With Memorial Day behind us, it’s time for summer in Las Vegas! With dozens of casinos, nightclubs, music venues and pool parties to check out, there’s something for everyone in Neon City. Whether you’re a first-time visitor or an all-time Vegas veteran, new and exciting events are around every corner in the city. Read on for your comprehensive guide to Las Vegas summer events.

Circa Stadium Swim®

During the peak of Las Vegas pool party season, you can combat the summer heat at Stadium Swim, which will have a summer full of sports events to enjoy poolside all season long. Bonus: Guests staying at Golden Gate have complimentary access to Stadium Swim.

On August 25th, you can catch The Knocks DJ set, an After Dark summer concert hosted by Stadium Swim and We The Beat. The lineup will include The Knocks and local artists like Dos Lonely Boys, Z, and Evan Durant B2B Parra. Don’t miss out on the silent disco in the Owner’s Suites, a photo booth, tastings from Casamigos Tequila and Cointreau Liqueur, and shopping opportunities from Jobee Swimwear! It’ll be a Las Vegas pool party for the books. Tickets are $15 pre-purchased, day-of tickets will be $20, and hotel guests staying at Golden Gate, Circa, or the D on August 25 can get in for free by showing their room key.

Free Live Music in Las Vegas

Live music at the top of your summer experiences list? Head down to the Fremont Street Experience! Thanks to partnerships with the casinos, this concert series is FREE of charge all season long. With a summer full of incredible free concerts this season, here are a few of the can’t-miss shows of the summer!

Las Vegas Summer Festivals

With the summer season, comes the festival season! From beer and brats to electronic music and comedy, check out the best festivals Las Vegas has to offer.

Big Dog’s Summerfest Beer & Reggae Party

Saturday, July 22

Looking for island vibes? Look no further than Big Dog’s Summerfest! Featuring more than 45 craft beers, food trucks, raffles, and giveaways, this event is a summer classic. Hosting four beer festivals per year, this July gathering is a special celebration of light beer and reggae music. No tickets are required, but your appetite is!

Exodus Festival

June 29 – July 4, July 27-31, August 31 – September 4

This summer, the city will come alive with the sounds of world-famous DJs! This annual festival is a must-attend event for music lovers and those seeking an epic party experience. With multiple venues hosting exclusive events, you’ll have the opportunity to dance the night away at some of the hottest nightclubs in Las Vegas. From pool parties to rooftop extravaganzas, this festival offers a diverse lineup of shows that cater to all music tastes and preferences. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this legendary summer celebration.

Fully Loaded Comedy Special

Wednesday, July 12

Prepare to laugh your heart out in the entertainment capital of the world as the Fully Loaded Comedy Festival takes center stage at the iconic T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. From the comedic brilliance of Stavros Halkias, Andrew Santino, Lewis Black, and Big Jay Oakerson, to the side-splitting humor of Ralph Barbosa, the stage will be packed with comedic talent. The doors open at 7 pm, and this is a comedy show you won’t want to miss. Grab your tickets now and secure your spot for an evening filled with laughter, entertainment, and unforgettable comedic moments.

Legacy Club Events

No Las Vegas summer is complete without a visit to the Legacy Club! Located 60 floors above the city at the Circa Resort & Casino, this exclusive spot is a can’t-miss for epic parties and live music on Fridays.

Looking for a white-hot American summer? Book your tickets for Legacy en Blanc on Friday, June 23! Starting at 7 pm, guests can sip blanc-inspired cocktails at the open bar, sample delicious appetizers, and listen to world-class live music as the sun sets. Don’t forget to pack your best all-white cocktail attire!

For visitors celebrating Independence Day in Vegas, check out Legacy Club’s event, Star Spangled Glamour. Slated for Tuesday, July 4, revelers can expect patriotic themed cocktails and bites, stunning red, white and blue decor, and amazing live music. Get ready to watch fireworks burst overhead while you and your friends dance the night away.

The Gatsby: A Speakeasy in the Sky on Friday, August 4 will be one for the ages. Dress yourself in a glamorous 1920s outfit and swing the night away with a live band, costume party packs,  an open bar with specialty cocktails, prohibition-inspired hors d’oeuvres, and décor to transform the evening into the most grandiose event.

Fremont Street Experience

After enjoying some Las Vegas summer events, make sure you take in all Downtown Las Vegas has to offer. Thrill seekers will love the Zilla-Zilla and Super-Hero Zoom ziplines, towering up to 11 stories above the Fremont Street Experience! If adrenaline isn’t your thing, never fear! Grab a classic frozen yard drink at OneBar, then head to one of the world-class casinos to play table games, slots, and more in style.

We recommend heading to Golden Gate Hotel & Casino to experience a bit of Vegas history, the D to drink at one of the longest bars in Nevada, or staying in luxury at Circa Las Vegas for a bit of luxury and glamor.

