Wynn bails on N.Y.

Posted on November 4, 2009 by David McKee

As they come into the backstretch on the bidding for a racino at New York‘s Aqueduct Racetrack, one contender has pulled out of the race: Steve Wynn. Did he balk at the $200 million upfront fee? Penn National Gaming basically set the ante and now Gov. David Paterson wants its rivals to match it. Even without Wynn in the running, the Aqueduct steeplechase still features a field of thoroughbreds, including MGM Mirage and Harrah’s Entertainment, plus a couple of up-and-comers.

Among the latter is the Seminole Tribe. Will Empire State politicos take sides in an intra-Florida dispute (where, in a related story, parimutuel casino operators find themselves with an unlikely new threat: Miami International Airport)?

Try, try again. Who says the recession hasn’t been good for Golden Nugget owner Tilman Fertitta? A falling market has enabled him to knock $6.25/share off his LBO offer for Landry’s Restaurants. A tidy $1.2 billion nets him sole control of two casinos and a plethora of restaurants.

OB-BB375_Macau__20080221142644

If Peking is curbing access by its citizens to Macao, the effects have yet to be felt. October revenue jumped 42% year/year and 18% from September. While Venetian Macao lost market share, that was more than offset by growth at Sands Macao (above, up 13%) and especially at newbie Four Seasons Macao & Plaza Casino (38%), driving a huge revenue increase. The latter opened considerable daylight between Sands (24% market share) and Wynn Macau (12%), although Stanley Ho remains #1 in the region.

Posted in Current, Downtown, Economy, Florida, Harrah's, Macau, MGM Mirage, New York, Racinos, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho, Steve Wynn, Tilman Fertitta, Transportation, Tribal, Wall Street | Comments Off on Wynn bails on N.Y.

From the Twitter feed

Posted on November 4, 2009 by David McKee

@VegasFunFacts: “McCarran Airport was named after former NV Sen. Pat McCarran, known for his anti-communism and for lobbying fed funds and projects for NV.”

(Translation: Choke on it, China-loving, guvmint-bashing Steve Wynn.)

@jccarcamo: “Republicans on a special committee considering the Seminole gaming compact have pronounced it all but dead. Meanwhile, some of them, including previous anti-gamers, now want to allow full-fledged commercial casinos in counties that approve them.”

(Translation: Since the state GOP would rather dictate to the Seminoles than negotiate with them, it’s decided to blow off $150 million or so in annual revenues and maybe, possibly find it elsewhere. A potentially huge setback for Gov. Charlie Crist.)

@davidbadash: “Jesse Ventura on CNN on civil rights: ‘If you put it up to the vote of the people, we’d have slavery again.’ Scary!”

(Translation: Jesse still hasn’t learned to mince words, God bless him.)

@GreenVegas: “The temperature in Las Vegas is due to hit 85 degrees this afternoon, which would make it the warmest Nov. 4 in 33 years.”

(Translation: Maybe you should have packed those swim trunks, after all.)

Photo bonus (via Steve Friess): Is Bellagio now the forlorn little stepsister to shiny new CityCenter?

Posted in CityCenter, Election, Florida, MGM Mirage, Politics, Steve Wynn, Taxes, The Strip, Tourism, Transportation, Tribal | Comments Off on From the Twitter feed

Quote of the Day

Posted on November 4, 2009 by David McKee

“It’s pretty obvious that the Ohio electorate bought into the whole culture of despair that’s going on with the economy.” — casino opponent and Ohio Policy Roundtable member David Zanotti, bewailing last night’s ratification of Class III gambling in the Buckeye State. Scarcely had the votes been counted when Republican legislators announced plans to jam Dan Gilbert and Penn National Gaming up with a 60% tax rate (voters approved a 33% levy).

Posted in Current, Economy, Election, Ohio, Penn National, Politics, Taxes | 1 Comment

Take us on the road

Posted on November 4, 2009 by David McKee

Not only can you subscribe to the RSS feeds for our blogs, we also have mobile applications that can be accessed at jscott.lvablog.mobi or dmckee.lvablog.mobi. Just scan the 2-D barcode to your upper right and you ought to be on your way.

