Decision time in Boston

Posted on September 9, 2014 by David McKee

Wynn EverettAt last, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is taking up the Steve Wynn vs. Mohegan Sun battle for a Boston-area casino. Hearings began yesterday, with one round going to each challenger. Wynn Resorts surprisingly (given its reputation) lost the swimsuit competition, its design deemed merely sufficient. Concerns were also raised about traffic problems its location might create … although Wynn’s plan to use oyster beds to clean the Mystic River won kudos.

Mohegan Sun’s shaky finances told against it in round two. Concerns were also raised that Mohegan Sun could use its Boston casino as a stalking horse for its Connecticut flagship — where Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Cordish Co., Environment, Harrah's, Internet gambling, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun, Penn National, Racinos, Singapore, Steve Wynn | Comments Off on Decision time in Boston

Trump bookmarks Chapter 11; Christie’s canny moves

Posted on September 9, 2014 by David McKee

Trump smallTrump Entertainment Resorts is back in familiar territory: Chapter 11. It is the fourth time that minority owner Donald Trump‘s casinos have gone insolvent. He may try to wash his hands of the mess, but he gets equity for the use of his face and moniker, so you could say that the market has blown him a big raspberry. Nothing says “failure” in Atlantic City like the Trump name.

TER has as much as a half-billion dollars in debt against a paltry $50,000 asset base and it’s pleading poverty in bankruptcy court. Betfair and other Internet-casino partners are reported to be Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Culinary Union, Donald Trump, Harrah's, Internet gambling, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Sports, Tilman Fertitta, Trump Entertainment Resorts | 2 Comments

Can’t stop the consolidation

Posted on September 9, 2014 by David McKee

SlotContinuing the shrinkage of the manufacturing sector, Global Cash Access is taking another chess piece — Multimedia Games — off the board. GCA will pay $1.1 billion for Multimedia, which specializes in VLTs for racinos and tribal markets.The price represented a 31% premium to Multimedia’s share price at Friday’s closing bell … which should deter other bidders. (Analyst Todd Eilers thinks otherwise.) The company, which is based in Austin, Texas, will continue to operate game development from the Lone Star State, while direction of the combined companies will be done from Las Vegas.

As its name suggests, “GCA provides casino customers access to cash through Continue reading →

Posted in Arizona, Foxwoods, Hard Rock International, Harrah's, MTR Gaming, Ohio, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, Racinos, Regulation, Technology, Tribal | Comments Off on Can’t stop the consolidation

New hope for Showboat, gloom for Atlantic City

Posted on September 8, 2014 by David McKee

Showboat ACWhile Revel and Trump Plaza go begging — and Trump Taj Mahal reportedly plans to close in November — suitors are lining up to woo Caesars Entertainment for the Showboat Atlantic City. Already Atlantic Properties Group has pitched the idea of reopening it as a boutique casino. And now, from Florida, comes mall developer Latitude 360. Its vision for the Showboat involves no gambling, but the customary Latitude 360 mix of dining, recreation and live entertainment — a formula that the company is taking to Minneapolis, too, having already succeeded in Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Albany and Jacksonville.

The Showboat is but one of three sites Latitude 360 is looking at in Atlantic City but CEO Brent Brown has already had Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boulder Strip, Donald Trump, Harrah's, history, Japan, MGM Mirage, Revel, Tribal, Trump Entertainment Resorts | Comments Off on New hope for Showboat, gloom for Atlantic City

Dispatches from Iowa and Illinois

Posted on September 8, 2014 by David McKee

August was a good month for Iowa, as casino revenues rose 4%. The big winner was Pinnacle Entertainment‘s Ameristar Council Bluffs, up 7% with a $15 Iowa sealmillion gross. Caesars Entertainment had mixed results, with Horseshoe Casino ($16 million) down 3% but Harrah’s Council Bluffs, which used to be the poor relation of the company, up 6%. It grossed $7 million. Embattled Isle of Capri Casinos also had good news to report. Its Iowa properties posted a 3% increase in revenue. The news was less good for Boyd Gaming, whose Diamond Jo Worth and Diamond Jo Dubuque riverboats sprang leaks, metaphorically speaking. The duo was down 6%, grossing $13 million. The total for Iowa is minus Argosy Sioux City, which closed Aug. 1 but plus Hard Rock Sioux City, which notched a boffo $7.2 million in its first full month of operation.

