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.
Continue reading Silliness, sleaze and s**t
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.
Continue reading Bally’s flops & other news
Global Gaming Expo is a time when Wall Street analysts descend upon Las Vegas to romance Big Gaming’s high and mighty. Among those being wined and dined was Station Casinos CFO Stephen Cootey. (What, Frank Fertitta III couldn’t make it?) Cootey was wooed by J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, who hosted the investor dinner. The essence of the meeting was that the song remains the same. High-end properties, strong; low-end casinos, weaker. Promotions? “Rational.”
Continue reading G2E: The Street meets The Man
2024’s Global Gaming Expo “officially” kicked off yesterday, though one could easily have been fooled, judging by the rabbit warren of activity on Monday. Having covered two panels, plus an interview, plus writing five stories yesterday (all on two hours’ sleep), we confess to a serious case of G2E fatigue—with two days remaining. And since the co-parent of G2E is the American Gaming Association, it was (per ancient custom) the prerogative of AGA prexy Bill Miller to be the first keynote speaker of the show.
Continue reading G2E: Miller Time
… with apologies to the great Willie Nelson. Our hejira has taken us in a week from Lexington, Virginia to Charlottesville, to Charlotte, North Carolina and Columbia, South Carolina—all in the name of getting back to Augusta, Georgia, only to find a city devastated by Hurricane Helene. Never have we seen such destruction firsthand. (A state reeling from Helene’s wrath may finally be tractable to sports betting and maybe even casinos. We can but hope.) And yesterday we flew from Augusta to Las Vegas for this year’s installment of Global Gaming Expo. Above you see the surprisingly palatial press room at the Venetian Expo Center. We rate!
Continue reading On the road (again)
… go to Atlantic City. Casino operators are patting themselves on the back for raising awareness of breast cancer this month. If they really cared, they’d ban smoking on their gambling floors. After all, what says “careless risk” like dealers having carcinogens blown in their faces? Rather than ‘promote early awareness’ of breast cancer, why not stop it before it starts? But no, dead employees are part of ‘the cost of doing business’ for Big Gaming and the latter will pay lip service for fighting cancer, so long as no real and meaningful action has to be taken.
Continue reading If you thought irony was dead …
Dateline: AUGUSTA, Georgia. The brunt of Hurricane Helene fell upon this city and disabled S&G HQ. As a consequence, we are without power through next Sunday and this is being written from the office of Mrs. S&G. Since our reactions to the federal, state and civic non-response to Helene are well-nigh unprintable, we shall skip to the heart of the matter …
Continue reading Las Vegas melts in August heat
As you may have noticed, there hasn’t been any S&G so far this week. That’s because an assignment for Orlando Magazine has taken us to Virginia for four days. We haven’t seen a lick of gambling but have viewed much else. Our base of operations momentarily is Lexington, “the Valhalla of the South.” They have long memories down here, although it’s become a pretty liberal place by now. But tradition dies hard at Virginia Military Institute, where “rats” are encouraged to rat out other rats, lest they be “boned” by “dykes.” (Yes, that’s all standard-issue VMI lingo.)
Continue reading On the road
Station Casinos executives traveled to New York CIty recently for two days of meetings with Deutsche Bank analysts. Lead boffin Carlo Santarelli concluded afterward that Station was “being a relative winner” but that a “choppy” third quarter was complicating matters. He nonetheless maintained a “Buy” rating on Station stock and a $65 per share price target. Shares of Station (which trades as Red Rock Resorts) were $54.22 per share at the time.
Continue reading Durango, California power Station
It has been revealed who the Daddy Warbucks behind the latest anti-gambling campaign in Missouri is … and it’s Caesars Entertainment. Yes, the Roman Empire has been sleeping with the enemy. Indeed, with $4 million of skin in this game, Caesars is the enemy. Last week, the company was exposed as the deep pockets behind ad campaigns which seek to defeat sports betting in the November election. If there’s going to be sports wagering in the Show-Me State, voters will have to pass it. The Lege is hopelessly dysfunctional on the issue, having deadlocked time and again. However …
Continue reading Sodomy at Caesars