Following in the footsteps of Station Casinos and Harrah's Entertainment, now MGM Mirage is drawing its revolver, so to speak, to fund operating expenses. This is never a good sign. Earlier this week we learnt that all of Kirk Kerkorian's Tracinda Corp. stock (53% of MGM shares) has been pledged against CityCenter. I was guardedly optimistic about MGM's future, but now … ?
At least if what LVA is hearing about Fontainebleau is true, MGM won't have to worry about competition from F'bleau for as much as 10 weeks after Aria opens.
"Off the box": That's the new coinage for describing public figures who go from being seen as assets to liabilities. It was inspired by Kellogg's dumping of Michael Phelps after those bong photos surfaced.
In the gaming sector, the obvious "off the box" candidate is Donald Trump — so obvious, in fact, that Trump is trying to get himself off the box, demanding that Trump Entertainment Resorts become Something Else Resorts. Another OTB candidate might be former Cirque du Soleil wunderkind Criss F. Angel.
Anybody else?
