Long a money pit for the Saulte Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the Greektown Casino in downtown Detroit is now owner Dan Gilbert‘s problem. A smoky warren of gambling spaces, the original layout is a clusterf**k that warrants Greektown’s eternal last-place status in the market. Gilbert is setting out to change that, including a revamp of the casino floor, to the tune of $150 million. It’ll be a two-year project, which means continued near-term losses for the casino, which finished $31 million in the red last year. Gilbert concedes it will lose money this year and after that … ? Still, anything that simplifies the property’s layout and upgrades its slot product has to be counted as a A Good Thing. Halfway across the country, Bally’s Atlantic City is trying something very similar (at a fraction of the cost) and ditching the old Wild Wild West branding formula.
MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis finds his current post a refreshing break from overseas MGM postings to South Korea and Japan. The stakes aren’t as big but Mathis contends that “This idea of a downtown, urban casino, which we’ve designed, I think is going to help change our industry.” How so? In part, by integrating historic, venerable Springfield buildings into the fabric of the resort, some merely as facades, others more substantively. Mathis describes the process as “a balance between what we need to do to have a functional resort and paying homage to that great architecture … This was the Silicon Valley of its day.”
Mathis is already preparing to bring his family eastward, so he naturally talks up the family friendly aspects of MGM Springfield. He also projects a late 2016 or early 2017 opening for the casino, should the Massachusetts Gaming Commission give it the nod. “He said the MGM construction development team is used to building larger buildings in more challenging environments” — and how! Compared to CityCenter this is a walk in the park, although several surrounding-community requests continue to hang fire.
Not sharing the excitement is Twin River Casino, in Rhode Island. Although well-armed 
with table games and fresh from the acquisition of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi, Twin River is part of jurisdiction that is projected to lose $84 million a year to Massachusetts over the next five years. That’s bad news for a state whose third-biggest revenue source is gambling. The nearest threat would be a revived Foxwoods Massachusetts in Fall River. Twin River Chairman John Taylor is pushing back by stressing convenience. He also pointed to recent demographic and revenue shifts that show this casino is skewing younger in its player base and doing better in F&B, thanks to a new emphasis on table games.
Revel Resort got some free publicity when the Baltimore Ravens‘ Ray Rice came to blows with his girlfriend. Just imagine all the sick curiosity-driven business that will conjure.
Problem gambling has a poster girl and it’s Mariam Aziz, ex-wife of the Sultan of Brunei. She supposedly lost $1.7 million/day while on a two-week gambling spree, resulting in the sale of $30 million in jewels. Let no one accuse her of underachievement. Mme. Aziz’s toilet habits are also discussed but they’re not for the squeamish.
