Congratulations to Plaza Hotel CEO Jonathan Jossel. He’s persuaded tight-fisted Tamares Group to invest in a 112-room renovation of the Downtown dowager. The casino is reportedly coming off its best April ever and this has 
evidently helped Tamares to see its way clear to capex maintenance, budgeted at $15 million. (Tamares may have opened its fist a bit but it’s not going whole hog.) “We listened to our guests, and one of their biggest issues were with the old-style key card systems for the rooms. We upgraded all of that to RFID last year. We’re using our own resources through our profits to reinvest in the property,” Jossel told the Las Vegas Weekly. The new room product should be ready by next month. As for competitor-to-be Circa, Jossel—like Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith—welcomes it as a tide that will lift all boats, part of a larger Downtown renaissance.
* Encore Boston Harbor is pulling out all the stops for its opening. In addition to a concert by Earth Wind & Fire, it is offering comped rooms to favored customers. The invitations come by overnight mail, cosseted in satin boxes 12 by 14 inches, personalized on the outside. As good as Encore looks from the outside, we hope it marks the end of Wynn Resorts‘ curved-curtain-wall skyscraper phase. They’ve done it twice in Las Vegas, twice in Macao and once in Massachusetts. CEO Matt Maddox‘s hesitancy to give a design preview of Wynn West suggests that he may feel the same way.
* Why has MGM Resorts International been emphasizing “organic growth.” It may be because an outright acquisition of an industry rival would push the heavily indebted company past its 5.5X cash flow ceiling. MGM may also be 
trying to free up money, dangling the possibility of lowering its ownership stake of MGM Growth Properties from 70% to 50%. Another scenario has MGM forming yet another subsidiary, moving MGP-owned properties into it and borrowing against them. (The company has a $6 billion asset base.) Under this narrative, MGM uses the new liquidity to snap up either Caesars Entertainment or Wynn Resorts. It also holds an overseas tax credit that it could use to dodge levies on $2.3 billion in capital gains.
Speaking of MGP (and acquisitions), it may be dipping a toe into the Las Vegas locals market. According to JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, who recently met with MGP, the REIT looks upon that sector “favorably. This market has lower capex requirements than the LV Strip and is significantly more geographically protected. Gaming REITs have not really expanded into the locals market, but management believes there are sufficient assets/ portfolios of assets that would make sense to own. Macro fundamentals in Las Vegas remain solid with population trends, wage growth and housing values all trending positively.” Purchasing MGM Springfield is also on the table, as is consolidating ownership of City Center, buying out Dubai World in conjunction with MGM proper.
* Could the bargain shrimp cocktail be returning to Derek Stevens‘ Downtown properties? The mogul has registered the trademark “Las Vegas Original 
Shrimp Cocktail,” along with “Garage Mahal at Circa” and sundry other names. Mermaids may be gone but Stevens is hanging onto the title, as well as “Sassy Sally” and “Glitter Gulch” (does that mean we’re going to have to pay Stevens if we cite the latter as a location?) and La Bayou … what’s old seems to be new again. Also, Jay Sarno may never have built Grandissimo but Stevens may have it on his to-do list, having registered the name to his Desert Rock Enterprises II. Now he just needs some more land.
* Las Vegas is one of the destinations for new JetSuiteX, which will ferry passengers from Phoenix on 30-seat puddle jumpers for a bargain $79. In addition to three feet of legroom, passengers will get to check three pieces of luggage for free. “The jets provide free inflight messaging, with power outlets at every row and quick, effortless security screening process that meets and exceeds TSA requirements,” reports an Arizona newspaper. Service to Sin City begins Sept. 12.
* Global Market Advisors predicts only a “minor delay” in the development of integrated resorts in Japan, due to a hiccup in the appointment of a Casino Management Commission and related cabinet officers. GMA says the Shinzo 
Abe administration favors a “moderate pace” to casino implementation, with the commission needing to approve 300 relevant items. “[E]ducation is paramount in still paramount in crafting regulations of the highest standard,” caution GMA analysts, who predict that the matter will be taken up in an extraordinary session of the Diet this autumn.
“Even under the most aggressive timeline, it would have been a challenge to get an IR open” in Osaka by 2025, the report adds, downplaying the effects of Abe’s latest delay. The environmental-impact phase of IR approval could last as long as two years, followed by as much as 40 months of construction. (It’s 67 months to the start of 2025, if you’re keeping score.) For its part, GMA doesn’t think megaresorts will begin opening until the first to third quarters of 2026. So much for cashing in on the World Expo in 2025.
* Amid the ascendancy of e-sports, WalletHub ranks Las Vegas as just about the best place to be if you’re into video games. It’s tops in video-game jobs per capita, video-game stores and arcades, third in the number of e-sports tournaments (good to see Sin City getting ahead of the curve) but only twelfth in average Internet speed. Let my bandwidth go!
