Stick a fork in that Wynn Resorts takeover of Crown Resorts, which was already on life support. Melco Resorts & Entertainment just bought a 20% stake in Crown, 
giving Lawrence Ho a sizable footfall in Australia. The transaction will cost Melco $1.3 billion and, seeing how everything comes up trumps for Melco, it has to be considered money well spent. Wrote JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, “While most investors we are talking to today didn’t see this coming, we point to the prior relationship in Macau that Crown/[James] Packer had with MLCO and its CEO Lawrence Ho, and after WYNN’s brief due diligence/ preliminary offer to buy Crown, a transaction involving Crown isn’t completely out of left field.”
In addition to reducing its reliance upon Macao, Greff believes the move is intended to “bolster [Melco’s] position as a global gaming/integrated gaming resort operator in new markets like Japan.” He rates the value of Crown as undemanding and notes that Melco can increase its stake by 3% increments every six months without setting off additional regulatory scrutiny. Melco gets its share of Crown at a significant discount to what Wynn was prepared to pay: $13/share vs. $14.75. Was Wynn overeager? All the evidence suggests that the younger Ho just made a very good deal.
* We don’t know how much conventioneers like to play table games but their absence last month coincided with a drop in gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip. Visitation was flat but convention traffic was down 6%. At least room revenues held their ground, with rates up 1.5% and revenue per available room 2.5% higher. That’s impressive when you consider that occupancy was stagnant at 91%. Midweek occupancy stood at 89%, balanced by 97% on weekends. Presumably that’s when all the Californians were driving in, with car traffic up 6%.
* If you haven’t been to Intrigue at Wynncore to shake, shake, shake your booty then tomorrow night will be your last chances. On June 1 the club will be closed to make room for meeting space, one more harbinger of the ascendancy of the conventioneer in Las Vegas.
* Kudos to Scientific Gaming for getting in on the ground floor of the All-in Diversity Project. The initiative’s goals are described as “ensuring that people 
are not discriminated against on the grounds either of race, sexual orientation or gender identity.” At a time when discrimination in America is ramping up, Scientific is to be commending for doing the right thing. As Scientific’s diversity director, Katharine Anderson said, “Gaming is evolving and growing more than ever, and it’s crucial that the industry embraces the diverse and unique people who contribute to the gaming world.” You tell ’em. (Caesars Entertainment is alone among casino operators in participating in the project. Time to step up to the plate, Big Gaming.)
*The Japanese government talks a good game when it comes to combating problem gambling but does the rubber meet the road? A panel in Las Vegas didn’t think so.
* My teeth ache from a temporary crown the dentist put in today, so that’s all folks.
