After loudly proclaiming that it wasn’t going down the Internet–
gambling path, MGM Resorts International has quietly reversed field and is opening a New Jersey Web site called playMGM. (To be fair, the company also inherited a flourishing ‘Net-bet operation when it bought Boyd Gaming‘s half of Borgata.) The new site offers simulated slots and table games, as you’d expect, along with bingo. Even non-casino operators are getting into the i-gaming act in the Garden State. Strip club company Scores is also getting into the game, New Jersey lawmakers having amended the law that restricted i-gaming to casino operators only. Still, having Leo the lion presiding over an Internet casino marks a seismic shift for MGM. It now has a dog in the fight over whether or not to ban online gambling.
* Opening a casino in Macao is neither a slam-dunk nor a license to print money. Take the case of $1.6 billion The 13 Hotel. Although bathed in auspicious red glass, the casino-hotel is assured neither of financing nor completion. “Some of the original investors had already taken haircuts to exit the project, and they were the fortunate ones. The project needs more equity, as they are already up to their leverage ceiling, and future fundraising will only continue to dilute the shareholding,” says Macao-based casino consultant Ben Lee. Among the sheared is Ontario Teachers Pension Fund. (Educators, beware.) “This hotel was exceptional in that it was positioned in the ultra-stratospheric segment,” Lee continued, “That market segment has long disappeared in the aftermath of the anti-ostentation campaign, and it’s a wonder they never revised their business plan and structure when they still had the opportunity to do so.” (Macao isn’t the only place where China‘s graft crackdown is causing liquidity to dry up.) Melco Crown Entertainment was originally slated to sub-license the casino under its gambling concession but has cut The 13 Hotel loose while Lawrence Ho pursues other prospects.
The 13 Hotel, five years in the making, has neither an operating permit nor (more crucially) a gaming license. If and when it gets the latter, it then must eke out a decent number of table games from a parsimonious Macanese government. 13 Holdings maintains it can finish the casino by year’s end. Chairman Stephen Hung sold investors on his project through his own opulent lifestyle. “He gives the impression that he can build a very luxurious hotel because he has the idea, and he has the clientele base,” said Kingston Securities Executive Director Dickie Wong. Hung, however, was forced to sell down his ownership stake at a discount just to get money to furnish 13 Hotel. Now the hotel’s assets, including its 30 red Rolls Royces are pledged as collateral against credit. Don’t be surprised if 13 Hotel changes hands before year’s end,
* Want to be a casino dealer? $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills needs 600 of them. Not in the Catskills area? No problem. One of the three Genting Group schools will be located at Stewart International Airport. Fly in and learn. Mind you, you’re committing 20 hours a week and at least six weeks to learn the ropes, and will still have to audition.
* In good news for greyhounds and animal lovers alike, Magic City Casino in Florida has applied for and received permission to end dog racing. So how will it keep its slots and parimutuel status? Simple: Replace the dogs with a jai-alai fronton. The latter has the virtue of taking up less space. However Magic City’s decision is not final so let’s all hope it take the more humane course.
* Portofino Hotel in Vicksburg has lived and died twice as a casino. The former Grand Station was sold to Columbia Sussex, which rebranded it as the Horizon, only to close when ColSux went bankrupt in 2010. It reopened a year later under the Grand Station in 2011, followed by a second closure. Now, under new ownership, it is being remade — slowly — as a casino-free hotel destined for the Margaritaville brand. And in place of slot machines the main attraction will be family oriented water park. As for the casino barge, it’s long since be sold for scrap metal.
