone who enjoys music and films that's also a possible positive connection. I am a caucasian male in my early 60's, of at best average health. I have lived in the same place for nearly ten years and need to move by January 1st. Rate of pay is a little over $15 an hour currently, so it really isn't enough for another place of the type I'm in now, rent will be significantly rising in January.
Write for more information.
I'm also on Instagram and Twitter, and not active on either. I get a lot of negative feedback. This is why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zR1rBjtwHI&t=5s
All of that is true. If you read my comments beneath, and there are many of them, you'll see that I've answered all the inconsistencies and reasonable objections anyone brought up. It is extremely frustrating not to get real traction on this part of the story being reported, and it seems to be a deliberate decision possibly made by people in power at various institutions that have an interest in not divulging these details – MGM Resorts and other casinos, for certain, which in turn have a large degree of influence over the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, as well as media outlets, especially the Las Vegas Review Journal which is owned by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
Those efforts are ongoing, as is my writing about them.
Here is an example of a really fantastic artist I work with that I really don't understand why hasn't secured a real record label deal yet:
https://www.audiosparx.com/LaurenAnderson
I added to the track descriptions, which was fun to do with an artist with this level of talent. So I'm pretty knowledgeable about music and very capable of writing compellingly and creatively.
Another, and this one really blows my mind. She has it all:
https://www.audiosparx.com/AbbeyScott
There's this, very diverse cast, speaking of different types of people, and this is the third time she's made slight changes to the video to give it more of an urban pop vibe. It was always great, even in pure pop form, she seems to be determined to make it a hit no matter what:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLhLSiguLKc
And there's this. Young composers conducting their own music for a full 50 piece symphony orchestra at Abbey Road studios have to be extremely rare. Felix Carcone is an immensely talented composer and musician with the potential to be really great:
https://www.audiosparx.com/felixcarcone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWxBbSiKS9c

Music / Entertainment Pro - Need Housing starting January 1 or Earlier (Westside Los Angeles, Pasadena, Beverly Hills)
I am a Music industry professional behind the scenes. I work from home in a legitimate full time music job (publishing and licensing), so I can live anywhere that has a reliable high speed internet connection. I am very knowledgeable about certain aspects of the music, film, television and commercial industries, music placement and licensing.
I collect many films and television series on Blu Ray, 4K Blu Ray, 3D Blu Ray and DVD. Maybe a thousand or so thus far. I actually keep a complete list of them which I can send upon request.
If you love music, as far as I know, I have literally every hit record and classic album track ever, digital downloads, CD's, some vinyl. Many thousand titles of those, the iTunes library alone is nearly 30,000 tracks right now, and none of them are streaming. They’re all physically owned downloads, most of those which are not out of print are from Apple’s iTunes store. I am also interested in DJing and Broadcasting.
If you are an individual or couple in the industry, I could be of use to you creatively and behind the scenes. Or if you are also someone who enjoys music and films that's also a possible positive connection. I am a caucasian male in my early 60's, of at best average health. I have lived in the same place for nearly ten years and need to move by January 1st. Rate of pay is a little over $15 an hour currently, so it really isn't enough for another place of the type I'm in now, rent will be significantly rising in January.
Write for more information.
* My entire interview ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am looking for . . . a new place to move in with roommate(s) already there AND/OR someone to find a new place together
I do live/would like to live in or near: Los Angeles, California
Maximum rent I can pay? 1400-1499
Length of stay preferred? I'd prefer long-term, hopefully a year or more.
Am I currently near where I'd like to live? yes
* My ADDITIONAL MATCHING RESTRICTIONS
I am: One man
I would prefer my roommate(s) be: Any gender is a good gender.
My sexual orientation(s)? Heterosexual
I would prefer my roommate(s) be: I am universally tolerant.
How old am I, in calendar years? over 50
I would prefer my roommate(s) be: Age is nothing but a number.
Pets? I have no pets, but could probably live with yours.
Tobacco smoking? I do NOT smoke; I COULD tolerate an indoor smoker.
* How do I keep HOUSE?
How often do I do my dishes? Not right away, but before the following day.
How long does my takeout stay in the fridge? I remove anything that offends within 72 hours or so.
Recycling? If it's easy I'll do it, but not if it's a big fuss.
Personal items left in common areas shall be . . . Placed in the owner's bedroom after 48 hours
Common area household cleaning? Cleaning of common areas can be divided if needed.
* How do I keep COMPANY?
Where am I social? One or two friends occasionally, but I'll carouse elsewhere
Household noise? If it's not really loud in my room, it's not a problem.
How often should 'significant others' stay the night? It's cool, but they should be at THEIR house more than ours.
Roommate's potential promiscuity / 'one night stands'? Occasionally might be fine. Frequently may annoy.
My attitude toward out-of-town friends staying over? Overnighters are OK, if agreements are made in advance.
Family members stopping by? They may put in an appearance once or twice a year.
* How do I keep MY END?
My attitude toward money? All of my accounts are always paid on time, in full.
What household consumables would I like to share? Food and drinks separate, then share other household stuff
Personal security issues? Let's touch base every 48 hours, no worries before then.
Home furnishings? I doubt I'd ever damage anything. If I did, I'd pay for it.
Borrowing stuff? Borrowing some things sometimes, if agreed to in advance.
* How do I keep MYSELF?
Household clothing preferences? I will observe public decency laws indoors as well as out.
Consumption of alcohol and/or recreational drugs? I'm straight edge/clean and sober; what you do is up to you.
Dietary habits? I have an occasional craving for red meat.
Personal grooming habits? I'm clean and hygienic, but not compulsive about it.
* How do I keep BUSY?
TV? I tune in for a few more shows than I'd care to admit.
Educational level? I hung out in college for awhile.
Criminal activity? I'm completely law-abiding, and proud of it!
Personal cosmologies? I steer clear of any and all religions.
