Reuters
Why heckfire ! Poor old DonDiego remembers when Caesars was owned by Lum's.
Reuters
Why heckfire ! Poor old DonDiego remembers when Caesars was owned by Lum's.
Nothing good ever comes from these things. Thanks for the link to Lums, Don.
Editing to say that we win some, lose some after these buyouts/mergers/whatever. Changes in reward systems, removal of programs and benefits.
I almost think they bought Caesers for their outside-Vegas properties which is where El-D is making its name.
Competition isn't so fierce in the other 49 states. Most cities only have 1 or 2 casinos with governments making it difficult to gain permits for more than that.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the Vegas properties go back up for sale in the not too distant future.
They'll probably sell some of the Las Vegas properties to keep regulators happy about the acquisition. That could be good news!
Caesars Vegas is the only one, they seem to care about putting money into. The rest are run down, with poor gambling.
Their AC properties are also in poor shape. Ballys has large portions shut down & Caesars has big pieces of empty space on the casino floor.
I am somewhat familiar with their property in Evansville, IN becuase it is only an hour away from me. They spent a lot of money on upgrading it. The old riverboat was replaced with a landbased casino. It is very nice. However, those hoping for better odds on slots, good VP paytables, cheap buffets and more generous comps are going to be very disappointed. Their VP pay tables are particularly bad.
Anyhow, I agree with Bob. The best thing that could come out of it is if they sell some of the Vegas properties so the Vegas market would become more competitive. However, I don't see that happening. Between them and MGM they effectively have a duopoly on their strip properties. Spinning some of them off would create a competitive market which would hurt their bottom line. I can see them trying to dump the Rio but Ceasers has been trying to offload that property for years without any success. They will probably dump, close or consolidate some of the regional properties that are competitive with their existing locations or otherwise running in the red.
Mark, I think it would depend a lot on who might want to buy any of the properties. Michael Gaughan might want to expand beyond his very popular South Point property. His family did get their start on the strip with the Barbary Coast. Stations might be interested too.
Originally posted by: Mark
I am somewhat familiar with their property in Evansville, IN becuase it is only an hour away from me. They spent a lot of money on upgrading it. The old riverboat was replaced with a landbased casino. It is very nice. However, those hoping for better odds on slots, good VP paytables, cheap buffets and more generous comps are going to be very disappointed. Their VP pay tables are particularly bad.
Anyhow, I agree with Bob. The best thing that could come out of it is if they sell some of the Vegas properties so the Vegas market would become more competitive. However, I don't see that happening. Between them and MGM they effectively have a duopoly on their strip properties. Spinning some of them off would create a competitive market which would hurt their bottom line. I can see them trying to dump the Rio but Ceasers has been trying to offload that property for years without any success. They will probably dump, close or consolidate some of the regional properties that are competitive with their existing locations or otherwise running in the red.
I largely keep my gambling strictly to Vegas on the basis you describe - most casinos outside Nevada suck (with a few exceptions).
But whatever advantage you get by playing in Vegas is largely eaten up by airfare, rental car, and accomodation costs. The trick is to knock that stuff down as much as possible with airline miles, comps and coupons. In the end its probably a wash vs just playing locally - but then again the boobie shows in Vegas are alot better ... and free booze.
Originally posted by: Bob Orme
They'll probably sell some of the Las Vegas properties to keep regulators happy about the acquisition. That could be good news!
I'm guessing that Trump regulators consider "entertainment" in a broad sense, which I believe is correct. With that in mind, I don't believe that the SEC will require any sales of Vegas properties. I do expect Vegas property sales, however, but I don't expect mandates.
PJ, the entire time the Horseshoe Southern Indiana operated as Ceaser's they had tons of good VP, loser slots, an extremely nice Diamond lounge with real food, lower limits, a large active poker room and generally it was an all-around good experience. My frequent travel partner and I would always laugh at how crappy their VP and other games were at their Vegas properties compared to our local casino. Even the Diamond lounges were crap in Vegas with folding chairs, potato chips and no drink service. We would take their free Las Vegas trips and once we got there we ate their free food and stayed in their free rooms, but we would take our gambling elsewhere.
Eventually, they changed the Indiana property over to the Crapshoe Southern Indiana and it went in the toilet. I am happy to report the place has looked like a ghost town over the last several years because of the poor gambling conditions. That's the thing. I think local casinos have to offer better gambling conditions to get people to come in the door as they don't have shows, fancy restaurants, nightclubs and other attractions to lure people in.
Of course, Ceaser's management still doesn't get it. They think the lack of patrons it is because the casino is still in a riverboat. It is a very nice riverboat with 90,000 SF of gaming. So, they are moving the riverboat out and building a smaller land-based casino inside an existing parking structure. Yeah, real fancy with low ceilings, frequent flooding and a musty river bottom smell. I have a feeling they are going to be sorely disappointed with the results.
