Las Vegas Strip room rates continue to demonstrate sustained strength through October and, get this, midweek traffic is driving the bus. Overall, weekday prices are up 22% versus 17% on weekends. MGM Resorts International is the pace car, +24% midweek and up 10% on the weekend for the Oct. 24-30 period. Caesars Entertainment is up 17% midweek and 24% on weekends, while Wynncore is surging 23% on weekdays but surprisingly off a point on the weekend. Another surprise is that Venelazzo is, compared to 2019, almost flat midweek, up just 2% but recoups that on the weekend, hopping 40%.
Analyst Joseph Greff and his JP Morgan colleagues recently studied the travel industry and were able to confirm that a recovery is underway but were unable to nail down a consensus for when it would leave the launch pad. Greff’s bottom line was “business travel restarts will occur over the next few quarters with a spike in 1Q22.” A plus for hoteliers: Room rates will drift upward after the pandemic. Not so good: Technological changes (as in virtual meetings) are here to stay. Not coincidentally, travel budgets for 2022 will be lower than expected. Resorts World Las Vegas can rejoice in the news that Hilton Hotels “was the clear favorite to gain share post-pandemic, surprising to us given the lopsidedness of the results.”
30% of survey respondents felt that an inflection point has already passed (and indeed, domestic business travel flights ares at 26% of 2019 levels, with the remainder of the consensus spread out as far as a year from now. Travel may be inhibited by return-to-office rates, as well as by corporate liability policies. Only 20% of those employees surveyed were empowered to make their own travel decisions, with everyone else at the mercy of The Boss or of their clients. While more than half of respondents contracted with more than three hoteliers pre-pandemic, that’s coalescing now among a handful of brands, notably Hilton, Hyatt and (ahem, Fontainebleau) Marriott. But 36% said their company’s travel budget would be half or less of 2019’s and 33% put it at 75% of pre-Covid levels. Still, said Greff, “the swifter recovery of lodging rates in this pandemic has been impressive overall” and hoteliers are finding corporate clients willing to “roll forward” 2020 rates in anticipation of booking fewer nights. So, higher rates but fewer business travelers. How do you like that math, Vegas?
Once again bringing up the rear in gaming policy, the Massachusetts Lege is signaling that it doesn’t have the “bandwidth” to tackle sports betting in this session, leaving Gov. Charlie Baker (R) with a budget gap to cover. Complained state Senate President Karen Spilka (D), “We have to do redistricting, we have to close out the books and do a budget, we need to do a more permanent Votes act, our temporary [provisions] end in December,” and so on. The House has passed sports betting—twice—but the upper house can’t be bothered. Spilka personally killed it last session despite a promised windfall that would include $80 million in licensing fees every five years. Meanwhile, Bay State punters can merely cross the border to any of four adjoining states to have a flutter at Spilka’s expense. As Baker tweeted, “it’s time to act and get this done. MA is losing out to many of our neighbors on this one.”
Clairvest‘s bid for a Japanese casino in Wakayama got a dose of credibility this week when it landed Caesars Entertainment as operator-to-be of the $4.9 billion project. It’s a big win for Caesars CEO Tom Reeg, as Caesars isn’t on the hook for any capital commitment. That’ll be the purview of erstwhile Macao rivals Angela Leong and William Weidner (along with Las Vegas Sands exile Brad Stone), strange bedfellows who have found common cause in Nippon. Caesars had walked away from Japan two years ago (justifiably) but comes back under terms that Reeg could hardly refuse: It’s all upside, as best we can see. Analyst Muhammad Cohen seems to think so too, adding that Caesars is trying not to repeat its face-plant of snubbing Macao in 2001, followed by a costly misadventure of buying a golf course that Gary Loveman was sure could be rolled into a casino concession (a bad bet that lost Caesars $150 million). The addition of Caesars give Clairvest some real heft against MGM’s $9.7 billion Osaka proposal, should fewer than three be chosen, while Nagasaki‘s choice of Casinos Austria looks more puzzling than ever.
OK, Raider Nation, so the Silver & Black were zapped by the Bolts on Monday night. But they’re still favored to win over the Chicago Bears next weekend. The 5.5-point spread is practically a blowout in a slate that’s studded with narrow spreads. The only runaway victory is predicted for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (who else?), favored by 10.5 points over the Miami Dolphins, although TheLines.com also likes the New England Patriots (9.5 points) over the Houston Texans and the Detroit Lions (?!?!?) by eight over the snakebitten Minnesota Vikings. “The combination of competitive schedule making and the relative parity in the NFL is producing a lot of close games,” explained Brett Collson, lead analyst for TheLines.com.
Proving that irony isn’t dead, new FanDuel CEO Amy Howe began her tenure by whining that the U.S. sports betting marketplace is oversaturated, if you can believe that. Gee, wasn’t it FanDuel (along with DraftKings) that blanketed the airwaves during the palmy days of daily fantasy sports? And didn’t the Trump administration block the DFS giants from merging, due to the grotesque concentration of ownership it would create? Howe’s ostensible concern is that rival companies will fail due to a crowded playing field. We can’t realistically imagine FanDuel losing sleep over the fate of other, smaller competitors. Besides, the Las Vegas Review-Journal predicts continued M&A activity like the current DraftKings takeover of Golden Nugget Online. Sleep well, Ms. Howe.
Jottings: Kudos to Circa for holding five Coronavirus vaccination clinics this month, both for employees (hmmm, how about a vaccination mandate, Derek?) and the general public. Vaccines will be at the ready Oct. 5, 6, 13, 20 and 27 … Better put that Singapore vacation on hold. Due to a rise in Covid-19 cases, the city-state has imposed more-stringent health measures through the 24th … Forget about heading to Brazil for some gambling, too. Flip-flopping President Jair Bolsonaro has come out against casinos (again) … Somebody had to place Connecticut‘s first sports bet and it was Gov. Ned Lamont (D), playing politics with his choice. He rewarded Mohegan Sun for being the more tractable negotiating partner by plunking down his money there … Ex-William Hill domestic boss Joe Asher continues to move along in the gaming sphere. He’s been tapped to be the prexy of IGT Sports Betting. Congratulations … Kudos also to Alan Feldman, senior advisor to MGM Resorts International, who is receiving the Peter Mead Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Gaming Media & Communications. We used to work for Mead, who was a humane individual and a class act. Feldman is the same and a more deserving recipient could not be imagined.
Quote of the Day: “They may try to dress it up … but you know what, you put lipstick on a pig, it’s still a pig. That’s basically what we have here.”—Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians Chairman Mark Macarro, on card rooms’ attempt to gain blackjack and baccarat under the guise of sports-betting expansion.
Time to prepare for an absolute crap show in California about sports betting, the Native American Tribes “strategy” is a scorched earth entirely non-specific so far feces hurling scrum against the local card rooms throughout California… Municipalities throughout California rely on card room revenue to survive, they are not going to sit back and allow the tribes to pigeonhole and slander them as criminals without push back. The sides should start negotiating among themselves and strike a compromise that furthers the interests of Californians in general, they could then have a blue print for the Legislature to act on…