{"id":29819,"date":"2021-07-09T09:46:42","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T17:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=29819"},"modified":"2023-09-14T14:03:37","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T22:03:37","slug":"citycenter-sale-applauded-draftkings-sued-twice-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/citycenter-sale-applauded-draftkings-sued-twice-over\/","title":{"rendered":"CityCenter sale applauded; DraftKings sued twice over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> took a gander at the terms of MGM Resorts International<\/strong>‘s purchase\/re-sale of Aria<\/strong> and Vdara<\/strong>, and liked what he saw. He reaffirmed his “buy” rating on MGM shares, with a price target of $54. He applauded the deal for three reasons: simplification of MGM’s corporate structure by removing joint-venture partner Infinity World<\/strong>; cash and lots of it; the transaction “allows MGM to better manage its Strip assets, as opposed to receiving fifty cent dollars at a key core asset, as it had been.” Santarelli believes MGM will use at least some of the proceeds to pay the remaining $1.7 billion in CityCenter<\/strong> debt. Considering that it cost MGM $4 billion to build Aria alone, we think the transaction is, at best, a wash, not to mention the death knell for “New Urbanism” on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong>. Still, when one considers the collapse of the condo market, the slow, slow ramp-up of Crystals<\/strong> and the Harmon Hotel<\/strong> fiasco, MGM is getting out relatively unscathed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

That Hindenburg Report<\/em> expos\u00e9 of SBTech<\/strong> is continuing to bite DraftKings<\/strong> in the ass. A lawsuit has been filed on behalf of shareholders by Robbins LLP<\/strong>. It accuses DraftKings of misleading investors by failing to reveal that “SBTech had a history of unlawful operations … accordingly, DraftKings’ merger with SBTech exposed the Company to dealings in black-market gaming … as a result, the Company’s revenues were, in part, derived from unlawful conduct and thus unsustainable” and so forth<\/a>. We don’t know if this will hold up in court but those pundits who dismissed the Hindenburg<\/em> explosion as a one-day story were real Pollyannas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

DraftKings is also being sued in New Jersey<\/strong> over the alleged infringement of two patents owned by Canadian firm Winview<\/strong>. The disputed technology involves geolocations and something called “equalizing latency.” That’s the stuff that enables odds to be seen in the same instant coast to coast. According to LegalSportsReport.com<\/em>, “Industry consultant\u00a0Joe Brennan<\/strong>\u00a0noted Winview faced an uphill battle because its patent applies to the feed of the event, not the event itself.” It gets more complicated<\/a> from there. (Prop bets play a big role.) Announcement of the suit gave a big boost to Winview stock, while DKNG’s price was unruffled.
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Casino execs who used to look on 2019 as the high-water mark for gaming may find themselves measuring future results against the palmy days of 2021. Take Iowa<\/strong>, for instance. Last month it was 17% ahead of its 2019 pace. The statewide gross was $141.5 million, led by Prairie Meadows<\/strong> racino’s $19.5 million. Diamond Jo Dubuque<\/strong> was up 4% to $6 million and Diamond Jo Worth<\/strong> +11% to $8 million. As for the Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> quartet, Isle Bettendorf <\/strong>was +17% to $6 million, Isle Waterloo<\/strong> +14% to $8 million, Harrah’s Council Bluffs<\/strong> +9% to $6 million and Horseshoe Casino<\/strong> +15% to $16 million. Penn National Gaming<\/strong> didn’t do too shabbily at Ameristar Council Bluffs<\/strong>, grossing $14.5 million for an 11% gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sports betting handle was $111 million, which boiled down to $8.5 million in actual revenue. DraftKings had 30% of the latter, followed by FanDuel<\/strong>‘s 24% and William Hill<\/strong>‘s 21%. In terms of handle, William Hill had 33% ($36.5 million) but played unluckily, while Wild Rose<\/strong> (DraftKings\/BetRivers<\/strong>) saw $31.5 million in action and Diamond Jo (FanDuel\/BetMGM<\/strong>) was third with $26.5 million. \u201cWith a lighter sports schedule and few local betting events to spur interest, Iowa won\u2019t see significant growth in betting again until the football season,\u201d\u00a0PlayUSA<\/strong> analyst Dustin Gouker<\/strong> opined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think twice about that Las Vegas<\/strong> visit. The Silver State’s Covid-19<\/strong> positivity rate has doubled in the last month, to 8%, and the number of new cases hasn’t been this high<\/a> since February, while the state was still in lockdown. Only Missouri<\/strong> and Arkansas<\/strong> are worse off. Said Dr. Cassius Lockett<\/strong>, the Southern Nevada Health District<\/strong>\u2019s director of disease surveillance and control, \u201cWe are in a serious race against the fast spread of the delta variant,” while Mark Pandori<\/strong>, director of the Nevada State Public Health Laboratory<\/strong> at the University of Nevada-Reno<\/strong>, tempered that with \u201cMy level of concern is moderate to high, but only for unvaccinated individuals.\u201d Gov. Steve Sisolak<\/strong>‘s response? He’s conducting a lottery drawing to incentivize people to get vaccinated, although all too many Nevadans seem to have a death wish<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jottings<\/em><\/strong>: Surprise, surprise, surprise! Not. The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority<\/strong> all too predictably awarded its advertising contract yet again<\/a> to Billy Vassiliadis<\/strong> and R&R Partners<\/strong>. In a nod to fair competition, a portion of the contract will be shared with New York<\/strong>-based Grey Global Advertising<\/strong>, which will concentrate on social media. R&R and the LVCVA are joined at the hip and probably wouldn’t have survived the surgery required to separate them … Speaking of fixes, juiced-in, $563 million Urban One<\/strong> casino in Richmond<\/strong>‘s juice was barely dry when it announced project delays. The casino opening will be pushed back nine months<\/a>, just in time for the mayoral race, and the hotel won’t be ready until 2025. Was this the best Richmond could do? … Betting on in-state college teams faces an uphill climb<\/a> at the New Jersey<\/strong> ballot box. Only 25% of voters surveyed are in favor while 49% are against. We’re not ready to call this constitutional amendment DOA but it’s on life support … Vital Vegas<\/em> author Scott Roeben<\/strong> has been a consistent booster of Resorts World Las Vegas<\/strong>, so we are hardly surprised that he gives the final product a rave review<\/a>. Well, not “final,” as important components are still unfinished. Elsewhere, Roeben finds low-roller casinos are either getting rid of table games<\/a> or cutting them back and replacing live dealers with electronic table games. At least you don’t have to tip an ETG (yet).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli took a gander at the terms of MGM Resorts International‘s purchase\/re-sale of Aria and Vdara, and liked what he saw. He reaffirmed his “buy” rating on MGM shares, with a price target of $54. He applauded the deal for three reasons: simplification of MGM’s corporate structure by removing joint-venture partner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83928,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1728],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83928"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29819\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}