Movable Buffet, R.I.P. One of S&G‘s Seven Essential Web Sites is no more. The demise of Richard Abowitz‘s highly entertaining chronicle of the eccentricities of Sin City is not only a benchmark of Las Vegas’ decline but that of the Los Angeles Times, a great j0urnalistic institution that has suffered one indignity after another since the Chandler family cashed out its ownership.

Posted in Current, Technology | 2 Comments

Meet the new Cincinnati Kid

Posted on November 4, 2009 by David McKee

danielgilbertFor our purposes, the main headline comes from Ohio, where Issue 3 passed amid heavy voter turnout — if not by the wide margin pollsters had forecast. (At least they didn’t screw the pooch like all those pollsters who had the New Jersey gubernatorial race a “tossup” when it wasn’t even close.)

This means that regardless of how the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ season goes, owner Dan Gilbert (left) is last night’s big winner. Now he and Penn National Gaming get to divvy up the Buckeye State betwixt themselves, with Gilbert getting the Cleveland and Cincinnati markets. Penn, meanwhile, has committed $600 million to casino development in Columbus and Toledo, even if the good burghers of Columbus wanted nothing to do with it. (That tune will change when the 33% tax rate starts yielding dividends.) Analysts at J.P. Morgan estimate that Issue 3’s passage will translate into 4,500 new-slot sales for IGT and approximately 2,000 apiece for Bally Gaming and WMS Industries.

The Ohio Supreme Court having run a constitutional cart and horses through Gov. Ted Strickland‘s plan to enable racinos, Buckeye State voters would appear to have delivered the coup de grace. With a Gilbert/Penn duopoly now ratified at the ballot box, Strickland will have some heavy — and perhaps impossible — lifting ahead of him if he’s to further expand gambling in Ohio. And with a distinguished GOP challenger (John Kasich) breathing down his neck, Strickland probably won’t want to spend additional political capital on so divisive an issue. Then again, if Kasich is to deliver the tax cuts and educational improvements he’s promising, he may need to revisit the racino issue himself, a couple of years down the pike.

In New Jersey, Governor-elect Chris Christie (R) is promising tax cuts for everyone. Given that New Jersey’s casino tax rate is the second-lowest in the nation, we’ll see if Christie doesn’t somehow find a way to make an exception there. Or, in lieu of either cutting or raising casino taxes, perhaps Christie will throw his lot in with the horsey set and endorse their annual we-need-racinos whinge (even though horse tracks enjoy a subsidy from the state’s casinos).

If that’s the case, Christie will become The Man Who Killed Atlantic City. He inherits a parlous budgetary and economic situation from Gov. Jon Corzine (D) and will have to pay for all those tax reductions somehow. New Jersey has the nation’s best casino regulatory apparatus, so here’s hoping that Christie’s scissors don’t eviscerate it as he takes his shears to the state budget.

Good luck to Christie if he’s to keep all those plates spinning. You couldn’t pay me to take his new and unenviable job.

Posted in Atlantic City, Bally Technologies, Current, Economy, Election, Horseracing, IGT, Ohio, Penn National, Politics, Racinos, Regulation, Taxes, WMS Industries | 2 Comments

From the mailbag #11

Posted on November 4, 2009 by David McKee

A reader clipped the following from a recent Las Vegas Sands 10-Q. The passage in question refers to a disputed $400,o0o worth of work performed on Venetian President Rob Goldstein‘s pied a terre. No wonder Mr. Goldstein lined up on Sheldon Adelson‘s side of the recent power struggle within Sands — if he’s got a CEO who’s willing to make shareholders eat $400K in personal expenses that were not carried out “in an appropriate manner.” Where can the rest of us find bosses like that?

