Fertitta plays Cassandra; Reach for the sky

Although Atlantic City is coming off its best month in memory, Tilman Fertitta is predicting doom and gloom. “It’s not a nine-casino market, and I don’t understand why nobody realizes that,” he told The Press of Atlantic City. “You could say the market is going up and that we’ve added thousands of jobs, but now every other casino has had to lay off jobs, so I don’t even know how big the net gain is. But now, none of the casinos have the cash flow that they did.” He predicts that increased competition = reduced capex. “It’s a seven-casino market, and when it was seven casinos, everybody was putting money back into the properties. Now, they won’t,” quoth Tilman, who foresees another massive market correction like the one that claimed five casinos in the 2014-6 period.

Tilman didn’t recommend any drastic moves, presumably relying upon market forces to weed things out, as they have done before. That didn’t prevent the state from butting in, in the form of gubernatorial counsel Jim Johnson, who called for looking at putting caps on gaming positions or, more drastically, the number of casinos (although I don’t think anyone expects a 10th casino at this point). The issue may hinge more on the ingenuity of owners like Fertitta, who has struck pay dirt in Internet gambling and looks to do the same with sports betting. By contrast, look for Caesars Entertainment to be hamstrung from competing, once Tom Reeg finishes loading the company to the gunwales in debt.

* This article confidently predicts that Majestic Las Vegas, when opened, will usher in a new era of casino-less resorts in Sin City. Given the equivocal success enjoyed by Trump International, we’re not ready to jump aboard the “Vegas without gambling” bandwagon. One interesting feature about Majestic—whose success will hinge on its extreme proximity to the Las Vegas Convention Center—is that its six restaurants will surround the courtyard in a circular pattern. Wish we could be there to see that.

The same piece predicts (yet again) that The Drew is on the verge of opening—if your idea of a verge is three years distant. Complications from arson are revealed as one reason for Steven Witkoff‘s long delay in starting construction. We’d like him to make a silk purse out of the sow’s ear that is Fontainebleau, but it will be a labor of Hercules, not for the faint of heart or light of wallet.

All that construction activity may be the major contributory factor to Nevada‘s job growth, which has outpaced the nation’s for 11th straight months now. Reno leads the Silver State in job growth with 6%, while Las Vegas clocks in at just under 2%, even it dominated Reno 3,4o0 new jobs to 500. (They don’t call Reno the Biggest Little City for nothing.) The statewide rate of job growth was 3%.

* Can anybody vouch for Rick Tabish‘s whereabouts last Thursday when a “suspicious fire” destroyed two buildings at the late Ted Binion‘s ranch in Pahrump? (Poor Ted, dead two decades and still unable to rest in peace.) Tabish, you may remember, was caught digging up Binion’s buried vault with a backhoe, prompting one sheriff’s deputy to glance at the contents and exclaim, “There’s a shitload of silver in there!” Treasure hunters haven’t stopped there and continue to plunder the Binion ranch in hopes of finding the Vegas equivalent of El Dorado.

* Kudos to Terry Caudill for another upgrade to the Four Queens. (Don’t be a smart ass and ask “another”?) The south tower has been repainted and re-carpeted. All that and no resort fees—what more can you ask?

* A tip of the hat also to Boyd Gaming, which has instituted room service at the California Hotel, joining the Golden Nugget and Four Queens as Downtown hotels who offer this pleasant amenity.

* Today is National Voter Registration Day, so if you don’t have a franchise go out and get one. It’s the only way to be in the driver’s seat of democracy.