The Death Ray goes global

Posted on October 4, 2010 by David McKee

One of the most reliably entertaining news sites is Hong Kong-based NMA World Edition, which covers current events in a manner so imaginative and — shall we say — unrestrained by good taste that it makes Fox News look as stodgy as National Public Radio. NM AWE is drawn to lurid subject matter, so it was inevitable that the Vdara Death Ray would get the signature Apple Action News treatment:

I didn’t know Vdara was a “six-star” hotel, did you? Thanks to Steve Friess for drawing attention to this gem. He speculates that Apple Action News is not “planning to cover, uh, the Reid-Angle race any time soon.” Well, it sort of already did, although this marvelous explication of the Tea Party Factor includes not Angle but failed senatorial candidate (and Archon Corp. treasurer) Sue “Chicken Lady” Lowden:

Meanwhile, I’m stuck by the phone, waiting Continue reading →

Posted in Archon Corp., Current, Election, Harry Reid, International, MGM Mirage, TV, Vdara Death Ray | 2 Comments

Uncle Carl’s Computer Barn?

Posted on October 1, 2010 by David McKee

Thanks to the Vdara Death Ray, the big-ass garage sale Carl Icahn is holding at Fontainebleau has dropped off the news pages. But one blogger asks, What about those iMacs in every F-blew hotel room? To which I might add: Now that’s he stripping F-blew for parts, thereby further reducing its resale value, how great are the chances Icahn will blow the damn thing up? Pretty good, I’d say.

My promise to you: A free Tex & Edna Boil video with every S&G item about Uncle Carl’s Carpet Warehouse, or whatever we should call what used to be F-bleau and is now officially F-blew.

Posted in Carl Icahn, CityCenter, Current, Fontainebleau, Technology, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, TV, Vdara Death Ray | 4 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on October 1, 2010 by David McKee

“The Internet’s coupling of anonymity and controversy sparks a chemical reaction that produces plenty of stupidity, with heat as a common by-product. Mean-spirited just doesn’t seem to cover the deplorable viciousness that seems to pour from many comment threads.” — Las Vegas CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius, on the tendency of contemporary discussion to “go from zero to ‘fuck you!’ in 3.2 seconds,” particularly on the Web.

Posted in Current, Technology | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

When Roger Thomas speaks …

Posted on September 30, 2010 by David McKee

… we listen. Here he holds forth on Wynn Resorts‘ newest objet d’art, in footage fresh off the Web. You may well find yourself trying to insinuate the phrase “lustrous patina” into your conversations after you watch this:

Posted in Architecture, Current, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off on When Roger Thomas speaks …

My lucky day

Posted on September 30, 2010 by David McKee

No, not at the slots. Thanks to Dr. David G. Schwartz of UNLV’s Institute for Gaming Research, a man who clearly reads the fine print, I’ve just found out that I won two Nevada Press Association awards. (You have to scroll waywaywaywaywaywayway down to Class IV, but it’s there.) Las Vegas CityLife swept the “Best Non-Staff Story” category, with first prize going to Rebecca Zisch — congratulations! — for “Coffee Clash.” Unfortunately, Zisch’s story appears to have been “disappeared” off the CityLife Web site.

Yours truly took third place for Continue reading →

Posted in Current, Economy, Station Casinos, Steve Wynn | 6 Comments

DIY Global Warming at Vdara

Posted on September 30, 2010 by David McKee

Vdara‘s newly infamous “Death Ray” has become the hot spot felt ’round the world:

You can tell that Brian Williams is a nice guy because he says MGM Resorts International is “rushing to fix the problem.” If he were snarky, like me, he’d point out that this alacrity manifested itself only after the Death Ray was exposed in the pages of the Las Vegas Review-Journal … and subsequently on AOL:

Extra props to the Today producer for laying some Thomas Dolby under that footage.

ABC-TV demonstrates the “death ray” phenomenon in action and goes further to show that it’s indicative of a problem that can be found on Main Street, U.S.A. You might say Vdara is the tip of the iceberg … save that the Death Ray would melt aforementioned iceberg in record time.

MGM wanted to make headlines and generate international buzz with CityCenter. Gentlemen … mission accomplished.

Update: The potential-negligence angle is starting to grow legs.

