Category Archives: The Strip

Boyd Has Brass Balls

Posted on August 1, 2008 by David McKee

Yesterday, I got a hint that Something Big was going to be announced in today’s Boyd Gaming earnings report. Little did I suspect it would be the completely unprecedented (in my recollection) step of halting a megaresort project in mid-stream … Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Morgans Hotel Group, Riviera, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off

Ameristar: What makes sense?

Posted on August 1, 2008 by David McKee

Perhaps this is what happens when you outsource your business coverage to India, but Reuters had a story yesterday positing MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment as two of the likeliest buyers for Ameristar Casinos. Uhhh, I hate to break this … Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Downtown, Harrah's, James Packer, MGM Mirage, Mississippi, Missouri, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, The Strip, Tribal, Wall Street | Comments Off

We're no Pyongyang!

Posted on July 29, 2008 by David McKee

A story about an unsightly, unfinished ziggurat in Pyongyang, North Korea afforded an architecture critic an opportunity to throw a roundhouse right at Las Vegas. Lumping it together with Shanghai as the bad-architecture capital of the world, California Polytechnic State … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Columbia Sussex, Downtown, Harrah's, Michael Gaughan, Stanley Ho, The Strip | Comments Off

Case Bets: Meow!; Dr. Death; Spineless Dems

Posted on July 29, 2008 by David McKee

Diss of the Day. “Having just raised the newsstand price for weekday and Saturday editions by 50 percent, the Las Vegas Review-Journal announced Monday it has eliminated sections of the paper as a cost-cutting measure.” — lead sentence of the … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Current, Election, Environment, Politics, The Strip | Comments Off

Donald Trump: ass; David Snow: hero

Posted on July 28, 2008 by David McKee

Don't you wish you lived in whatever parallel universe is inhabited by Donald J. Trump? If you did, you could claim that your 60%+ unoccupied Trump International — which just sacked 20% of its workforce — is an incredible success. … Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Donald Trump, MGM Mirage, Regulation, The Strip | Comments Off

Quote of the Day

Posted on July 25, 2008 by David McKee

"There is better stuff than that." — Penn National Gaming CEO Peter Carlino, referring to the Las Vegas Tropicana, in a discussion of possible Las Vegas acquisition targets.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Penn National, The Strip | Comments Off

The Ameristar war begins

Posted on July 17, 2008 by David McKee

Just a quick hit on my way out the door to spend an evening prepping for The Dark Knight by watching Batman Begins … Ameristar's in play. No news flash there and, for the life of me, I can't figure … Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Columbia Sussex, Harrah's, Illinois, Indiana, Isle of Capri, James Packer, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Pinnacle Entertainment, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off

Ameristar spurned, Wynn rewarded

Posted on July 11, 2008 by David McKee

What’s worse than being jilted? Being told you’re too ugly to to even date. That’s about what happened to Ameristar Casinos, which just got blown off by Crown Ltd. Then again, look at James Packer’s American holdings and pending acquisitions … Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, James Packer, Macau, MGM Mirage, Movies, Pennsylvania, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off

"Mamma Mia!": the confusion thickens

Posted on July 7, 2008 by David McKee

For those keeping score at home, the marketers of the new Mamma Mia! movie are doing their damnest to blot our copy books. Songs cut from the film turn up on the soundtrack CD but ones that are in the … Continue reading →

Posted in ABBA, Movies, The Strip | Comments Off

MTR in retreat

Posted on July 7, 2008 by David McKee

If MTR Gaming is still afloat today, it’s almost certainly thanks to the fact that its two remaining casinos — racinos in Chester, W.V., and Erie, Penn., enjoy oligopolistic market conditions where competitors are few and far between. A long … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Downtown, Labor, Pennsylvania, The Strip | Comments Off

Hole-in-the-wall casinos reviewed

Posted on July 3, 2008 by David McKee

In the current City Life, Lissa Townsend Rodgers visits a few of Las Vegas’ less publicized casinos, in search of $1 booze. The Gold Spike is lauded, provided your “goal is simply to get as drunk as possible as quickly … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Movies, The Strip | Comments Off

Vegas Right Now = Bargain Country

Posted on July 2, 2008 by David McKee

While the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority may blanch from peddling bargain-oriented messages, we don’t. While it wasn’t that long ago that some of us were mourning the apparent demise of on-Strip bargains — or redefining said bargains as … Continue reading →

Posted in Boulder Strip, Harrah's, LVCVA, Macau, MGM Mirage, Riviera, Sheldon Adelson, Station Casinos, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off

Court smacks down ColSux; Pinball and Dragons

Posted on July 1, 2008 by David McKee

This just in: The legal appeal by Columbia Sussex of its New Jersey license denial has been ashcanned by an appellate court. In a 44-page ruling, the court sided with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, writing — in part … Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, MGM Mirage, Regulation, The Strip | Comments Off

"Raking" it in at Trump

Posted on June 27, 2008 by David McKee

Once I'd read that Trump Plaza had gone to automated no-dealer poker, my first thought was, "What becomes of the 'rake'?" Not to worry: The machines have taken care of it. Or, as Casino Manager Anthony Spagno was kind enough … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Donald Trump, Louisiana, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, Sahara, The Strip | Comments Off

Something's brewing on Koval; Echelon goes underground

Posted on June 26, 2008 by David McKee

Harrah’s Entertainment continues to demolish the low-rise apartment dwellings it accumulated behind its Barbary Coast/Flamingo/Imperial Palace/Harrah’s Las Vegas cluster of properties. Also, a shiny new fleet of construction trailers now sits where Bourbon Street‘s hotel tower once did. Could we … Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Movies, The Strip | Comments Off

Case Bets: Airport, Encore, Pahrump, Roadhouse

Posted on June 25, 2008 by David McKee

You know things are bad when McCarran International Airport offers space for three hotel-registration kiosks (ranging from 525 to 935 square feet, starting at $200/foot) and can’t find takers for all of them. Fifteen possible candidates were solicited and, when … Continue reading →

Posted in Boulder Strip, Current, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off

Quagmire at the Trop

Posted on June 23, 2008 by David McKee

So the feckless — and costly — Tropicana conservatorship of Justice Gary Stein is to drag on still further. Let’s see: Bids that were supposedly “unreasonably lower” but which Stein refuses to share with the public. A wholesale chucking-out of … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Donald Trump, Regulation, The Strip | Comments Off

Blasts from the past

Posted on June 18, 2008 by David McKee

Snuggled inconspicuously in a recent El Cortez press release was the disclosure that the newly reconfigured ownership will include one Lonny Zarowitz. The aforesaid Zarowtiz figures briefly in John L. Smith's Running Scared: The Life and Treacherous Times of Las … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Harrah's, International, Regulation, Steve Wynn, The Strip, TV | Comments Off

Terrible news for Vegas

Posted on June 11, 2008 by David McKee

Comment is superfluous: This headline says it all. At least I won't have to explain anymore why I don't own a car.

Posted in Downtown, The Strip | Comments Off

Laughing my … off

Posted on June 3, 2008 by David McKee

What’s the best Vegas-related Web site? Too many too choose from, I say. But I’m definitively certain I’ve found the funniest. If you’re a fan of CheapoVegas.com, you’ll absolutely love its Casino Boy Graveyard. Yes, it’s a stroll down memory … Continue reading →