ITEM 5 — OTHER MATTERS
Transaction with an Executive Officer
As previously disclosed, during 2008, a subsidiary of the Company performed work at a home owned by Robert G. Goldstein, the Company’s Executive Vice President. Mr. Goldstein believed, and the Company acknowledged, that some of the work was not performed in an appropriate manner. The matter was referred to an independent expert, who concurred about the quality of the work and concluded that Mr. Goldstein should not be obligated to pay the $0.4 million incurred by the Company for costs and overhead on the job. These findings have been accepted by the Company and Mr. Goldstein.
Posted in Sheldon Adelson, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Case Bets: Kansas, Ohio & Singapore

Posted on November 3, 2009 by David McKee

Lyle Berman‘s casino project near Wichita is losing momentum. If you can’t afford to build even a 100-room hotel, times are dire indeed. Union Gaming‘s Bill Lerner makes the counter-argument that some casino is better than no casino. Raving Consulting pans Berman’s project, then gives it a thumbs-up (sort of like those fickle judges on Dancing with the Stars). A hotel of “something like a Hampton Inn quality” doesn’t spell “a true destination resort” to me, but expectations in Kansas have fallen so low they’re nearly prone on the ground by now.

gilbert-casinoj

The suddenly ubiquitous Berman also turns up in connection with the big casino push in Ohio. His own proposal having been voted down last year, Berman now finds himself on the outside looking in. The latest polling data shows Issue 3 (the casino plebiscite) headed for a landslide-sized victory, with 58% in support. The staunchest casino opponents are senior citizens and Republicans are of only modest help, being split right down the middle on Issue 3.

Unfortunately for the opposition, it hasn’t bothered to roll out one of its strongest potential arguments: Namely, by passing Issue 3, Ohioans will enshrine a duopoly (between Penn National Gaming and sports mogul Dan Gilbert) into the state constitution. S&G tends to frown upon that sort of restraint of trade but voters faced with high unemployment numbers are unlikely to overmuch concern themselves with such free-market niceties.

LVSANDS SINGAPORE CASINO

Singapore is banking on its two new casinos to deliver big time — as in growing visitation by seven million people from 2008’s 10 million. They’d better, since Singapore‘s paternalistic government is going out of its way to discourage its own citizenry from gambling. (The annual casino subscriptions mentioned in the article come with an exclusivity clause. So if you sign up with Resorts World Sentosa, you can’t play at Marina Bay Sands [above] for the duration of the year.) One analyst is sufficiently optimistic to predict 30% EBITDA or better. Although Las Vegas Sands frittered away its head start over Genting Bhd (the more established brand name in the region), its sleek $5.4 billion resort may wear better over the long haul over Genting’s cramped and tacky-sounding theme park.

Posted in Current, Genting, Kansas, Ohio, Penn National, Politics, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Tourism | 1 Comment

From the worst to the best

Posted on November 3, 2009 by David McKee

Having already polled LVA readers about the worst Vegas-themed movie (Mars Attacks! scored a stunning upset over Showgirls), we’re now going to ask them to choose the best gambling-themed film. So far, the suggested titles are:

The Hustler, its sequel, The Color of Money, Robert Altman‘s California Split, James Toback‘s Dostoevsky-inspired The Gambler, 21 (Kevin Spacey doing his low-rent Satan thing), Maverick, The Sting, The Cincinnati Kid, Casino (Martin Scorcese strikes again), Kaleidoscope (1966), A Big Hand for the Little Lady, Viva Las Vegas, Ocean’s 11 (the Rat Pack one), Rounders and Croupier.

The latter, directed by Mike Hodges and starring Clive Owen in his breakthrough performance, would have my vote … but what have we forgotten? Suggestions, please!

Posted in Movies, The Strip | 3 Comments

Mermaids in Macao

Posted on November 3, 2009 by David McKee

Some lovely footage, mostly for the heck of it, although indicators continue to suggest that Steve Wynn got into the Hong Kong bourse at just the right moment and Sheldon Adelson will miss the tide.

