A fearsomely slow news week ends with the clamor of dueling accusations by Virgin Las Vegas and the Culinary Union, acrimony that makes a prolonged strike at the troubled property (now with 100% less Mohegan Entertainment) seem inevitable. To hear both sides tell it, talks for a new labor contract have broken down … and the accord ends there.
Five months of Culinary/Virgin contractual intercourse have come down a last-ditch proposal by Virgin that makes the latter a prohibitive favorite for Stiff of the Year. Virgin is offering a measly dollar-an-hour increase … in Year Four of a five-year pact. (It is implied there would be another $1 escalator in Year Five.) Virgin’s dog-ate-my-homework excuse is that they’re, well, they’re special. “We have asked that those years be treated as ‘runway,’ giving Virgin Hotels Las Vegas time to stabilize its business,” wrote human resources boss Kate Hay.
Which is a fancy way of saying ‘Business is in the crapper.’ It’s also worth noting that Virgin has already had three years of “runway” since it reopened in 2021. If they can’t get the property rebooted it in that time (during the Las Vegas Strip‘s best years ever), what’s to assure anyone that they’ll be around in 2027, when the wage increases would belatedly occur?
The offer by Virgin screams both bad faith and penury. It’s also a non-starter, since it asks Culinary members at Virgin LV to accept second-class status to all other union-repped employees in the Las Vegas Valley. The Culinary can’t allow that precedent to be set, lest it be open season the next time the CBA expires. Also, by choosing to negotiate through the media, Virgin betrayed a certain lack of seriousness. Showing that two can play that charade, Culinary Secretary Ted Papageorge said the Culinary was looking for the kind of $1.60/hour pay boost it got at The Strat from Golden Entertainment. He also suggested that Virgin had offered additional negotiating sessions on which it well knew that Culinary members couldn’t attend. Sounds about par for the Virgin course.
Surprisingly, the Culinary has yet to set a strike date. Papageorge even extended an olive branch to Virgin management, saying he was open to more talks. That’s nicer that Virgin deserves.
Even in warm weather, iGaming revenues in Michigan continue to surge. Internet casinos brought in $193 million, a 21% leap, while sports betting produced another $42 million, on $399 million in handle and tight hold. That was a 15% increase. $14 million went right back out the door in promos but one can understand why the books were feeling George in that respect. FanDuel beat BetMGM at its own (casino) game, taking home $51 million to MGM’s $50 million. DraftKings wasn’t far behind at $41.5 million. In the running were BetRivers ($12.5 million) and Caesars Palace Online ($11 million) or whatever the Roman Empire’s digital arm is being called this week. Also-rans included Hollywood Casino ($4.5 million), FoxBet ($3 million) and Bet GLC ($3 million). Sports betting was game, set and match to FanDuel ($20.5 million), besting DraftKings ($10.5 million), to say nothing of BetMGM ($6 million) or ESPN Bet ($2 million). At $1 million, Caesars Sportsbook was just above the Mendoza Line, while Fanatics and BetRivers were below it. So was the Sports Illustrated online book, which is “very much open for business” but will be toast by next year.
Jottings: Caesars Entertainment will be paying landlord Vici Properties a bit more money next year. But crappy provincial results almost canceled out phat Las Vegas Strip ones, easing Caesars’ rental pain … After taxes and promotions, OSB operators in New York State take home only 27 cents on the dollar. That’s if you don’t count advertising and marketing, labor, federal excise taxes, and platform and processing fees, making the Empire State a very inhospitable place to do business … To hear them tell it, Atlantic City casino owners are going broke. Then again, the revenue numbers don’t include departments like F&B, which have seen increased emphasis as casino profit centers. Incidentally, Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort saw profits rise, while grind joints Resorts Atlantic City and Bally’s Atlantic City lost money … Speaking of Bally’s Corp., it had the audacity to ask the Rhode Island Lege to increase the subsidy it receives to market its two Ocean State casinos. It’s more evidence of the company’s parlous financial condition, to be sure … If renderings were money, Thor Equities‘ Coney Island casino proposal would be flush. In addition to gambling, Thor pitches a major convention center and a 2,500-seat concert hall … Could Wall Street pressure have led Gaming & Leisure Properties to make a bottom-feeding, $105 million casino purchase? Whatever the reason, GLPI picked up three pissant Nevada and South Dakota casinos from Strategic Gaming Management for a song … Caesars CEO Tom Reeg has made it clear there’s not enough in the Las Vegas Grand Prix for the middle-market consumer. To that end, Forum Shops will debut an F1-branded arcade next year, hoping to ride the wave of what’s thought to be the Next Big Thing. (Formula One arcades, that is.)