What do I usually wear on weekdays? Business casual
Political outlook? left-wing - liberal - social progressive
* My FREETEXT Q and A section:
(Q: Why are you looking for a roommate now?) Rent is significantly rising in a few weeks to a rate that is far and above current rate
(Q: What do you like to do in your free time?) I collect music and films. I have probably every hit record ever and roughly a thousand films and television shows -I'm kind of an expert on all of that-plus a 4K TV, 4K Blu Ray player, computers, iPads, iPhone, etc
(Q: What do you do for a living?) I work in music licensing and publishing as an artist liaison online. It's a full time legitimate job that pays decently and one in which I set my own hours. Consequently, I sometimes work very late, very early or all night. It's not something that requires loud volumes
(Q: Are you extra sensitive to anything?) Not that I know of physically
(Q: Anything NOT in the questionnaire, but important about you?) My health isn't the greatest. I am still self sufficient
(Q: Did you have a conflict with a previous roommate?) No I haven't had a roommate for years
(Q: What might be your ideal roommate situation?) Somebody understanding who realizes this is not unlike a job. There is no such thing as a perfect fit and even the most ideal situation requires adjustment, compromise mutual respect, and mutual effort
I'm also on Instagram and Twitter, and not active on either. I get a lot of negative feedback. This is why:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zR1rBjtwHI&t=5s
All of that is true. If you read my comments beneath, and there are many of them, you'll see that I've answered all the inconsistencies and reasonable objections anyone brought up. It is extremely frustrating not to get real traction on this part of the story being reported, and it seems to be a deliberate decision possibly made by people in power at various institutions that have an interest in not divulging these details – MGM Resorts and other casinos, for certain, which in turn have a large degree of influence over the FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, as well as media outlets, especially the Las Vegas Review Journal which is owned by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson.
PLEASE NOTE - There are now other stories that confirm other angles of this story related to my experience that are not being disclosed by MGM Resorts - This includes MGM gifting security guard Jesus Campos with Real Estate to sign an NDA and not talk about the events, including that management knew there was a huge quantity of guns in the room but chose to ignore them because of Stephen Paddock's High Roller Status. See
http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/exclusive-mgm-resorts-international-buys-mandalay-bay-security-officer-jesus-campos-silence-with-all-expenses-paid-trips-condos-in-exchange-for-nda/2018/12/09
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Here is an example of a really fantastic artist I work with that I really don't understand why hasn't secured a real record label deal yet:
https://www.audiosparx.com/LaurenAnderson
I added to the track descriptions, which was fun to do with an artist with this level of talent. So I'm pretty knowledgeable about music and very capable of writing compellingly and creatively.
Another, and this one really blows my mind. She has it all:
https://www.audiosparx.com/AbbeyScott
There's this, very diverse cast, speaking of different types of people, and this is the third time she's made slight changes to the video to give it more of an urban pop vibe. It was always great, even in pure pop form, she seems to be determined to make it a hit no matter what:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLhLSiguLKc
And there's this. Young composers conducting their own music for a full 50 piece symphony orchestra at Abbey Road studios have to be extremely rare. Felix Carcone is an immensely talented composer and musician with the potential to be really great:
https://www.audiosparx.com/felixcarcone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWxBbSiKS9c

I'm a colleague of @LauraLoomer, who is jointly investigating the Las Vegas Shooting.
I need your help running this lead down:
I was told today by a Vegas gun store owner that earlier this year 2800 new cameras were installed at the Mandalay Bay hotel, and they were paid for by a joint terrorism grant from the DHS. In exchange for paying for the cameras, mounts and installation the DHS retained access to the footage from any of the cameras and the ability to tap into them directly from an off site location.
The source added that 2200 cameras were also installed at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino and 3900 cameras at the MGM Grand.
The source noted that these purchase orders/bids should be searchable on https://www.fbo.gov/ , between January 2017 & April 2017 time period. Installation would have occurred before summer 2017
Thank you ahead of time, and God Bless.
Message me on here if you want to share info privately by phone/email or DM @LauraLoomer (though she is pretty overwhelmed with messages at the moment and may not respond right away)

Attorneys for thousands of victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history said Thursday they reached a settlement expected to pay between $735 million and $800 million to those who sued over the Las Vegas massacre.
The amount of the settlement with MGM Resorts International depends on the number of plaintiffs who take part, according to a statement from Las Vegas law firm Eglet Adams, which represents nearly 2,500 victims and made the announcement just days after the second anniversary of the massacre.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the owner of the Mandalay Bay resort where the gunman opened fire into an outdoor concert on Oct. 1, 2017. The casino giant also owns the venue where 58 people died and hundreds were injured.
“Our goal has always been to resolve these matters so our community and the victims and their families can move forward in the healing process,” said Jim Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts. “This agreement with the plaintiffs’ counsel is a major step, and one that we hoped for a long time would be possible.”
An independent administrator will be appointed by a court to dole out money from the settlement fund, attorneys and MGM said. They expect to wrap up the process by late next year.
MGM’s insurers will fund a minimum of $735 million. Depending on the number of victims who participate, the company will contribute more, up to $800 million, according to the victims’ attorneys.
“Today’s agreement marks a milestone in the recovery process for the victims of the horrifying events of 1 October,” Robert Eglet, a lead plaintiffs’ counsel, said in the statement. “While nothing will be able to bring back the lives lost or undo the horrors so many suffered on that day, this settlement will provide fair compensation for thousands of victims and their families.”
He said the deal “represents good corporate citizenship” by MGM Resorts.
The statement comes as another attorney for victims planned a news conference on “extremely important developments” Thursday in San Diego.

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I went on vacation to Las Vegas with my wife from July 2nd-7th. This was my 5th trip and our 3rd together. Here's my (excessively long) trip report:
Hotel
This time we stayed at the Cosmopolitan, and we had a Terrace Studio Fountain View room. It was our first stay at Cosmo (I'd been to Wynn, Luxor, Aria Sky Suites, and Bellagio previously), and the hotel was great. I thought our room was nicer than the one we had at Bellagio last year and for a cheaper price (friend who is a travel agent got us a pretty good deal). Literally the only downside I can think of is not being able to listen to the fountain music on TV. We were in the Chelsea Tower (which is larger than Boulevard), and had a great balcony view.
Cosmo definitely attracts a younger crowd than some of the other casinos on the strip- lots of people in their 20s and 30s staying here. There are two main pools, one in each tower. When we went down to the Chelsea Pool around 11am on the 3rd, literally every seat was already taken. Note: Chelsea Tower is much larger than Boulevard, but its pool is much smaller. We hiked over to the Boulevard Pool and settled in. Great view looking over the strip with a livlier atmosphere than you'll find at the Bellagio's pools. Also worth noting the water is pretty shallow- no more than 4' deep. The most amusing part of our swimming experience was watching an Asian kid, probably 10 years old, swim all around the place, bumping in to every other group there, and saying hi. Seemed odd that he was basically on his own at that age, but he was clearly having a helluva time.
One of the best parts about Cosmo is its location- right in the center of the strip, which makes an easy walk to most of the other casinos. It has a great selection of restaurants (see below) and modern decor as well. One notable omission in my opinion is it doesn't have any shows/productions in house. The casino also doesn't have a poker room, but I didn't end up playing during this trip anyhow. Easy walk to the Bellagio or Aria poker rooms regardless.