* Comparatively, Illinois‘ situation is one of ” Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Harrah's, Illinois, Iowa, Isle of Capri, MGM Mirage, Neil Bluhm, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Warner Gaming | Comments Off on Dispatches from Iowa and Illinois

MGM courts Japan; More Strip land hits the market

Posted on September 5, 2014 by David McKee

Taking a veiled stab at Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts, MGM Resorts International President William Hornbuckle said that a MGM Osaka-MGMmegaresort in Japan would be “uniquely Japanese, not a copy of an integrated resort from Las Vegas or Singapore.” It would also spread the financial risk among “a consortium of leading Japanese companies.” Hornbuckle’s remarks accompanied a first glimpse of what MGM has in mind, including at least three hotel towers and a couple of cryptic pods. MGM Osaka would be built on Yumeshima, a landfill in the city’s bay.

While Osaka is considered more casino-friendly than the government of Tokyo, it’s still an underdog where consumers are Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Downtown, Entertainment, history, James Packer, Japan, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Regulation, Riviera, Singapore, Station Casinos, The Strip | Comments Off on MGM courts Japan; More Strip land hits the market

Sold down the river; Wynn makes critical offer

Posted on September 5, 2014 by David McKee

imgresFor sale: One casino riverboat, heavily used. Penn National Gaming asked for — and received — dismissal of a bankruptcy petition, opting to sell the Belle of Sioux City on the open market. You might think it would be difficult to sell a riverboat casino these days, when they have become largely anachronistic. Think again:

“According to the court documents, the company said it is in the final stages of negotiating a contract with an unidentified third party to purchase the boat and two barges on the Missouri River and demolish the dockside facilities.”

Penn’s urgency to move the vessels is motivated by an urge to get them disposed of before the Missouri starts icing over. Penn says it can  Continue reading →

Posted in Derek Stevens, Dining, Downtown, Entertainment, Iowa, Massachusetts, Penn National, Regulation, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off on Sold down the river; Wynn makes critical offer

Trump card played; NBA embraces sports betting

Posted on September 5, 2014 by David McKee

Can casino-based Internet gambling keep going after the host casino has ceased to be? That’s the existential question faced by New Jersey Trump_Plaza_lrregulators. Although it is closing Trump Plaza, owner Trump Entertainment Resorts wants to continue the property’s online-gambling platform, in partnership with Betfair. Since the intent of the Garden State’s Internet-gambling enactment was to prop up brick-and-mortar casinos, Trump Plaza’s plea seems like something of a bait-and-switch. However, depending on how tightly the law was written, Trump might yet wriggle through. It says it’s “exploring the economic, legal and practical feasibility of continuing its relationship with its Internet gaming provider following the cessation of gaming operations.”

It’s been no pot of gold for Trump Plaza. It and Betfair have only raked in $4.3 million through July. Meanwhile, Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Golden Gaming, Internet gambling, Sports, Technology, Trump Entertainment Resorts | 1 Comment

Opening tonight

Posted on September 5, 2014 by David McKee

By day I write about casinos and at night I dabble in theater. Here’s a very brief set of snippets from my latest project, David Mamet‘s Boston Marriage. Uncharacteristically for Mamet, it’s a sapphic intrigue that stars Jessica Hird and Natalie Senecal as the two principal schemers.

Posted in Entertainment | Comments Off on Opening tonight

Choke Point or strangulation?; Doing or don’t

Posted on September 4, 2014 by David McKee

In what would seem to be a pretty clear-cut case of regulatory overreach, justified as usual by the War on Terror [sic], the casino_chips1Department of Justice and the FDIC are targeting the casino industry. They don’t just want to know that casino monies are properly accounted for, they want to know how John Q. Player got the money with which he’s gambling. Casinos aren’t set up to act as investigative bodies and it’s an unconscionable intrusion all the same. It’s not Operation Choke Point so much as Operation Choke Hold.

