Boffo February in Nevada

Posted on April 10, 2012 by David McKee

Casinos in the Silver State were up 6% in February, which is pretty damned impressive when you consider that Chinese New Year fell in January this year, giving Month #2 a tough row to hoe. But, with the exception of ever-volatile Lake Tahoe, every major Nevada market came through with flying colors. I’m committed on a couple of other fronts at the moment but if you want an efficient rundown of who’s up and who’s … uh, up even further, check out David G. Schwartz‘s Twitter feed for the facts and figures. Dr. Dave will take care of you.

Posted in Current, Economy, Lake Las Vegas | Comments Off on Boffo February in Nevada

Illinois: Visit more, spend less; Harrah’s breaks losing streak

Posted on April 9, 2012 by David McKee

Although recent investor presentations by the major casino and game-making companies would leave one feeling pretty sanguine about the economy, “pallid” is the word for the industry’s performance in Illinois last month. Attendance at casinos rose 21% but spending was flat. Most of that increase was attributable to Rivers Casino ($35 million, right), which lifted the state’s take 21%. However, with Rivers subtracted from the picture, revenues were 8% down. MGM Resorts International‘s Grand Victoria got pummeled again, -17%, showing the kind of double-digit volatility one associates with a much lower-grossing property, not one that won $20 million lat month.

Penn National Gaming‘s portfolio took it in the shorts, posting declines at Hollywood Aurora (-14.5%), Empress Joliet (-9%) and Alton Belle (-9%). A huge month for Harrah’s Metropolis (+14%) all but negated Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Boyd Gaming, Economy, Harrah's, Illinois, Iowa, Isle of Capri, Macau, MGM Mirage, Neil Bluhm, Penn National, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Taxes, The Strip, Wall Street | Comments Off on Illinois: Visit more, spend less; Harrah’s breaks losing streak

Last night at the Palms

Posted on April 6, 2012 by David McKee

Kelly Clarkson rocked The Pearl to its foundation with a joyous, 80-minute set. Unfortunately for us (but happily for them), these anonymous videographers had better Continue reading →

Posted in Current, Entertainment, George Maloof, The Strip | Comments Off on Last night at the Palms

Trump Plaza reprieved; Stirrings at Sahara

Posted on April 5, 2012 by David McKee

Good news for Trump Plaza: It’s off the “death watch,” having dramatically reversed its fortunes last year. Although revenues continue to decline, gross operating profit swung from a $2 million loss in 2010 to a nearly $3 million gain last year. This is terrific news for Trump Entertainment Resorts, which has been effectively subsidizing the Plaza out of Trump Taj Mahal‘s operating profits. CEO Robert Griffin is obviously doing something right. However, the new, grind-joint strategy at The Atlantic Club (aka the immortal ACH) had better start yielding improved EBITDA soon. It posted a $20 million operating loss last year, during the same period that the late Dennis Gomes was taking Resorts Atlantic City from $18.5 million in the hole to a $14 million deficit … not out of danger but a significant step in the right direction. Another rescue project, the Golden Nugget, narrowed its operating losses roughly 25%.

The occupancy-rate trophy goes to Caesars Atlantic City, at 93%. It was also one of the few other casinos to report cash-flow gains, along with the Taj and Showboat Casino Hotel. Despite a 7% cash flow decline, Borgata was crying Continue reading →

Posted in Colony Capital, Current, Dennis Gomes, Donald Trump, Economy, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Sahara, The Strip, Tilman Fertitta, Tourism, Transportation, Tropicana Entertainment, Wall Street | 4 Comments

The Trop and the truth; Crock of Vegas

Posted on April 5, 2012 by David McKee

Black Hawk Down author Mark Bowden has penned a gripping account of how veteran racetrack executive Don Johnson (no, not that one) cleaned the clocks of the Tropicana Atlantic City, Borgata and Caesars Palace Atlantic City, to the tune of $15 million. He did it, at least in the Trop’s case, by not bringing Tropicana Entertainment his play until he’d negotiated the house edge on blackjack down to 0.25%, plus a 20% rebate on losses. His terms with Borgata and Caesars are undisclosed but, knowing something of how casinos operate, they would have been similarly “george.” These were desperate times and casinos are wont to see your desperate measure and raise it. Considering the swath Johnson cut through Atlantic City, many seem convinced he used untoward methods to beat the house. Not so, says our own Anthony Curtis. He describes Johnson as a solid 21 player who used basic strategy and “got shit lucky.” In order to hit his rebate threshold, Johnson bet large, literally cleaning out the chip trays.

