For those of you waiting for Boyd Gaming to do something with all its undrawn credit, the moment has arrived. Having surveyed the chips on the board, Boyd has pounced upon … IP Casino Resort Spa (née Imperial Palace Biloxi) in a $288 million deal. Ten million of those clams will take the form of a donation to the Engelstad Family Foundation. Boyd has also committed $44 million to property upgrades as well, above and beyond the purchase price. Analyst Joseph Greff professed himself “surprised” by Boyd’s commitment of so much moolah to what he characterized as a no-growth market. Since IP Casino is privately held, EBITDA numbers weren’t immediately available.
Now, if you’ve been having a chuckle at Boyd’s expense, consider this. Although Ralph Engelstad launched the property in contentious and catastrophic fashion back in 1997, its fortunes have greatly improved since Englestad’s decease. (The late Rex Buntain gave an excellent chronicle of Engelstad’s Attila the Hun act in a 1998 issue of Casino Executive Magazine.) Hurricane Katrina proved to be a blessing in disguise, since the IP was the casino further from shore, ergo the least damaged and the first one back in business, enabling it to solidify and enlarge its market share.
So this is a canny move on Boyd’s part, getting into a market where it presently isn’t and obtaining a casino that’s gone from laggard to leader. IP’s also the first gambling house that southbound drivers pass, so Boyd’s sitting pretty on this deal … pending revelation of the EBITDA multiple at which it purchased the IP. (It definitely makes more sense than continuing to putz around with Dania Jai-Alai in Florida.) With Caesars Entertainment still in a post-Katrina daze and Pinnacle Entertainment having fled the market entirely, Boyd has seized the initiative. It remains in possession of $1.1 billion in undrawn credit and if Ameristar Casinos goes back on the sale block, expect those billion-plus chips to be pushed to the middle of the table.
Retail therapy. Boyd isn’t the only company pulling out the checkbook this week. Melco Crown Entertainment has swooped in to rescue long-in-abeyance Studio City, buying a 60% share in the comatose project for $360 million, going from casino manager to owner in the process. A pair of hedge funds control the balance of Studio City. Wall Street is bullish on the project, foreseeing as much as a 20% ROI on what’s expected to be a $1.7 billion casino resort when all’s said and done. That kind of return has been impossible in Las Vegas since casino costs routinely began breaking the $1 billion barrier. So when moguls like Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn say they’ve turned their gaze to the East, you can’t blame them.
Studio City still faces such not-inconsiderable hurdles as Continue reading
“Recent events call for a special sticker on the July cover. Look for it on newsstands.” — Hugh Hefner (no introduction needed), on 
In one of the most surprising press releases I have ever received, the 
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… if you happen to be George Maloof and can hang out at Palms Place on Sunday with a bunch of Miss USA contestants. However, as for young lovelies like …
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Had I known that the recent kerfuffle over who Paul Revere did and didn’t intend to warn that the Redcoats were coming would devolve into name-calling between commenters, I’d never have posted that unfortunate quote. So, as of today, I’m taking it down. And reminding every one here that calling another poster a name is strictly verboten, as are racial, religious, ethnic, sexual and cultural slurs, and (on a somewhat lighter note) all-caps posting. Class is dismissed.
“In Latin American, African or Asian countries, I sometimes see shiny tanks and fighter aircraft — but schools that have trouble paying teachers. Sound familiar? And the upshot is societies that are quasi-feudal, stratified by social class, held back by a limited sense of common purpose.” — Nicholas Kristof addressing, among other issues,