Posted in Architecture, CityCenter, Current, Environment, MGM Mirage, The Strip, TV, Vdara Death Ray | 3 Comments

What becomes a Hellmouth most? Gary Loveman’s hostage drama

Posted on September 30, 2010 by David McKee

Perhaps it’d be exiting the World Series of Poker Europe must faster and with far less bombast than he entered it.

Muddled metaphor? Compared to the 1990s, the casino industry’s image problems really aren’t that bad, especially when you consider the rapid geographical expansion of the gaming biz. But Gary Loveman is good and worried. As a friend says, he really ought to pack them in with a Global Gaming Expo stemwinder entitled, “The Stockholm Syndrome: Why Addressing the Misinformation that Plagues Gaming is our Top Priority.”

If “addressing misinformation” is Job One over at Harrah’s Entertainment‘s corporate headquarters, that’s not such great news for bondholders who have at least 19 million billion reasons to expect that they’d be at the top of Prof. Loveman’s “to-do” list. Also, the Stockholm Syndrome was coined to describe hostages who come to identify with their captors. So to whom is the casino industry in thrall and what sort of psychological transference does Loveman believe to have taken place? It sounds like that title needs to go into the shop for some rejiggering.

Posted in Current, G2E, Harrah's, International, World Series of Poker | 3 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on September 30, 2010 by David McKee

“At the heart of much of the conservative movement bellyaching over health care reform has been this generational warfare — older people who think it’s fine and dandy to demand that the younger generations pay for their heart medications and hip surgeries, but who flip out if they have to help pay for the medical concerns of younger people, such as reproductive care and pediatric care.” — Slate‘s Amanda Marcotte, on the recent mockery of autism victims. Hey, young America, you help out with my arthritis and fibromyalgia meds and I’ll chip in on your neo-natal care, maybe even some plastic surgery. Deal?

Posted in Current | 2 Comments

Musical chairs at Trump (again)

Posted on September 29, 2010 by David McKee

High-ranking executive jobs at Trump Entertainment Resorts aren’t for “lifers.” Having steered Trump through yet another bankruptcy, CEO Mark Juliano is exiting stage right, “leaving to pursue other opportunities” — the latest executive to be purged. Nobody stays long atop Trump. Former Argosy Gaming CEO James Perry was brought aboard in late 2005 but left less than two years later. Given the challenges faced by Juliano, I’m sure he’ll be welcome somewhere else in the casino entertainment industry — and no executive has been more vociferously optimistic about Atlantic City than he.

Confidence, however, is not set aflame by the company’s choice of successor: MTR Gaming Group CEO Robert Griffin. The latter was one of several top Isle of Capri Casinos executives who left or were eased out when the company hit bottom a couple of years back. Isle brought in a turnaround team led by — you guessed it — James Perry. In Griffin’s favor are six years of experience in the Atlantic City market, in the mid-Nineties. However, his tenure at Isle coincided with the last spasms of the Bernie Goldstein era, a period marred by serious — and serial — corporate miscalculations. (The Bahamas? Coventry?? Singapore???) Griffin’s current employer, MTR, withdrew from the Vegas market in disarray and now confines it operations to a couple of racinos and a pair of horse tracks out East. He may be “experienced” (Trump Chairman Marc Lasry‘s meme in re Griffin), but the last 12 years of it have been spent mostly in the casino equivalent of Triple-A baseball.

Taking to the skies. Would a gondola line connecting Atlantic City’s casinos be a shot in the arm or an airborne version of the Las Vegas Monorail? (Eight to 10 bucks a ride? Ow!)  And would it worsen the disconnect between the casino districts and the rest of the city? This will be something to follow with interest.

Bum rap. But not being pedantically detailed in its wording of a cash-back offer, Harrah’s Entertainment could be out $8 million. The language in question doesn’t rise to the level of “ambiguous” and shouldn’t confuse Continue reading →

Posted in Alabama, Atlantic City, Cordish Co., Current, Donald Trump, Economy, Election, Harrah's, International, Isle of Capri, Kansas, Marketing, Maryland, Penn National, Pennsylvania, Racinos, Regulation, Tourism, Transportation, Tribal | 2 Comments

Correction

Posted on September 29, 2010 by David McKee

Dave Kirvin of Kirvin Doak called and, in a most gentlemanly manner (certainly much better than I’d have handled it), pointed out an erroneous assumption in a now-deleted item about the Liberace Museum. Fortune reported that a PR firm was being paid $300K to represent the museum. Kirvin Doak, one of the biggest PR shops in town was also representing the Liberace Foundation but was not — repeat, was not — the one getting paid the 300 dimes. In other words, I put two and two together and came up with five (or 300,000).

