Category: Casino News

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On the radio

This morning saw (heard?) us do a guest stint on KNPR-FM‘s State of Nevada. We expounded on various and sundry topics, mostly Global Gaming Expo and the sorry condition of what passes for casino regulation in Nevada. Smoking in casinos—and why it persists—was dwelt upon, as was the failsino that Bally’s Corp. is fancifully planning for the Tropicana Las Vegas site. After his laughable project design was met with much Sin City derision, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim was quick to walk it back, via his reliable PR organ, the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

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Silliness, sleaze and s**t

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.

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Bally’s flops & other news

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.

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G2E: The Street meets The Man

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.”

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G2E: Miller Time

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.

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On the road (again)

… 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!

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If you thought irony was dead …

Atlantic City dip; Another strike in Motown?

… 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.

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Las Vegas melts in August heat

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 …

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On the road

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.)

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Durango, California power Station

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.

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