A tale of two Nevadas

It’s too soon to measure the impact of Circa on Downtown but better numbers can’t come too soon. The metropolis was -23% at $53 million, while North Las Vegas was -27% for $19 million. The Boulder Strip fell 25% to $59 million and even Laughlin felt the blues, down 13% to $38.5 million. At least miscellaneous Clark County was up 2% to $113 million. Locals-derived revenue was down 11% overall, with 14% less slot win on 5% lower coin-in. Utah continued to be a plasma donor, with Mesquite gaining 7% ($13 million) and Wendover 2% ($17 million). Up north, Reno hopped 6% to $78 million and Lake Tahoe leapt 11% to $21.5 million. The alpine part of the state may have benefited from October’s extra weekend but the south sure didn’t.

There are a few green shoots in the Las Vegas area. For one, after 20 years of delays, Station Casinos is apparently getting earnest about Durango Station in the “most underserved” quadrant of the Valley. Global Market Advisors‘ Brendan Bussmann told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that “The anchor of a facility in the southwest Las Vegas market will be a strong addition to the area, the overall market, and a positive that may come out of the Great Shutdown.” Station, for its part, said that it was making “good progress” (is there such a thing as ‘bad progress’?) on liquidating its main Reno acreage and its 57-acre site near South Point. Station is also looking at selling its four closed casinos—with deed restrictions imposed. How one reinvents, say, Fiesta Henderson as anything other than a casino-hotel is hard to imagine. Sounds like a job for Bart Blatstein. The Palms is halfway out the door already: “The Fertittas were clear that Palms is not personal to them, and they do not view it as core to their portfolio,” wrote JP Morgan analysts.

Another sign of hope is that Resorts World Las Vegas has finally started hiring, looking for 6,000 employees. The Valley is Resorts World’s oyster, given the number of experienced casino employees who have been laid off or outright terminated. It might start business with the most-experienced workforce of any debuting casino on the Strip since Aria 12 years ago. Property President Scott Sibella (pretty seasoned himself) should consider himself in the catbird seat.

The NFL is serving up turkey for Thanksgiving all right: A ‘who cares?’ matchup betwixt the Detroit Lions and the Houston Texans. For what it’s worth, the Texans are favored by 2.5 points with an over/under of 50.5. The Las Vegas Raiders are over/under champs according to The Lines.com, which has them favored by two (only two?) over the wretched Atlanta Falcons. In what will probably be the season’s best game, the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers come home favored by three over the Baltimore Ravens, with an over/under 45.5. Unfortunately, our household does not get NBC, so these Steelers fans will be disenfranchised as it were. The spreads are pretty conservative this week, with the Green Bay Packers‘ 7.5-point edge over the Chicago Bears the closest thing to a beatdown. Incidentally, sports books must be hurting after the “Washington Football Team” blew out the Cincinnati Bengals in a game that was supposed to be a one-point knuckle-biter. Who knew?

In an attempt to palliate New South Wales regulators, a penitent Crown Resorts said it would henceforth only do business with junketeers who are licensed across all territories in which Crown operates. The question is, is this too little, too late to salvage Crown’s Sydney casino license?

Jottings: MJ Live is dead at The Strat—or rather, in a three-week medically induced coma. The show shut down in compliance with Sisolak’s restriction of public gatherings to 50 people or fewer … A correction from yesterday: Presale for Harrah’s Las Vegas‘ new Donny Osmond show starts at 1 p.m. Eastern time. The code is CRDONNY and you might have to be a Caesars Rewards member. Or maybe not … Feeling Derek Stevens breathing down its neck, Westgate Las Vegas has retooled the video wall in its sports book to make it even high-tech-ier. Crowed NMR Events‘ Doug Whelan, “It’s an awesome display that captivates viewers’ attention with more multiviews than any other project we know of in Vegas—or anywhere else, for that matter.” Take that, Derek! … Speaking of Bart Blatstein, Showboat in Atlantic City continues to move forward with its water-park concept. The $100 million project will be funded in part with $2.5 million in sales-tax rebates. “When you talk about adding options to our offerings as we transition to add more nongaming activities, family fun activities, this is it,” enthused Mayor Marty Small … And finally, a clarification from yesterday. Elaine Wynn applied for an age waiver for serving on the Wynn Resorts board, then changed her mind before said waiver could be granted.