Checkin to the hotel was very easy. Our flight got in to Vegas at about 8am on Sunday, so the room wasn't ready yet when we arrived. They took down all my info, and we left our bags with the bellhop. They sent a text message when the room was ready around noon, and they brought the bags up to our room. I used the online checkout on Friday morning. Easy peasy.
Uber
Side note- I'd never used Uber before this trip. Definitely recommend it for others in the same boat. Cheap/easy to use, and I liked riding with the average Uber driver more than the average cabbie. Each hotel has its own pickup/dropoff location for UbeLyft- just ask any employee, and they'll point you in the right direction. I never had to wait more than five minutes to get my ride.
Shows/attractions
The only show we saw on this trip was Ka at the MGM Grand. I'd pretty much recommend any Cirque du Soleil show on the strip- they're all pretty amazing. O at the Bellagio is probably my favorite, but Ka was great in its own right. Supposedly it's unique among Cirque shows in that it has a big storyline, but uh... I'd just say there's not much of one. Amusing moment before the show: I get a text message from my wife, who is sitting right next to me. "Am I sitting next to a drag queen?" I looked over. Yes, yes you are.
We also made a trip to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I felt like the line for tickets was pretty absurdly long. I realized the reason for that when we got in- the whole aquarium was about half as big as I expected, so they needed to keep the flow of people in fairly slow. Having said that, the exhibits they did have were great, and there was no shortage of staff floating around to answer any questions you might have. Definitely a good spot to bring the family to in Vegas.
Food
The biggest reason we love Vegas is the food. Yes, my wife and I are the annoying people who post pictures of thier food on Facebook. The great thing about Vegas is there's multiple restaurant for just about any cuisine you can imagine right on the strip.
Wicked Spoon Buffet at Cosmopolitan (7-2-17 brunch): I like to hit up a buffet once whenever I visit Vegas, and none have disappointed. These places definitely aren't the Golden Corral. Our flight got in pretty early Sunday, so stuffing ourselves at the buffet and having extra time before dinner seemed like a good idea. To start things off, I'm a sucker for an omelette station, so I grabbed a Denver style omelette. Added some cheesy hash brown casserole (one of the best things I had), and a verrine. I have no idea what a verrine is, but it was basically a shot glass filled with mashed avocado, grapefruit, and a bit of crab. Good stuff. Had I stopped here, I would have had a normal sized brunch by most people's standards. Of course the entire point of a Vegas buffet is getting full value by stuffing yourself so full you can't walk, so I made more trips.
Next up I grabbed a jerk chicken thigh, a few pieces of spicy tuna sushi, some house-made italian sausage, and yogurt/fruit. The jerk chicken was perfect in that after the first bite I thought- that's not that spicy. 3 bites in, I'm feeling it a bit. By the end, I'm chugging my coffee/juice.
Finally it was time for dessert. When I first visited Vegas back in 2005, my friend informed me that the #1 rule of Vegas buffets is that you must try the bread pudding. You are not supposed to question the reasoning behind the rule, nor are you supposed to debate whether it's necessary. You simply do it. Wicked Spoon featured a bourbon white chocolate bread pudding. It was good, but I wasn't sure what to make of it since it tasted more like butterscotch than bourbon to me. I also had half a mango danish and some little chocolate tart. I thought I was done at this point until my wife brought back some gelato. I couldn't sit there and watch her eat, so I ended up getting some coconut-lime gelato for myself. The selection is pretty ridiculous- about 18 flavors to choose from. After the gelato, I finally waved the white flag.
Picasso at Bellagio (7-2-17 dinner): We've been wanting to visit Picasso for a while now. I was going to book a reservation here for our honeymoon back in 2014, but as it turns out they typically take a 2 week vacation in July every year. We ran into the same problem last year, but they were open on Sunday the 2nd this time before closing. Finally, we had our chance.
Picasso is basically fancy-pants French fine dining at its best. If you've ever seen the movie Ocean's Eleven, the restaurant scene was filmed there. We were seated at a table next to the window with the Bellagio fountain outside, and my wife had a real Picasso painting above her shoulder. So uh... not bad. I wore a suit and tie, but you really don't need to- wear khakis and a nice shirt, and you'll fit in fine.
We both ordered from the four course prix fixe tasting menu. My goal when eating out at nice places is to get stuff I don't cook myself / haven't tried much before. First course I got the poached oysters. The dish was basically smooth, melt-in-your-mouth like butter. Next up was the foie gras. This was the second time I've foie gras, and I've decided it's just not my thing. I could tell it was prepared properly, but I just don't think it has much flavor. The rhubarb chutney on the side was good, though. For the entree, I had the roasted milk-fed veal chop. After the first bite I literally started laughing, basically thinking, "Where has this been all my life?" Literally one of the best things I've ever eaten. If I had to nitpick, it was cooked a touch rare for my liking. But it was amazing. I wanted a lighter dessert given how much food I'd stuffed myself with that day, so I got a pineapple tart with prickly pear sorbet. Almost too pretty to eat.
Picasso is definitely the type of restaurant you take your date to if you're wanting to impress them. I like Le Cirque a bit more based on my two trips there previously. Le Cirque is a much smaller restaurant, just feels like a more intimate setting, and the service seemed a little more personal. But really you can't go wrong either way. Also, it was a nice touch seeing the chef, Julian Serrano, as we left the restaurant.
China Poblano at Cosmopolitan (7-3-17 lunch): The best way to explain China Poblano is that it seems like one person wanted to start up a Mexican restaurant at Cosmo, one person wanted to start up a Chinese restaurant, and then some executive asked, "Why don't we have both?" There are literally two different kitchens in the same restaurant, and the food is served tapas style- dishes just come out one by one whenever they're ready.
We started off with the queso fundido for an appetizer- pretty standard stuff. I ordered two tacos from the Mexican menu, one taco suadero (brisket), one carnitas. The brisket was good, the carnitas was great. Because if eating a taco with pork rinds on it is wrong, then I don't want to be right. I decided to get Mongolian beef lettuce from the Chinese menu, because I remember reading an IAMA from a Chinese restaurant owner a while back who said that was one of the best things on the menu that people rarely ordered. And he was right. We skipped dessert since our stomachs were still half full from eating the day before.
