* Golden Entertainment will be facing a fait accompli when it takes over the Stratosphere and Aquarius Casino Resort from American Casino & Entertainment Properties. Outgoing owner ACEP has inked a pact with 
Best Western to manage the two flagship properties (Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Arizona Charlie’s Boulder were omitted from the arrangement. While Golden may have been consulted on the deal, you have to wonder how CEO Blake Sartini will feel about being reduced to a back-seat driver at his two newest casinos. Just to rub it in, ACEP CEO Frank Riolo said, “We were searching for the right soft brand to align with and it was immediately clear that Best Western Hotels & Resorts shares our commitment to delivering a unique and exceptional travel experience at a great value. Not only that, we will have access to Best Western’s second-to-none brand support, online platforms and loyalty program, while our properties maintain their iconic identities in both Las Vegas and Laughlin.”
* Poker rooms in Las Vegas continue to fall by the wayside, including ones at Monte Carlo, Luxor and Hard Rock Hotel. But players are unfazed and just as populous as ever. According to CardPlayer.com, “revenue per table increased from $11,766 last May to $12,316 this year.” I guess reports of poker’s death in Vegas (including ours) have been at least mildly exaggerated.
* Atlantic City casinos dodged a bullet, avoiding a mandatory closure brought on by New Jersey‘s governmental shutdown (which kneecapped beaches and state parks over the normally lucrative Fourth of July weekend). That would have been ugly — though not half as unsightly as Gov. Chris Christie (R) in flip-flops. Thanks to a 2008 law, casinos can police themselves for a week without government supervision but, after that, it’s lights out.
* Already committed to building Europe‘s biggest casino, on Cyprus, and preparing to be the highest bidder for a Japanese casino, Melco Entertainment has decided its plate is full and it will pass on a Barcelona-area project. In addition to Cypriot, Japanese and Philippine commitments, Lawrence Ho is expanding Melco’s Tigre de Cristal casino resort near Vladivostok, so he’s scarcely resting on his laurels.
* Having been forced out of Universal Entertainment, erstwhile chairman Kazuo Okada is fighting back in the way he knows best — a lawsuit. The targets this time are his estranged son and daughter, who have a majority stake in Okada Holdings. “Unless I sue there will be no opportunity to talk … I was totally blindsided,” said Okada, by way of defending his actions. Even wife Takako Okada voted to remove Hubby from the board, so they’re can’t be too many cozy evenings around the dinner table these days. The fallen tycoon is being investigated for alleged misappropriation of $20 million in the form of a loan to himself. Okada says he did it to underwrite VIP junkets to his eponymous Philippines casino.
The key point is that Best Western Premiere is a “soft brand”… kind of like Hilton’s curio brand was at SLS. Its pretty simple, Strat will pay a few dollars per room for marketing, etc. and Pay a few bucks per reservation/room night for any reservations driven to it via BW’s marketing channels (significantly less than Online Travel Agents such as Expedia). In exchange, Strat will have to maintain certain levels of cleanliness, service, and capital expenditures. Best Western is a good brand fit for Strat as it is a solid 3-Star player in the U.S. but throughout Europe is known to have many 4-Star properties and is well regarded amongst Europeans. BW will have next to nothing to do with the operations and strategy of the property. Furthermore, the deal wouldn’t have gotten done unless new ownership was on-board, otherwise we would have heard about it earlier.