With a rival Coney Island casino proposal TKO’d and Steve Cohen‘s Citi Field one on the ropes, Wynn Resorts is stepping up its push for getting the brass ring at Manhattan‘s Hudson Yards area, adjacent to the Javits Center. A $10 billion proposal was unveiled over the weekend, including a 1,700-room hotel tower. In addition to fine dining and retail, the project (co-crafted with Related Cos.) would entail 250,000 square feet of gambling. Apartment and office towers would also be included in a complex that attempts to be all things to all people. Given the proposed size of spend and co-developer Stephen Ross‘ financial closeness to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), Wynn now has to be seen as the favorite.
The not-unconflicted Hochul holds one of the six votes that will determine where the megaresorts go and, at this point, nobody thinks incumbents MGM Empire City and Resorts World New York will be snubbed. Given that Wynn’s site sits on the much-traveled #7 line of the New York City subway system and wouldn’t involve displacing anybody or anything, we think this is the prohibitive front runner as the RFP deadline draws nigh. Sands Nassau is making impressive progress but we rate it an underdog.
Trying to push back against the momentum, Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg told a Connecticut TV station that his company’s Times Square casino would create “a healthy margin” more in revenue than the $100 million the Roman Empire has paid the Empire State in taxes already. Unfortunately, Reeg’s building-conversion proposal wasn’t made any sexier in his TV appearance, beyond the disclosure that gambling would conducted several floors up, rather than at street level, an obvious sop to NIMBY groups. Like Wynn, Reeg is pitching a 250,000-square-foot casino but not as many hotel rooms (950). He did unveil a Jedi mind trick: Caesars Rewards would be rejiggered to be redeemable at local business, thereby theoretically spreading the wealth. We’ll see if this dampens criticism of the project. Wherever the megaresort goes, somebody in NYC’s is going to be unhappy.
What’s aged, white, hopelessly out of touch and has five penises? The all-honky, all-male corporate board of Station Casinos, run by a bunch of old duffers who have been ossified in place for the last seven years. Frankly, we’ve never expected much better from the locker-room, towel-snapping Station corporate culture. But the Culinary Union does. It’s used its spare time (of which it apparently has a great deal) to create AllWhiteAllMale.org, complete with specially commissioned artwork (below) of the graying, balding fivesome.
The Culinary is trying to step up pressure on asset managers and pension funds to query the overwhelming whiteness of the Station board, which hardly reflects its Southern Nevada constituency’s makeup, let alone that of its workforce. Indeed the Culinary Union is like antimatter version of the Station board: 54% Latino, 55% female and only 18% Caucasian. Still, the union’s playing to a tough crowd at Station, a company that doesn’t even pretend to care about diversity.
There’s light at the end of the Crown Resorts tunnel but it’s dearly purchased by new owner Blackstone Group. The latter will pay $294 million in fines to the Australian government to settle money-laundering charges that were filed on previous chairman James Packer‘s watch. (What James has done to father Kerry Packer‘s business empire and the family name ought also to be a crime.) Said regulator Nicole Rose, “Crown’s contraventions. .. meant that a range of obviously high-risk practices, behaviours and customer relationships were allowed to continue unchecked for many years.” (Emphasis ours.) We presume that high rollers from China are still welcome—but not the dodgy junketeers who used to funnel them to Crown.
One scandal may be done but another is unfolding, this time in the U.S. Indiana denizen Bert Neff is being investigated in connection with a pair of brouhahas involving collegiate baseball. In addition to the game-fixing scandal at the University of Alabama, there’s an investigation of betting involving the University of Cincinnati baseball team, on which Neff Junior plays. Neff Senior has been ID’d as the punter who was in contact with then-Alabama coach Brad Bohannon and placed the suspicious bets that got Bohannon bounced from his job. The Cincy wagers couldn’t have involved young Andrew Neff, as he’s been riding the bench all season, and no game-throwing has been alleged. But this kind of thing fuels the fire of sports betting’s detractors and is doubly unfortunate for that reason.
Three douchebags staying at Vdara got a rude surprise on May 6. They returned to their rooms to find that “bags were inside-out, beds were half made and cleaning supplies were left behind.” Gosh, sounds like an ordinary afternoon in today’s quality-averse hotel industry. But the threesome had requested a room cleaning, to their credit, and they had been cleaned out, after a fashion: Gone were a pair of Rolexes, an Audemars Piguet watch, a Cartier watch, diamond chains and a gold ring.” That’s a lot of missing bling. Since even douchebags are entitled to justice, Clark County investigated the heist and key-card records placed housekeeper Amanda Melendez at the scene of the crime and at a moment of opportunity.
A wiretap at the Clark County Detention Center linked Melendez to an inmate co-conspirator, whom she told “there was an Audemars Piguet, a Rollie and a bunch of other shit.” Being afflicted with stupidity as well as conspicuous consumption, the robbed trio had simply stashed their bling inside a computer bag. Did they never hear of in-room or front-desk safes? It took Las Vegas Metro until May 15 to run Melendez to ground. She’s due in court on June 20.
Jottings: Although it’s playing ball with the Chicomms, Las Vegas Sands wants something in return: a new hotel at Venetian Macao. The additional rooms would sit atop a 193,750-square-foot, new convention center. A glassed-in garden is also in the works for Londoner Macao … Contrary to the assertions of smoking apologists, Boyd Gaming laid a heavy fist on discussions of whether or not to reinstate cigarette smoke in Shreveport casinos, whining about “an uneven playing field.” Despite the presentation of much empirical evidence in favor of smokeless casinos, the fix was in and Boyd won, 4-2 … Reno has been underperforming as a casino market for a while and, perhaps not coincidentally, Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority CEO Charles Harris is getting the chop. He was sacked by the board after what is reported as a stormy, two-year tenure … Congratulations to Wynn Resorts for being named one of America’s 50 most community-minded corporations. Points of Light gave Wynn the accolade on the strength of charitable donations ($3.6 million) and volunteer events (180) …
Atlantic City casinos are blaming new labor contracts for thinner 1Q23 profits. Not all the news was bad: Bally’s Atlantic City swung from a loss to a slender profit and only Resorts Atlantic City posted a loss … Bally’s Corp. keeps sending mixed signals about the future of the Tropicana Las Vegas. It’s planning to demolish the old girl to make room for the Oakland Athletics—but is also instituting a new, Maverick Gaming poker room … Chandler, Arizona, will soon have a new Gila River Casino. The 800-slot property boasts large windows in the casino and a white roulette table … Kewadin Casinos is planning to revamp its existing hotel, in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The phased makeover is slated to be completed by winter of next year.
If the Stations board is making bad decisions, then perhaps assailing it for presumably being “out of touch” is a possibility. But if they’re making good decisions (IF), why should we care about the color of their skin or what gender? Isn’t the idea supposed to be to have the best people, and not a bunch of boxes to be checked?
I’m all in favor of “diversity”, but diversity in order to ensure that the best talent and best able to work together are chosen, not “diversity” for the sake of checking a bunch of boxes.
(Not a stockholder, don’t have an opinion about the board’s effectiveness, minority group member)
Again, IF the board is doing a good job, don’t castigate them for being white and male. After all, they were born that way.
In regard to “all white and all male”. You seem to be white and male also. In the spirit of solidarity, you should hand over your column to a woman of color.
From the renderings I have seen of the A’s new ballpark proposal at the Tropicana site its definitely on at least half of the 35 acres of land that Bally’s has there. Bally’s says its only providing 9 acres of land for free but its a lot more than that.