Opines Brian J. Wise, “banks will see the risk of doing business with casinos and the cost of compliance too high, no matter Continue reading →

Posted in Regulation | Comments Off on Choke Point or strangulation?; Doing or don’t

Oh no, not again!

Posted on September 4, 2014 by David McKee

Taj MahalTrump Taj Mahal is heading back to a familiar bookmark: Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The casino is in violation of certain loan covenants and talks with creditors have proven unfruitful. The one creditor who really matters is Carl Icahn and he’s not interested in converting his debt into ownership. (Smart fella.) Majority owner Marc Lasry now has to engage in the Sisyphean labor of restructuring the Taj’s debt yet again. (And again and again.)

And Imperial Capital analyst Gregg Klein warns, “There is a real good chance [others] could be forced to file.” But none is in the state of Trump Taj, which can’t even pay some of its bills. Nor can the Taj ensure that restructuring talks will be successful. So much for yesterday’s wisdom that Atlantic City had seen the worst of it and was in for a two-year lull. Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Carl Icahn, Election, Entertainment, Marketing, Massachusetts, Mohegan Sun, Revel, Steve Wynn, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Playing the God card

Posted on September 4, 2014 by David McKee

AGA flier

Well, this is … different. The American Gaming Association wants you to know that gamblers don’t just pray when they’re shooting dice at the craps table.

Posted in Geoff Freeman, Marketing | Comments Off on Playing the God card

Sheldon goes Korean; More casinos for Maine?

Posted on September 3, 2014 by David McKee

Sheldon ASheldon Adelson wants in on any expansion of South Korea‘s casino and he’s not above using a little muscle to do it. According to Managing Director of Global Development George Tanasijevich, his company, Las Vegas Sands would create “a truly iconic building,” in Jamsil, near some of the infrastructure from the 1988 Olympics.  As part of the project, Sands would dismantle and relocate a baseball stadium that stands in its way.

However, would it be an Adelson project if it didn’t come with conditions imposed on the Korean government — namely that it allow Korean citizens, currently banned from Continue reading →

Posted in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Penn National, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore | Comments Off on Sheldon goes Korean; More casinos for Maine?

Revel: A quiet death

Posted on September 3, 2014 by David McKee

“Gaming in Atlantic City isn’t dead, but it has to go on a crash diet to survive.” That’s the coroner’s verdict of the Newark Star-Ledger, in atlantic-citywhich former Atlantic Club worker Bill Terrigino adds his voice to the chorus that says, “The fascination of slot machines is over with. More gambling isn’t the solution. If we don’t make it fun for people in Atlantic City, they’ll make us irrelevant.” Yes, but wasn’t part of Revel‘s downfall that there was too little gambling and it was too difficult to reach?

For reporter Mark Di Ionno, the problem is easy to diagnose: “Atlantic City took its greatest attraction” — the Boardwalk — “and made it inaccessible.” He adds, “Still today, there are long stretches of the boardwalk with nothing to eat except in the overpriced casinos, few restrooms and changing facilities — and parking is expensive and distant … As for amusements, the rides at the famed Steel Pier look like nothing more than a local church carnival bolted to the boards.” Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Architecture, Atlantic City, Illinois, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Revel, Sam Nazarian, Slot routes, The Strip, Trump Entertainment Resorts | 3 Comments

The fees that ate Las Vegas

Posted on September 3, 2014 by David McKee

harrahs-pic First, the good news. Harrah’s Las Vegas casino floor, one of the most claustrophobic and unpleasant in town is getting a makeover.
And, while they’re at it, Caesars Entertainment is converting the space formerly occupied by The Cafe at Harrah’s and Ming’s Table into a newer, bigger eatery, Fulton Street Food Hall, bringing a touch of New Orleans to the Strip.

