By way of Ian Sutton‘s Gaming Floor portal comes news that Les Artistes Steakhouse, late of Paris-Las Vegas, is fermé … toujours. Although the hotel-casino has only been open since September 1999, on Caesars Entertainment‘s in-house blog this constitutes “a long, storied history.” Now, I’m not aware of any legends or special showbiz mystique surrounding Les Artistes but when I hear the phrase “long, storied history,” I immediately think of the Sahara or Golden Gate or, heck, even Circus Circus. I also think of oddball local establishment Continue reading
What manner of fool spends $5 million to disseminate a film that he’s never seen and whose content he claims not to endorse? Sheldon Adelson, that’s who. After his latest political favorite got clobbered in the New Hampshire primary, Adelson is 
While Adelson dithers, at least with regards to gaming in Massachusetts, his rivals at MGM Resorts International have no such qualms. Having gone from bearish to bullish on U.S. regional markets, CEO Jim Murren 
Of course, MGM is also vulnerable to ‘carpetbagger’ charges, due to its franchise agreement with Foxwoods Resort Casino. Regulators 
Steve Wynn (no introduction required) and old pal — and major investor — Kazuo Okada are having a falling-out that spilled into the files of the SEC. Okada has lined up heavyweight Las Vegas law firm Lionel Sawyer & Collins to help him compel Wynn Resorts to give him access to corporate records. As someone who owns 20% of WYNN stock (compared to El Steve’s 9%), sits on the board of directors and even has a Wynncore 
Okada alleges that “despite several written demands, Wynn Resorts insists on keeping its books and records hidden from its Director’s scrutiny.” His targets of interest include a recent, $135 million donation to the University of Macau, despite Hong Kong resident Okada’s personal opposition, and the use of $30 million he lent Wynn in 2002 “to help advance” the “due diligence” of what eventually became Wynn Macau. According to the SEC filing, Wynn Resorts denied to Okada’s face that he’d ever lent that $30 million to begin with, then backpedaled 
If the good news keeps raining down like this, I might have to start using the R-word … as in “recovery.” In November, Nevada‘s $880 million gross was good for a 7% upsurge. The Las Vegas Strip beat the statewide average, up 9%. According to a J.P. Morgan analyst report, those numbers “reflect the continuing strengthening of trends (volume growth in baccarat, tables … and slot), which were likely helped by the solid event calendar for the month.” Analyst Joseph Greff went on to predict December growth of similar proportions, coming off bad prior-year numbers. Greff’s year-ahead scenario calls for slow but steady improvement in ADRs and only slightly higher operating expenses.
A teensy increase in slot handle translated to a 3% increase in casino win (on the Strip, anyway), although the key number is always baccarat. Casinos had their way with baccarat players, winning $89 million (29% up from November 2010). Even non-baccarat table play was strong for the casinos, up 12%. Locals play continues to solidify, save for a, -5% month in the bumpy North Las Vegas market, with both Downtown (+7%) and the Boulder Strip (+12%) on the ascent. Even Reno had a microscopically positive month, unlike Lake Tahoe, displaying its usual seasonal volatility (-7%). Laughlin (right) declined just 2% but has had only one revenue-positive month this year, a 12% bounce last June. They really need some new or dramatically refreshed product down thataways.
Martial law, American-style, enters its second hit decade today and our seaside resort on the balmy shores of Cuba‘s scenic Guantanamo Bay (now under new management) still has vacancies, I understand. Due process 
“My point is, we should go full speed ahead.” — fiscally reckless Illinois state Rep. Lou Lang, pimping exponential casino expansion. Say, isn’t that what the captain of the R.M.S. Titanic said? Or maybe it was a Japanese kamikaze pilot …
Leading the victory parade was Borgata, which blew past analysts’ expectations on the strength of boffo table revenue (+37%), grossing $56 million or a 19% increase from last year. Resorts Atlantic City continues its Comeback Kid saga with a 23% increase, for $11 million. Except for Bally’s Wild Wild West (-3%, right), all the Caesars Entertainment properties showed heartwarming little upticks, while Tropicana Atlantic City and Trump Taj Mahal exactly repeated their year-previous performance. The Golden Nugget (-1%) may have finally — we hope — bottomed out at an even $10 million, while only Atlantic City Hilton (-6%) and Trump Plaza (-15%) c0ntinue to tank. The latter grossed a measly $8.5 million. Given the cost of running a modern-day casino, how much longer can Trump Entertainment Resorts afford to 
Oh please, stop! I can’t take the hilarity anymore! The gargantuan casino-based resorts of Singapore cap gaming square footage at 6%. Hunter Hillegas ran some numbers for us and came up with 5.5% for Venetian Macao (nobody’s idea of a boutique property) and a seemingly puny 2.5% for Bellagio. Allowing for all the variables involved between one casino and another (does or doesn’t the parking garage count?), MGM Resorts International gave us figures that computed to a massive-for-Vegas 
Apparently there’s no avoiding what has become the story of the day: Sheldon Adelson‘s $5 million dowry to presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich. It’s a gift that 
OK, so we’re six months early but this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Eldorado, which opened in downtown Henderson on July 1, 1962. Locals casinos wouldn’t become an industry unto themselves for years yet but the Eldorado and nearby Jokers Wild are said to hold a special place in Boyd Gaming Chairman Bill Boyd‘s affections. Jokers Wild got something of a reprieve, thanks to the recession: Boyd Gaming had been expanding its property holdings around the casino, in anticipation of major residential development just across the street.
