By the time Revel CEO Kevin DeSanctis realizes he’s made a mistake, he’s almost always past the point of no return. Although it is my deeply rooted opinion that smoking is a noxious, disgusting habit that invades other people’s space, banning it has been demonstrated to cause a 15% or greater decrease in the revenues of those casinos that did so. Yet, while Revel is stuck toward the bottom of the Atlantic City market, DeSanctis continues to insist that “too early” to know if his no-smoking policy has hurt Revel revenues. Wake up and smell the nicotine, Kevin. Delaware’s racinos don’t permit smoking and they’re paying quite a price … Actually, there are hints that Revel may be having second thoughts about this whole smoke-free thing, which makes it unique (read: uniquely disadvantaged) among Atlantic City casinos. A mysterious new slot lounge may be intended as a smokers’ haven. Why else would you need a discrete slot lounge, other than for high-end play? Right now, Revel needs plain old play, never mind from which end it comes. So, as the Jersey shore claws its way back from Hurricane Sandy and while the Boardwalk recalibrates toward business and hiring plans that go from year to year, not season to season, problems of such a nature are a luxury at Kevin’s Krib.
Keeping in mind the agenda of Unite-Here, it’s done some number-crunching on Revel and predicts it will celebrate its first anniversary with $1.6 billion in debt, which would require Continue reading
After a long (17 years) and eventful tenure at the top of the American Gaming Association, President Frank J. Fahrenkopf is calling it a day. On June 30, he hands over the reins to a successor as yet to be named. 
You can practically hear the wind whistling through the corridors of power as top execs continue to jump — or are flung — from the sinking Caesars Entertainment ship. First, CFO Jonathan Halkyard up and quits, in favor of the lower-stress environment of Nevada Energy. Now a major power vacuum is created by the ouster of Don Marrandino, viceroy of Caesars’ growing East Coast portfolio.
Sure, Marrandino might have quit. Maybe. But the news 
“The White House sent [Sen. Harry] Reid a list of suggested concessions … Reid looked over the concessions the administration wanted to offer, crumpled up the paper and tossed it into his fireplace … Reid frequently keeps his fire going and is fond of feeding a variety of proposals to it.” — Nevada‘s 
After a long, abyssal plunge, Las Vegas‘ real estate market has bottomed out — or so knowledgeable people tell me. Seems that the banks ’round here ignored Mitt Romney‘s (bad) advice to dump the “shadow inventory” en masse into the marketplace, which would have sent housing prices into an incredible downward spiral. No, they’re keeping those homes buttoned up as the market tightens (I’m hearing of nine- to 12-month waiting periods for a short sale), as well as laying off bundles of houses to investment firms which will rent them or hang onto them until the laws of supply and demand turn in their favor … Which is exactly what MGM Resorts International did with a sizeable tranche of CityCenter condos, ditching 429 Veer Towers units for $119 million (or $278,688.52 apiece). No doubt eager to palliate a major advertiser, the Las Vegas Review-Journal 
‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, shareholders were beginning to cool on the value of Ameristar Casinos stock. It closed ever so slightly down from Pinnacle Entertainment‘s $26.50/share offer price. Perhaps I was wrong and $869 million is enough to get this deal done, after all, though I still expect rumbles of discontent from stockholders as approval of the sale draws near. At least one Wall Street analyst, however, looks at the sale price and gets vertigo. And no wonder: Further crunching of the numbers shows the cash-flow multiple deal to be 8.3X, not the previously advertised 7.4X, meaning it’s above market average. Only Isle of Capri Casinos currently has a better debt-to-cash flow ratio than Pinnacle (Las Vegas Sands has the worst, at 13.4X), but while only Penn National Gaming surpasses Ameristar in profit margins, that latter is looking at no foreseeable revenue growth … well, so small it’s not worth mentioning.
Two, that Ameristar Casinos‘ on-again/off-again talk about putting itself up for sale 
vacated and where it still owns land. (That must have depressed the sales price a wee bit.) Ameristar choosing to sell is not the big shocker. That, while trying — and generally succeeding — to right the ship after former skipper Dan Lee ran it onto a reef of excessive expenditures, Pinnacle would flood its hold with $1.9 million in debt inherited from Ameristar … that’s surprising. But it’s only out $869 million in cash, 
Even at a standard industry multiple of 7.6X cash flow, no doubt some shareholders will shriek that the transaction is underpriced — 
Faced with an intractable Kentucky Legislature and ineffectual advocacy by Gov. Steve Beshear (D-KY), one parimutuel powerhouse from the Bluegrass State is setting up shop in Ohio. Today, Churchill Downs Inc. (in tandem with Delaware North Cos.) closed on its purchase of Buckeye State harness-racing companies Miami Valley Trotting and Lebanon Trotting Club. Faster than you can say “racino,” Churchill Downs and Delaware North whipped out a rendering of their proposed new, 2,500-VLT, $215 million gambling parlor … and race track, although the trotters are — let’s face it — four-legged showgirls in this latest iteration of casino gambling masquerading as the Sport of Kings. CDI/Delaware North will evacuate the current Warren County Fairgrounds track and relocate 
Although Penn National Gaming‘s scheme to split itself into a REIT and a casino-management company hasn’t received one regulatory approval yet, 
Last week’s abrupt cessation of three shows at the Plaza sent gloom and presages of doom through the theatrical community over the weekend. Lichtenstein-based Tamares Group was rumored to be pulling the plug on Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Bite and Grand Ole Vegas Revue (the latter is 
On Monday, the Las Vegas Sun‘s John Katsilometes shed a few rays of light upon the mystery, producing more tantalizing clues that solid answers. “Until further notice” has changed to a tentative Jan. 15 as the target date for resuming two, maybe three of the halted shows. Anthony Cools-owned The Phat Pack continues to run, evidently because it and it alone employs a “light and sound system installed by Cools,” who — surprise! — has 
… which The Atlantic has selected as one of the best typos of 2012. I’ve had butt cracks in my image and it’s not pretty, man. Nascent blog 
If I’d spent the last 20 years under a rock and didn’t know who Shania Twain is, I’d have spent Wednesday evening wondering who this person was, why she was headlining a Caesars Palace show … and couldn’t they have found somebody better? Let’s cut to the chase: Twain’s voice is shot, unreliable of pitch, limited in range and decidedly parched of timbre. For most of Shania: Still the One, she’s barely audible over the large and spirited band. The latter is perched atop three abstracted “boulders,” which my wife thought looked like turds. I decided that two resembled half-baked dough while the third bore a disconcerting resemblance to a sideways pair of testes and a John Thomas.
S&G has learned — and LVA staffers have confirmed — that all main-stage shows at Tamares Group‘s flagship Plaza Hotel have gone dark until further notice. A promotional appearance by Best Little Whorehouse in Texas cast members at South Point, a National Finals Rodeo tie-in, was nixed due to the shutdown. The plug has, for the moment, also been pulled on Bite, 
and take the phone off the hook. Seems the limo fleet of CLS was taking Las Vegas visitors for a ride, running up $2.8 million in fraudulent credit card charges (try explaining those to the wife!), 
discuss why Station felt the need to reassure Las Vegans that it liked them, really, really liked them … but let’s cut the Fertittae some slack today.) So anyway, Boyd has rolled out a new campaign, 
I think this fellow is a bit hazy on the definition of “notoriety,” wouldn’t you agree?
One weekend down, 
Also, Ridley Scott called; he wants his set back. Seriously, it resembles the