Mirage sold; Big win for Las Vegas; Bluhm, Reinsdorf clash in Chicago

In a billion-dollar coup, MGM Resorts International has sold the operations of The Mirage to Hard Rock International, a huge markup on Steve Wynn‘s 1989 creation—and Hard Rock isn’t even getting the underlying land! All this for 17X EBITDA, an exponential price boost for a Las Vegas Strip asset. VitalVegas was the first to report that the Seminole Tribe was getting a look-see at The Mirage a couple of weeks ago and negotiations must have quickly started in earnest. While Mohegan Gaming Entertainment is struggling over at Virgin Las Vegas, Hard Rock—pretty iconic in itself—gains one of the most iconic properties on the Strip, in a killer location and with 32 years of history-making cachet. MGM figures to net $815 million on the sale while Hard Rock inherits a master lease valued at $90 million per year. (The Mirage did $154 million in cash flow in 2019.) MGM CFO Jonathan Halkyard said MGM’s payday would go toward “opportunities that will enhance the customer experience at our other locations in Las Vegas.” (Maybe that proposed hotel tower in front of Excalibur … please.)

To answer the burning question, yes, The Mirage will be rebranded as a Hard Rock, since MGM gets to keep the rights to the Mirage moniker as part of the deal. Hard Rock will have three years to put its signature on its new asset before the rights revert. That, plus the eight months or so it is expected it will take for the deal to close. Hard Rock is wasting no time with its rebranding plans—aided by a $1.5 billion investment from landlord Vici Properties—which already include a new, guitar-shaped hotel tower. We hope the volcano stays, but there’s no telling what will happen. (Ditto the dolphin habitat and Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden.)

Indeed, if there’s a loser in all this it’s Caesars Entertainment, which reportedly had Hard Rock on the hook for Planet Hollywood but lost it by selfishly insisting on keeping the Zappos Theater for itself. Now it’s lost the biggest ‘whale’ at the asset-sale table. Also, the Mirage price tag kind of kicks Caesars’ management’s stated hope for a $2 billion casino sale right in the keister. What, besides sacrosanct Caesars Palace, does CZR have that’s worth more than The Mirage? Not much, unless it loosens its grip on Planet Ho.

The Super Bowl is coming to Las Vegas, sooner than expected. It was inevitable that Allegiant Stadium would host the title tilt but not as early as 2024. None of this is official and the NFL could yet play Lucy with Charlie Brown‘s football but it’s great news for the moment. The NFL needed a venue on short notice, after New Orleans opted out due to conflicts with the 2024 Mardi Gras. OK, so Las Vegas has a sucky football team but (by all accounts) a terrific stadium. A Super Bowl week will be a great opportunity to showcase Sin City, and we hope that all and sundry rise to the challenge. No repeat of the NBA All-Star Game fiasco, please. Global Market Advisors consultant Brendan Bussman waxed optimistic: “Hosting one of the iconic sporting events in Las Vegas proves even further that we are the sports and entertainment capital of the world. There will be no better Super Bowl than Vegas will be able to do. Period.”

C3 Gaming Principal Andrew Klebanow quantified the impact, saying, “It moves Las Vegas from being a gambling and entertainment town to a true major league city that can support major leagues teams. There’s not another major city in the U.S. that’s capable of hosting an event like the Super Bowl, with its 150,000 hotel rooms, including 120,000 rooms within 20 minutes of Allegiant Stadium.” Added Josh Swissman of The Strategy Organization, “The people it will bring will be much bigger than the capacity of the stadium itself. There will be a host of special events, with casinos inviting VIPs and making big long weekends out of it. The Super Bowl being on a Sunday will spill activity into Sunday night, which means people will be spending money on gambling and eating and drinking and enjoying themselves. This means a huge economic windfall for the city,” although it’s too soon to put a dollar figure on it. But you get the idea: This is A Very Big Deal. And it would mark a continued warming of the Sin City/NFL romance, which will see the most meaningless event in football, the Pro Bowl, in February and the next NFL draft … just not on a platform in the Bellagio lagoon, OK?

Speaking of sports venues, Chicago city councilmen are inexorably advancing Mayor Lori Lightfoot‘s proposal to have five sports books at the city’s major stadiums. There was some opposition, based on the generally held view that minority set-asides in the bill are “toothless” and Rush Street Gaming Chairman Neil Bluhm (again) made his negative feelings known. He got some pushback from odious Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, who said, “What is perplexing is that Neil Bluhm, who does not want our buildings to have sportsbooks, met with us on several occasions seeking to operate sportsbooks in our buildings. And that was long after the casino was approved for Chicago.”

For his part, Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts stayed above the fray and said he and DraftKings were “ready to go” with a combination of restaurant and sports book in Wrigleyville, explaining, “This is not a casino or even a mini-casino. It’s a sports bar-restaurant … It only allows for fans who wish to place a wager to have a window to do so. I expect many fans will come to the sportsbook and never place a bet.” The question remains whether, should the sports book bill keep moving forward, Bluhm will make good on his threat to withdraw from the Chicago-casino development derby.

Ubiquitous casino executive—and S&G cult figure—Scott “Woody” Butera has popped up yet again. The former CEO of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Tropicana Entertainment is now steering the fortunes of Fubo Sportsbook. He’s got a different model for sports betting, based on the fact that Fubo (once synonymous with soccer) streams myriad live sporting events. “If you’re watching the Giants-Jets game, we can create all kinds of betting opportunities around that game, because we know you’re watching,” Butera told Global Gaming Business. Of course, that raises the question of who would want to bet on a Giants/Jets game. Hell, who would want to watch one? Maybe Woody didn’t pick the best example, but his point is well taken.

Jottings: Station Casinos may have finally found a home for its “portable” hotel-free casino license. It’s pitching a Wildfire-branded casino for the intersection of Fremont Street and Charleston Boulevard near Downtown. Charleston can be kind of rough so we hope Station’s presence uplifts the neighborhood … The fix was in for the PILOT Program reconfiguration at the New Jersey Assembly Appropriations Committee: “Not a single lawmaker asked a question, and no one from the casino industry was present to comment or be available for questions.” The bill was moved in five minutes … Philadelphia Live and Rivers Casino are going to require proof of vaccination from would-be players. Good for them … Casinos Austria has released its megaresort plan for Nagasaki, It looks like a giant, pustulent zit. Fugly!