Las Vegas: The good, the bad, the resort fees

Mark it on your calendar. According to Credit Suisse analyst Cameron McKnight, long-awaited, tantalizingly delayed Resorts World Las Vegas will debut in late 2020, a date “recently … affirmed” by Genting Group. In other good news for Sin City, convention and meeting planners are experiencing a dearth of good spaces in the U.S., making Las Vegas — with its plethora of convention halls — all the more attractive. Per McKnight, it “underscores our view that Q3 and Q4 weakness are outliers, and demand trends and mix should return to normal levels next year.”

Also, as bad as August was for the Strip, McKnight points to steady slot revenue, “highlighting the resilience of the core gaming customer.” On the downside, markedly lower drive-in traffic “is probably more price sensitive and more averse to pricing initiatives like resort fees, paid parking, measured pours and 6:5 blackjack.” Are you getting the memo yet, casinos? We’re not sure how this next statistic factors as an economic indicator but only 78,000 marriage licenses were issued by Clark County last year, compared to a 2004 peak of 130,000 — quite a steep precipice.

* Global Gaming Expo is getting a lot of ink for its Shark Tank session, featuring stars of the NBC-TV show. Considering how many contestants seem to come before the sharks with an empty bucket with which to chum the waters, I’ve been less than enthralled with the show. But the G2E iteration promises casino-specific applications. My favorite is Inside Injuries, which “combines sports medicine with statistical modeling to predict the impact of injuries on player performance,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Richard Velotta. The value to sports books should be obvious, especially since sports betting is now a growth industry. The developers should drive that point home and flung to the sharks if they don’t. My second choice would be Shield Card Shoe, which is designed to deter edge-sorting (yes, we’re looking at you, Phil Ivey) and marking of cards, although we’d like some more specifics. Over to you, “Mr. Wonderful.”

* 888Poker is limping into new markets like Pennsylvania at the time of its “biggest product overhaul in six or seven years.” Why the sudden change? 888 took a bath last year, with revenues down 28%. 888 says, “We have worked with and taken feedback from our players and the new platform will improve the display of the tables, functionality in the lobby and enhance graphics to provide an even more engaging and modern poker experience.” Columnist Erik Gibbs is skeptical of the makeover, writing that “the company has been mum on what exactly the platform will provide that will shake things up. Unless it’s free Mai Tais and weekends on the beach, it’s going to have a difficult time bouncing back.”

* “There has been a level of excitement surrounding our reopening that has rivalled our grand opening in 2010,” claims Talking Stick Resort PR director Ramon Martinez of the multi-week shutdown that followed a series of monsoons and saw hotel customers evicted in the wee hours of the morning. To bring customers back Talking Stick is giving away a pair of Polaris Slingshots, among other prizes. We’ll see if that does the trick or if customers continue to bear a grudge.

* While Donald Trump may have dodged tax-evasion charges for his byzantine tax schemes, there’s no statute of limitations for tax fraud. Both New York State and Gotham are on the case. Said New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, “There was a good-old-boy network that obviously Donald Trump played like a fiddle and evaded the kind of regulation and investigation and prosecution he should have received many times over.” Meanwhile, in a present-day context, Mike Pence is lashing out at China in terms so severe that Macao casino operators should be at least a trifle uneasy.