The legal woes of a certain failed—and evidently insolvent—casino owner who shall remain nameless have found their way to the Las Vegas Strip, where there’s scuttlebutt of white elephant Trump International Las Vegas being for sale. We’re not saying it wouldn’t find takers but it’s an awkward hotel play, being neither on nor off the Strip but awkwardly shoehorned into a small parcel behind where the New Frontier once stood. Maybe if Wynn Resorts ever moves to develop that site (and the conventional wisdom is that it won’t happen anytime soon) it will throw Trump LV a lifeline. In the meantime, its mediocre suite product and severe dearth of amenities are hardly selling points—although we’ve never seen bigger suite bathrooms. You could literally park a car in one.
This vanity project (its namesake just had to be a Sin City presence) was the victim of bad judgment and worse timing, arriving well after the overhyped Las Vegas condo boom had subsided. At least it got built, unlike “Ivana” and sundry failsinos. Or rather, half-built, as a planned second tower was never erected. If it’s indeed on the market, you have to wonder if co-owner Phil Ruffin had right of first refusal and, if so, why he wouldn’t pull the trigger. (Ruffin’s not talking.) Is the asking price too high? Do we hear $545 million? What about $175 million? Sold.
End of an era. Yesterday, Hard Rock International pulled the plug on long-playing The Beatles’ Love at The Mirage. “All You Need is Love” will be sung for the last time on July 7. It didn’t take Nostradamus to see this coming. Last year’s fainthearted, one-year extension of Cirque du Soleil‘s contract with the soon-to-be Hard Rock Las Vegas was a telling indicator that Love was not long for this world. This might not be the end of Cirque at The Mirage, as the company is reportedly trying to sell Hard Rock on other ideas for the showroom. But it’s completely understandable that Hard Rock would want a clean amenity slate rather than rebrand with a bunch of MGM Resorts International leftovers in the fridge.
Cirque CEO Stéphane Lefebvre put the onus on Hard Rock for the closure, which is also no surprise. Cirque almost never closes one of its own shows. But you might not have seen the last of Love, which CdS is now shopping around Europe, again quite understandably. A production that ran 18 years on the Las Vegas Strip obviously has a lot of legs and CdS wants to keep them in motion. It also enables the troupe to put a good face on the nixing of a show that was running at as low as 40% capacity. “I think first and foremost, before we start looking around at other potential partners, we really want to do something with MGM. Absolutely,” the CEO told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, closing out Hard Rock talk for now and eyeing The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, now with 100% less SpiegelWorld. As for the Hard Rock, it’s turning the page to life after Cirque. It’s walking back talk of a total resort closure, no doubt because it’s on the hook to Vici Properties for $90 million a year in rent.
Shed no tears for Love. 18 years is an epic run, especially by latter-day Strip standards. Those of you who saw it can now regale the younger set with tales of what they missed. Like them or not, CdS isn’t going anywhere, even if Love won’t be touring to a city near you.
A cry in the dark. No sooner had CEASE and the UAW filed suit to end smoking in Atlantic City casinos than the casino owners, with suspiciously convenient timing, started yowling to the mainstream media that their profits were narrowing. Scores of news outlets obligingly ran with the story. Mind you, the casinos weren’t losing money, they just weren’t making quite as much as before and please ignore the Internet-casino man behind the curtain. We’ve nothing against Big Gaming being in the black, obviously. It puts food on our table. But it’s not going broke in Atlantic City.
To put the rending of garments into context, the Division of Gaming Enforcement in New Jersey obligingly released data that showed the decrease in profit was less than 2%, as Big Gaming made an aggregate $744.5 million. Nobody’s going to the poorhouse. Profitability was actually worse (down 4%) when some struggling iGaming outfits were included in the mix. So brick-and-mortar casinos are just hunky-dory along the Boardwalk. Three casinos actually made more money: Borgata (1%), Hard Rock Atlantic City (1%) and Ocean Resort Casino (22%). They’re also the three newest and best-regarded. Coincidence? We think not. Bally’s Atlantic City swung from a $2 million loss to an $11 million profit, while profits were just marginally down (-3%) at the Golden Nugget, despite its marginal status.
Grind joint Resorts Atlantic City made 54% less money and Caesars Entertainment has some cause for worry, as profits shrank 14.5% at Caesars Atlantic City and 15% at the troubled Tropicana Atlantic City, albeit to a still-plump $93 million at the Trop. Harrah’s Resort slipped 9.5%. Borgata made the most ($226 million), thanks to some cheeseparing economies that our Atlantic City correspondent recently noticed.
