Category Archives: Columbia Sussex

Case Bets: California, Packer pickle, Macao pix, Holy Cow!, Singapore, RoboPoker, etc.

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Editor’s note: An item involving Crown Ltd. contained factual errors, which have been corrected (as you’ll see). I apologize for the misinformation. My thanks to the reader who pulled my head out of my @$$. California gamblers stay and play … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Australia, California, Columbia Sussex, Current, Economy, Entertainment, G2E, Genting, Harrah's, Holy Cow, International, Lake Tahoe, Laughlin, Louisiana, Macau, New York, Penn National, Phil Ruffin, Problem gambling, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Technology, The Strip, Tribal, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

A-Yem to the rescue

Posted on June 19, 2009 by David McKee

“No corporate liposuction.” With those words, new Tropicana Las Vegas CEO Alex Yemenidjian not only coined the catchphrase of the year, he implicitly repudiated the policies of forerunner William J. Yung III, whose Columbia Sussex modus operandi was to solve … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Columbia Sussex, Current, Downtown, Election, Entertainment, Labor, Regulation, Tamares Group, The Strip | Comments Off

Harrah’s Azov?

Posted on June 18, 2009 by David McKee

Bloomberg News reports the following: Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s biggest casino company, may build a resort on the Azov Sea, Vedomosti reported Tuesday. Harrah’s may join U.S. construction company Asati in building a complex in Azov-City, one of four gambling … Continue reading →

Posted in Alaska, Atlantic City, Charity, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Culinary Union, Harrah's, International, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | 1 Comment

Pansy passes the buck

Posted on June 3, 2009 by David McKee

An understandably sheepish-looking J. Terrence Lanni toasts the opening of MGM Grand Macau alongside business partner Pansy Ho and, front and center, project co-financier Stanley Ho. MGM Grand Macau co-owner Pansy Ho says it's entirely up to MGM Mirage to … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Macau, MGM Mirage, Regulation, Stanley Ho | Comments Off

Oscar Goodman, Voice of Reason

Posted on May 21, 2009 by David McKee

Even as MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren and Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin are preparing to stomp out any incipient recovery in Las Vegas by jacking up room rates, words of restraint are coming from the unlikeliest of sources: Mayor … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Economy, Harrah's, LVCVA, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Phil Ruffin, The Strip | Comments Off

Solving the Pansy Problem

Posted on May 20, 2009 by David McKee

Amidst today's crush of news, I forgot at least one other potential solution to l'affaire Pansy. Perhaps MGM Mirage can have its cake and eat it as well, by taking a page from Sheldon Adelson's playbook. It'd be a transparent … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, MGM Mirage, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho | Comments Off

The MGM/Pansy Ho verdict: It's in and it's bad

Posted on May 19, 2009 by David McKee

After nearly four years of investigation, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has released its long-awaited “suitability” findings on MGM Mirage joint-venture partner Pansy Ho. As MGM itself reported to the SEC yesterday, “While the report itself is confidential, … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Columbia Sussex, Cosmopolitan, Current, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Macau, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Stanley Ho, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

ColSux makes peace

Posted on May 18, 2009 by David McKee

After sporadically butting heads, Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III and Kentucky preservationists have reached agreement on the immediate future of the old Bavarian Brewery. Yung had bought it and an assortment of nearby properties on the rash presumption … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Columbia Sussex, Kentucky | Comments Off

You know it's a bad day …

Posted on May 11, 2009 by David McKee

… when the company riding to your rescue is Columbia Sussex. Had Tropicana Entertainment not farmed out operation of the Horizon in Lake Tahoe to its William J. Yung III‘s company, it might have been closed outright. As matters stand, … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Lake Tahoe, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Trouble waiting to happen?