While there’s no indication of how Borgata reacted, the Trop and Caesars took very different steps. According to Bowden, Caesars Entertainment has made Johnson persona non grata at Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boulder Strip, Boyd Gaming, Carl Icahn, Columbia Sussex, Donald Trump, Downtown, Election, Entertainment, Harrah's, Horseracing, Internet gambling, Pennsylvania, Sheldon Adelson, Tropicana Entertainment | 3 Comments

Worst operator of 2011; GSA’s wrong amount of wrong

Posted on April 4, 2012 by David McKee

Worst of the year? That’d be Grand Station Casino, a former Harrah’s riverboat in Vicksburg, and its owners, Delta Development & Investments. They managed to parlay a $3.25 million steal of a casino that could have gone for $35 million a few years ago into complete, encumberance-ridden failure. Even after Bally Technologies postponed a planned foreclosure sale (Delta owed Bally $3 million for slot machines), Grand Station still closed last Wednesday, as General Manager Anthony Collins had employees shooed out of the building. Now Delta has to hang its hopes on the possibility that developer Kenneth Bickford, who owns the (separately run) Grand Station Hotel, will pull their fat from the fire. However, when you own a defunct casino with no employees and debts out the wazoo, your bargaining position is basically nil.

What happens in Vegas, cost the head of the General Services Administration her job, along with those of multiple underlings. Ostensibly charged with saving taxpayer money, Martha Johnson‘s agency was splurging on a big Las Vegas blowout. This puts the local power structure and boosters like the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority in an amusing quandary. To coin a phrase, What’s the right amount of wrong? As the Las Vegas Sun‘s J. Patrick Coolican nailed it two years ago, Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Bally Technologies, Culinary Union, Current, Economy, Harry Reid, M Resort, Macau, Marketing, Mississippi, North Las Vegas, Penn National, Politics, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Station Casinos, The Strip, Tourism | 2 Comments

Revel gets a rave review

Posted on April 4, 2012 by David McKee

Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli took a jaunt down to Atlantic City to check out Revel, the biggest noise on the Boardwalk in almost a decade. He thought … well, let him tell it: “From the check in reception area, complete with pool, foosball, and air hockey tables and an expansive lounge seating area, to the signature restaurants with New York and Philadelphia appeal, nightclubs, and a large outdoor elevated pool deck overlooking the Boardwalk and ocean, we were thoroughly impressed.”

He goes on to forecast significant first-time visitation spurred by Revel, which he believes will outperform the rest of the market (even Borgata, whose F&B department was raided by the newcomer) in terms of “fair share” of casino revenue. To compare: Borgata currently has 13% of the total casino inventory. Revel’s 160 tables and 2,450 slots will give it 9%. Even with that numerical disadvantage, Santarelli predicts it will overachieve and — if the market grows just a little bit — Revel will eat everybody else’s lunch to the tune of a 10%-12% revenue decline.

In other words, Revel’s rising tide will lift one boat: Revel. Borgata is forecast to slip 5.5%-7%, offsetting Revel by recruiting customers who wish to “trade up” from properties like Caesars Atlantic City, Trump Taj Mahal and Harrah’s Marina. Even so, Boyd Gaming‘s cash flow from its cash cow is expected to take a 20% hit. “Four properties continue to run EBITDA negative,” Santarelli writes, “something which will be further compromised going forward.” In other words, Continue reading →

Posted in Animals, Architecture, Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Colony Capital, Cosmopolitan, Cretins, Current, Dennis Gomes, Dining, Donald Trump, Economy, Entertainment, Environment, Genting, Harrah's, Marketing, New York, Tilman Fertitta, Tourism, Tropicana Entertainment, TV, Wall Street | 2 Comments

Like I said …

Posted on March 28, 2012 by David McKee

That MGM Resorts International casino project in Massachusetts looked like a long shot to me — and so it was. After a high-profile launch, complete with a personal appearance by CEO Jim Murren, a dedicated Web site and a promised monthly newsletter, the whole thing fizzled abruptly late last night. Chief Marketing Officer Bill Hornbuckle (left) said, “The unique nature of MGM’s plans for an all-inclusive world-class resort of the Brimfield site, and our growing understanding of the needed scope for its infrastructure, simply do not allow us to pursue the comprehensive MGM resort originally envisioned here.”