Estiatorio Milos at Cosmopolitan (7-3-17 dinner): Milos is proof that food doesn't have to be fancy to be fantastic. They just use high-quality ingredients, use a simple preparation, and let the food do the talking. The neat part about this place is that they really don't have specific fish on the menu. Instead you walk up to the fish case, pick out the one you want, and let your server know how you want it prepared. And marvel at the produce while you're at it.
We ordered the tzatziki as an appetizer, and at first I wasn't going to take a picture of it since it's just tzatziki. And then I tasted it. And I decided it deserved a picture- the best I've ever had. Next up was a Greek salad which was ridiculously good. Those definitely aren't the tomatoes you buy at Kroger. We chose lithrini, which seemed like a generic white fish, for our entree. Pan-seared with lemon, capers, and herbs. Some basic potatoes and broccoli for our sides. Milos is one of our top recommendations for people visiting Vegas.
Milk Bar at Cosmopolitan (7-3-17 dessert): We skipped dessert at Milos because we wanted to try out the Milk Bar. I grabbed one of the much-hyped compost cookies, which I actually thought was nothing special, and a spiked chocolate malt milkshake. The shake was awesome. I ended up coming back later in the trip and got a spiked coffee shake as well. Not sure they're worth $12 apiece, but you're in Vegas, so what the hell.
Eiffel Tower Restaurant (7-4-17 lunch): My wife had put this on the list of places to visit a month ahead of time, so we ended up going here for lunch. You enter the restaurant by going up an elevator in the main floor of the casino, and the doors open to give you a nice view of the kitchen. I always like restaurants where you can see people work in an open kitchen, so I thought this was a nice touch. We had reservations for when the restaurant opened, so we managed to snag one of the best tables in the place with a great view of the strip. We started off with the cheese tray as an appetizer, which was most notable for the honeycomb. I think that's the first time I've ever had real honeycomb, and it was delicious. I decided to go brunch-ish for my meal and order the lobster eggs benedict, which was easily the best eggs benedict I've ever had. We shared a frozen strawberry souffle for dessert, and the best compliment I can give about this is that we immediately began looking up recipes to make our own when we got back to our hotel room. Overall a great meal, and I think we'll head back here for dinner during our next trip to Vegas.
Tetsu at Aria (7-4-17 dinner): I'd wanted to visit a Japanese steakhouse while in town (especially since the favorite place in my town was run down by new ownership and closed), and I was a little surprised to find there weren't many options. Tetsu is actually a sectioned off portion of the BarMasa restaurant in Aria, and you can order sushi from BarMasa's menu while there. Which I did. I'm far from a sushi connoisseur, but I thought it tasted like a standard salmon roll- good, but I wasn't blown away by it or anything.
As far as the hibachi grill itself goes, the first thing to note is that the chefs basically just prepare the food in front of you but don't put on any sort of show. So if you're wanting to impress the family with a flaming onion volcano and eggs juggled on a spatula, this isn't your place. It's about the food, and the food was fantastic. I had the whole lobster, which is every bit as good as it looks. The chili shrimp cilantro fried rice was as good as the lobster, and I had some brussels sprouts on the side. My wife got the fingerling potatoes as a more photogenic side dish to her chicken. They also serve prime A5 Japanese Ohmi beef, but I couldn't justify spending $132 on a 4 oz steak. We had chocolate sesame ice cream for dessert, and the sesame was actually a lot stronger than I thought it would be (might actually put some people off).
Of course one of the fun parts of eating at these places is talking to people seated with you at the table. One of the ladies next to us teased a server, trying to get his name badge, Harvey (definitely not his given name), since apparently a guy named Harvey founded the golf club she worked at. Even went so far as to summon the manager to see if she could get the badge, but ultimately she failed in her negotiations. Everyone at the table had a laugh about the situation.
Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay (7-5-17 lunch): We were looking for a lunch spot down on this end of the strip before heading to the aquarium, and the Burger Bar (actually located in a walkway between Mandalay Bay and Luxor) came recommended by several people. To start with, they had a great beer menu. I ordered the classic bacon cheeseburger with onion rings. Great burger, cooked perfectly. I know there are several excellent burger joints on the strip, so it's probably not worth making a special trip far out of your way to come here. It's a great option if you want a burger and are on the south end of the strip, though.
Lemongrass at Aria (7-5-17 dinner): Next up, some Thai food. We had some pot stickers for an appetizer, which I thought were pretty average. Nothing to stand out here from your average takeout in either taste or presentation. My wife decided to order some wonton soup to share, and I'm glad she did. It was freakin' amazing- easily the best part of the meal. I wanted something light for my meal, so I ordered the garlic and lime steamed cod. The surprised reaction of the waitress seemed to imply that nobody ever ordered that. It was good, but you better love lime if you get it.
As luck would have it, the one time we received poor (exceptionally slow) service on the trip was when we had our meal before a show. We had to skip dessert so that we could make it down to MGM Grand in time to see Ka.
Olives at Bellagio (7-6-17 lunch): We thought about hitting up Lago for lunch, but since we were headed to Sinatra for dinner we wanted to avoid back to back Italian. Olives had a nice deal on a 3 course prix fixe lunch menu, so we ordered from that. I had the Caesar salad to start, followed it up with fish and chips, and finished it off with tiramisu. A bit of an odd combo, but a good meal. Nothing exceptional. Great server, though.
Sinatra at Encore (7-6-17 dinner): Another place we'd wanted to visit on previous trips but never had a chance to. There's tons of Frank Sinatra themed memorabilia in the place, including a Grammy, Emmy, and Oscar as you walk in the door. I'd describe the place as lively but classy as hell- which is pretty much what you'd want when going to a Rat Pack themed place.
To start off with, I ordered an Old Fashioned. It's one of my favorite drinks to order because everyone does it differently, and you never know what you're going to get. Well, it was the best Old Fashioned I've had in my left. I meant to ask the waiter what type of boorbon they used, but ultimately forgot. We ended up sharing the estiva for an appetizer, which is basically a watermelon salad. I ordered the gnochetti for my entree, which tasted great, but the portion size kind of left me wondering where the rest of it was. We shared the panna cotta for dessert, which was as good as it looked.
Eggslut at Cosmopolitan (7-7-17 breakfast): Eggslut is a casual stand at Cosmo that pretty much sells egg sandwiches all day long. I had the Fairfax with bacon, which is pretty much what they're known for. I think the reason why it was such a great sandwich was they kept the eggs inside creamy, whereas most breakfast sandwiches have the eggs cooked hard as a rock. When you walk up to the place your first thought is- whoa! Only $8... finally a reasonably priced meal. And then you realize they charge $5 for a cup of coffee or orange juice, and you remember you're still in Vegas. Regardless, this place is a good stop for breakfast or a late night snack.
