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
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 
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.”
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, 
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, $150 million for the Smith Center [above]. These are all great projects but they’re all using our tax dollars to benefit someone else. We get no 
The music you play in the casino hasn’t changed for a very long time. It’s all sad, lost love, women complaining about bad, bad men, and very loud music. It makes me want to run out of the casino. Don’t you think happy, lively music would be more appropriate for having fun, staying and playing? I can’t tell you how much I hate your music. Even your employees want to wear earplugs.
That’s funny. We actually have it on rotation now. On Thursdays it’s disco, on Fridays it’s Eighties and so forth. I can’t tell you how much I agree with that sentiment that the music has to be right and at times my staff laughs. They know that I’ve got the “No Ke$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 
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 
“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 
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 
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 
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 
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.
There will be Ice Capades in Hell before Sheldon Adelson sets foot in Encore, I should expect. However, with J.P. Morgan holding an investor conference at Wynncore, it would be poor form of Las Vegas Sands — currently the darling of Wall Street — not to send somebody. Rob Goldstein, global gaming viceroy (right), and CFO Kenneth Kay drew the short straws. Their bulletins to The Street included the message that Sands will continue to press for additional hotel towers in Singapore (unlikely as it seems the government will go for it). Marina Bay Sands is running at 90% capacity with ADRs in the $300+ range. Refinancing of the MBS debt will be at 3% interest — and why not? By my very rough measure, Marina Bay is in the 20%-25% ROI range, making it one of the smallest risks in gaming, probably the smallest.
Caution, thy name is Moody’s Investors Service. So if Moody’s 
Keeping with our Faustian theme, downstairs it appears as though Tamares Group wanted to strike a deal with the devil. Satan being too expensive, Tamares settled for the next worst thing: Anthony Cools. The reliably cheapskate producer made over a bar into a combination watering hole and miniature golf course. I use the term “made over” generously, because it’s just a borderline-grotty dive bar with some putt-putt links randomly strewn about … including on top of a couple of unused escalators, which looks either surrealistic or tacky, depending on your taste. The vibe is, “Spare every expense!”
“The Garden City Casino looks about as modern as a box full of leisure suits and Shaun Cassidy eight-tracks, and players say they’re eager to see the new M8trix, advertised in a banner hung outside.” — San Jose Mercury News reporter John Woolfolk,