Posted on May 8, 2009 by David McKee

Not to belittle acts of violence that occur in or near casinos, but we don't make a practice of reporting them in LVA. That's partly because people seem to need little excuse to kill one another and would just as … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Current, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Bleak Horizon

Posted on May 5, 2009 by David McKee

Anybody who thought Columbia Sussex CEO William J. Yung III was exiting the casino industry, let alone going quietly, got a bracing dose of reality today. The older of Tropicana Entertainment‘s two leases in Lake Tahoe, the Horizon, is in … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Lake Tahoe, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Case Bets: Isle exits U.K.; no room at the Trop; Carlino channels Astaire, etc.

Posted on April 24, 2009 by David McKee

Isle of Capri Casinos is coming up for air, literally extricating itself from underneath Ricoh Stadium in Coventry, U.K. As part of CEO James Perry‘s attempt to refocus a company that spread itself too thin under his predecessor, he’s walking … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, California, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Current, Detroit, Economy, Florida, Goldman Sachs, Illinois, International, Isle of Capri, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Regulation, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Pinnacle: the untold story

Posted on April 21, 2009 by David McKee

Is waxing and buffing the Pinnacle Entertainment limo a prerequisite for scoring an interview with its CEO? This small masterpiece of selective omission is more interesting for what it elides than what it says. The article parrots Dan Lee as … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Ameristar, Atlantic City, Carl Icahn, Columbia Sussex, Entertainment, Harrah's, Illinois, Louisiana, MGM Mirage, Missouri, Pinnacle Entertainment, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Adelson in the details

Posted on April 3, 2009 by David McKee

Nearly lost amidst a flurry of news stories about Las Vegas Sands hoping to jump-start construction on its stalled Cotai Strip™ (with the help of new equity partners) was this snippet from Sands' president of Asian affairs, Stephen Weaver. Rents … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Carl Icahn, Columbia Sussex, Macau, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Wall Street | Comments Off

Trop snoozes, loses

Posted on March 26, 2009 by David McKee

Like a hot potato, the Tropicana Las Vegas continues to bounce from Columbia Sussex to Tropicana Entertainment and now maybe into the hands of Alex Yemenidjian. (This management-contract arrangement looks more like laying the groundwork for a sale … if … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Architecture, Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Current, Economy, Entertainment, Harrah's, Indiana, Marketing, Technology, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Case Bets: MGM Mirage, Harrah's, Wynn, Shuffle Master, Taxes

Posted on March 17, 2009 by David McKee

As we wait for the MGM Mirage earnings report, signs of desperation mount. If the company is willing to cast away a pearl like new, costly and high-yielding MGM Grand Detroit, what isn’t sacred? Not even the corporate jet, provided … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Current, Detroit, Economy, Goldman Sachs, Harrah's, Labor, Lake Tahoe, Louisiana, MGM Mirage, Mississippi, Pinnacle Entertainment, Shuffle Master, Steve Wynn, Taxes, Technology, Wall Street | Comments Off

Casino commercial of the year

Posted on March 4, 2009 by David McKee

Although Sheldon Adelson‘s taunting of the president may have seemed very clever at the time, the joke might be on the mogul. Check out this inspired TV spot, dreamt up for the grand opening of the permanent racino at Indiana … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Economy, Indiana, Marketing, Sheldon Adelson | Comments Off

Strike at the Trop

Posted on March 2, 2009 by David McKee

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Harrah's, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Quote of the Day

Posted on February 24, 2009 by David McKee

"[Columbia Sussex CEO William J.] Yung showed a callous disregard both for New Jersey casino auditing regulations and for the requirement that any Atlantic City casino be a 'first-class facility of exceptional quality.' "But if the restructured Tropicana Entertainment can … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Gibbons retreats, sorta

Posted on February 23, 2009 by David McKee

Gov. Jim Gibbons has scuttled away from one of his several proposals to jack up taxes on the only segment of Nevada that's carrying its own weight — the casino bidness. He's retreating from a demand that casinos pay taxes … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boulder Strip, Boyd Gaming, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Donald Trump, Downtown, Economy, M Resort, Marketing, Mesquite, Movies, Politics, Station Casinos, Taxes, TV, Wall Street | Comments Off