English translation: “We can’t afford it.” The news promptly — and illogically — sent MGM stock into a slump. Considering the debt overhang that MGM is busily refinancing and the prospect of cannibalizing MGM’s Foxwoods outpost, management’s volte-face makes sense, even if you wonder Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Current, Election, Goldman Sachs, Indiana, International, Louisiana, Marketing, Massachusetts, MGM Mirage, Missouri, Ohio, Penn National, Pinnacle Entertainment, Sheldon Adelson, Transportation, Wall Street | 2 Comments

Choy challenges Vegas

Posted on March 28, 2012 by David McKee

This is the conclusion of a two-part interview with Riviera boss Andy Choy in which he answers questions submitted by S&G readers.

Can the Riv survive if nothing is done with the Sahara, Fontainebleau or Echelon sites for another five years? How long can a seasoned but old competitor survive in No Man’s Land? The north end of the Strip just looks awful despite the best efforts of the Riviera.

I agree with Howard’s sentiments. It would be a lot easier for us if there were economic activity on the north end of the Strip. I’m going to say something a little bit controversial here but we’re trying our best to make something happen and it’s disheartening to see all this public funding going … $45 million for the Mob Museum, $150 million for the Smith Center [above]. These are all great projects but they’re all using our tax dollars to benefit someone else. We get no Continue reading →

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Culinary Union, Downtown, Economy, Entertainment, Fontainebleau, LVCVA, Marketing, Plaza, Riviera, Sahara, Taxes, The Strip, Tourism, TV | 3 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on March 28, 2012 by David McKee

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

“Do not go and take that money and have fleet feet and go on vacation or go to Las Vegas or Atlantic City.” — Suze Orman, on what you should do with your tax refund. I wonder if she’ll get pilloried for that remark, particularly with consumers taking a more cautious approach to gambling. (So much for Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Current, Dining, Economy, Entertainment, The Strip, Tourism, TV, Wall Street | 3 Comments

Andy Choy takes your questions

Posted on March 27, 2012 by David McKee

The music you play in the casino hasn’t changed for a very long time. It’s all sad, lost love, women complaining about bad, bad men, and very loud music. It makes me want to run out of the casino. Don’t you think happy, lively music would be more appropriate for having fun, staying and playing? I can’t tell you how much I hate your music. Even your employees want to wear earplugs.

That’s funny. We actually have it on rotation now. On Thursdays it’s disco, on Fridays it’s Eighties and so forth. I can’t tell you how much I agree with that sentiment that the music has to be right and at times my staff laughs. They know that I’ve got the “No Ke$ha” rule. I don’t want any of that stuff that we know is going to annoy our customers.  It’s taken some time to get the music programmed property but I appreciate the feedback and it’s something that we continue to improve upon.

Will anything be done to ease the notoriously long check-in lines?

Absolutely. The long check-in lines, there’s a few things going in. The easy answer is there’s just not enough people checking [guests] in. But the slightly more complicated answer has Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Dining, Entertainment, history, Marketing, Riviera, Technology, The Strip | 10 Comments

Finally …

Posted on March 26, 2012 by David McKee

… a set-in-Vegas commercial that’s really funny (with the Plaza Las Vegas making a cameo appearance). This would make make me want to come here a lot more than that hopelessly twee “Bohemian Rhapsody” spot for The Cosmopolitan that’s making the rounds.

