Category Archives: Fontainebleau

Cosmopolitan: Towers of Babel

It’s here and it’s a sensory overload. If the severe CityCenter six-pack is a convent of Carmelite nuns, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is a drag queen. It’s unstintingly flamboyant, often fabulous, unremittingly outrageous and campy as all get-out. On … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Current, Dining, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, IGT, LVCVA, MGM Mirage, Movies, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Technology, The Strip, Tourism | 8 Comments

Icahn’s CEO jumps ship

In something of a shocker, Scott Butera, CEO of Tropicana Entertainment is leaving the firm to join a rival — but undisclosed — casino company. It’s an amicable parting, judging by the fact that Butera is staying to smooth over … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Icahn, CityCenter, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Current, Detroit, Don Barden, Donald Trump, Economy, Fontainebleau, Herbst Gaming, Morgans Hotel Group, Shuffle Master, Tribal, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | 4 Comments

F-blew: The incredible bulk

A friend of S&G was recently staying at Wynncore and got this rude surprise when he looked out his north-facing window: No, somebody didn’t topple the Stratosphere in the dead of night. So immense is the unfinished hulk of Fontainebleau … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Carl Icahn, Economy, Encore, Fontainebleau, Goldman Sachs, history, Planet Hollywood, Steve Wynn, The Strip | 6 Comments

Harrah’s on new spending spree

As predicted and dreaded by skeptical bond analysts, proceeds from Harrah’s Entertainment‘s semi-IPO of 17% of the company, it has been officially disclosed, will be rolled into retail therapy for CEO Gary Loveman. An anticipated $575 million will be used … Continue reading

Posted in Colony Capital, Current, Economy, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, George Maloof, Harrah's, Ohio, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Regulation, The Strip, TV, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Plaza gets an infusion of F-blew

(Editor’s note: Since I found this state-of-the art version of the previous Tex & Edna Boil video, I’ve replaced the old one with another in which Tex & Edna get into the curio-barn business … sort of like Carl Icahn, … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Icahn, Downtown, Fontainebleau, Tamares Group, Tilman Fertitta, TV | 6 Comments

No (M)irage this time: Penn enters Vegas

They’ve been busy little beavers at Penn National Gaming, which is — would you believe it? — now the third-largest operator in the U.S. Never mind that Penn bought a horse track in Ohio, on top of building two casinos … Continue reading

Posted in Atlantic City, Carl Icahn, Current, Donald Trump, Fontainebleau, Harry Reid, Louisiana, M Resort, Marketing, Maryland, MGM Mirage, Ohio, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Station Casinos, Steve Wynn, Texas, Wall Street, West Virginia | 7 Comments

Uncle Carl’s Computer Barn?

Thanks to the Vdara Death Ray, the big-ass garage sale Carl Icahn is holding at Fontainebleau has dropped off the news pages. But one blogger asks, What about those iMacs in every F-blew hotel room? To which I might add: … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Icahn, CityCenter, Current, Fontainebleau, Technology, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, TV, Vdara Death Ray | 4 Comments

CityCenter gets a visitor, deploys Vdara Death Ray

He’s not just any sightseer but the type of East Coast tastemaker MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren hoped to impress: New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger. Heretofore, Goldberger’s most memorable pronouncement in re Vegas came 13 years ago, when … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, CityCenter, Cretins, Current, Encore, Fontainebleau, George Maloof, history, Marketing, MGM Mirage, The Strip, Tribal, TV, Vdara Death Ray, Wall Street | 4 Comments

Peril on the Strip

You wouldn’t know if from the wrap on Luxor’s west side, but Angelica Bridges is out as Fantasy headliner, replaced by Lorena Peril (late of Sin City Bad Girls at the Las Vegas Hilton). This alone is sufficient to bump … Continue reading

Posted in Atlantic City, Carl Icahn, CityCenter, Donald Trump, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Goldman Sachs, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Tourism, Tropicana Entertainment | 1 Comment

Gone baby, gone

“[T]he confidence that ­property prices and stock markets would permanently defy gravity” is a phrase that perfectly encapsulates how the casino industry got itself into its present pickle. In what other mindset could an industry convince itself that it could … Continue reading

Posted in Archon Corp., Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Cannery Casino Resorts, CityCenter, Colony Capital, Cosmopolitan, Current, Dining, Economy, Encore, Entertainment, Environment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, history, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Regulation, Station Casinos, Steve Wynn, Taxes, The Strip, Tourism, Wall Street | 4 Comments