Mingy, Vegas-tested policies are coming to the Boardwalk. “Part of the first floor garage is now closed off for ‘Noir’ (the highest level player card) with an electronic gate. Another sign has ‘Uber & Lyft area,’ which ain’t going to fly as using the garage involves paying a fee upon exit.” That’ll be a non-starter with ride-sharing services, we agree. “Guaranteed, any Uber and Lyft drop-offs will continue at the valet/drive-thru area. Saving the best for last, MGM is eliminating the garage cashier jobs. MGM had people at their new electronic machines to show each driver how to use their player card with the new ‘cashier-less’ checkout. Want to pay cash? Hope you have a smart phone with a payment feature, otherwise a credit card is needed.” Las Vegans are already wearily inured to such changes but it sure sounds like MGM Resort International‘s regional customers are going to saddled with them, too. It’s a shortsighted policy, overlooking dollars to pick up nickels.
“The second surprise was at the Borgata’s player’s club lounge. They have reduced quality again. Long gone is haddock. Now gone is salmon. hope you like flounder with a lot of filling.” What players might mind even more is the appearance of hoary, old slot machines on the casino floor: The Mask and Karate Kid slots have popped up, so very 30 years ago. “Golden Nugget got rid of both these machines quite a few years ago. Guess MGM got a good, cheap price.” Touché. When you’re taking the Golden Nugget’s discards, in essence, you’re definitely on an economizing kick. New Borgata leadership is getting off on the wrong foot.
New Jersey, meanwhile, is in no hurry to defend its smoking exemption for Big Gaming. The loophole is being challenged by CEASE and the UAW, who argue that it unconstitutionally favors one genre of businesses over all others. And if that reasoning prevails in court, it’s game over for the casinos, who already stand on untenable ground. The Garden State’s attorney general wants an April 25 hearing postponed a fortnight, which didn’t fly with anti-smoking advocates. After all, justice delayed is justice denied, especially if you’re a casino employee. Their employers aren’t exactly going bankrupt, as we’ve seen, but they’ll undoubtedly harp on that 2% profit decline to declare that the End is Nigh, should they lose their special status. Hey, the free market’s a bitch. That being said, capitalism (for all its flaws) is preferable to all the other -isms.
Not content with court action, the American Nonsmokers Rights Foundation is taking the case to shareholder meetings. Stockholders of Caesars, Boyd Gaming and Bally’s Corp. are being asked to vote on their respective companies’ smoking policies. Boyd and Caesars tried to weasel out of it but were told nothing doing by the SEC. The latter said “the Proposal transcends ordinary business matters and does not seek to micromanage the Company.” The controversial item reads, in part, “Shareholders request the Board of Directors commission and disclose a report on the potential cost savings through the adoption of a smokefree policy for Boyd Gaming properties.” Oooh, controversial stuff. ANR isn’t even asking for a ban, just a study. But Caesars, Boyd and Bally’s know what the report will eventually say, and it won’t be good for the status quo. In terms of dollars and cents (and accelerated depreciation), this should be a no-brainer for the shareholders but we’re not taking any victory laps just yet.
Jottings: Potential iGaming came and went in the Maryland Lege without our covering it. In sum, it died because of fears of increased problem gambling and unfounded worries that it would gobble up terrestrial casinos’ revenues. Try again, next session … Las Vegas Sands has woken up and belatedly smelled the Texas coffee. It is putting its money behind a nonbinding ballot initiative, encouraging the Lege to legalize “luxury resorts, top-of-the-line entertainment, fine dining and more” to Texans’ backyards” by way of Las Vegas-style megaresorts. Logic is on Sands’ side but doesn’t cut much water with the Texas GOP, its primary obstacle … Legalization of sports betting in Florida continues to drag on, as the U.S. Supreme Court is returning to the issue. The Supremes gave the Interior Department a month’s extension to defend the indefensible (the Seminole Tribe compact) …
One stock analyst was musing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that barely liquid Bally’s Corp. might sell the Tropicana Las Vegas site to finance Bally’s Chicago. That’s be a neat trick, seeing as the underlying land belongs to Gaming & Leisure Properties. But when has logic stood in Bally’s path? … Pavilion Payments has a new CEO, Dan Connors. A Beltway insider (what does Pavilion know that the rest of us don’t?), Connors comes by way of ScentAir, which makes those flowery aromas casinos spray into their atmosphere … Regulators must have a lot of nits to pick with Churchill Downs‘ sale of 49% of United Tote to the New York Racing Association. The transaction closed after a mere 20 months in limbo … Consumers bet more, won more in New York State sports books last month. Fanatics, in particular, enjoyed a big uptick from precursor PointsBet … Tomorrow, gambling revenues from Detroit, Illinois and Missouri.