Author: David Mckee

It’s Blackstone Group out, Vici Properties in at MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, as Vici exercised its option over the half (OK, 49.9%) that it didn’t already own. Blackstone is $2.8 billion richer as a result, including $700 million in profit. MGM Resorts International will pay $309 million a year in rent. Despite leverage concerns, Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli wrote that “the elimination of a messy joint venture structure in an otherwise easy to understand/forecast business model” was a leading positive. He added, “while the transaction has several fundamentally positive merits, we question whether this transaction would have been feasible/executed if not for the fact that ~55% of the total purchase price was locked in at an inexpensive cost of debt.” It also increases Vici’s stranglehold on the Las Vegas Strip … but we defer to the experts.

That great Las Vegas recovery on the Strip suddenly flattened in October but new signs of vitality were evident in the local-gambler sphere. Las Vegas Strip casinos grossed $706 million, almost dead-even with the year before. Locals-derived win, meanwhile, surged 11%. Downtown‘s $90.5 million was a 19% vault, while an 18% leap happened on the Boulder Strip ($80 million). Similarly robust numbers were reported by miscellaneous Clark County ($143.5 million, +9%), Laughlin ($45 million, +10%) and Mesquite ($16 million, +7.5%). North Las Vegas lagged somewhat, up 3% to $23.5 million. Further afield, Reno was up 3% to $64.5 million, while new Legends Casino in Sparks continues to fuel play, hopping 14% in town to $16.5 million. Lake Tahoe got in on the fun, climbing 13% to $18 million and Wendover was up 6% to $23 million.

While New York Mets owner Steve Cohen and Las Vegas Sands continue to dither about how they might, maybe, possibly have something brewing in Flushing, other players—much lower-profile ones—have been making a move. A consortium of the Chickasaw Indians, Saratoga Casino Holdings, Thor Equities and Legends are pitching a “comprehensive casino, hotel, and entertainment proposal” for Coney Island. Which we think would be a logical spot for gaming and would drive more entertainment dollars to the Rockaway area, especially in cold-weather months. Now, this foursome doesn’t have the name-brand cachet of Caesars Entertainment or Wynn Resorts, both of whom have dibbed Manhattan, but the former is at war with the Theatre District and the latter is evincing cold feet about the whole thing.

We’ll shortly see if newly reelected Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was sincere about being willing to “take a look” at casino gambling in the Lone Star State or if he was stringing Dr. Miriam Adelson along for her money. (We kinda think it was the latter.) Legislation freshly filed by state Sen. Carol Alvarado would authorize a constitutional amendment to permit sports betting and casinos. Sounds good to us … except that it would permit greyhound racing, a pestilence that has been eradicated in most of the United States.