Kirvin’s fee for its Liberace Museum work constituted $17,500 a year in billed hours and an equal amount of pro bono work: a heckuva better deal than the Foundation was getting from its other, unnamed PR partner. I have to tip my sombrero to Kirvin Doak for taking on the Foundation as — and I don’t mean this pejoratively — a charity case and I owe the firm an apology big time.

I regret the error and will be dining heartily upon crow for the remainder of this week.

Posted in Current, Entertainment | 2 Comments

Inside Icahn’s F-bleau rummage sale

Posted on September 29, 2010 by David McKee

Hmmmm … I hear tell Pinnacle Entertainment just upped the budget* on its Baton Rouge casino. Maybe it can amortize that increase by bargain-shopping at Uncle Carl’s Honkin’ Big Hotel Furniture Emporium (aka “Hot Carl’s Fabulous Fontainebleau Garage Sale”) right-cheer on the Las Vegas Strip. C’mon down! The first 100 bidders get a free budgie. (Sorry; obscure SCTV reference.) Hey, Gary Loveman, save a bundle on second-hand F-bleau furniture and you could finish the Octavius Tower in a trice.

* — Then again, that’s quite the bitch-slap that Pinnacle CEO Anthony Sanfilippo laid on Icahn’s Tropicana Entertainment as well as Penn National Gaming. Maybe Pinnacle won’t be so welcome at Uncle Carl’s rummage sale, after all.

Posted in Carl Icahn, Economy, Harrah's, Penn National, The Strip, Tropicana Entertainment, TV | 2 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on September 29, 2010 by David McKee

“This guy. [long pause] Brian Urlacher. [longer pause] He’ll hit ya.” — Jon Gruden, demonstrating characteristic gridiron insight during the most recent installment of Monday Night Football.

Posted in Sports, TV | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

F-bleau on ice

Posted on September 28, 2010 by David McKee

Back in June, when I toured the “new look” Tropicana Las Vegas, it was intimated that much of the convention-area furniture and the HDTV sets in the Paradise Tower had been obtained on the cheap from Fontainebleau, when the latter project ran aground. If that’s the case, would-be casino builders in the Vegas area have a chance to snap up everything except the bathroom sink (and, who knows, maybe that too). In one of his crassest moves, owner Carl Icahn is raiding the property for anything that’s not nailed down and holding one ginormous garage sale. The New York Post story implies that Icahn’s suffering “buyer’s remorse” after snapping up F-bleau at bankruptcy auction for a pittance.

Did Icahn jump without looking? Although he said he might be willing to sit on the property until 2015, his patience didn’t last anywhere near that long. The kind of Vegas comeback that justifies this property is still a good ways off. As for that “70% complete” figure that keeps being thrown around, I took a gander at F-bleau last night and I’m still not buying it. Nowhere close. That claim was predicated on many of the lower hotel rooms being fully furnished, so Icahn’s smash-and-grab sale will push the completion percentage below that best-case 70% mark.

Maybe Icahn will get his $151 million back this way but who’s going to want F-bleau now? Penn National Gaming ultimately found the completion cost too rich for its blood. The land might be more without the white elephant that’s sitting atop it. If Icahn wants to be fondly remembered around here, he’ll Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Carl Icahn, CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Current, Economy, Penn National, The Strip, Tourism | 3 Comments

Jump le sharque: Cirque bombs in Macao

Posted on September 28, 2010 by David McKee

After sinking a reported $150 million into Cirque du Soleil‘s Zaia, Las Vegas Sands may find itself in possession of a very expensive “loss leader.” According to The Australian, “attendances [sic] have been poor and tickets have been heavily discounted.” Cirque doesn’t allow embedding of its online video but if the twee, ultra-PC storyline doesn’t put you off, icky-precious little Zaia herself might do it.