Posted in Economy, Lawrence Ho, Macau, Melco Crown Entertainment, Sheldon Adelson, Stanley Ho, Steve Wynn | Comments Off on Mermaids in Macao

Steve Wynn drinks his own bathwater

Posted on November 3, 2009 by David McKee

Screen shot 2009-11-02 at 9.32.07 PMI’ll confess to having been sufficiently out of touch not to have heard about the “Wynncore” parody site on which blogger Chuck Monster was laboring. Anybody who’s used the sluggish Wynn Resorts Web site will appreciate the home page (“Loading 6%”). One who didn’t was a certain Steve Wynn. Or perhaps General Counsel Kenneth Tourek was the person with the dim grasp of a concept known for centuries as “satire.” (Then again, Wynn Resorts is a relative newcomer to “your internet” and all that other crazy kids’ stuff, too. How ’bout them newfangled horseless carriages?)

Anyway, having evidently nothing better to do with his time, Mr. Tourek, Esq. delivered himself of a pricelessly pompous letter, in which refers to his employer and its assets as “famous” no fewer than four times. (Defensive much?) Tourek even has the brass to demand that Chuck simply hand over the domain name he registered, sans compensation. Getting pretty full of themselves, those Wynn folks. First, they stop sharing room-rate data with J.P. Morgan, followed by Wynn’s “Grumpy Old Men” stint on Fox News, then the Garth Brooks ticket posturing and now this stunt.

As Mr. Monster explains to his readers: “Anyways, the Wynncore website is an unfinished parody website which was meant to be a part of this years Trippies awards for ‘Worst Casino Website’. Thank you Wynn Resorts for ruining the joke.” People who behave like Wynn Resorts is doing deserve to be made objects of fun. Chuck, since lawyers are expensive, I’ve got four letters for you: ACLU. As for Steve Wynn, if he really wants to jump the shark, he’s built up a good running start.

Sign of the Times: There may be no more telling indicator of the depth of the ditch into which the casino industry drove itself than the title of the leadoff panel in G2E‘s Finance Track … “Gaming Bankruptcy and Reorganization: Issues and Strategies.” Panelists include Tropicana Entertainment CFO Rich Baldwin, someone who’s in a position to write the book on Chapter 11.

Former Mirage Resorts exec Barry Shier pops up on a subsequent panel, now affiliated with something called The Partner House. Shier seemed on a path to big things at Mirage, particularly when he was charged with opening Beau Rivage, but he’s been off the radar screen quite a while now. Then again, who thought Alex Yemenidjian would re-emerge as a significant force on the Las Vegas Strip? There are plenty of second acts in casino-industry lives.

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Current, Economy, Encore, G2E, Marketing, Mississippi, Steve Wynn, Technology, The Strip, Transportation, Tropicana Entertainment, TV | 5 Comments

Quote of the Day

Posted on November 3, 2009 by David McKee

“We’ve been practicing for more than 30 years. I don’t think you need to remind anyone about that one any longer. Don’t let the dust from your vacant lot get in your eyes on your way out of town.” — New Jersey resident Steve Karaisz, in a letter to The Press of Atlantic City regarding the departure from town of Pinnacle Entertainment‘s Atlantic City CEO Kim Townsend. Mr. Karaisz is referring to premature Pinnacle billboards, one of which boasted, “All those other casinos are for practice.”

Posted in Atlantic City, Pinnacle Entertainment | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

The Dollar Bills strike again; caution at IGT

Posted on November 2, 2009 by David McKee

old man2Those masters of quality on a budget, Millennium Gaming CEOs William Paulos and William Wortman have found a new target of opportunity: New Hampshire. Using the Rockingham Park horse track as their base of operations, the Dollar Bills are helping to lead the movement to bring racinos to the Granite State (formerly symbolized by the now-vanished Old Man of the Mountain, left). Some reports place the number of slots proposed for Rockingham alone at 8,000 machines.

