Enter the Aces; Dan Gilbert, failure

With a breathtaking lack of imagination, MGM Resorts International has settled upon a new name for its almost-as-equally-new WNBA franchise. It will be called — wait for it, folks — the Las Vegas Aces. At least it wasn’t “Las Vegas High Rollers,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal readership’s most-wanted name for the NHL‘s Las Vegas Golden Knights. (I like the implied nobility of William Foley‘s chosen sobriquet.) At least the female cagers weren’t called the “Las Vegas Slot Fleas.” At the media event announcing the new moniker MGM prexy William Hornbuckle said, “This is a great time to bring women’s professional basketball to the Las Vegas community. The WNBA represents some of the world’s best athletes and will showcase its incredible talent for our hometown fans. Young girls and boys in our city will undoubtedly gain dynamic role models for professionalism, teamwork, dedication and discipline.” And they’ll beat the Oakland Raiders to town by two years, arriving in 2018. The Aces-to-be have bounced around a bit, from Salt Lake City to San Antonio and now to Sin City. Let’s hope they can put down permanent roots on the Las Vegas Strip.

* While Hornbuckle was busy welcoming the Aces, CEO Jim Murren was making a concession to Connecticut that MGM would, if need be, compete with tribal bidders to open a casino in Bridgeport. No fools they, Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino were quick to call his bluff, which suggests they may not be so eager to shed their compact with the state as originally appeared.

* Lots of MGM in these news today. VIP junketeer Tak Chun Group, having bolted MGM Grand Paradise in favor of Stanley Ho‘s Parisian, is returning to MGM with a new VIP-room concept. At present, MGM is keeping all its VIP action on the Macao peninsula, with $3.5 billion MGM Cotai being entirely mass-market in appeal.

* While on the subject of MGM, I regret to say that press-relations staffer Yvette Monet has resigned. She probably tired of handling all my “Question of the Day” queries. Whatever the cause, S&G wishes her well in her future endeavors.

* There’s a pattern shaping up at Dan Gilbert‘s Ohio casinos and it doesn’t form a pretty picture. They have been on a predominantly downward revenue trajectory since opening as Horseshoe Cleveland and Thistledown Racino respectively. They debuted with November revenues of $20.5 million (Horseshoe in 2012) and $13 million (Thistledown in 2013). Last year, Jack Cleveland grossed slightly less than $16 million and Jack Thistledown struggled across the finish line with $9 million. They will probably better those numbers this year but it’s not a ringing endorsement of Gilbert’s casino acumen nor of the wisdom of his his Caesars Entertainment divorce.

* In Macao, when the government makes a suggestion it’s more like a lightly disguised order. The latest quasi-mandate from City Hall is that all six casino concessionaires pool their electric-bus business, in the interest of reducing traffic congestion. A “shuttle bus should only go when it is fully loaded with passengers. In that way, the six casino operators need not to dispatch their respective shuttle buses at each border checkpoint and hence the number of these buses can be greatly reduced,” said Secretary for Transport & Public Works Raimundo do Rosário, in response to a query from Sociedade de Jogos de Macau strongwoman Angela Leong. At present, SJM is on the outside looking in. Sands China, Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Galaxy Entertainment Group cooperate to run one shuttle service, while a rival one is a joint venture between MGM China and Wynn Macau. May the best bus win.