Posted in Cosmopolitan, Downtown, Marketing, Tamares Group, TV | Comments Off on Finally …

Bad timing; The wrong amount of WTF?; Uncle Sheldon speaks

Posted on March 23, 2012 by David McKee

Surely the worst entertainment coverage in Vegas is Wayne’s World, penned by former Lance Burton flack Wayne Bernath. A copy of his April effort (pictured) is available upon request, as it’s sure to be a collector’s item — along the lines of those postage stamps that depicted not the actual Statue of Liberty, as intended, but New York-New York‘s midget version. Bernath leads with his chin by declaring “the best evening magic show in Las Vegas” to be — no, not Penn & Teller — but newly defunct Avant Garde, the John Fondy flop that opened officially on a Thursday at Plaza Las Vegas and closed the following Monday. “You can’t miss with this,” writes a breathless Bernath. Oh, yes you can and, yes, he did. The Las Vegas Review-Journal‘s Mike Weatherford had an interesting account yesterday of how Avant Garde cast members mutinied against having to perform sans salary (the original, mystery backer having done a vanishing act of his own) and the anti-Fondy faction will try to arrange new financing.

Weatherford also has the bon mot of the week. He describes the fiasco as “hosted by an old-school comedy magician (Michael Finney) in a blazing red suit Santa Claus might wear in the off-season.” Zing!

Yesterday’s big announcement from identity-challenged Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, that PlayStation 3 video games would be available in its new EA Sports Bar gives even more reason to wonder if either Deutsche Bank or CEO John Unwin knows how to Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmopolitan, Current, Downtown, Entertainment, Marketing, Sahara, Sheldon Adelson, Tamares Group, Technology, The Strip, Wall Street | 4 Comments

Aria: Take it again from the top, boys

Posted on March 22, 2012 by David McKee

Y’all remember that ‘consciousness-raising’ campaign MGM Resorts International announced on behalf of Aria, earlier this week. The first in a six-part series of videos, The Reveal, went live late this afternoon. Subsequent blipverts will include The Motive and Entrapment. (It’s like an erotic thriller without

Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Current, Entertainment, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Movies, Technology, The Strip | 1 Comment

Quote of the Day

Posted on March 22, 2012 by David McKee

“If you’re in the business of disseminating news, you don’t sue the people you’re disseminating news to.” — David Kravets, of Wired Magazine, on the self-inflicted financial catastrophe of Sherman Frederick‘s “little friend,” Righthaven, one of the most birdbrained get-rich-quick schemes in the history of Western civilization.

Posted in Current | 2 Comments

Singapore: Many called, two chosen; Tunica catches a break

Posted on March 22, 2012 by David McKee

VIP junket operators are coming to Singapore, J.P. Morgan stock analysts reported. Actually, they’re already there in the form of “shadow junkets,” according to Singaporean media. And if Las Vegas Sands or Genting Berhad are knowingly dealing with illegal junketeers, they deserve to have the book hurled at them by the nation’s government. However, a Singapore casino concession is so difficult to obtain (and costly to develop), one would expect Sands and Genting to be accordingly circumspect. The latter already had a near-death experience when it tried to cozy up with Stanley Ho (above), of whom the local government wanted no part whatsoever.

By virtue of having been earliest to open, Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa (left) had its junketeers vetted first. Of 14 applications, only two made the grade and received one-year licenses (indicative of the short leash upon which one does business on the shores of the Johore Strait). Singapore bureaucrat Lau Peet Meng tried to prettify junket operators’ image by renaming them “International Market Agents,” which sounds more respectable than catchy. They’ll be barred from recruiting local high rollers — which would seem rather beside the point anyway. Singapore’s VIP biz ($3 billion) is already one-eight the size of Macao‘s, so one can hardly imagine Continue reading →

Posted in Colorado, Current, Economy, Florida, Genting, Internet gambling, Louisiana, Macau, Marketing, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Pokergeddon, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, South Carolina, Stanley Ho, Taxes, Technology, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Saucer crash; Whither Harmon Crossing?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by David McKee

Yesterday afternoon, a heterogenous smattering of Las Vegas media toured the new Area 51 wing of the National Atomic Testing Museum.”Wing” might be a generous term for this cramped, fetid space. The subtitle of the exhibit is Myth or Reality, a misnomer, since the museum tries to address both the real and mythic aspects of Area 51. (Based on yesterday’s reminiscences by some former workers, the actuality seems for more interesting than the legend.) Unfortunately, limitations of space — the Testing Museum had wanted to move its entire kit ‘n kaboodle from UNLV to the Reed Whipple Center, downtown, but was thwarted — leave one with the impression that we’re getting a tantalizing but very Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Architecture, CityCenter, Current, Downtown, Entertainment, Harrah's, history, The Strip, Tourism | Comments Off on Saucer crash; Whither Harmon Crossing?