Speaking as someone who’s spent more summers in New Hampshire than I can offhand remember, there are many better things to do there than gamble. However, if that’s your recreational activity of choice, Granite State legislators have an excellent opportunity to steal a march on their indecisive Massachusetts colleagues (currently gravitating toward the racino option) — unless they study the matter to death. Perhaps by 2012 or ’13, the economy will have rebounded sufficiently that states are able to generate increased same-store casino revenues, instead of simply stealing market share from across the state line.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan have low expectation for IGT‘s fourth quarter (due in part to write-offs) and a generally cautious outlook for the year ahead. Unit sales for 4Q09 are forecast to be -39% from the same period last year, and the 2010 fiscal year is expected to see a 15% falloff from ’09.

However, what to our wondering eyes should appear but the news that Harrah’s Entertainment, which has been trash-talking IGT’s product for over year, has placed “a sizable order” for year’s end. Another glimmer of sunrise on the horizon is industry scuttlebutt that, after a year of austerity with regarding to reinvesting in their slot floors, casinos will be begin to budget for slot replacements again, hopefully setting off “some domino effect on those who deferred slot capex and now feel inclined to play catch up.”

The best-case scenario for IGT would be if customer acceptance of server-based gambling were to take off like a shot when Aria opens. Even so, the timing would still be fiendish for the cash-strapped industry, were it to try and play catch-up. Having put so many eggs in the SBG basket, IGT has been doubly disadvantaged by how long it has taken the technology to come to market and, once it did so, it was at the worst historical juncture imaginable. The slot gods definitely haven’t made life easy for IGT, though some of its competitors would chalk that up to karma.

Posted in Cannery Casino Resorts, CityCenter, Economy, Harrah's, IGT, Massachusetts, Racinos, Technology, Wall Street | 1 Comment

Quote of the Day

Posted on November 2, 2009 by David McKee

“Penn [National Gaming] said it is still struggling with a consumer spending pullback prompted by the recession. Gamblers have spent less in the casino on non-gaming components such as food, drinks and hotels during the economic downturn as they look to limit their discretionary spending.” — from coverage of Penn’s 3Q09 profit statement. And against this backdrop Penn decided to acquire … Fontainebleau.

Posted in Economy, Fontainebleau, Pennsylvania, Wall Street | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

Dark days for the clown house?

Posted on November 2, 2009 by David McKee

During all the economic Sturm und Drang of the last two years, MGM Mirage has — to its great credit — not been shy about offering comps, discounts and promotions to keep people coming back. However, its latest promotional allowances at Circus Circus reek ever so slightly of sheer desperation. The include a 10% discount for AAA members, active-duty military personnel, seniors 62+, airline employees and travel agents. What, no discount for sanitation workers?

Also, Nevadans get 10% off for staying there two nights, 15% off for three. Is the citywide downdraft in room rates dragging the clown house over the edge? Or is a proliferation of empty land, projects in suspended animation (Fontainebleau, Echelon) and casinos in the ICU ward (Riviera) driving people away? Circus Circus was, the last time I visited, home to the most obnoxious timeshare pitchmen on the Strip, something else which never generates good word of mouth.

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Current, Economy, Fontainebleau, Marketing, MGM Mirage, Riviera, The Strip, Tourism | 1 Comment

Case Bets: CityCenter, Boyd odyssey, Massachusetts & the “Admiral”

Posted on November 2, 2009 by David McKee

CityCenterThere’s continued apprehension about MGM Mirage‘s $8.5 billion, 7,200-unit CityCenter, especially now that hotel rooms there are going for less than ones at either the Venetian or Encore. (Thinking positively: Who knew CityCenter was going to be so affordable?) Business Week also frets that the metaresort will cannibalize existing MGM business. Since the company does not believe in cross-property marketing, managers at Aria will have just as much incentive to siphon business from Bellagio as from Caesars Palace. Or perhaps MGM enjoys a speedier recovery while — as analyst Matthew Jacob hypothesizes — everyone else’s road back is made even longer.

There’s a certain irony in hearing people like MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren touting the bargains available in present-day Vegas … because that sure wasn’t the sales pitch they had in mind when extolling condo canyons along the Strip. At least Murren has shown the pragmatism to swallow his pride about room rates and extol high occupancy levels instead. Your guess is as good as mine what he means by a throwaway reference to private equity firms. Let’s hope it’s not code for “leveraged buyout.” Because MGM needs more debt like it needs a hole in the head.