Las Vegas in the summer is full of endless possibilities. Whether you’re seeking incredible parties, top-notch live music, thrilling adventures, or unforgettable casino experiences, this city has it all and more. So, pack your summer essentials, bring your sense of adventure, book your room at Golden Gate Las Vegas, and get ready to create memories that will last a lifetime. The stage is set, the lights are on, and the city is waiting for your best summer yet!

There is absolutely no reason to worry about being handcuffed in the middle of a blackjack pit in Las Vegas for counting cards. Counting cards in Las Vegas is not against the law. Not only is card counting not illegal in Las Vegas, there are plenty of old-timers on the strip that will tell you that it was people like Edward Thorpe, the grandfather of card counting, that helped build Las Vegas into what it is today.

That being said, many casinos frown on moving your bet with the count, and being private businesses, they have every right to remove you from the floor and trespass you from the property. This is actually a two-edged sword, as the surveillance department will then send your picture out to many other properties. Most properties will then ask you to leave often before you’ve even made your first bet.

Can I get in trouble if caught?

What can and does get players arrested, especially after a couple of drinks, is not complying with security. If you find yourself in the unenviable position of being “walked”, don’t say anything and don’t touch anyone.

This isn’t the movies, they aren’t going to take you upstairs just to throw you down them. They just want to get you colored up and out the door with the least aggravation. But… should you touch one of them or perhaps even say something a bit hastily that you will regret in the morning, you will quickly find yourself on the floor in handcuffs with the police on their way.

In some cases, you might not even be asked to leave. Casinos have long ago discovered that just because you are attempting to count cards doesn’t mean that you are actually very good at it. Most novice card counters lose at the same rate as regular gamblers.

Casinos don’t have the people or the patience to watch your play for long, so they’ll ask you not to play blackjack anymore, or sometimes any table games, and leave you to the slots and video poker on the off chance you’re a degenerate gambler who happens to know a bit about card counting.

What Is Card Counting, And Why Isn’t It Illegal In Las Vegas?

Card counting isn’t some sort of mental gymnastics that requires a Ph.D. It’s just keeping track of the high cards and low cards and betting more when there are lots of high cards. But this only works as the house advantage on Blackjack is quite low.

When casinos change the rules in their favor, you’ll need to bet more when the number of high cards are in your favor to overcome the new house odds. And some rule changes, like only paying 6/5 on blackjacks, are very difficult to overcome.

Using what cards have already been dealt to inform your betting and playing strategy is perfectly legal, but only when done without mechanical or electronic aid. People like Ken Uston built wearable computers as far back as the 1970s to try and beat the game. But the courts made clear that while using your brain was fine, outside aid wasn’t.

An interesting aside is that the Nevada Supreme Court has also found that using a dealer’s exposed hole card to inform your decisions isn’t illegal if you can see it unaided and, of course, the dealer isn’t showing it to you as an act of collusion.

Some things that will get you arrested include switching cards, adding/subtracting from your bet after the cards are dealt, using a computer or a phone to aid your play, using devices like a prism or camera to catch the dealer’s hole card, any sort of collusion with the dealer such as being overpaid on purpose or the dealer flashing you the next card before it’s dealt.

A Brief History Of Beatings and Blackjack In Las Vegas

When Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo Hilton in 1946, the population of Las Vegas was around twenty thousand. The mob would run this backward western town for the next three decades. By 1980 when most of the mob influence was on the wane, the town had grown to a metro-size area of over 500,000.

As early as the 1950’s there are books by people who are beginning to lay out basic blackjack strategy and hint at counting. “Playing Blackjack to Win” was published 5 full years before Thorp’s seminal work “Beat the Dealer”. But Thorp’s computer-aided research caught the whole country’s imagination and even made the New York time best seller charts. 

As one might imagine, mathematically minded folks trying to beat the casinos and the mob weren’t a match made in heaven and much mayhem ensued. Thorp has even claimed that the mob tried to kill him in Las Vegas a few years after his book came out.

Ken Uston and a great many other card counters, some skilled and others not so much would also be on the wrong end of mob beatings over the years. Casinos often enforced their own justice up through most of the 1970s.  And this is where many people’s fears of card counting being illegal or punishable come from.

Ironically, after a short-lived panic, the casino managers up and down the strip realized that their now-packed blackjack tables were filled with people that believed the game to be beatable but lacked the skill to actually do it.  This belief that blackjack was vulnerable would fill blackjack tables and Las Vegas hotel rooms for decades to come.

Casinos would still make some changes to make the game a bit less favorable, first two decks, then as many as eight were added. The cut card was moved up so not as many cards were dealt out, rules like Five Card Charlie and surrender became a thing of the past. Not only did this lessen the pool of folks who could count cards profitably, but also the number of beatings that needed to be doled out.

The days of beatings are long gone, and about the only vestige left of the mob in Las Vegas is a museum downtown. The thrill of card counting and taking your shot at bringing down the house means there are still some who will risk it. And while the casino may ask you to leave if they believe you are counting cards, honestly, you are getting off lightly. No handcuffs and no bouncing down long flights of stairs.