With Station Going Upscale, Is There Room for a New Downscale Operator?

Station Casinos has been making lots of changes recently. It appears its target market might now be aimed more at upscale income players/guests. If so, might that create an opening for competitors to enter or expand its presence in the Las Vegas locals market catering to the lower-end gambler?

You’re right about Station -- and Boyd Gaming. During and after the pandemic, they both reshaped their strategies and marketing to focus on rated and higher-net-worth players. Low rollers (who also tend to be unrated) became almost persona non grata at the better locals casinos.

If locals players are disgruntled, they already have plenty of options for voting with their feet. For starters is the Golden Entertainment chain, which controls both Arizona Charlie’s and The Strat, along with many gambling-enabled bars and restaurants. And plenty of other mom-and-pop casinos are scattered around town.

There isn’t, however, room for a new operator of considerable scale, at least in our opinion. The barriers to entry would be very high in terms of infrastructure and gaming investment. A database would have to be created from scratch, no small feat. Then there's the vexing question of location, location, location. As Station likes to remind Wall Street, between it and Boyd, all the good land in the valley, both developed and undeveloped, is spoken for.

So new casino operators of consequence, of which there are also fewer and fewer, don’t look like serious players. The biggest regional operator, Penn Entertainment, is retrenching at M Resort after an unsuccessful stint at the Tropicana. If Penn is having difficulty making a go of it, no other outsider is likely to do better.

Instead, the low rollers will probably move down the food chain, fattening the bottom line of Golden and its Vegas-based ilk.

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[email protected] Aug-08-2023

Circus-Circus or Dotty's?

Dotty's does have actual casino/hotels and I thought Circus Circus was low-end?  Also what about Primm Resorts/Buffalo Bills/Whiskey Pete's?  Lastly, Railroad Pass?

Kevin Lewis Aug-08-2023

Too obvious

A casino that resembled, say, Boulder Station or Fiesta Rancho from 2005 would be absolutely mobbed. It's such an obvious business move that I can't help but conclude that there's a serious amount of arm-twisting being done to stop that from happening. The low-roller market is evident, and substantial. But the casino government doesn't want them to be catered to, which would eat into their bottom lone.
It was so much fun living in Vegas in the 1990s and 2000s, as all the locals' casinos fought for your business. Now, they've all been gentrified or imploded.

jpfromla Aug-08-2023

My Local Casino

Why I have given up on Vegas after 25+ (Boyd, Stations and ElDiablo included)
What my local casino provides…

98/99% video poker 
Lobster buffet 
Reasonable priced, gourmet restaurant 
Free parking 
No resort fees 
Terrific monthly FreePlay (5x Boyd, 10x CET)
Good comp points 
$200 food comps every month 
Nice rooms including suites 
Free cigarettes 
Free play without asking 
Half the drive going to Vegas 
Free breakfast room stay 
Over 21 only
Free coffee, soda, smoothies, and water
Free room refrigerator upon request

Rick Sanchez Aug-08-2023

@jpfromla

Live it up now as soon enough they will follow the leader.

CLIFFORD Aug-08-2023

JPF I'm 81 young

Been in 50 or/so clip joints.  Never heard or seen of free cancer sticks..If all the clips were like your casino, Lost Wages would be a ghost town.  Book-me Danno.

Lotel Aug-08-2023

supply and demand

Good or bad but Las Vegas Casinos and a lot of businesses have learned they can charge a lot more, offer less service, less products,  hire less employees and still  make more profits during these economic times. And There is plenty supply of people willing to pay for that. I just go to Vegas once  year now instead of multi times , there are a lot  better gambling areas to go to now all over America. I still can't believe even  the Fremont casino /hotel even went upscale. that was about as a low roller place you could find with low minimum  craps and table games. Las Vegas does not want low rollers now but  it can change fast.

jay Aug-08-2023

Always easier to negotiate down

In business its always easier to negotiate downwards.
Never do you see someone selling an item for $100 and then when offered $80 bounce their price up to $110, common practice is that you settle in at $90.

Clothes, Jewelry etc typically comes with a 400%++ markup, so they can take that $100 purse and blow it out for $30 when the time comes and still make money. 

So the casinos have gone up market because they can but its a lot easier for them to drop prices than move them upwards. 

Apple has been brilliant - They control their market, not allowing even Walmart to discount their prices from MSRP mean while HP, Lenovo, Dell have been fighting their way to bottom. The vegas strategy appears to have been to control enough of the market by creating presence (MGM, CET, Boyd) and leave the rest to fight over table scraps. 

What you need is for a bunch of the locals casinos to coagulate into a brand and go head to head. If nothing else it will make the others adjust.

LynGHS Aug-08-2023

PENN Sucks

Penn Gaming is run by morons. I was playing at Trop the day they started making changes - it was a nightmare! The list in my head of gross errors they made is too long for this forum, but one of the worst was a Player's Club that did NOT award any FP for play/points earned. Your points merely were for tier level and there was a separate account for comps. I remember putting about $100k through in a couple of hours; I got hungry and went to see what my play had earned me for food. My $100k did not even qualify me for a comped burger. Really?! I reveled in their failure (wish I could have made a bet on that!).
And they wrecked the M too; for years and years I played there 2x a month - now I go 1 or 2x a year when friends want to go. RIP M.
None of this came as a surprise... I was there when they destroyed the Empress (now the Hollywood) in Joliet, IL back in 2008.

Trainwreck Aug-08-2023

Clifford

Up until the early '70s all casino's in Puerto Rico would give you a free pack of cigarettes as long as you were playing (back then slot machines were not legal. Only craps, roulette and blackjack). Coffee, soft drinks and sandwiches were complementary (as well as one pack of cigarettes) and were brought to you table. Alcohol was not permitted in the casinos. Also, any dispute during a game was settled by one of the two government inspectors who were always present in the pit and their decision was final. They worked for the government and were rotated periodically between the different casinos, and their word was law.

Rob Reid Aug-09-2023

Several Options Downtown

Both for local low rollers and those looking for a decent gambling opportunity

Question of the Day - 08 August 2023

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