MGM could use fans like these. A Milford, Conn. couple is really racking up the miles in its cross-country quest to visit every Boyd Gaming property in existence.

Massachusetts can’t decide. Voters in the Bay State favor bringing in casinos (56% say “aye”), according to a Western New England College Polling Institute survey. But that number flips to 38% when the question is, “Would you like a casino in your town?” So the citizenry favors gambling — just so long as it’s Over Yonder someplace. The question of where Massachusetts casinos would go hasn’t been well addressed by legislators so far. They’d be well advised to temper NIMBY resistance by taking a page from states like Kansas and Ohio, where voters have a fairly clear idea where the slot palaces are likely to arise. Even Pennsylvania, where there’s been some loud local resistance (especially in Philadelphia) has never been coy about what the public could expect and where.

Admiral gets soaked again. One of the problems Pinnacle Entertainment faces in maintaining its minimally remunerative President casino (aboard the Admiral riverboat) is that the ship’s gangways are wont to be swamped by Mississippi River floodwaters. As happened again last weekend. So one sympathizes with Pinnacle’s desire to move the old gal to a new berth. However, while Missouri law may give Pinnacle thismuch wiggle room to do so, it still seems unfair to allow a splitting of the President/Lumiere Place license, giving Pinnacle yet another discrete casino when potential newcomers to the Show-Me State are barred, period.

Posted in Architecture, Boyd Gaming, CityCenter, Current, Economy, Encore, Harrah's, Kansas, Massachusetts, MGM Mirage, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Pinnacle Entertainment, Sheldon Adelson, The Strip, Tourism, Wall Street | 8 Comments

From the mailbag #10

Posted on November 2, 2009 by David McKee

Riverboat

I’m no longer a regular viewer of CSI, but someone who is spotted a glaring anachronism in the most recent episode:

“Did anyone else notice the old (aka early 90s) nighttime air shot of the Strip?  It showed the old Holiday Inn Riverboat* on the strip, adjacent to Casino Royale!  I wonder why they had to dig into old film archives when they have so much current footage?!!!”

(* — now Harrah’s Las Vegas)

Good question. Perhaps CBS-TV budgetary pressures are causing the CSI showrunners to dip into the stock-footage vault but something as sloppy as what you describe is pretty inexcusable. Also, wouldn’t footage so old match poorly with the much higher resolution in which the various CSI shows are shot? ‘Tis a puzzlement.

Posted in Harrah's, The Strip, TV | 1 Comment

Quote of the Day

Posted on October 31, 2009 by David McKee

“What [Steve] Wynn forgets is that his tired old trickle-down-and-deregulate song-and-dance is exactly what got us into this fine mess in the first place.” — Las Vegas CityLife Managing Editor Andrew Kiraly, on Wynn’s reinvention as a political pundit. CityLife named Wynn, the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the ineffectual Nevada branch of OSHA, Holly Madison and either others to its “Web of Evil.”

Posted in Economy, Entertainment, Labor, Politics, Regulation, Steve Wynn | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

Go Phils!

Posted on October 30, 2009 by David McKee

photo

Since my sister practices law in the City of Brotherly Love, my rooting interest in the current World Series is with the Philadelphia Phillies. Besides, it’s difficult to warm up to the ruthless efficiency of the New York Yankees as opposed to the team with the best mascot in all of sports, the Philly Phanatic (seen here with my Mom). So here’s hoping for a three-game sweep in the friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park … not least because it would curtail the amount of time I have to listen to Tim McCarver‘s increasingly ridiculous bloviation. Whither art thou gone, Al Leiter?

It totally goes against the grain with me to bet on the outcome of baseball games (it would be like wagering in church). Football, however, is another matter. Since my better half has enlisted my input on 1/3 of her weekly Great Giveaway tickets, perhaps I should list my picks on S&G … if for no other reason than to give the readership a hearty Monday-morning laugh. Last weekend I went six-for-six on early Sunday games, then got totally skunked on the late-afternoon and evening ones. Neither on the field nor in the betting pool is there any room for error in the NFL.