Ruffin: No bull

Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin and his beloved mechanical bull made a guest appearance on CNBC and, characteristically, pulled no punches. (Ruffin, that is. The bull had no comment.) Even as MGM Resorts International, Harrah’s Entertainment and Las Vegas Sands … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Icahn, Current, Donald Trump, Economy, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Phil Ruffin, Sheldon Adelson, The Strip, Tourism, Tropicana Entertainment, TV | 6 Comments

From the mailbag

A mystery illness has debilitated me off and on (more “on” than “off,” sadly) for the past seven days. Fortunately, lively reader debate in the “Comments” threads have kept things ticking over nicely in my absence. Also, I sometimes get … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Icahn, Colony Capital, Current, Dining, Economy, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, IGT, Laughlin, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Riviera, Technology, The Strip, Tourism | 4 Comments

CityCenter: Stop the madness!

Just when I thought I was out of the Sharron Angle vs. CityCenter insanity, they pull me back in. As I feared, the mythical “CityCenter bailout” has become a meme in that echo chamber of misinformation and urban mythology, cable … Continue reading

Posted in CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Current, Election, Fontainebleau, Harry Reid, MGM Mirage, Taxes, The Strip, TV, Wall Street | 9 Comments

Your questions, answered

Paul Shanahan writes (in part): I think Fontainebleau would have looked much better if it was around 500 feet high instead of being close to 730 feet. It looks bulky and just kind of bizarre down there at the north … Continue reading

Posted in Architecture, Atlantic City, Current, Donald Trump, Environment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Massachusetts, Michael Gaughan, Mississippi, Ohio, Racinos, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, The Mob | 5 Comments

Margaritaville on the rocks

Long-serving — and long-suffering — Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway has lost patience with Harrah’s Entertainment. He is convinced that the metamorphosis of Grand Casino Biloxi into Margaritaville Casino is kaput and that Harrah’s will tear down what little it has … Continue reading

Posted in Ameristar, Animals, Archon Corp., Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Carl Icahn, Charity, Current, Donald Trump, Economy, Encore, Environment, Fontainebleau, George Maloof, Harrah's, Holy Cow, Indiana, International, Louisiana, MGM Mirage, Mississippi, Movies, Pennsylvania, Pets, Phil Ruffin, Planet Hollywood, Plaza, Riviera, Sahara, Sports, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Tourism, TV, Wall Street | 5 Comments

Sharron Angle, casino analyst

Reckless rhetoric. Last week, S&G called B.S. on senatorial aspirant Sharron Angle‘s faux solicitude for the unfinished casinos along the Strip. Turns out, if she had her way, there’d be at least one more: Aria, plus all the other components … Continue reading

Posted in Boyd Gaming, CityCenter, Current, Donald Trump, Dubai, Economy, Election, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Harry Reid, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Midnight Jim Gibbons, Phil Ruffin, Politics, Problem gambling, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Station Casinos, The Strip, Tourism, Transportation, TV | 6 Comments

So much news …

… so little time. East Coast casinos are stepping up their Asian-American marketing … and people are complaining? Don’t do it and you’re culturally insensitive. Do it and you’re predatory. This is one of those perception battles casinos will never … Continue reading

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Economy, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Indiana, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Missouri, Penn National, Phil Ruffin, Riviera, Station Casinos, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | 2 Comments

When bad things happen to bad people … plus Cher

Two of the three casinos that say they were stiffed for $822,000 by ex-Boston Celtic Antoine Walker are now owned by Harrah’s Entertainment. The unlucky third is Red Rock Resort. Back “in the olden days” (a Sue Lowden-ism that’s quite … Continue reading

Posted in Cretins, Economy, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Movies, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Sports, Station Casinos, Steve Wynn, Taxes, The Strip, Tourism | 3 Comments

“The American consumer is toast”

If you think MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren sounds apocalyptic when he forecasts no major development on the Las Vegas Strip until circa 2020 (heck, Carl Icahn may keep Fontainebleau on ice until 2015) then get a load of this … Continue reading

Posted in Atlantic City, Carl Icahn, CityCenter, Columbia Sussex, Current, Economy, Fontainebleau, Genting, Harrah's, Herbst Gaming, Mesquite, MGM Mirage, Neil Bluhm, Pennsylvania, Racinos, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Technology, The Strip, Tribal, Tropicana Entertainment | 3 Comments

Sheldon’s smokin’ (something)

If any other gaming CEO than Sheldon Adelson opened the most expensive casino ever ($5.5 billion) and projected it would recoup its tab in five years — requiring a return on investment well above 20% when you take operating costs … Continue reading

Posted in Atlantic City, Colony Capital, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, International, Macau, Marketing, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Planet Hollywood, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Station Casinos, Wall Street, World Series of Poker | 2 Comments