Overall a great trip. Can't wait to go back again and try some different places.

Got into LAS on a non-stop from my home airport at about 10:30pm. Ordered a Lyft when I was approaching baggage claim and by the time I got to 2M where the rideshare is for terminal one the ride was there.
Arrived at Vdara after a ~18 min ride (normal strip traffic). Staying on a comp, got upgraded (no sandwich) to an Executive Corner Suite which was a nice room with a full sized kitchen and 1.5 baths. Went out to check the Bellagio Conservatory, walk the strip with the people I was with. Conservatory is a rotating floral display that's huge and always interesting with cool displays and fun themes. It's free and always fun to check out, I recommend it if you're in the area.
Ended up at Haute Doggery at the link, ate a Billionaire dog which is delicious as always. On the way back to Vdara stopped at Aria for some green chip BJ. Ended up slightly at about 230am went back for bed.
Up early the next day at 8:00am. By 8:30am we were at Wicked Spoon for their brunch and bottomless drinks. It's 53$ (before tax and tip) for all you can eat and all you can drink miller lite, champagne, bloody marys or house wine. We went with champagne, but they let you switch if you get tired of your choice. There's something about Wicked Spoon servers; they are always so nice, friendly and boy do they give you a lot of booze! They will just bring the whole bottles of champagne to the table so you don't have to constantly ask for refills.
Food is of good quality, Bacchanal is better overall quality wise but for value and booze I think Wicked Spoon wins overall. Stand outs were their bone marrow and roast sirloin which was cooked to a perfect rare. Note: aside from some sushi/sashimi there's no crab/shrimp at this brunch buffet, which is one of my only complaints about the place.
Wicked spoon gets very busy on weekend brunch, so go early unless you're okay with a wait. By the time we left at ~11am the line was probably 150 people long.
After wicked spoon walked back through Aria to place bets on the Kentucky Derby and the NBA playoff games. One of us ended up picking Justify, so that was a fun win. I ended up having a decent amount on the Celtics straight up at +375 (plus another Celtics +9 bet) so I ended up doing well on the day sports betting. Long lines at the sports book even at 11:15am due to the Derby.
After that went to pool at Vdara. Despite being smaller and at prime time, finding chairs was not hard. Staff very nice and came around with free ice waters. Bought some beers at the pool bar and they were not too bad price wise: about 6$ which for a bar at a pool on the strip is pretty dang good.
Went up to the room, changed real quick and then went down to play some more green chip BJ at Aria. Played okay and ended down slightly. Nice dealers and good drink service. Be careful on your table selection though: I saw a 50$ table that only paid 6:5!
After that went back up to the room at Vdara to watch the end of the Cs game and catch a nap. After the nap woke up and got ready. We had tickets to Opium a new Spiegelworld show (the people behind Absinthe) for the 8pm showing at the Cosmo. Got excellent discount codes from vitalvegas.com so the tickets were only about ~27$ each which is totally worth it. Show was great: It's a small theater and definitively a variety show. Mix of humor, contortionist, singing, drag, dancing, juggling, and more. Is part of a newer wave of smaller, more intimate, more "hipster" shows popping up on the strip like the Great Miss Behave's Gameshow I saw a few months earlier.
After the show took a Lyft downtown. Downtown was INSANELY busy. By far the busiest I've ever seen it. I've been there for the Superbowl, March Madness, etc. and I've never seen downtown like that. Couldn't get a table downtown for BJ it was so busy! Went to Oak and Ivy at the Container park which is an amazing whiskey/cocktail bar I always recommend and the drinks were excellent.
After that took a Lyft back to the strip. Were hungry so ate at Shake Shack at NYNY which is a decent and quick burger. I remember going to the original Shake Shack back in NYC so it was not anything too exotic but a solid burger non the less. I got the Shack Stack which has a cheese-stuffed fried portabello mushroom on top of a burger. Very good.
After that some more green chip BJ at Aria were I ended up slightly up on the session, but down a little on the trip from the previous session in the day. Because of the Cs coming up big though, I ended up quite a bit on the trip.
Went to bed and woke up at 7am and out the door at 7:45am. Had a flight at 9:15am. The last few times I've flown out of Terminal 1 C gates they've had the "everyone is pre-check" policy which ends up taking a bit longer for more me since I already have pre-check and it just makes the line longer. Took about 20 mins to get through security, so timing was no problem for my flight home.
Takeaways:
Vdara was very nice and a good location overall but it is a bummer there's not a lot of food options without having to walk.
Vegas is all in on the Vegas Golden Knights and it's cool to see. All hotels/casinos had staff wearing jerseys and all the marquees had messages for the Knights, even casinos that compete with MGM. (MGM is a part owner of the arena they play in)
Downtown is becoming more and more popular. Each time I'm there it's more crowded. I think this is a good thing because hopefully it spurs more development downtown but also a little worrisome because I worry it will bring the bad parts of the strip downtown like increasing prices, worse gambling odds, and pricing out locally owned restaurants and bars.
It's a busy summer so my next trip will not be till August! Thanks for reading!

“Risk factors” for corporations typically include things such as increased foreign competition, changing consumer behavior, or perhaps the odd natural disaster.
But mass shootings have become so commonplace that some companies are now including them in the business risk sections of their annual reports. The SEC mandates that all companies detail the factors that might make an investment in the company risky.
In its past two annual reports, Caesars Entertainment noted that “visitation to Las Vegas also declined following the mass shooting tragedy on October 1, 2017.”
And Wynn Resorts included the following paragraph: “Furthermore, the attack in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017 underscores the possibility that large public facilities could become the target of mass shootings or other attacks in the future. The occurrence or the possibility of attacks could cause all or portions of affected properties to be shut down for prolonged periods, resulting in a loss of income; generally reduce travel to affected areas for tourism and business or adversely affect the willingness of customers to stay in or avail themselves of the services of the affected properties; expose us to a risk of monetary claims arising from death, injury or damage to property caused by any such attack; and result in higher costs for security and insurance premiums, all of which could adversely affect our results.” Interestingly MGM Resorts International, the owner of Mandalay where the Las Vegas shooting took place, did not include it in their risk factors, but did include it in their legal proceedings section.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Del Taco Restaurants, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, and Stratus Properties have all added active-shooter situations to the “risk factors” sections of their annual reports this year.
