Opening a drowsy eye, the Las Vegas Review-Journal belatedly took note of Las Vegas Sands‘ Singapore project, although the story was just a puff piece (perhaps because its writer used to toil in Vegas’ PR shops, including a stint at R&R Partners). The quotes from CEO Sheldon Adelson (and probably those of his $2 Million Man, Michael Leven) are explicitly cobbled in from a press release and from what orifice did the R-J pull this assertion?: “Singapore mandated that Resorts World charge local residents a $70-per-person entry fee for the casino as part of a government campaign to warn against dangers of gambling addiction. The same casino entry fee is expected to be placed on local customers at Marina Bay Sands.”
“Expected”?!?! It’s been a done deal for four years. It also explains the significance of the yearly subscriptions that both casinos can offer — with the stipulation that your play is exclusive to that casino for one year, in return for the $1,265 “buy in bulk” discount you get. The happy-talk piece fails to note that Sands had to eat several convention bookings because MBS ran so far behind schedule (or that a major executive shakeup occurred late in the game … or that it will take seven months for MBS to fully open).
I have no idea what kind of accounting formulae they use at LVS but the company’s Singapore projections look zanier by the week. At its inception, MBS was budgeted at $3.2 billion. Its not-quite-final cost is now $5.5 billion. And yet Adelson predicts annual profit of $1 billion. Considering that analysts’ early predictions for the megaresort were for $3.4 billion in yearly revenues, it would mean roughly one dollar of profit out of every three spent at Sands. Even at the original $3.2 billion cost …
… that’s hard to believe — but Sands can at least take consolation in the fact that lower-than-expected play at Sentosa (which is sending Genting stock into the tank) could be interpreted to mean that Singaporean gamblers are holding off subscribing, saving their play for Sands. If the company’s numbers are going to pencil out, that had better be the case.
The Planet according to Earl. Elsewhere in the same edition, one could find ousted Planet Hollywood supremo Robert Earl putting an “I’m not going anywhere” spin on his golden handshake from Harrah’s Entertainment. Given the amount of trash-talking that Harrah’s execs did of Planet Ho management before the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Gaming Commission, Earl goes completely off the Believability Chart when he asserts that Harrah’s is turning to him to help market its Strip casinos. Sure, it’s possible that Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman (right) will someday feel like ringing up Earl and asking him for Sylvester Stallone‘s private number … or maybe not, now that Sly is hangin’ with Steve Wynn. But if I were Earl, I wouldn’t wait by the phone.
As for the R-J, its gaming coverage has been pretty toothless since the long-ago Dave Berns/Jeff Simpson era but lately it’s not even been putting in its dentures. Having been through a bruising experience with (and boycott by) Harrah’s, the R-J has adopted a tone that might be politely described as “business-friendly” and, intentionally or not, signals that the paper’s learned its lesson and isn’t going to ruffle any important feathers anytime soon.
Partial redemption was achieved today with an exposé of defunct Casino MonteLago‘s shameful ditching of its workforce. The so-called WARN Act is well-named. All it does is warn. It is literally unenforceable and, as the story illustrates, provides loopholes that enable Casino MonteLago to flout the spirit of the law in the manner which it did … and give the rest of us food for thought on the difference between what’s legal and what’s ethical.
Station Casinos also used the WARN Act as a blanket excuse for sacking the entire workforces of the Fiesta and the formerly Sue Lowden-owned Santa Fe when it took over. (Business suffered but that’s how Station rolls.) As for Casino MonteLago management, all public-records searches lead back to managing partners Johan Finley and Peter Cleary, who hang their hats at PDS Gaming. It’s a have-gun/will-travel outfit, providing itinerant casino management. After the disgrace out at Lake Las Vegas, regulators in Nevada and elsewhere should rake PDS over the coals before handing it any more gaming licenses.
Speaking of the unemployed, they’re not going away anytime soon. Gaming executives “frustrated” with consumer spending patterns should read this and sober up. Also, take special note of the role played by “institutional investors” (read: Wall Street and private equity) in swelling the ranks of the unemployed. Considering that these same investors are deeply enmired in the gaming sector now, they are reaping that which they have sown.
