Heard along the Strip

Circus Circus, the casino Jim Murren said he would never, ever sell (because his kids liked it so much) is reported to be on the auction block. The Murren kids are grown and MGM Resorts International has never formulated a winning strategy for those 102 acres that Circus Circus brings with it. CityCenter North was killed by the Great Recession, Rock in Rio was a flop and the weak performance of nearby SLS Las Vegas surely discouraged casino development. Don’t look for the clown casino to bring big bucks on the market: JP Morgan analysts continually peg its value at 8X cash flow. Maybe all the underdeveloped real estate will raise that up a bit but you’re buying in a rough neighborhood, one that customers have long since fled.

As to potential buyers, Steve Wynn has been tipped, as has Boyd Gaming, feeling sellers’ remorse for having fled the Strip, along with Wynn Resorts, but the latter seems an outlier, as it already has the New Frontier site on its plate. Scott Roeben calls the buyer “known player in Las Vegas” and an insider. Does Tilman Fertitta qualify? What about Phil Ruffin, who craves a second resort and has a previous relationship with MGM? Whoever the mystery buyer is, he can keep Circus Circus running and generating cash flow while he develops the rest of the real estate. Then, whenever his megaresort opens, he can decide the ultimate fate of Circus Circus and cult favorite Slots-A-Fun (which was always a source of some embarrassment to MGM).

Although Steve Wynn is enjoined from competing with his former company until next March, a possible Circus Circus acquisition would make sense for him, more so that going after Planet Hollywood or The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (also rumored to be for sale). Wynn likes to start with blank slates and neither of those properties would allow that—unless imploding the $4 billion Cosmo is his idea of humor. At the north end of the Strip, he could develop at leisure and in expanse while banking the money from Circus Circus, which any buyer could demolish at leisure once they’ve got a new, North Strip property open. Besides, Wynn’s name is one of the few with the curb appeal to get customers back to a stretch of the Las Vegas Strip they tend to avoid.

As for the Cosmo, we’ve heard a variety of sale rumors but don’t believe it will change hands until Tom Reeg decides what he’s going to do with Planet Ho. The Strip has become, in the space of a few months, a seller’s market and Reeg holds the key.

* For the umpteenth time, a potential buyer has backed out of buying The Rio (could it be the deferred maintenance?), meaning it will be part of the Eldorado Resorts takeover. In a potentially related development, the World Series of Poker is reported as having re-upped at The Rio in lieu of moving to Harrah’s.

* It’s Responsible Gaming Awareness Week and MGM is highlighting its GameSense program, which includes messages like “Unicorns Aren’t Real … the House Advantage Is.” GameSense was created by the British Columbia Lottery Corp. and leased to MGM. GameSense “focuses on having positive, transparent and proactive conversations about how to gamble responsibly.” Thank heavens they didn’t say ‘to game.’ The program recently notched its one millionth guest interaction. Is that a good metric or a worrisome one?

Meanwhile, in their quest to create more bettors, MGM and Buffalo Wild Wild Wings are off and running with their sports-betting application, which offers such non-cash prizes as a stay at Borgata for some real-money betting. “It’s absolutely blowing me away,” reacted Scott “Woody” Butera re BetMGM. “Obviously, the Buffalo Wild Wings announcement was huge. The BetMGM app has gotten off to a great start, but just the story lines in the NFL this year, I mean you can’t put your phone down without seeing something.” Yes, even if it’s something we’d rather not see, like the Antonio Brown saga.

* Station Casinos‘ losing streak against the Culinary Union continues. Last Friday, the Fiesta Henderson workers voted to join the Culinary in a secret-ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. This makes Station 1-7 in matches with the Culinary. Although the Culinary has called Station’s bluff about secret-ballot votes, expect the Fertitta Brothers to challenge this as they have virtually every other election.