So much for the conventional wisdom that Phil Ruffin was just hanging onto Treasure Island for a few years to help MGM Resorts International through a rough patch. Seems he’s subsequently made offers for The Mirage (whose infrastructure is symbiotic with Treasure Island’s) and Beau Rivage. The latter is a valuable hedge against MGM’s overexposure on the Las Vegas Strip and even if The Mirage goes onto the market, Ruffin’s not going to bite unless MGM CEO Jim Murren comes down off those blue-sky valuations (like 12X cash flow) he’s been tossing around.
Penn National Gaming, however, which bragged about not bidding on the pirate place and implied that Ruffin overpaid for it, must be laughing out of the other side of its face now. Even if additional MGM or Caesars Entertainment assets on the Strip became available, their prices will never be low enough for CEO Peter Carlino and they’re likely to start inching upward again. Soon. Carlino will be remembered as Continue reading
Legislators are pressing for a free-market solution to debacle that was Foxwoods Philadelphia. Typical of Pennsylvania‘s overhasty implementation of casino gambling, nobody bothered to codify A) what to do with licenses that get revoked or B) whether to refund or retain the $50 million fee that accompanies aforesaid license. Which means that Comcast Chairman Ed Snider and his bumbling fellow investors may be out 50 mil — or not. The state could, of course, repay Snider’s consortium out of the money raised by reauctioning the Philly license, but somehow I think solons will want to keep Snider’s cash and scare up $50 million more. It’s their nature.
“Las Vegas has always prospered by reinventing itself every few years, and sometimes we evolve into something that the public doesn’t yet know it wants.” — unnamed MGM Resorts International executive, defending CityCenter to George Knapp. The latter 
Sheldon Adelson must have been a good boy this year. Santa left an extra present under his tree, in the form of probable approval by the Macau Land, Public Works & Transportation Bureau of apartment sales at 286-unit Four Seasons Cotai. This would add another $1/share to Las Vegas Sands’ share price, says casino analyst Joseph Greff of J.P. Morgan, who adds that it also signals that U.S. casino operators aren’t in bad odor with Peking, as feared.
Keystone State casinos grossed 22% more than last November. Throw in a $15 million month at SugarHouse (below) and it’s a 31.5% increase. Table games — to the tune of $38.5 million — drove the overwhelming bulk of the increase, with slots up only 2%. One notable exception was Sands Bethelehem (above), whose 36% pole vault was heavily boosted by slot play (up 13%). At least as far as the $724 million initial phase of Sands Bethlehem is concerned, Sheldon Adelson still might be able to make his lavish expenditures pencil out over the medium term.
By contrast, Penn National Gaming‘s improved performance (+13%) at its namesake racino was entirely a function of table play, with slot performance flat from November ’09. The closest thing to an actual disappointment was Harrah’s Chester Downs, “only” up 8%, finishing the month with $26 million, second only to Parx Casino‘s $36 million. By comparison, mammoth Rivers Casino continues to underperform, although its $24 million gross was a 52% increase from a year ago.
Cordish’s revenge. It’s a dish best served by opening Cordish Gaming‘s controversial Arundel Mills gambling hall late next year with 
Recycled attraction. It wasn’t on the to-do list of former MGM Grand headliners 
“When it’s all going to be said and done, Harry Reid has eaten our lunch.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), paying the Senate Majority Leader a backhanded compliment. Old Sixty Votes couldn’t advance the cause of online poker but his waning supermajority otherwise 
Having been burned by a few too many “false positives” in terms of economic recovery, S&G is loath to get anyone’s hopes up. (And 
Last week’s big chip heist at Bellagio may have left MGM Resorts International with a smidgen of egg on its face but it’s not as though others in the gambling industry have failed to see the opportunity to make money. YouWager.com has laid odds on the aftermath of the robbery:
“Money is not everything in life. Happiness is much more important than money. After all, money is a good servant, but a very bad master. Perhaps that is a lesson that Steve Wynn should learn.” — former Wynn Las Vegas dealer Thomas Golly, in a letter to 
Steve Wynn has enjoyed so many victories in his long-running battle with his casino dealers that he was perhaps overdue for a loss. It came yesterday when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Wynn Resorts 
The news isn’t all bad for Our Man Stan: He still has a Cotai plot that’s expected to get the green-light for a James Bond-themed casino and the mainstreaming of Macao, if succcessful, is expected to bring even more mass-market gamblers into the casinos, easing their reliance on VIP play. The 
After four interminable years, that on-again/off-again casino project on the Philadelphia waterfront has been put out of its misery. Comcast‘s Ed Snider, his fellow juiced-in investors and putative savior Caesars Entertainment had the rug yanked from beneath them in a 6-1 vote by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, 
In addition to $25 million in earnest money, Caesars was expected to borrow $200 million more. Although the company’s bargain-tier Horseshoe brand was the only one not already deployed in the Baltimore-Atlantic City corridor, the downmarket image can hardly have placated already-vexed regulators. (Recall that Steve Wynn thought better of an off-brand “SW” casino when Philadelphians proved cool to the idea.) Downsizing of the slot-machine quotient by 50% and an even more drastic reduction of the parking garage were cognizant of the economic riskiness of a half-billion-dollar casino (and of the need to not outshine other Caesars properties in Atlantic City) but didn’t play with state officials. A pushed-up grind joint wasn’t what they had in mind.
“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.” – H. L. Mencken
Leading lights of the blog world were on hand for last night’s Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas coming-out party and had pretty divergent reactions. Steve Friess is keeping his opinion of the property to himself but he’s among those who are 
Although I’m still feeling somewhat the worse for wear from last night’s Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opening-night bacchanalia, a quick observations are in order. Filled with people, Cosmo’s virtues are magnified, its vices minimized (with one glaring exception to which I’ll get). And, yes, it is a fun-inducing space. It might not propel travel to Vegas but it should achieve the popularity that eluded Encore and CityCenter. The crowd seemed exceptionally festive, genuinely having a good time rather than willing themselves to, as was the case at Aria‘s debut. As it happened, our route to Cosmo took us through Aria and there was more energy in Cosmo’s Bond bar alone than in all of CityCenter.