A variety of factors, including the economy, put paid to that mega-homestead plan, leaving the Jokers Wild intact for the foreseeable future. Anyway, if you’ve not made the drive 
“Caesars [Entertainment] has comped me to a few meals, sent me show tickets, and invited me to slot tournaments. The company’s still convinced I want to ride a bus down to Laughlin and stay there for a few days, too, so obviously their data mining and psychographics are impeccable.” — Dr. David G. Schwartz of UNLV, not exactly a Laughlin kind of guy, 
Sometimes one experiences an experience so awful that its sheer awfulness is awfully far beyond the power of words to describe. That’s what happened last night at the premiere of 
Performed without pace or rhythm, and running a tortuous 105 minutes, VMT featured an array of performers whose acts were so lame they’d get booed off the stage at a child’s birthday party. The recurrent volunteer-from-the-audience bit was a mortifying disaster. It could be entirely different story next week, as the cast rotates every Thursday. The presenters vow to scour the globe for talent but the opening-night lineup — including itinerant vocalist Jasmine Trias and a host whose coiffure bore an astonishing resemblance to a porcupine’s pelt — looked more like 
I’m whaling away on a couple of non-gaming fronts today but I wanted to at least drop in and say that Hooters Casino Hotel goes on the block next month, so bust open your piggy banks. But seriously … Creditor-in-Chief Canpartners Realty Holding Company IV can plunk down a $178 million credit bid on the place. The chances of anyone topping that with real money? I would rate them at considerably less than zero. Even today’s good news that Hooters has slightly improved its revenue and 
But perhaps the drooping fortunes of Hooters can be firmed up somehow. One doable — although highly unlikely — scenario is tailor-made for Station Casinos. The latter owns a “floating” license it bought several years back, one that permits it to build a casino sans hotel rooms. Let’s say Station were to either satisfy Canpartners’ actual cash outlay (roughly $50 million) or be jobbed in as a management company. Hooters (presumably rebranded as 
Move over, Longhorn and Vegas Club. The spirit of Nevada Palace (R.I.P.) hath descended upon the Palms. If recent sackings of Bunny dealers portended a sea change at the former George Maloof property, during my latest visit I practically collided with giant, cardboard signs advertising things like 99¢ midday margaritas and all-you-can-eat specials. Getting a table at Garduño’s, no problem in earlier times, took the better part of half an hour. “Reservations” was the proffered excuse (on a slowish Thursday night) but the rows of empty tables suggested that short-staffing was the likelier cause.
Having applied a less-than-Midas touch to M Resort and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, bounced-around Palms prexy Joe Magliarditi is promising bigger and better things for his current property. But, at the moment, “strategy” sounds more like “desperation.” That bold, new look has the appearance of scrimping, saving and ginning up cash flow ASAP. Affordability is always welcome, but don’t tell me you’re an upscale property and give me grind-joint treatment.