Posted in Baseball, Current, New York, Pennsylvania, Sports, Station Casinos | 2 Comments

They’re just wild about Harry

Posted on October 30, 2009 by David McKee

Despite his (at best) tepid standing with the Nevada electorate — whether the right or the left — Sen. Harry Reid (D) has almost every important name in the casino industry in his corner. Sheldon Adelson may yet choose to be contrarian and throw his weight behind casino colleague Sue Lowden, but he’s definitely bucking the tide in that respect. Even Steve Wynn, in all his recent bluster about matters economic, has been careful to aim his blunderbuss away from Reid.

Why? I’d been meaning to explain this for awhile but a bunch of casino bigshots called a press conference and did my work for me. In particular, listen to the audio clip that accompanies this Las Vegas Sun story. Harrah’s Entertainment and Station Casinos veeps Jan Jones and Scott Nielson lay out in very clear-cut terms why Harry’s their main man. (I could also link to a video interview with MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren but that would mean subjecting you to a whiny, cliché-addicted Neil Cavuto, and I can’t have that on my conscience.)

The bottom line is that the casino companies have run the numbers and have decided that, as a dollars-and-cents proposition, they come out ahead with Majority Leader Reid rather than Freshman Senator X … especially now that Sen. John Ensign (R) has forfeited his clout on Capitol Hill. Which is why they’re dancing with the guy that brought them tax breaks. One might not share their enthusiasm but their calculus is difficult to fault.

Cotai Strip

Broken Record Dept. There’s nothing Macao needs like another 21,000 hotel rooms, says the $2 Million Man (aka Las Vegas Sands COO Michael Leven). The Adelson crony said the company’s next three hotels would be “a game changer … It’s key to our growth in Macao, and it’s key for Macao’s differentiation, to make Cotai a destination.” Which sounds a lot like what was said about Venetian Macao.

Also, Adelson continues to promise non-core asset sales, a tune so over-familiar it qualifies for Golden Oldie status (wake us when you actually sell something, sir) and it doesn’t sound like Marina Bay Sands is going to make its Feb. 15 opening date. Adelson’s peeps, meanwhile are holding completion of Sands Bethlehem hostage until table games are approved in Pennsylvania. As I thought, Sands’ revenue projections for Bethlehem have proven way over-optimistic.

There’s a grand farce playing out in Maryland. Basically, the Ann Arundel County Council has been chasing itself ’round a mulberry bush. Cordish Co. wants to build next to a popular shopping mall. The council, fearful of political backlash, has counter-proposed dumping Cordish’s casino into an industrial area. Failing that, the council lacks the will — and, for now, the votes — to rezone the mall area for gambling. Instead, it wants the state to license a Cordish casino in the abstract and let the county worry about where it goes. The state, understandably wary of signing off on Some Casino Someplace Undetermined, is demanding that Ann Arundel County get its act together by mid-December. This political game of chicken should be fun to watch.

If you prefer drama, there’s a mostly splendid revival of The Shawl by David Mamet this weekend at Las Vegas Little Theatre. How many shows in Vegas offer a $12 top ticket?

Posted in Archon Corp., Cordish Co., Economy, Election, Entertainment, Harrah's, Harry Reid, International, Macau, Maryland, MGM Mirage, Pennsylvania, Politics, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Station Casinos, Steve Wynn, Taxes, TV, Wall Street | Comments Off on They’re just wild about Harry

Quote of the Day

Posted on October 30, 2009 by David McKee

opec_600

“What we’ve learned as a nation is that these casino monopoly licenses are incredibly lucrative. This is a cartel wanting to do business in Ohio for an unbelievably low price.” — TruthPAC spokeswoman Sandy Theis, making the usual baleful noises about bringing casinos to the Buckeye State. What may be more relevant to voters is whether inadequate salaries ≥ no salaries.

Posted in Economy, Election, Ohio | 1 Comment