Category Archives: Tropicana Entertainment

Trop's agony soon to end?

Posted on February 18, 2009 by David McKee

The bad news is that the New Jersey Casino Control Commission has voted to grant yet another extension on the interminable sale of the Tropicana Atlantic City. The good news that it’s merely been pushed out another month, not the … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boulder Strip, Carl Icahn, Columbia Sussex, Donald Trump, Pinnacle Entertainment, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Boardwalk bummer

Posted on February 10, 2009 by David McKee

In short, January's Atlantic City revenue numbers are -9% at the tables and -10% in slots. The glass-half-empty spin is that this is the third straight year of decline. The glass-half-full perspective would be, yes, but it's -9% the fifth-highest … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Colony Capital, Donald Trump, Economy, Harrah's, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Mixed message from Penn

Posted on February 6, 2009 by David McKee

Having pulled the plug on his latest Atlantic City venture, Penn National CEO Peter Carlino served the city a heaping plate of gloom with a side dish of pessimism. In fact, he pretty much slammed the door on the besieged … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Colony Capital, Donald Trump, Economy, Harrah's, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Pinnacle Entertainment, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Case Bets: Seminoles, Tropicana, Shuffle Master, Stanley Ho

Posted on February 3, 2009 by David McKee

Seminoles offer to lay $288 million and 12,000 new jobs on the table, for starters. Sunshine State Republicans blow them a raspberry. Constitutional or not, Gov. Charlie Crist‘s compact put a good deal in place for both sides. (It wasn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristocrat, Atlantic City, Australia, Columbia Sussex, Florida, Politics, Regulation, Shuffle Master, Stanley Ho, The Strip, Tribal, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Head-scratcher at Shuffle Master

Posted on February 2, 2009 by David McKee

Come March 15, Shuffle Master CEO Mark Yoseloff finally gets to leave the company — something he’s wanted to do for a while but which has been stymied by the difficulty of replacing him. Just how difficult was it? So … Continue reading →

Posted in Aristocrat, Atlantic City, Australia, Regulation, Technology, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Sign of the times II

Posted on February 2, 2009 by David McKee

This image, taken Saturday at the Plaza Hotel & Casino downtown, pretty much speaks for itself. Auction holders Real Estate Disposition Corp. were scheduled to hold another auction today. The choice of the down-on-her-luck Plaza as venue is apt … … Continue reading →

Posted in Downtown, Economy, Sheldon Adelson, Tamares Group, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Atlantic City: Two strikes, no balls

Posted on January 29, 2009 by David McKee

This was originally going to be “Death Watch VI” but three of those in a week is positively ghoulish. So, on to the latest disheartening developments from Atlantic City, the casino market that just can’t catch a break. Cease the … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Economy, Harrah's, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Pinnacle Entertainment, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Buyers' remorse

Posted on January 16, 2009 by David McKee

Even if hotelier and Westin Casuarina (above) owner Columbia Sussex succeeds in extricating itself from Tropicana Entertainment, it’s not out of the woods by a long chalk. It may have as little as nine months (or as many as 21) … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Economy, International, MGM Mirage, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Case Bets: Chicago, Wyndham, Harrah's

Posted on January 16, 2009 by David McKee

Anybody who still frets about "criminal elements" in Las Vegas casinos ought to turn their gaze toward Chicago instead, where such issues continue to dog the state's 10th casino license. The citizens of Waukegan lost their shot at a casino … Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Economy, Harrah's, Illinois, Indiana, International, Neil Bluhm, Plaza, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

$376 million for the Trop?

