Author: David Mckee

Although third-quarter results were announced last week for Caesars Entertainment, they took a distant back seat to the news that the company was selling its Ferris wheel and Linq Promenade at a steep loss. Howard Stutz of The Nevada Independent cut to the quick, pointing out that the $275 million payday was a 50% discount to how much Caesars spent to develop these dubious assets. The High Roller “observation wheel” was a particular dog, having been built in an awkward location from which there was precious little to see except the backside of the former Imperial Palace and its curious, swastika-like configuration.

“Not-so-buried Treasure,” said Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas about Boyd Gaming, in a playful allusion to its new Treasure Chest casino, which has been steadily outperforming the New Orleans market. Even so, he kept his price target at $77/share but rated the stock a “Buy.” Big deals were deemed unlikely, Penn Entertainment takeover talk having long since gone off the boil. Boyd beat Wall Street estimates across all divisions, delivering net revenue of $961 million and cash flow of $337 million.

That dingbatty mess you’re contemplating is the proposed “master plan” for Bally’s Las Vegas. Or whatever it will be called. If it gets built. A big “if.” Since it centers upon the proposed—but still improbable—Sacramento Athletics stadium in the middle, it’s more that a colossal “IF.” Before we get into why this megaresort is highly unlikely to transpire, let’s unpack what passes for a design.

Bally’s Casino in Chicago is a dud. A flop. Maybe not an outright debacle (although being smack in the heart of downtown, it should have been doing better) but an inarguable disappointment, one that augurs poorly for $1.2 billion Bally’s Chicago—a Bally’s casino in name only. How do we know this? Because Hard Rock Rockford opened its permanent casino in August, enjoyed its first full month in September and zoomed straight past Bally’s and almost everyone else into second place in Illinois. That’s a staggering achievement and makes Bally’s failure to gain traction all the more stark.