Christmas in Vegas; Study: Millennials’ impact overrated

I don’t believe this. WalletHub has ranked Las Vegas the second-best city in which to celebrate Christmas. Don’t get me wrong but I can’t think of anything more dispiriting than to spend Jesus’ birthday surrounded by slot machines instead of friends and family. True, my wife and I ate at Sam’s Town one Christmas, but that was very much the exception. WalletHub’s criteria include the cost of a three-star hotel room (#1), toy and hobby stores per capita (#3) and Christmas-tree farms per capital (#26). Further down we find Christmas events per capita (#36) and average price per Christmas party ticket (#39). Hoteliers obviously won’t be happy with having the cheapest three-star rooms in America but it serves them right for gouging us with resort and parking fees.

On a related note, casinos are experiencing what Tom Osieki calls “the Silver Tsunami.” She writes, “Today, baby boomers are driving the car in your casinos while millennials keep bickering in the back seat.” According to a Visa Business & Economic Insights study, Boomers will hang onto the steering wheel for as much as another 10 years. “While millennials have dominated headlines in recent years, baby boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) have continued to dominate consumer spending in the U.S. In fact, consumers over 50 now account for more than half of all U.S. spending. They are also responsible for more spending growth over the past decade than any other generation, including the coveted millennials,” Visa reports.

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management chimes in: “Boomers also control 70% of the nation’s disposable income. This is partly driven by accumulated income, but also by long careers. That means that the boomer generation will maintain enormous spending muscle. In the next two decades, spending by Americans over 50 is projected to increase by 58%, whereas spending by Americans 25-50 will grow by 24%.” Add the burden of student loans, higher home costs and a tight job market, and Millennials’ impact on the casino industry seems illusory. (This is a typical example of Big Gaming neglecting the customers its has to chase after the ones it doesn’t.) Besides, 47% of Millennials surveyed found casinos depressing. Why do you want people like that in your place of business? They’re more likely (50%) to gamble online. Assuming, for instance, that you can turn e-sports fans into slot fleas seems like wishful thinking in the extreme.

As Osieki concludes, “Given the overwhelming data that suggests baby boomers will drive the economy for the next decade and beyond, why not follow the money?”

* Despite pending lawsuits against Disney Worldwide Services and Twenty-first Century Fox, executives at Genting Highlands are determined to have their new, state-of-the-art theme park open next year. Would that they displayed a similar sense of urgency about Resorts World Las Vegas, which will surely exceed its astronomical $7.5 billion budget whenever Genting gets around to finishing it. Already Genting is taking its eyes off the prize and talking about bidding to seize a Macao gambling concession in 2020 or 2022.

* OH NO! The dreaded Marilyn Spiegel has been brought back for a second tour of duty as president of Wynn Las Vegas. Why CEO Matt Maddox is turning to this retread is anybody’s guess. If this is Maddox’s idea of letting in fresh air somebody needs to break a window in his office.