Del Taco, a California-based restaurant chain said “terrorist attacks or an active shooter could have a material adverse effect on consumer spending,” in its March filing. Dave & Buster’s, a Dallas-based entertainment and dining chain cited acts of violence, “including active shooter situations” could cause customers to avoid their stores, which would adversely affect their business.
The number of fatalities continues to rise from mass shootings, including two incidents over the weekend killing 31 victims. One mass shooting that took 22 lives occurred at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Walmart does not list gun violence, active shooters, or mass shootings in its risk factors section. It does mention such geo-political circumstances as war and terrorist attacks as many publicly traded companies do.
Like other catastrophes, both natural and man-made, so much of mass gun violence is random. “These things are difficult because you don’t know where it’s going to happen,” says Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “It’s societal. It’s something that almost everyone is aware of as a risk factor. It’s beyond the control of the company.”
Every company has risks. And the Securities and Exchange Commission requires publicly traded companies to disclose to investors the significant factors that make an investment in the company’s offerings speculative or risky, according to Laura Richman, a corporate and securities attorney at Chicago law firm Mayer Brown, whose specialties include corporate governance and SEC disclosures. Risk factors aren’t supposed to be generic, according to the SEC rule, but specific to a particular company.
When it comes to mass shootings, there are some companies that may be more susceptible than others because of the industry they’re in, Richman notes. Publicly traded companies that operate stores, restaurants, movie theaters, concert venues, hotels and casinos—places where large numbers of people gather—may decide gun violence poses a noteworthy risk to their investors if an incident occurs and customers no longer feel comfortable going to their venues.
For companies that make or sell guns, there could be concern about publicity from mass shootings damaging corporate reputation or resulting in a legislative response that restricts sales. As the largest general retailer and a gun seller, Walmart falls under both of these scenarios. CEO Doug McMillon is surely grappling with this position. He wrote an Instagram post yesterday saying: “We’ll be thoughtful and deliberate in our responses, and will act in a way that reflects our best values and ideals, focused on the needs of our customers, associates, and communities.”
Despite the irrational and random nature of mass shooting perpetrators, the tragedy over the weekend in El Paso, could motivate Walmart, along with other large merchandisers, to start adding language around mass shootings to their risk factors section in next year’s disclosures. “I think that’s quite possible to the extent that if some companies start doing it, other companies may also choose to do it,” says Richman.

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Two years ago, I took a look back on my life and thought, was the work I was doing really something I was proud of?
As a kid, I was moved from one foster family in Vegas to another. My parents died before I can remember. My daily routine was as such, no matter what home I was in. I worked out my body during the day and read at night to educate my mind.
As life went on, when I was old enough to work, I started out as a floor sweeper outside of a casino. Later, I made my way up to become a blackjack dealer, eventually working my way up to mechanic—a blackjack dealer who is so good with his hands, he can pull any card from the deck. Since I was one of the best, the house only brought me out to handle the players suspected of card counting. It was good money. But, as most jobs, it got boring. One evening, I decided to tell my boss that I would like to move up; do a little something different. He gave me the once over, saw how tall I was along with how much muscle I had, and asked if I would be interested in security. I told him I was indeed.
That’s when I met the man himself. The one and only, Dana White, the modern day Godfather of Las Vegas. Say what you want about the guy; but to me, he has a mind like no other. He had heard good things about me and partnered me up with a guy named Vino. Vino was an ex-navy seal, who had specialized in combat and torture. He taught me a lot. Some of the things I still have nightmares about to this day. Even though the guy scared me, he was honest. As an example: there was this one guy—Jimmy, I think his name was—who owed the house $75,000 and couldn’t pay. See, if you’re staying at a hotel in Vegas, you can walk into the hotel casino and ask for $25,000 in chips. They will ask for your ID, making you sign a paper, and charge it to your hotel bill. At the end of your stay, if you don’t have the cash, that’s where we have a problem. You deal with people like me.
When Dana found out this Jimmy couldn’t pay, naturally, Vino and I were brought in to settle the dispute. Mediators, if you will. We did our thing and got him to sign his car to us, a Mercedes-Benz convertible SL. Since the car was worth about $100,000, the guy walked away with a good $15,000 in cash. See, we were good people. Honest-like.
Toward my early thirties, I had done a lot of things I wasn’t proud of. I felt myself, getting darker and darker. I was getting too desensitized. I also tortured people for a living when they couldn’t pay. Towards this point in my career, their screams of pain became more of an annoyance, but I couldn’t gag them because I needed information. If they had a stash in a safe somewhere, etc.
Also, I wasn’t enjoying it anymore. It wasn’t fun like it used to be. It became “just a job.” I tried spicing up my torture sessions by adding more of a variety. See, I have this potato peeler, right? Only I replaced the standard blades with sharped razors. Believe it or not, that works. Human skin peels just like a potato. You can shave over and over again, and thin layers of skin will peal right off. It’s a very effective method of torture. You should try it sometime. Dana loved the tool; even wanted one as a Christmas present. As a joke, he named me, “The Carver.”
But, anyways . . . not only did I do torture, I was also in charge of disposals. That’s exactly what it sounds like. If somebody needs to be . . . “handled,” I would take care of the individual and dispose of the body by burying it in the desert. Believe or not, this happens all the time in Vegas. And I was the guy who got it done. But, like I said, after all of these years of committing horrible acts, I didn’t like what I was becoming.
That’s when I talked to Dana and told him what was up. I told him I needed a break. Surprisingly, he was quite understanding. He told me I always had a job waiting for me if I ever wanted to return. I told him thank you.
For the next couple of months, I enjoyed my retirement. I had a lot of money saved up. To thank me for my work, Dana had given me a decent sized house and car. I always suspected that he never wanted me to leave town, that he wanted to keep a close eye on me, and I was fine with that. I didn’t even mind the extra app on my phone that monitored my GPS, or the security system Dana had installed in my house with the cameras constantly recording in every room.
Since I knew a lot about the business, I understood how things worked. I even checked in with him every so often, competed in a couple of poker tournaments to keep up appearances, and went to all the UFC events. I finally felt like I had some sort of happiness, but there was always a void in my life, and I wasn’t sure how to fill it.
Then, one night, everything changed. I happened to be leaving the Luxor when I heard a cry of pain from the main road. It was sloppy. Too many tourists around to hear. When I moved to the alley to investigate, I saw a mugging. Two guys. One girl—one of the prettiest I’d ever seen. Then I realized it wasn’t a mugging when I saw one of the guys undoing his belt buckle.
I took a step forward. “Everything alright?”