Investor Week: The slot makers speak; More Ohio expansion

Posted on March 21, 2012 by David McKee

Themes! Themes! Themes! That was the promise made by WMS Industries, which plans to introduce no fewer than 55 of them between now and year’s end. I’d thought we were past the era in which slot manufacturers indiscriminately licensed every theme imaginable, but guess again. CFO Scott Schweinfurth (below) was summarized by J.P. Morgan analysts as saying, “The goal is to get new games on the casino floors as well as upgrade their existing games … to regain lost ship-share.” WMS rolled out a pair of new, sell-through games: Colossal Reels and Power Spins. It’s also trading free upgrades to a half-dozen, unspecified casino operators, in return for Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Bally Technologies, Cordish Co., Current, Economy, Election, Entertainment, Harrah's, IGT, Illinois, International, Internet gambling, Macau, Maryland, Ohio, Penn National, Racinos, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Shuffle Master, Slot routes, Technology, Wall Street, WMS Industries | 1 Comment

Ides of March: Caesars, MGM, Wynn court Wall Street

Posted on March 21, 2012 by David McKee

Evidently J.P. Morgan‘s Gaming, Lodging & Leisure Management Access Forum, being held this week at Wynncore, isn’t sufficiently important to merit the attendance of Big Gaming’s CEOs. If Steve Wynn couldn’t make the stroll from his office to Encore’s meeting rooms, why should Sheldon Adelson cross the street, right?

There have been a few class acts. MGM Resorts International‘s Jim Murren, a former Wall Street analyst himself, had the courtesy to put in an appearance, as did most of the top people in the manufacturing sector. But, in the main, it’s been a beauty pageant of CFOs. Give Caesars Entertainment‘s Jonathan Halkyard (right) the headline item for saying (in Morgan’s paraphrase) that Internet poker legalization “is more likely to pass on a state by state basis as opposed to federal legislation.” (As of Monday, Boyd Gaming hadn’t gotten the memo and was working off stale Gary Loveman talking points. MGM, by contrast, noted that 25 states were considering I-poker and 15 had actually introduced legislation.) Caesars is counting to the World Series of Poker to give the company “a very strong competitive position.” Still, if Capt. Loveman is giving up the ghost on federal legislation, you can administer the last rites to that tardy and helter-skelter effort, a casualty of intra-industry pettiness.

Halkyard buried that shocker toward Continue reading →

Posted in Ameristar, Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, CityCenter, Current, Detroit, Economy, Encore, Entertainment, Harrah's, Illinois, Internet gambling, Macau, Marketing, Maryland, Massachusetts, MGM Mirage, Neil Bluhm, Ohio, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho, Steve Wynn, Technology, The Strip, Tourism, Wall Street, World Series of Poker | 2 Comments

Putting the cart before the racino; Men of eXit

Posted on March 21, 2012 by David McKee

VLTs in Ohio are still being litigated but MTR Gaming is rushing in where major operators fear to tread. It’s already begun conversion of Scioto Downs Casino & Racetrack to a 2,100-machine racino. The nomenclature is a bit premature but MTR has installed former Isle of Capri Casinos executive Troy J. Buswell as GM of the Columbus-area property, which is going to have some not-inconsiderable competition from Penn National Gaming. On the other hand, casinos tend to fare better in clusters than when isolated. Between the critical mass that could be engendered in the Columbus market and the veteran hand of COO Joe Billhimer on the reins, MTR might make it out of the minor leagues yet.

This just in … not! You and I knew about it the week before last. The New York Times reported it two Sundays ago. But Don Johnson‘s wipeout of the Tropicana Atlantic City is a shocking new development to Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Current, Downtown, Entertainment, Harrah's, Hooters, Isle of Capri, Ohio, Penn National, Racinos, Regulation, Tamares Group, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Putting the cart before the racino; Men of eXit