WSOP.com is ready to launch. Like for real. And for real money, too. This according to executives for Caesars Interactive Entertainment, who hosted a semi-private conference call Monday morning to lay out their plans.

It’s happening on 9/19 at 9:19am … 9-1-9 … not to be confused with Herman Cain’s 9-9-9, which didn’t exactly get him to November. Non-sequiturs aside, a new era of online poker really is upon us now — just in time for the November Nine, no less. At least in Nevada, where it may or may not be a total coincidence that LAS was one of the very first airports to offer free wi-fi.

You’ve probably already started filtering through the buzz, bolstering, and requisite bitching on Twitter and 2+2. But in case you missed it, or just for posterity’s sake, here’s the raw audio of that conference call, where a whole host of Caesars suits, some new, some familiar, made their legal and regulated internet gaming plans official.

Whoop?

Nearly a million and a half travelers were overcharged an estimated $14.8 million last year by cabdrivers and cab companies, a legislative audit of the state Taxicab Authority found.

The audit, released Monday, estimated that 22.5 percent of the 6.6 million rides given by local taxicabs to and from McCarran International Airport in 2012 were deceptively long.

The practice, known as long hauling, added an average of about $10 to the typical cab fare, according to the audit. It recommended that the Taxicab Authority take several steps to prevent long hauling. Auditors came up with their estimate by reviewing 2,730 airport trips and said 614 of them involved long hauling.

They noted that their estimate was conservative because they did not count a trip as a long hauling ride unless the fare was at least $5 higher than the estimated fare to a specific destination, typically about $16 to $18.

“Although the Authority has increased its efforts to detect long hauling, more needs to be done, including the use of preventative measures,” the audit said.

More…

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Friday cast his lot with those who would like to remove the name of former U.S. Sen. Pat McCarran from Las Vegas’ main airport.

Reid acknowledged that he has no say in the decision – that rests with the Clark County Commission because the county owns and operates the airport. Nevertheless, Reid made his feelings clear in response to a question from the Las Vegas Review-Journal during a ceremony at McCarran International’s new Terminal 3.

“Pat McCarran was one of the most anti-Semitic … one of the most anti-black, one of the most prejudiced people ever to serve in the Senate,” Reid said. “It’s not a decision I am going to make, but you asked me to give you my opinion. I don’t think his name should be on anything.”

McCarran, who served in the U.S. Senate from 1932 until his death in 1954, authored the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, which set the airline regulatory framework for four decades, and pushed for the development of civil aviation. In recognition, the county named the airport McCarran Field in 1948.

More…

Air Force One just landed at McCarren airport. The President is headed to Caesar’s Palace, for apparently what is a semi-controversial “junket” fundraiser for Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). We can not, however, confirm the rumor that he is in town to give the WSOP Stimulus tourney a $1 trillion overlay, nor that he plans to satellite into a Venetian Deep Stacks event.

Poker players arriving in town for the WSOP (via delayed flights) are twittering about it.

@Ali_Nejad has a pic of the motorcade.

LOL: Evelyn Ng and Erica Schoenberg just got done with their bikini photo shoot (with Tiffany Michelle) for Knockout magazine, and they’re all pissy about being stuck in traffic on the Strip — presumably unaware of why things are extra-congested on a Tuesday afternoon.

UPDATE: @JeffreyPollack is off to meet @BarackObama right now. Pre-emptive conclusion: good for poker!

UPDATE: President now headed to the Caesar’s Palace poker room. (Seriously.) via @Andy_Bloch.