Case Bets

Despite the tepid attitude of Tokyo leadership, Las Vegas Sands has settled on it and Yokohama as its destinations of preference in Japan. Which leaves Osaka out in the cold (although it is not lacking for suitors). Sands lost no time in acting, announcing its desire for Yokohama 30 minutes after the city started issued a request for proposals. Osaka still has plenty of interested parties, led by MGM Resorts International/Orix—remember, Japan wants to see a high level of Nipponese ownership in these casinos—Wynn Resorts, Galaxy Entertainment and Melco Resorts & Entertainment. For reasons best known to himself, Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson didn’t like the prospective ROI in Osaka. As for getting the most bang for his buck, “We think an investment in Tokyo or Yokohama gives us the best opportunity to do exactly that.”

* “Breastaurant chain” Hooters has been sold for an undisclosed price. What impact, this will have on the eponymous hotel-casino in Las Vegas remains to be seen.

* MGM likes its new NoMad hotel at Park MGM so much that it bought the company, snapping up a 50% stake in Sydell Group. This will give the lion a hedge against its heavy exposure to the vicissitudes of the Las Vegas Strip. “Sydell, which is New York-based, has 16 hotels open or under construction in New York, Los Angeles and London, among other cities,” reported Crain’s. The MGM acquisition follows a trend of other giant hoteliers trying to get into the boutique-hotel game.

As though MGM or the Las Vegas Convention Center needed any competition, along comes a trifle called Exhibition City, which would sit on Las Vegas Boulevard a couple of blocks south of the Beltway. Our colleague, Scott Roeben, who broke the story, says that it will have three components: Oasis City, Auto City and Expo City. These will further include an 18,000-seat arena (comparable to T-Mobile Arena), hotel and—yes—a casino. This thing has “vaporware” writ large upon it, not least because it is too far from anywhere people would walk except possible Raiders Stadium. Also, it is trying to be too many things to too many people. It looks like it will cost more, a lot more than the $2 billion that Roeben suggests. I’ll believe this thing when the shovels go into the ground.

* Flexing its geopolitical muscles and meddling in the Philippines‘ internal affairs, China has announced that it wants the archipelago to cease Internet gambling. Chinese spokesmen applauded Manila‘s embargo on new online casinos but said it didn’t go far enough. “Online gambling is a most dangerous tumor in modern society detested by people all across the world,” said Geng Shuang. “It is a shared hope that this problem could be effectively dealt with.” Shuang dangled the carrot of “peace and stability” without mentioning what the stick would be.

However, the Philippines has economic incentives not to cooperate, as a massive influx of Chinese expats has propelled new businesses, demand for housing and retail spending. Considering that Internet gambling has grown under strongman Rodrigo Duterte, his response to Beijing is impossible to predict.

* If you were in Las Vegas between Aug. 1-6 and hung out in the vicinity of Luxor, there’s a danger you contracted measles. The coverage is so graphic that I’ll just direct you here. Thanks for spoiling my lunch, Fox News.

* Happy 25th birthday, Boulder Station. It’s the property that marked both Station Casinos‘ transition to a publicly traded company and to one whose locals casinos had upscale aspirations. Let’s lift a $5 margarita (in celebration of Boulder Station’s increasing Latino audience) to its continued health. We’ll follow that up with the $25,000 bingo tournament. There’s nothing that says ‘Vegas’ quite like high-stakes bingo. We miss it.

* KTNV-TV needs to roll out of bed a little sooner. The news about the Madison Square Garden sphere isn’t that it costs more than a billion dollars—$1.2 billion was the starting figure. The news is the sticker shock that ensued when MSG announced Sheldon’s Sphere could run to $1.7 billion. As one S&G reader observed, it’s difficult to see where MSG makes its return on investment at that price.