Meanwhile, just around the corner, Franco Dragone has whipped up a little opus called House of Dancing Water, which looks an awful lot like Le Reve 4.0 …

I guess Dragone’s going to keep staging that show until he gets it right and the news that he’s been tinkering with House since 2005 (i.e., when Wynn Las Vegas and original-recipe Le Reve opened) suggests a common ancestor. City of Dreams co-owner Lawrence Ho argues that Dragone’s show will do better since it Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Cirque du Soleil, Current, Detroit, Economy, Entertainment, International, James Packer, Lawrence Ho, Louisiana, Macau, Marketing, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, Tourism, Wall Street | Comments Off on Jump le sharque: Cirque bombs in Macao

CityCenter gets a visitor, deploys Vdara Death Ray

Posted on September 28, 2010 by David McKee

He’s not just any sightseer but the type of East Coast tastemaker MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren hoped to impress: New Yorker architecture critic Paul Goldberger. Heretofore, Goldberger’s most memorable pronouncement in re Vegas came 13 years ago, when he gazed upon the Strip and found it a gaudier version of downtown Bucharest. Ouch!

Goldberger was drawn back for a gander at CityCenter, although his report is considerably more cursory than one would like. It also perpetuates the misinformation that MGM itself (and not its Dubai World joint venture) was nearly pushed into bankruptcy during the project’s turbulent completion. Perhaps the most heretical verdict Goldberger renders is his enthusiasm for Daniel Liebeskind‘s design for Crystals, whose shapes “inject the normally dreary precinct of a shopping mall with a shot of adrenaline.” (More customers would be a greater adrenal jolt.)

If he really wanted to get zapped, the critic could have exposed himself to the Vdara Death Ray, which must be #87,062 on the list of Botched CityCenter Details. What’s the over/under on how much longer Murren can go without giving CityCenter CEO Bobby Baldwin the sack? Ever the optimist, Baldwin A company spokesman sees the Death Ray as a marketing opportunity, cheerily telling Steve Friess, “Vdara is being discovered, and that’s always a struggle in this economy.”

Pondering the metaresort’s Rubiks Cube of interlocking, angular shapes, the New Yorker scribe writes, “you can, at least, imagine seeing it every day without getting sick of it.” A backhanded compliment, admittedly, but one for which I can vouch. CityCenter may be functionally problematic but it’s a never-ending source of eye candy. By contrast, Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, CityCenter, Cretins, Current, Encore, Fontainebleau, George Maloof, history, Marketing, MGM Mirage, The Strip, Tribal, TV, Vdara Death Ray, Wall Street | 4 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on September 27, 2010 by David McKee


“Apparently, even the Invisible Hand [of the marketplace] doesn’t want to pick beans.” — Stephen Colbert, on the dynamics that cause our reliance upon migrant labor. His virtuoso performance illustrates how satire can elucidate complex issues better than any amount of earnest explication. As for those members of Congress and the press corps who were offended by Colbert’s appearance on Capitol Hill, we’re not laughing at you, not with you.

Posted in Current, Economy, TV | 1 Comment

Barrack 1, Bankers 0; Criminal stupidity

Posted on September 24, 2010 by David McKee

A skirmish over the fate of the Atlantic City Hilton ended in victory for Colony Capital. A Superior Court judge decided there were too many unresolved issues in the dissolution of Colony’s East Coast casino portfolio to warrant taking the Hilton’s keys away from Nick Ribis, et al. Debtors U.S. National Bank Association and J.P. Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Securities Corp. were tripped up by their own efforts to also seize Colony’s two Tunica-area casinos. The latter are the props holding the Hilton upright, as Colony is using their revenues to underwrite the money-losing Boardwalk property.

Besides, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission has yet to weigh in on the receivership question — nor does this turn of events take Landry’s Restaurants out of the picture. Impetuous Landry’s CEO Tilman Fertitta appears likely to negotiate with Colony directly now and when he sets his mind to something, there’s no discouraging him (which puts Colony in a nice negotiating position).

