Adios, Tropicana; Wynn’s beat goes on; Sex & OSB
As much as we sensed it was coming and were resigned to it, it’s sad to know that the Tropicana Las Vegas has been marked for imminent death. The Las Vegas Strip dowager is showing her years, admittedly, but she’s the last remaining vestige of classic Vegas, especially after Sam Nazarian disemboweled the Sahara and the Riviera went the way of all flesh. Just when Station Casinos thought it was going to see a big real estate payday, it was double-crossed by the Oakland Athletics. Turns out the A’s had been playing footsie with Bally’s Corp., which did a great job of pretending nothing was transpiring at the Trop. Under the new deal, which was sniffed out by Howard Stutz, the A’s would build a nine-acre $1.4 billion stadium atop the ex-Trop, with Bally’s holding onto 25 acres for future redevelopment.
specific purposes of opening a CASINO [Horrors! — Ed.] — in 2007, that recognition was achieved via Congressional and Department of Interior intervention — and ILLEGAL contributions to federal officials.” Already we have a problem, because the Department of Interior did not ‘intervene’: It was performing its function of arbitrating tribal-recognition matters. The ad goes on to mention to 2009 conviction of former Mashpee chief Glenn Marshall for making illegal campaign contributions. Since Marshall 
According to Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, “Right now, the announcement means nothing. The ball is now in Ms. Wynn’s court as it is up to her to decide if she would like to abolish the Agreement. While Ms. Wynn has wanted to dissolve of the agreement for some time, it is possible that she changes her position with the Court, in which case, the two parties would essentially swap sides of the same argument. If she maintains her existing position, the Court is likely to dismiss the issue and the Stockholders Agreement would then be terminated.” He added that Mr. Wynn has made it clear he has no intention of selling down his position in the company. However, decoupling the voting rights of Elaine Wynn‘s shares from him his own would probably make it harder for him to thwart a sale of the company that he built. (
Packer, who paid $570 million for the site in 2014 and didn’t even get the $400 million everything-must-go price he’d been seeking. Compared to Penn National Gaming‘s $10.5 million/acre for the Tropicana Las Vegas, Wynn drove a hard bargain, but not as hard as the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Bureau, which scored the huge Riviera site for $7 million/acre. (The real fools were Elad Properties, who paid Phil Ruffin an epic $1.3 billion back in 2007, just before the Las Vegas bubble burst.) Incidentally, the Wynn acquisition should raise the value of adjoining acreage held by Donald Trump, where Tower II of Trump International was once meant to rise.
unlikely to stir controversy. In a family affair, Paragon Gaming CEO Diana Bennett joins her late father in the HoF, albeit not on the grounds that she fleeced Sam Nazarian to the tune of $1 billion when she sold the Sahara (and if he were not to be sheared, God would not have made Nazarian a sheep).
celebrate the company’s emergence from bankruptcy by monetizing 90 acres of Las Vegas Strip frontage. To be fair to Frissora, the Caesars Palace revamp, as well as a pedestrian bridge at Paris-Las Vegas, were in Gary Loveman‘s cards before he took a hard left turn into an LBO, the catastrophic effects of which included putting several projects into the deep freeze. The work could re-start as soon as this autumn. “We have plans to basically develop all of that very valuable center-strip property as soon as we emerge [from bankruptcy],” Frissora told Bloomberg TV. “Those assets will have a very high-return, low-risk profile.”
their plan to erect a Trump-branded casino next door to Trump International. Pardon the pun but there’s no precedent for this situation, 
to be 430 tons of toxic dirt turned out to be 9,980. If you’re worried about asbestos issues (a major consideration in demolishing the Riv), don’t be. The tainted soil was in the vicinity of a several diesel-oil-storage tanks. This unpleasant discovery will up the cost of tearing down the Riviera by $1.6 million, to $44.6 million. The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority has approved the additional expenditure but may still be on the hook for the extra funds: The final determination will be made by the Nevada State Petroleum Cleanup Fund. The latter has a budget that tops out around $9 million, so crossing the palm of the LVCVA with an extra $1.6 million takes a big hunk out of the fund’s remedial cash.
best ideas that property’s had in a long time. Storm’s “Month of Giving” campaign, in which the August marketing budget is rechanneled into charitable causes is getting noticed. It’s also getting 
a surge in Las Vegas summer business to a Zika virus outbreak in Florida, one that has led the federal government to warn pregnant women away from the Sunshine State. “One of the interesting notes I got this week were comments from JetBlue that they’re seeing a pickup in passenger activity to Las Vegas and maybe a slowdown to Florida … It’s helping everybody in town, and not just the MGM portfolio. As sad as that situation is in Florida, I certainly don’t want to benefit from that. I can say we’re seeing a pickup in air traffic and driving traffic even in the last couple of months.” Proceeds from the sale of Crystals 
the ace up its sleeve, the company has had difficulty cashing in on its value — until now. Forget Viva, forget the mixed-use development Station recently previewed for Wall Street. No, the Wild Wild West site, which comes with 100 acres of overdue-for-redevelopment real estate is suddenly a prime contender for a stadium — as is a parking lot northwest of the Thomas & Mack Center (which still might be too close to McCarran International Airport for the FAA‘s comfort). The presumptive favorite site, Trop 42, next door to McCarran, 
a Las Vegas Sands-backed stadium, on Tropicana Avenue, is looking 
play the penny slot machines,” you are not entirely witnessing the handiwork of Donald Trump. After all, while he remained on a fat retainer as a pitchman for Trump Entertainment Resorts, he also beefed loudly about the spare-every-expense mentality of lead owner Marc Lasry and his bungling, hand-picked CEO, Bob Griffin, dredged up from the ranks of MTR Gaming, another company that is gone with the wind. (To be fair, Trump was making money from canny side deals with Lasry, including a $390,000 helicopter lease and the $197,000 layout for a year’s worth of Trump Ice Water. “The flavor of bombast,” perhaps?)
gambling, an erosion of public support for the resort city. Assessing the situation — and the prospect of casinos at the Meadowlands and in Jersey City — Fitch Ratings has come out with a report that marks Resorts Atlantic City, Trump Taj Mahal, the Golden Nugget and possibly Bally’s for death if the referendum passes. It would only take a 10% drop in gross gaming revenue to send the Taj into the abyss. If that figure reaches 20%, Resorts is toast and a 25% dropoff would be the end of the Golden Nugget, according to Fitch’s research. The only silver lining is that Fitch predicts that northern New Jersey casinos wouldn’t open until 2020 0r 2021 … although Meadowlands Racetrack owner Jeff Gural says he could get a casino online sooner than that.