Yesterday’s Hard Rock International road show before the ostensibly investigative Nevada Gaming Control Board played out pretty much as expected. Hard Rock CEO Jim Allen effectively ran out the clock by dwelling on how Hard Rock would make over The Mirage when its purchase closes, which is now a fait accompli. Not one question was asked about Hard Rock’s 10-day defiance of Judge Dabney Friedrich‘s order to shut down its sports betting servers in Florida—and what this means about Hard Rock’s attitude toward regulations going forward. Nor did anyone raise the messy topic of a Seminole Tribe lottery that was mounted the incentivize Covid-19 vaccinations. (The Seminoles own Hard Rock, ICYMI.) The lottery was supposedly won by Chairman Marcellus Osceola‘s bastard son, sparking a petition drive to recall Osceola, who negotiated the compact with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that granted Hard Rock sports betting in the Sunshine State. (Say what you like about DeSantis, he treated the Seminoles as equal partners, a hint other state governors should take.)
NGCB members had their marching orders, not to mention wearing their blinders, and concentrated upon such monumental irrevelvancies as what will become of the Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and the controversial dolphin habitat. (They’ll be leveled to make room for a pool complex.) “This property is iconic, because it triggered the rebirth of the Strip that we see today. This is going to elevate the game for everybody on the Strip. We have a new competitor in town,” trilled NGCB member Philip Katsaros, sticking to the script.
All that said, Allen’s business plan for The Mirage appears very sound and one hopes the Seminoles will find more success in Las Vegas than did Mohegan Sun (in the midst of rebranding at Virgin Las Vegas) or the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, quietly struggling at Palms Casino Resort. Reported Buck Wargo, “The Mirage’s existing 3,044 rooms will be stripped down to a concrete shell and rebuilt … The entire site, including the guitar tower, will house between 3,600 and 3,700 rooms.” A music museum will be erected on the property’s side, next to Phil Ruffin‘s Treasure Island. Allen wants 998 feet for his guitar tower but the FAA is likely to object and, according to Wargo, 500-660 feet is much likelier.
The convention center will be enlarged and a high-end ballroom added—too late to save the Las Vegas Invitational. There will be a significant increase in gambling inventory, with a 94,000-square-foot-larger casino floor, enabling Allen to go from 836 slots to 2,000 and from 51 table games to 212. Cirque du Soleil‘s Love is reprieved into 2024 but will eventually be turfed out in favor of a Hard Rock Live-branded concert hall. Given the cost of renovations (over $1 billion) and the need to A) keep cash flow churning and B) retain all 3,600 employees, as promised, Allen is hedging on his plan to close The Mirage for 18 months. He’s mulling ways of doing a rolling makeover without making customers feel like they’re staying and playing in a construction site. ““We don’t want to renovate a little area [at a time] and finish 10 years from now,” Allen said. “We believe we’ll be operating this building at least for 18 months pretty much as is and as we get all of our construction drawings done, we’ll see where we are with the economy and all of the different factors that come into play.”
Elsewhere in the far-flung Hard Rock empire, the company broke ground on its permanent casino in Bristol, Virginia. A temporary facility is performing well ahead of expectations, testifying to the power of the Hard Rock brand, the best in brick-and-mortar gambling. It also brings the prospect of sorely needed tax revenues. When completed, Hard Rock Bristol will have 1,300 slots, 50 table games and 300 hotel rooms. Execs say they don’t fear competition. Why should they? Not only are they over-performing already, the only other really potent brand in the market is Caesars Entertainment, in Danville, and Hard Rock is well ahead of it.
Speaking of snow jobs, MGM Resorts International attempted one on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which wasn’t having it. Over the course of five hours, MGM Springfield officials “outlined what wagering will look like at their property and boasted about a sports lounge outfitted with a 45-foot television.” Maybe that plays in Nevada but not in Massachusetts. Regulators wanted substantive answers and received deferrals to what BetMGM would do when it went online, not brick-and-mortar answers. One regulator fumed that essential information in re Springfield was “essentially missing.”
“There are significant references to the BetMGM application, and it will be a few more days until we get to that particular application,” said Commissioner Nakisha Skinner. “I’m happy to continue on with the discussion, I think it’s necessary. And in terms of a full evaluation and deliberation on the application, I’m just not prepared to do that today without having the benefit of the review of the BetMGM application.” Added Commissioner Eileen O’Brien, “It was a little frustrating to see a reference to go see this application that wasn’t actually part of this application. I know that is a creature of how we’ve had to structure these hearings, but I just echo some of the questions that I have really aren’t going to be before us until next week.”
Those questions, some of which MGM eventually answered, included whether MGM Springfield would set odds independently of BetMGM. (No.) But Leo the Lion’s case wasn’t helped by casino execs pleading poverty because they’d already spent $4 million on the sports book or waxing nostalgic about Tom Brady. MGM officials were also prodded to quit hiring from Connecticut and look within the Bay State for new workers. Encore Boston Harbor’s application goes under the MGC magnifying glass today. We wonder if it will fare any better.
We were hoping the former Wild Wild West casino in Atlantic City would be replaced with something less … well … tacky. Caesars Entertainment heard our prayers. Taking a cue from the success of Absinthe in Las Vegas, a 400-seat, adult-entertainment theater called The Hook is planned, along with a new restaurant, Superfrico. Sounds like a couple of big steps in the right direction. On a sadder note, a dead body was found in an Ocean Casino Resort hotel room, although nothing untoward (other than death itself) is suspected at this point.
Jottings: Gaming revenues from Illinois and Ohio are in but we’re running a little long today, so we’ll dissect them tomorrow. Don’t worry, the news is good … That’s more than can be said for tribal Two Kings Casino in North Carolina. It faces the possibility of a temporary shutdown and a string of hefty fines ($60K per violation) after the National Indian Gaming Commission found it had unlawfully hired honky Kings Mountain Sky Boat Partners to run the joint. “We do not take this enforcement action lightly, but do so to preserve the integrity of the industry and protect the valuable tool Indian Gaming represents for many Tribes as codified in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act,” wrote NIGC Chairman E. Sequoyah Simermeyer. Two Kings was a bipartisan ‘juice job’ by South Carolina politicians and deserves the scrutiny it’s getting.