Posted on January 15, 2009 by David McKee

Secured creditors of Tropicana Entertainment are being asked to take haircuts of 14-27%, as details continue to emerge of the company's reorganization proposal. The bigger shave would go to debtors of the company's 10 non-Vegas properties, the value of whose … Continue reading →

Posted in Columbia Sussex, Economy, MGM Mirage, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Rogues' gallery

Posted on January 15, 2009 by David McKee

After a fitful start, blogorrhea is sweeping the business desk of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, resulting a veritable flood of news nuggets today … Planet Hollywood prexy Michael Mecca has resigned to pursue the proverbial "other opportunities" at a time … Continue reading →

Posted in California, Cannery Casino Resorts, Columbia Sussex, Current, Dining, Economy, Entertainment, Harrah's, James Packer, Marketing, Mesquite, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Politics, Regulation, Reno, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

From A(ztar) to Z(ilch)

Posted on January 13, 2009 by David McKee

If Tropicana Entertainment management's bankruptcy plan is accepted by the courts (one bond analyst thinks otherwise), former CEO/sole owner William J. Yung III will be left with — what's the technical term? — diddly squat. (So will his unsecured creditors, … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Economy, Indiana, Lake Tahoe, Laughlin, Louisiana, Marketing, Mississippi, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, Regulation, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

A house divided

Posted on January 7, 2009 by David McKee

Give credit where it’s due to the Las Vegas Review-Journal for today’s interesting revelation that Columbia Sussex had been running the Las Vegas Tropicana with rival GMs overseeing the casino and hotel operations, respectively. This appears to confirm rumors I’d … Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Columbia Sussex, Cosmopolitan, Indiana, Regulation, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Plaza officially in trouble (or not)

Posted on January 6, 2009 by David McKee

It wasn't good news when El Ad Properties asked its bankers for a second extension on a $625 million purchase loan for what used to be the New Frontier. Now (by way of TheMarker, Reuters and Howard Stutz) comes a … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmopolitan, Fontainebleau, Plaza, Sheldon Adelson, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Next up: Gladiators, orgies & bear-baiting

Posted on December 19, 2008 by David McKee

“In Atlantic City, whose casinos saw revenue decline by 8 percent last month compared with the same period last year, the Tropicana staged its own version of Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls on Saturday — participants dressed as Santa Claus … Continue reading →

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

Case Bets: Stanley Ho in Vegas?, HRH grows but Morgans shrinks

Posted on December 11, 2008 by David McKee

A local columnist raises the spectre of Stanley Ho getting back-door access into Las Vegas via James Packer‘s acquisition of Cannery Resorts. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this question raised and, call me complacent, but I believe it … Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Cannery Casino Resorts, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Cosmopolitan, Economy, Harrah's, Herbst Gaming, Isle of Capri, James Packer, Macau, MGM Mirage, Morgans Hotel Group, Stanley Ho, Station Casinos, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | Comments Off

Palace more ‘impotent’ than ever

Posted on November 26, 2008 by David McKee

More nails are being pounded into the coffin of the Imperial Palace. The official word is that eateries The Ming and Cockeyed Clam are closed for good. As for the others, operating hours are being truncated “periodically. Nothing is written … Continue reading →

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

Sally Rand has left the building

Posted on November 26, 2008 by David McKee

That corpse you may have stumbled across while strolling the riverbanks of Pittsburgh is Pennsylvania’s ‘one and one-third‘ rule. It was a legislative fig leaf whose ostensible purpose was to prevent the prime casino/racino opportunities in the state from being … Continue reading →

Posted in Don Barden, Downtown, Harrah's, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Case Bets: Hooters; Defection at Borgata; Yung vs. Butera

Posted on November 25, 2008 by David McKee

"All of the economists who gave us information predict 2007 is going to be a year where the economy slows throughout the country and Nevada. Then we will see a pickup in 2008-09." — Deborah Pierce, CFO, Hooters Hotel, Las … Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Columbia Sussex, Economy, International, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off

Quote of the Day

Posted on November 22, 2008 by David McKee

“If they don't [know how], it strikes me that they lack sufficient business judgment to be in the industry in the first place.” — New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto on Columbia Sussex's inability to form an independent audit … Continue reading →

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