… goes to the Octavius Tower at Caesars Palace, which opened last month. It’s tucked far enough away from the casino floor to provide some mental lebensraum as well, and it has a dedicated check-in desk. Since it directly overlooks Caesars’ cluster of pools (potentially affording some R-rated views of topless bathers), how much peace of mind — in addition to prurience — Octavius will provide when “daylife” season begins is an open question. Last month’s shakedown cruise was a bit shaky, if you will. Rooms were generously supplied with bottled water and the obligatory ice bucket — but the ice machine on our floor wasn’t operational. Not all of the jets in the bathtub were working, either, and — given the displaced water pressure — activating the whirlpool function was like uncapping a fire hydrant. (Score one for 
Showing something less than his usual decisiveness, Sheldon Adelson continues to send mixed signals with regard to his intentions in his native Massachusetts. He’s re-upped with Boston-based lobbyist firm Donoghue Barrett & Singal. However, despite years of scouting the market, Las Vegas Sands says it is still “
… is Texas. With the presidential aspirations of Gov. Rick Perry (R) tottering on their penultimate leg, that’s very bad news for Lone Star State lawmakers who’d like to pass casinos — or at least racinos — into law. It’s not such glad tidings either for Texans who’d like to gamble without having to travel to adjoining states. By the same token, there’ll be a collective sigh of relief passing through casinos in Oklahoma and Louisiana today, since they count on Texans for so much of their business. As long as Perry is sitting in the governor’s mansion, there won’t be any casino gambling in Texas, you can count on it. That means a collateral loser is Penn National Gaming, which put its money on a pair of Texas racetracks, an investment that shows no sign of paying off anytime soon.
Santa Claus was a little over-generous this year, was my waning flu was topped off with a Christmas Night onset of acid reflux, in St. Nick-sized portions. Being almost 40 lbs. overweight, feeling the tightness in my chest, and with the untimely deaths of Jeff Simpson and Sarah Ralston fresh in mind … well, let’s say I feel lucky I’m typing this from my home office (with the faithful J’Adoube close at hand) and not from a hospital bed. Also, continuing to eat dishes like the one pictured above is probably another way to plant myself in an early grave, especially since I lost my gallbladder early in my Las Vegas Business Press tenure, on Thanksgiving weekend, 2005. However, if Las Vegas Strip restaurants continue to shovel large portions of such things into the stomachs of the douchebagerie, perhaps we will be rid of those unsightly, TAG-sprayed, tattoo-covered boors sooner than we ever dared hope.
Enforced convalescence had the spiritually salubrious effect of enabling me read Craig L. Symonds‘ -
Recent Posts
- You can’t fix stupid; Good-bad news on the bayou
- If you can’t beat ’em, cheat ’em; Fun & games
- Pennsylvania soggy; Epic fail in North Carolina
- Sibella scandal spreads; Supremes forestall Seminoles
- Atlantic City rebounds; Sibella dumped; NFL suspicions
- MGM limping back; Atlantic City follies; Wall Street Jottings
- On and off the radio
- MGM crippled; Illinois & Indiana report; Bally’s shaky in Chi
- MGM paralyzed; DraftKings debacle; Mount Airy wins
- Bally’s opens, Chicago yawns; MGM, tree murderers
Categories
@Stiffs_Georges
Error: Invalid or expired token.-
Archives
Recent Comments
- Alice Eskandari on Durango Station, slightly downsized
- David McKee on You can’t fix stupid; Good-bad news on the bayou
- American Gaming Guru on You can’t fix stupid; Good-bad news on the bayou
- Ray Lebowski on Sibella scandal spreads; Supremes forestall Seminoles
- David McKee on Sibella scandal spreads; Supremes forestall Seminoles
- Ray Lebowski on Sibella scandal spreads; Supremes forestall Seminoles
- David McKee on MGM crippled; Illinois & Indiana report; Bally’s shaky in Chi
- Paul Shanahan on MGM crippled; Illinois & Indiana report; Bally’s shaky in Chi
- ACGambler on MGM limping back; Atlantic City follies; Wall Street Jottings
- Bob on Bally’s opens, Chicago yawns; MGM, tree murderers
Views
- Sibella scandal spreads; Supremes forestall Seminoles - 56,599 views
- You can’t fix stupid; Good-bad news on the bayou - 56,490 views
- If you can’t beat ’em, cheat ’em; Fun & games - 54,869 views
- Pennsylvania soggy; Epic fail in North Carolina - 55,799 views
- Atlantic City rebounds; Sibella dumped; NFL suspicions - 55,780 views
- Profit vs. investment on the Strip - 1,055,395 views
- Lame nag; Frissora overpaid? - 578,605 views
- The evils of bingo; Wynn’s Aqueduct exit - 90,530 views
- That casino smell - 63,646 views
- Bally’s opens, Chicago yawns; MGM, tree murderers - 58,366 views
- MGM crippled; Illinois & Indiana report; Bally’s shaky in Chi - 57,961 views
- MGM paralyzed; DraftKings debacle; Mount Airy wins - 57,331 views
- MGM limping back; Atlantic City follies; Wall Street Jottings - 57,004 views
Blogroll
Admin.