David McKee

Colony Capital‘s insolvent Atlantic City Hotel received bankruptcy court permission to keep doing business. Still, the ACH appears to be circling the drain rapidly, telling reporters “the casino said it doesn’t have enough cash to continue to operate for a long time.” To its credit, management doesn’t plan to slash the workforce to make ends meet. Ironically, one of those ends the ACH cannot meet is its pension, having a $30 million unfunded obligation to its employees. In the meantime, Colony continues to shop the property about and wannabe buyers have 10 days to get their bids on the table.

Believe it or not, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas nearly doubled its casino revenue in 3Q13. The 97% moonshot was credited to tighter table hold (16%, or a couple of points above Strip average). Hold a year earlier had been a sickly 4%. Food and beverage revenues, the Cosmo’s strong suit, fell slightly but ADRs and occupancy were up. Losses were reduced 56%, to $19 million. Of course,the Cosmo’s labor troubles continue to make headlines. The Las Vegas Review-Journal toes the anti-union line, as usual, but misses the real point: The Culinary Union can’t carve out a only-for-The-Cosmo special contract. Once the Culinary makes exceptions for one property, it’s going to have a domino effect up and down the Strip and across Downtown, as every other casino owner demands exemptions. Unless Cosmo management decides to do a Sheldon Adelson and go non-union, the Culinary’s choices are victory or death.

Golden Gaming worked out a settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board recently, negotiating a Continue reading →