Mirage Is Being Sold

Unfortunately, when the casinos stopped hiring crooks, they also stopped hiring people who truly understood gambling and what gets customers in the door. The corporate mentality snuffed out cheap rooms, cheap eats, and comps, because they said that each and every single department and division of the casino, down to and including the espresso stand, had to make money--and at the same rate. The bright-eyed and bushy-tailed MBAs who wound up running things never consider the hotel/casino as a complete entity. I mean, who gives a shit if the buffet makes money as long as the whole joint does? Maybe the rooms are sold at breakeven. So what? Doing that gets people to stay there and gamble. But the bean-counters say that loss leaders are unprofitable.

So they deal shittier games, cut back paytables, slash players' club benefits, etc. etc. etc. and pat themselves on the back for "increasing the revenue stream." What they're really doing is choking it off. They just don't see it, because it doesn't happen right away. But John Q. Public won't come back when he gets raped instead of just beaten up a little, which is what he's expected all these years.

The people who run casinos are, with a very few exceptions, as dumb as a box of rocks.

I agree with you. That's why I don't give them any play. They slit their own throats because of the overall poor value experience they created.  I'll take their cheap rooms and use their fancy pool and have a hell of a time. I also pass on their overpriced dining options.  If I don't have a BOGO or dining credit, I hoof it to someplace like Ellis Island. They are losing money on me and I suspect a lot of other folks. Back in May, my room at the Flamingo was $70 a night including resort fees and taxes. (That wasn't any special rate or comp )The room had just been renovated and had the nicest view of any room I ever had in Vegas. When I was in the Mirage in Oct, I kept thinking damn I wish I was back in my old room at the Flamingo because it was so much nicer. 

The people who run the casinos are making decisions to maximize profits and that is exactly what is happening.  We can continue to call them dumb and lament their decisions, but the evidence suggests they are successful.  Of course, lots of those profits are funneled from the federal government through first-time visitors with stimulus and unemployment checks in their hands.

Personally, I am optimistic about the new Palms.  I am equally pessimistic about Cosmo as I am gold there, but don't play at MGM so I'm figuring I will be crossing Cosmo off the list at some point in 2022.

Waiting to see if Circa continues to thrive after the Super Bowl as, I think, that is when the honeymoon ends and people realize they are paying high-end prices for a downtown property.

I think Hard Rock will cater first to their existing database, enticing customers to visit the LV property and grow the base with new customers--I don't see existing Mirage customers being a major driver of their business bicbw. They are a major operator especially in Florida which is a huge market. Their loyal BJ players will not like coming to Vegas to play 6:5 BJ--they also won't like a continuous shuffler which to them is just not like playing the game from a shoe. Would love to see them offer 3:2 only, make good margins and shake up the competition. 

As I mentioned, Mohegan Sun at Virgin is not doing well--yes a ghost town over there. From what I understand some of the issue is that the hotel is not integrated with the gaming like the hotels are at Resorts World. I really don't understand how Mohegan Sun, such a successful gaming operator, can allow themselves to fall into that trap. I like going there and seeing only 3:2 BJ but at this point they don't have the volume and exposure for it to have any impact on the competition. I don't understand how they offer so few carnival games which do very well in Nevada--how could they miss that one? At least they got the 3:2 right.

They are maximizing profits in the short term. That's not the same thing at all as maximizing profits. The casino industry relies on repeat business and customer loyalty, which price gouging destroys rather than fosters. That isn't "success." It's an illusion, which will be dispelled when visitation drops like a rock after the current feeding frenzy is over.

I think the availability of federal stimulus money is vastly overstated as a cause for the recent surge in Vegas visitation. First, that money ran out some time ago, and second, it was never all that much in the grand scheme of things. $300 a week isn't enough to fund a Vegas vacay unless a person, though unemployed, was able to bank all of it and not spend it on necessities. Rather, I think it's people just bursting out of their covid-related confinement.

I recently visited the Circa and instantly concluded that I wouldn't stay there for free, and I certainly wouldn't gamble there.

Another hard rock casino filled with autographed guitars and memorabilia and a diner with entrees named after famous singers?    Oh boy !   That's...reallly....boring.    1990 called, they want their creative idea back.    

Steve Wynn may. have been a dick but at least he knew how to design a hotel.   Nobody at Hard Rock does. 

Mirage was unique in design and theme, volcano and all.  Sorry to see it yield to the cookie cutter Hard Rock theme.  Yawn.  JMHO.

Candy

I think they should have kept the basic theme of the Mirage, but amped it up with strobe lights, holograms, sound effects, etc. and called it "Hallucination." Even better if it's legal now for casinos to sell pot.