With sheer terror on her face, the girl begged for my help. That’s when I noticed who the two guys were. Two small-time dealers who used to work for me at the Mandalay Bay. When they saw who I was, they took off running. It didn’t matter. If I needed to, I could easily find out where they lived.
I approached the lady and handed her my cell. She called the police, and an ambulance arrived. I gave her my number and said if she needed anything to let me know.
A few days later, she called. She told me she wanted to take me out to dinner as a thank you for saving her life. Cassidy was her name. At first, I was a bit reluctant. Guys like me don’t tend to have working relationships. I was more in the nature of buying a whore for the night and calling it a day.
Somehow, she convinced me, and we went out. It actually turned out a lot better than expected. Not getting sex on the first night was kind of a turn on. Not only that, she read a lot and was pretty smart. At the end of that night, I went home with a genuine smile on my face and realized that had not happened in a really long time.
We saw each other a couple of times after that, with each date getting better and better. Two years later we were married, which brings us to the present.
Early February of this year, my world was rocked. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the UFC was negotiating to be bought by some group called the WME-IMG. They put in a bid for 1 billion whereas Dana wanted 5. It was then that Dana came knocking on my door and told me it was time to get back to work. Being that it was going to be at least a billion dollar buy out, he needed me there; somebody he could trust to make sure everything stayed in line. I told him honestly I wasn’t interested in torturing or killing anybody anymore. I was married and I wanted to put that life behind me.
He said that was fine. Because of my size, I was only to be there for presence only. He asked me to do it as a personal favor for him. I agreed. So I went back to work, and was there for everything. For the next five months, seven days a week, I would leave at seven in the morning and not come back until almost midnight on some days.
One night, I came home and found Cassidy snuggled up in our bed. I undressed and gently climbed in only to find that she wasn’t sleeping. She asked how much longer I would be working these hours. I told her the truth. I had no idea. She rolled over on her side, showing me her back. She was pissed, and I knew it.
I sighed and made a silent promise. After this was over, I would make it up to her. A trip—just her and I—to the Bahamas or something. The next day, during my lunch break, I walked over to Victoria Secrets and picked out a lovely black bra and panty set. From the lacy design, I knew they would be perfect on Cassidy. For an extra price, I could have it same day delivered to our house. This was perfect, because I had to return back to the office after lunch.
With a smile that my gift would make things right, I paid, and it was sent to my house.
That night, I went home and found that she was dressed and going out for the evening. Not only that, she was talking on the phone. As soon as I entered the room, I heard her say, “I’ll talk to you later,” and abruptly hung up on whomever she was talking too.
That gave me pause. She had never done that before.
“Everything okay?” I asked, setting my keys on the wall table.
“Y-yes,” she said. Her lip twitched. “It was my mom. She’s considering coming down for the weekend.”
My training from Vino took over. Her demeanor told me something. She was nervous about something. About what though?
“That was your mother on the phone?” I asked.
She cleared her throat. Another sign of lying. “Yes.”
“I see. Heading out?”
“Only for a couple of hours.
“Shopping?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Yes.
Verbal/non-verbal disconnect. She said one thing and her body did another. Another lie.
“Want me to I go with you?”
“It’s okay, you don’t need to worry about it. I shouldn’t be back too late. Promise.”
I smiled. “Okay, I’ll be here when you get back. Love you.”
She approached me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Love you too.”
That was suspicious. Too suspicious. I waited ‘till she left then hopped into my own car and followed her. I knew how to tail people; I’d done it many times. Besides, it was too dark out. She would only see my headlights in her rearview. For the first time in a long time, my heart pumped fast and hard. I just didn’t know what to expect. Light raindrops dotted my windshield as cars whipped pasted.
We drove for about 15 minutes before coming down in front of the MGM. I waited as the valet took her car. She entered the hotel.
I followed, giving my car to the valet as well. When I arrived into the entrance hallway, I saw her talking to another man. He was tall, though didn’t have nearly as much muscle as I did. He was dressed in a tailor made suit and carried a briefcase. Who the hell does that now or days? Carry a briefcase.
He removed his hat then leaned over and kissed her on the lips. She opened her mouth and tongue was exchanged.
My jaw tightened. A spike of anger flowed through me. I clinched my fist. My wife. She was having an affair. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my rising temper. If I was going to deal with this, I needed a plan. It didn’t take long to formulate one.
After they left, I approached the reception lady. She looked at me with a smile as I approached. I told her who I was, that I was a dear friend with the owner of the MGM, which was true. Then I bribed her with all of the cash I had in my pocket. $1200 later, I had the information I needed. The room number: 712. I also asked for the room directly across from them. It was empty. That one I paid with my credit card.
The next twenty minutes were the most agonizing, longest minutes of my life. I paced back and forth the whole time, my head filled with dark images of what was happening on the other side of that door of room 712. I only hoped they were talking. That was it. That had to be it. They were just talking. I would find out soon. Afterward, I settled on cleaning my gun.
When I was ready, I put my gloves on. Tight. Black. Leather. I picked up my gun and slammed the magazine clip into the well. I pulled back the slide release and let it go. It clicked that familiar sound I was used to hearing. It was calming. Blissful. I screwed in the silencer.
I took a breath, readying myself for what I was going to find. I opened my door and stepped to the one across from me. Without a second thought, I kicked the door open, ripping apart the frame. I stepped into the hotel room and closed the door behind me. I took my hat off hung it on the coat tree. I rolled my neck. Chills ran down my arms.
“What the hell is this!” the man yelled, coming into the main room, his focus dead set on me.
He wore a pink, silk robe that hung down to his mid-thighs. The top half with parted open to give me a full view of his hairy chest. One thing I had to say, though: he had a distinct face, with perfect features. Light eyes, dark hair. Striking jawline. A small, strong nose. Quite handsome indeed.
Without a second thought, I shot him in the face. The back of his head exploded. Blood spattered on the door frame behind him.
My wife screamed. The same fearful screams I heard the first night I met her.
I heaved a sigh and walked into the bedroom. When I entered, I paused at what I saw. The room screamed luxurious with mirrored ceilings, a Jacuzzi in the center and a bed that looked the size of two king sized beds pressed together. Glitter pearl wallpaper was on every wall. And it smelled like sex and cigarette smoke. Cassidy laid on the bed, most likely naked behind the blanket, which she used to cover herself.
She stopped screaming. Her eyes widened. “Benny?”
I didn’t say a word. The anger on my face told her all she needed to know. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something. On the floor, was a pair of black, silk panties. Same style as the ones I bought her that day. My mouth went dry. An emotion swelled in my chest that I don’t know how to describe. Like a heart attack without actually having one. I swallowed. Gently, I leaned over and picked them off the floor.
