Money On The Dance Floor

Trivia – How much did Judy Garland make each week at the Frontier Hotel in Vegas in 1956? (Closest answer wins if nobody gets it exact.) Know it? E-mail TheStripPodcast [at] aol.com or call 702-997-3300 by 4/27/11Email: [email protected]: @TheStripPodcastVoicemail: 702-997-3300This week, on the Strip: The nightclub industry in Las Vegas is a mystery to many, including us. It’s clearly not one to Rich Wolf who, along with Jason Strauss and some other partners opened Tao in 200x at Venetian. They’ve been making unthinkable piles of money ever since, even though the idea of a hip nightclub at a Sheldon Adelson business and convention resort seemed nuts when they spent $20 million to build it. Now they own Lavo at Palazzo and the newest hotspot, Marquee and the Cosmopolitan. In this conversation, we hear the mind-boggling numbers behind the business, try to get to the bottom of where – especially in this economy – all this money is coming from and what the appeal is of being in a club with a celebrity. Also, did stars really get those rumored six-figure paychecks at the height of the boom and how much are they getting now?In Banter: Absinthe is a critical hit, Frank Marino’s spending habits exposed, Cosmo could be cooling off, show tickets rise, Marriott dreams big and how seriously do Vegas resorts intend their online responsible gaming efforts to be?