The bad news is that Harrah’s has jacked up its resort fee to $22/day. That gouge is nominally for Continue reading →

Posted in Dining, Harrah's, International, Maryland, Ohio, Phil Ruffin, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Singapore, The Strip | Comments Off on The fees that ate Las Vegas

Narrow race in Massachusetts; Boffo biz in Alabama

Posted on September 2, 2014 by David McKee

No state that has ever approved casino gambling has repealed it in over 80 years. That being said, casinos are polling weakly in massachusetts-quarterMassachusetts — with support hovering at 50% — and the opposition is getting cocky. A perversely worded ballot question (you vote “yes” for repeal, “no” for casinos) is adding to the free-for-all atmosphere.

To hear casino opponents tell it, a win in Massachusetts could lead to repeals elsewhere. “If Massachusetts votes to repeal casinos, this could represent a turning of the tide. But even if the casinos win, the fact that they’re even having this vote says to the industry that maybe they should think twice about how many casinos they’re opening,” says Boston College gaming expert Richard McGowan.

Some are unimpressed. Penn National Gaming is proceeding Continue reading →

Posted in Alabama, Architecture, Economy, Election, Florida, Massachusetts, MGM Mirage, Penn National, Regulation, Rhode Island, The Strip, Tribal | 1 Comment

Big Apple, smaller bites; Checkmate on the Strip

Posted on September 2, 2014 by David McKee

Mitchell_Etess“There will never be another Mohegan Sun. That’s the way the market has shifted.” So says Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority CEO Mitchell Grossinger Etess on the smaller, economy-sized casinos he and his fellows will have to build in New York State, if they have the winning bids. The conundrum is to build a resort that has enough curb appeal and amenities to win the competitive battle — but inexpensive to assure that your investment is recouped. It’s a phenomenon that’s been dubbed “the Goldilocks zone.”

Etess knows whereof he speaks. Revenue continues to fall at Mohegan Sun and he’s proposing to spend Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Economy, Harrah's, Mohegan Sun, New York, Planet Hollywood, The Strip | Comments Off on Big Apple, smaller bites; Checkmate on the Strip

Archon under fire again

Posted on September 2, 2014 by David McKee

Sue Lowden is back in the news, not for her political activities but as secretary and public face of Archon Gaming, whose 27 acres atop Sue Lowdenthe Strip are a hot property again, following the opening of SLS Las Vegas. Dissident investor and frequent thorn in the Lowdens’ side Esplanade Capital has made a purchase that ought to be the dream of a lifetime for an Archon shareholder: $21.65 a share — a 21% premium. That’s a fat price for Archon’s slim portfolio of assets, headlined by flagship Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall in Laughlin.

Taking its offer public, Esplanade fired off an open letter to the Lowdens. “ I was afforded the opportunity to speak with the Board of Directors … and reiterate our view that the Company should publicly commit to a sales process with a level playing field. While disappointed, I am not surprised that this demand and my follow-up since have been rebuffed,” writes Esplanade President Shawn W. Kravetz. Continue reading →

Posted in Archon Corp., Economy, Laughlin, Ohio, Penn National, Sam Nazarian, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off on Archon under fire again

Showboat, 1987-2014; Paris, 1999-????

Posted on September 2, 2014 by David McKee

Showboat_Atlantic_CityIn the end, the Showboat Atlantic City had a good run of it, lasting almost three decades on the Boardwalk. It succumbed, in part, to wounds inflicted by owner Caesars Entertainment, which cut into its customer base by building Harrah’s Philadelphia and, toward the end, shifting its priority to a New York State casino. A few years of that attitude and, the next thing you know, Showboat security is yelling, “Go home! We’re closed” at taxi drivers.

As 27-year Showboat veteran Arnoldo Leggi said between card tricks, “I opened this place, and now I’m going to close it. I’m not feeling Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Economy, Harrah's, New York, Pennsylvania, Revel, Sam Nazarian, The Strip, Tilman Fertitta, Tourism, Trump Entertainment Resorts, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Quote of the Day

Posted on August 29, 2014 by David McKee

Revel.jpg“As it pertains to Revel, management [of Boyd Gaming] believes that any buyer would have to spend significant time and money to make the asset viable going forward.” — J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, making it clear who won’t be bidding on Revel.

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Revel | 1 Comment