US Airways is the carrier suffering the greatest, it handled 459,000 passengers last month, around 225,000 less than March 2008. It has massively curtailed it’s Las Vegas routes, and has passenger numbers to the airport 34% down so far this year compared to last.

These figures show that the recession is still biting hard, and the city of Las Vegas continues to suffer. We can only hope that things start to pick up soon, and that the summer season can start to see a turn-around.

Mother Sharon Osbourne doesn’t seem to concerned with the plans, which are said to cost only around $45 and take about 15 mins, she is quoted as saying: “I’m not disappointed. I want to see her happy so if that is what she wants to do, then I am happy with that.”, and of course it is no secret that she has wanted grandchildren for years.

Kelly Osbourne seems to have had a turn-around after previously rubbishing the idea after Peaches Geldof’s ill-fated marriage - will this one last longer?

The museum has been open for nearly 60 years, recently turning its focus to contemporary arts. It has over one thousand members, and is held in high regard in the community.

They hope to re-open at some time in the future.

I’ve recently heard about Rushmore Casino, which accepts US players, and have been impressed with the stories people have told me. They seem to be very professional, with legitimate software which is both fair and secure, and with very good pay-out times for players - even with the problems with regards to the US.

Rushmore Casino offers great customer service, and a juicy sign up bonus of up to $888 free. Players also enjoy on-going promotions and point system where wagering is rewarded, and points can be exchanged for bonus chips or gifts.

The software they use is quick, and more than 80 games are available including all the favourites such as Blackjack, Roulette and Slots plus many more. If you are looking for somewhere to play, whether you are from the US or not, I can heartily recommend Rushmore Casino.

Actually if you look at the figures it appears not.  Yes people are having their houses re-possesed (foreclosure for you US readers), but that doesn’t mean they are moving out from the gambling capital of the world, in fact they are just looking to rent somewhere instead.  The reason there are so many vacancies for both rentals and sales is the rate at which new constuction has taken place in recent years - supply was racing away, but then demand levelled out.

For those who have had their house re-possesed, or are already renting, the good news is that this scenario has meant landlords are having to cut asking prices for rentals in order to be more attractive to tenants.

Many companies have paused construction on some of their projects, including some fairly large-scale ones, which means the Strip is likely to look like a building site for a few years more at least. It it also probable that some of the smaller casinos are likely to fall into trouble and run the possibility of closing.

Las Vegas as a tourist destination may not be so well equipped to cope with the current financial crisis as it was in the past - previously hotel rooms were kept low in order to attract visitors to the casinos where revenue could be taken, but recent years have seen hotels raise their prices as Las Vegas as a destination has become more popular in general appeal. Will the hotels have to resort to slashing prices to attract tourists? And if they do will these visitors have enough money to gamble in the casinos to compensate for this loss? All this remains to be seen, suffice to say these are definately difficult times for Las Vegas casino executives.

Frank Fertitta III, Station Chief Executive, called the project the smoothest he has ever worked on, and Mayor Michael Montandon calls the new resort an economic boost for North Las Vegas, which has been particularly hit hard by the well publicised housing and mortgage crisis. Station Casinos themselves yesterday reported over $23 million in quarterly losses.

The first place to look would be the hotels website, do a search for the dates you are wishing to stay in Vegas for, and see what they come up with. If your trip is still a long time away, then sign up to any mailing list they may have - you could get some good deals sent direct to you.(if you’re not sure where you want to stay then simply skip that part). Then it’s time to start searching the agencies who are selling rooms in Vegas, and seeing if a better deal can be gotten elsewhere. There are quite a few to look through, but a handy little site called Travelaxe will do the work for you. Simply enter your travel dates and it will return a list of all the hotels, with available rates from different sites, in an easy to view format. If you wish to check the prices manually, some good sites to visit are:

• Tripres
• Travelworm
• Vegas.com
• HotelDiscount
• Hotels.com

It’s also worth having a scout round some of the forums and message boards on the internet as people often post deals they find there, the only problem being that there is not a lot of organisation and some of the time it can seem like they are talking in some secret code, especially to the newbie. There’s a good Deals Forum over on Las Vegas Talk which is a good place to start if you go down this route

So, you’ve found the best deal and are all ready to book your trip… hold on a minute. Before you do that, phone up the casino using their toll-free number from their website, or if you are already a member of the their slot/players club, the number on the back of the card. Ask them if they have any special deals on for your dates. If they give you prices more than those you’ve already found, tell them, and see if they can at least match them. The reason for this is when booking through the hotel you only need to pay one nights deposit to secure your room, if you book using agencies you will normally have to pay the whole amount up front - often with harsh cancellation restrictions. Also any comp points you earn whilst staying at the hotel can only be applied against your room bill if you book directly.

Note: If you have the time/inclination to check prices across the different websites you will often see that even if the total price for a particular stay is similar, the cost for individual nights are different. Jot down the cheapest of each and quote these to the hotel, this should hopefully save you a few more dollars.

And thats it. Now you just have to wait until you arrive, and try to get a room upgrade by using the $20 trick, something I’ll discuss on another post, NOW ONLINE, but which for now I recommend you visit FrontDeskTip.

Ladbrokes is the first bookmaker I ever used, way back at the birth of my gambling ‘hobby’. They are one of the biggest bookmakers in the UK, with shops on just about every high street, offering punters a wide variety of events to bet on.

Ladbrokes are also one of the first online casino and poker rooms I ever tried. For this they use the Microgaming software, which is generally considered to be the industry standard and leader.

Overall they are a very safe place to play, you should never have to be worried about funds kept there, and although they are an extremely large company the service they provide is still very efficient.

Payment methods they accept at the current time include: Visa, Mastercard, Maestro, Western Union, Neteller, MoneyBookers, Wire Transfer and Ukash.

Their website and software is available in a wide variety of languages.