Another year, another record for Las Vegas visitors, though this one was less pronounced than in years past. The visitor total for 2007 was 39.2 million, surpassing 38.9 million in 2006, but about 100,000 below last year's projection. The scant .8 percent increase likely reflects the country's economic slowdown. The visitation up-tick coupled with a stagnant room inventory resulted in a better-than-90 percent room-occupancy rate — 27 percent higher than the national average

RECORD WIN: Reflecting the increase in visitation, casinos along the Strip raked in more than $6.8 billion in gambling winnings in 2007, an increase of 2.1 percent over 2006. The total was 53 percent (same as last year) of the entire take of the state of Nevada, which was $12.8 billion. The statewide increase of just 1.8 percent was the smallest gain in four years, due in part to the 2007 closings of the New Frontier and Stardust.

MONTE CARLO REOPENS: Most of the Monte Carlo is operating again, following a longer-than-expected shutdown after the Jan. 25 fire. About 1,200 of the resort's 3,000 rooms are open, along with the casino, most of the restaurants, and the Lance Burton show. Another 1,300 rooms are scheduled to come online this week, and the rest of the resort will reopen gradually as final repairs are concluded.

BREW FOR TWO: The Gold Coast is selling Corona in the bottle for $2 at all bars. There's no timetable on this offer, but it looks like it's good at least till the end of the month.

Q. When you wrote about the "Wild casinos," two had "Wild" in their names, but the other two didn't. Can you explain?

A. The Wilds are a part of the big Station Casinos group, which is made up primarily of three brands: the Stations (Boulder Station, Palace Station, etc.), the Fiestas (Rancho and Henderson), and the Wilds. Wild Wild West and Wildfire are the biggest of this group, hence the designation; the other two are Gold Rush and Magic Star, smaller casinos on the east side of town.

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