Two Dead After Shooting Outside of Bellagio
At around 10:40 p.m. on the Las Vegas Strip on June 8, local police responded to sounds of gunfire outside the Bellagio Hotel and Casino. By the time they arrived, they found two individuals suffering from gunshot wounds and both were pronounced dead at the scene.
In a statement, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said it believed the shooting to be “an isolated incident,” with a suspect identified. The next morning, the perpetrator was identified as 41-year-old Manuel Ruiz, who turned himself in to the Henderson Police Department. He is being held on two charges of murder with a deadly weapon.
Police noted that the parties “knew each other and had previously engaged in conflict over social media.” According to News 3, the shooting appeared to stem from an ongoing conflict between Ruiz, who ran the “SinCity Family” and “SinCity-MannyWise” YouTube channels, and another YouTube personality known as “Finny Da Legend.” Both of Ruiz’s accounts have since been deactivated.
Unconfirmed reports on X indicated that it was Finny Da Legend and his wife who were killed by Ruiz and the incident was captured on a livestream on Finny’s channel that has since been taken down. Clips of the shooting, in which viewers can see the gunfire erupt, are still circulating on X.
X users also reposted clips of a video that Ruiz had posted June 7 where he was driving around town supposedly looking for his internet foe.
MGM Resorts, parent company of Bellagio, declined to comment and directed inquiries to Las Vegas police.
The Bellagio incident is the latest difficulty for the Strip, which has not had a great year in 2025. Things started off poorly, with 37-year-old Army veteran Matthew Livelsberger committing suicide in a Tesla Cybertruck he blew up outside the Trump International Hotel on the morning of 1 January. Per the Associated Press, Livelsberger left a note saying that the incident should serve as “a wake-up call” following Donald Trump’s reelection as president.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, April visitor volume for the city overall was 3.3 million, down 5 percent from last year. For the Strip specifically, occupancy was down 0.4 percent, while average daily rates were up almost 5 percent to $203.
Even before the trade tensions, the Strip was facing a tough comp from a record year of performance in 2024. In April, market revenue fell 3 percent YoY, representing the third consecutive monthly decline and the eighth in the previous nine months. The streak of record years post-Covid is in jeopardy, as the Strip is down more than 3 percent for the fiscal year.
Bally’s Settles Discrimination Suit from Chicago IPO
Late last year, Bally’s Corp. announced plans to offer an initial public offering in its Chicago casino development specifically geared towards women and minorities, as the company’s host agreement with the city stipulated a percent of minority ownership. Soon after, Bally’s was sued by a conservative political group representing two white Texas residents who alleged that the program was discriminatory.
That suit has now been settled with undisclosed terms, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The city and the Illinois Gaming Board were also named as defendants, though they did not comment to the paper. After the first IPO attempt fell through, Bally’s has launched another attempt, this time with a broader scope to include local residents.
A’s Stadium Groundbreaking Set
The soon-to-be Las Vegas A’s will host a groundbreaking ceremony for the team’s new $1.75 billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip at 8 a.m. on June 23, per the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Work has already technically begun at the site, and the plan is for the stadium to be ready for the start of the 2028 season.
Of the total cost, up to $380 million is available in public funds, with the team being responsible for the rest. The A’s are building the stadium on nine of the 35 acres of the plot where the Tropicana previously stood. Bally’s Corp., which owned the casino, agreed to relinquish it in exchange for the right to build a new property on the remaining acreage.
Alberta Lifts Ban on U.S.-Made VLTs
The province of Alberta June 6 resumed buying U.S.-made video lottery terminals, per the Canadian Press. Premier Danielle Smith first announced the ban, which also included alcohol, in March in response to rising U.S. tariffs.
Service Alberta Minister Dale Nally said in a statement that the lifting of the ban “sets the stage for more constructive negotiations” between the two countries.