“Benny, I can explain,” she said.
Anger swelled with me. It was them. I gripped the panties in my hand and crushed them. Though it wasn’t physically hurting them, it made me feel better; an outlet for my anger.
“Benny?” she cautiously called out again.
At that, I walked up to her and hit her in the head with the butt of my gun. She was knocked out cold. I lifted her naked ass out of the bed and slung her over my shoulder, fireman style. With my opposite hand, I called Vino. Told him I needed a favor. A clean up in room 712, MGM. He told me it would be his pleasure.
I left the room and waited outside for the valet to retrieve my car. Even though I had a naked woman slung over my shoulder, nobody said a thing. “What happens in Vegas,” is actually a thing. The locals were used to seeing things like this all the time.
When I got home, I handcuffed her and zip tied the chain to the shower head. Then I broke out most of the lights, only leaving the one that shone directly above her. The rest of the bathroom was cloaked in darkness. I grabbed my work bag out of the closet. In it was my tools. Something I hadn’t used for years. Then I walked back into the bathroom, put the lid down to the toilet and took a seat, leaving half of my body bathing in the shadows. I patiently waited for Cassidy to wake up.
An hour later, I heard her groan. It was close to 2:00am.
As soon as she was decently conscious, I began to speak, “I never told you about my life before you.”
I smiled to myself. “Honestly, I thought it would scare you.”
Her jaw twitched. “Benny, what is this?”
She tried to move her hands, clanking metal of shower head echoed.
I continued. “I never told you about the things I had done, about the acts I’ve committed.”
“Benny? Why am I handcuffed?” Her lip quivered.
“I didn’t want you to think differently of me. That I wasn’t the person who you fell in love with.”
Her voice broke. “I-I do love you.”
I smirked and shook my head. “No. Because if you did, you wouldn’t have cheated on me.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
My smile broadened. “Do you think I'm that boring?”
"What does that mean?"
"Don't worry. You'll soon find out enough . . ."
Her panicked gaze met mine. “Please. I-I can explain—”
“You know, when I first met you, there was a void in my life. And I thought that you were the one who filled that void.”
“Benny, pl-please . . .don't—”
“But that wasn’t it. You were not it.” I paused. “I understand now,” I said, more speaking to myself.
Tears streamed down her face. “I don’t know what that means!”
“See, that void was my old job. I loved doing what I used to do. The only thing I needed was a break is all, not stopping altogether. I-I’ve missed it so much. It was calling to me the whole time and yet, I didn’t answer.”
“Wh-what are you talking about!” she yelled at me, shaking her hands violently.
“Shh, ssh, it’s okay. It's okay,” I soothed. I stood up, shushing her by putting my finger to her lips.
“Let me show you,” I said softly. “Let me show you exactly what I am talking about . . .”
Then I took out my potato peeler and got to work. She cried, screamed, begged for me to stop. I heard her pleas, assuring her that it would be over soon, just to let go. She didn’t. I continued. In some places, I even shaved it down to the bone. After I applied the rubbing alcohol, she screamed so loud, her voice gave out.
It was interesting, as I was doing this, I found true happiness once again. The blissful pleasure calling out to me to do what needed to be done. I cried that night. Why? Because I was happy. It was like making love for the first time, and I was ready to release it all.
Four hours later, it was done. I held her in my arms as she took her last breath, a brief shutter before going still. On the shower floor were hundreds of slices of flayed flesh.
Truthfully, she should have been proud of herself of lasting as long. Most people don’t, though I’d never tortured a woman before. I guess it is true what they say. They have a better tolerance to pain then men. From experience, I can tell you that is a fact. Even in torture.
When I was done, I called Dana. I told him, “I’m ready to come back to work full time. To help you with anything you need.”
I heard him smile on the opposite end of the phone. “Good to hear, I knew you’d back home eventually. They always do.” He paused. “How about I send along Vino in the morning and have him clean up that bathroom of yours. Free of charge.”
I knew he would be watching from the security camera. I didn’t care. Dana was a good guy. I knew he had my back. He probably already had taken care of the security footage at the MGM as well as made sure the staff kept their mouths shut.
“Sounds good. Thanks, Dana.”
I hung up the phone. Afterward, I took a shower, directly next to my wife’s body and cleaned myself up. It had been a long night and I was tired. If I was going to get back to work tomorrow, I needed to be well rested. Then I went to bed with a smile on my face. Everything was great. Perfect even.
As I look back, at the beginning, I asked if this type of work was something I could be proud of. The answer is yes. Yes, it is.

• Grave

On April 9, 2010, Halliburton, and KBR (Dick Cheney owned significant stock, and benefitted significantly) purchased an oil clean up company called Boots & Coots. Interstingly, the Deep Horizon oil disaster happened just 11 days later. Making Cheney, and his investors, millions, if not billions, of dollars.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_%26_Coots
The LasVegas shooting incident follows the same pattern. Murren dumped more than 80% of his stocks a few weeks prior to the shooting. George Soros bought stock puts, which has now made millions for him. The Chertoff Group (former secretary of Homeland Security under George W., and now owner of OSI Systems, a huge security company) stands to make millions, if not billions, off of security equipment that many believe will soon be installed in hotels and casinos around the country due to the mass shooting.
Always follow the money.
https://youtu.be/LPnWLYIoHxc
http://www.abeldanger.org/department-of-homeland-insecurity-dhs-prime-contractors-mgm-stocks-descend-while-osi-systems-stock-ascends/

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 39%. (I'm a bot)

LAS VEGAS - More than 4,000 people are seeking damages from MGM Resorts International related to the Las Vegas Strip mass shooting that left 58 people dead, the casino giant said in a lawsuit alleging its insurance company has failed to pay promised legal costs.
Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts alleges breach-of-contract and accuses Illinois-based Zurich American Insurance Co. of failing to pay defense costs for damage claims stemming from the 2017 shooting.
MGM Resorts owns the Mandalay Bay hotel, where the shooter opened fire from a 32nd-floor window, and the Route 91 Harvest festival venue where country music concert-goers died and more than 850 people were injured.
MGM Resorts has been in mediation with plaintiffs, hoping to avoid years of litigation in civil lawsuits in Nevada, California and five other states alleging that negligence led to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
"MGM is aware of in excess of 4,000 claimants who are seeking compensation from MGM for their claims arising out of the," the Zurich American lawsuit said.
Allen said MGM Resorts will have to prove Zurich American breached the contract and acted in bad faith.

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