Perhaps Colony can bundle its Mississippi and New Jersey casinos and sell them to Fertitta for the half-billion dollars it needs to retire the loan. But it’s more likely to take a huge bath on the A.C. Hilton, casino values having fallen through the planks of the Boardwalk. A Colony attorney hinted that the Hilton could even be kept open without the Tunica subsidy — although one has a hard time imagining CEO Tom Barrack persuading the bankers who now own most of Station Casinos to bankroll a fool’s errand like that. Station, after all, is not the picture of fiscal health these days, either. Colony’s bought itself some time but, like its money, it’s borrowed.

If you’re in the Black Book, it’s probably not a good idea to trespass in any Nevada casino, especially Caesars Palace, which just came under the regulatory microscope. Or doesn’t Brent Eli Morris (left) read the newspapers? He certainly doesn’t seem any too bright. Then again, “he was seen and suspected of cheating at craps at the Excalibur on Friday,” how was it that the majesty of the law didn’t descend upon him until the following Wednesday at Caesars? The Orleans might also be facing a few tough questions, as Morris was able to play there without being 86’d.

How do you keep making ends meet if you’re Harrah’s Entertainment? For one thing, you get the other dude to Continue reading →

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, California, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Current, Economy, Harrah's, Horseracing, International, Lake Tahoe, Marketing, Massachusetts, MGM Mirage, Mississippi, Neil Bluhm, Pennsylvania, Politics, Racinos, Regulation, Sports, Station Casinos, The Strip, Tilman Fertitta, Tourism, Tribal, Wall Street | 1 Comment

11 Lady Gagas … and Phil Hellmuth

Posted on September 24, 2010 by David McKee

If James Bond were hosting a poker tournament it may look like the World Series of Poker Europe,” WSOP commissar Jeffrey Pollack once told Pokerlistings.com.

It may. Then again, it may not.

If you’re Phil “Hellmouth” Hellmuth and lack a personality, what do you do to make an impression? Rent a personality — or possibly 11 of them. The antics that transpired at WSOPE IV are so indescribable that I will let the video footage and its poker-faced subtitles take it from here:

Why is there a WSOPE being held in London? Because Continue reading →

Posted in Current, Harrah's, International, World Series of Poker | 2 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on September 24, 2010 by David McKee

“[N]obody ever said politics was easy, or civil, or respectful. But there’s a certain value in listening to the other side that we should encourage and appreciate.” — Las Vegas CityLife Editor Steve Sebelius, reacting to a fistfight that broke out during a quasi-debate involving Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and challenger Sharron Angle. Let’s see Delaware top that!

Posted in Current, Election, Harry Reid, Politics | 4 Comments

Live, naked girls

Posted on September 23, 2010 by David McKee

Every few days brings a story pitch from some long-suffering PR professional. Today’s mail finds this plea on behalf of IAM Corp.:

Since the beginning of online gaming, every other market has flocked to Live Dealer Casinos, but the US market. ‘Live Dealer’ is an online casino that features an attractive young female who is dealing cards or running whatever the game may be in real life. The feed is brought to players from a studio, via camera, all in real-time, while the player is sitting in their living room. It is currently the gaming experience of choice throughout Asia and quickly becoming the rage in Europe and Russia where the Live Casino mimics the experience at a resort casino.

One could also say it “mimics the experience at the Vegas Club,” a grind joint where dealers (dealerettes?) wear the tamest “fetish” gear imaginable. Heck, those “Live Dealer” gals could be stark naked and it wouldn’t help them a bit in the U.S. because Internet gambling is illegal here. (Or rather, banks can’t process your Net-bet transactions.) Shouldn’t be. But it is. So IAM is barking up the wrong tree, at least until Congress repeals UIGEA or Hell freezes over. (I’m betting on icicles in Hell, personally.)

“What is this ‘Tea Party’ of which you speak?” Casino analyst Jonathan Galaviz‘s international clients must be giving him that query a lot because today’s mail also brought in a lengthy Galaviz ‘explainer’ of the whole Tea Party phenomenon. Seriously, the blast is slugged, “Helping our Asian clients understand American politics.” (Hey, Asia, don’t feel so bad: Continue reading →

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Atlantic City, Current, Downtown, Dubai, Economy, Election, Genting, Harrah's, International, Internet gambling, James Packer, Marketing, New York, Plaza, Politics, Tamares Group, The Strip | 2 Comments