How bad is it on the Las Vegas Strip? So bad that Encore is partially re-closing. According to KLAS-TV, “The resort closed at noon on Monday, and will reopen at 2 p.m. every Thursday.” “Low demand” was blamed for the drastic measure. Poker players will have to migrate to the Wynn Las Vegas poker room, near the parking garage. No other changes have been announced.
Getting better news was Station Casinos, whose price target was raised by JP Morgan analysts to $23/share. Joseph Greff cited “continued relative spending strength in the locals market (locals GGR is, remarkably, tracking flattish year over year), a benign marketing/promotional spending environment there, and relatively static labor opex.” He predicted Station would beat consensus estimates for cash flow with $105 million in 3Q20 and $106 million in 4Q. Food and beverage margins are significantly better now that they don’t have carry Palms Casino. No cash-flow valuation was attached to closed casinos (obviously) or Station’s bank of real estate.
We didn’t log the amount of camera time received by the enormous BetMGM billboard in the end zone at last night’s decisive victory by a theoretically inferior Tennessee Titans team over the Buffalo Bills—but it was significant. You couldn’t point a camera toward the goal posts without seeing “BetMGM.” We don’t know how much the latter paid for the prime spot but it was money extremely well spent. Titan Stadium has just gone 100% smoke-free, too. Good on them.
Jottings: Contrary to expectations, Elon Musk is looking to head north, not south, on Las Vegas Boulevard. He’s submitted an application to the City of Las Vegas Planning Commission to route his light-rail project into a Downtown loop. The project is on the Nov. 3 agenda … James Packer thinks he’s too special to answer questions from the New South Wales gaming commission in person. Instead, he did it via video link from his $200 million yacht, “reported to be floating somewhere near Tahiti.” Despite Packer‘s willful ignorance of Crown Resorts‘ internal workings and its ties to organized crime, it appears that the fix is in for its $1.6 billion Sydney mega resort to be approved … It’s all over for Hard Rock International in Greece. The Hellenic Gaming Commission has awarded its casino license to Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment. The latter expects to create 7,000 construction and permanent jobs at Inspire Athens, as the casino-based resort is now called.
