Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus, and Joe Don Rooney are better known as Rascal Flatts, the first country act to set up a nine-date residency at the Hard Rock Hotel. LeVox talked to Las Vegas Magazine’s Susan Stapleton about coming to Las Vegas, the possibility of their own slot machine and playing basketball with Toby Keith.

Hard Rock is normally very generous in theming the casino during residencies. Have they talked about a slot machine for you?

I don’t know, but now that I know KISS did it, I’m going to bring it up. We’re going to have to renegotiate. I could see a Wheel of Flatts or Flatt Spins. The Rascal Roulette. There you go. I’ll be placing a call.

Do you remember your first trip to Las Vegas?

Yes, the first time we came to Vegas I think we were on tour with Toby Keith. I’ll never forget it because we were outside playing basketball and he ended up breaking his kneecap. I told him, “We must protect this house.”

Do you remember the first thing that shocked you in Las Vegas?

Yeah, the first thing that shocked me was that you hear Las Vegas is the city that never sleeps. What shocked me is that people don’t even go out until, like, 1 a.m. What do you do for all that time? Hey, do you guys want to gamble?

Do you gamble?

No, I’m not a gambler. All the other guys are. I like to make money instead of lose it. I’d rather just give it away.

You’ve teamed up with Journey in the past. They’ll be doing a residency at the Hard Rock in April and May. Any chance they might show up at your gigs?

You know, I don’t know. I didn’t know that they were going to do it. I know we are going to have a lot of special guests. When you’re playing Vegas and all the celebrity folks you know are living on that side of the world, there will be a lot of special guests for sure. I can’t tell you who.

You’ve had some issues with your voice. How are you feeling?

I’m great. It was last year. When you have kids, you end up getting what they got. So I had a chest cold. It started in my head. So it wasn’t voice problems, it was just the flu. But I went through two rounds of antibiotics. I was trying to work through it. I finally said, “I’ve got to go home, sleep in my bed and be in bed by 9:30 and not go to work at 9:30.” I decided to take a weekend off and let that medicine work. I spent two weeks just trying to hack through shows.

When you look out at the crowd at The Joint, who do you expect to see?

I think it will be our die-hard fans that are just amazing and follow us everywhere. I think it will be all walks of life. Our demographic is 18 to 34. I think it will be across the board. It’s been the most rewarding for us. We did a show one time where there were four generations of families who were there. That really said a lot to us that our music carries over from the cradle to the grave. It will span that globe, I think.

The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel 8 p.m. March 4, 6-7, 11 & 13-14, starting at $39.50 plus tax and fee. 888.929.7849