Quote of the Day

Posted on June 29, 2009 by David McKee

“The opening date never moved. We always threw more money at it. You just have people work overtime to fix problems. We were building, redesigning, tearing stuff out and starting again.” — Fontainebleau engineer, explaining how the project (which is at least 90% over budget) progressed in Keystone Kops, higgelty-piggelty fashion. Amazingly, not only is this common practice but F'bleau still isn't completely designed.

Posted in Architecture, Fontainebleau, The Strip | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

Case Bets: A.C. Trop, 21, Ensign, Boulder City, Jacko, etc.

Posted on June 29, 2009 by David McKee

After conservator Justice Gary Stein turned his trusteeship of the Tropicana Atlantic City into a $7.4 million gravy train, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission is belatedly bolting the barn door. It's going to petition the Lege to limit the ambit of future trustees, none of which would be necessary had the NJCCC not let Stein run amok in the first place.

The failings of his butterfingered stewardship have been rehearsed enough in this space. However, the Press of Atlantic City's story adds yet another incredulity-making touch. Stein, a former member of the New Jersey Supreme Court and with an entire law firm at his command, still had to rely upon legal opinions from the NJCCC's general counsel.

Lower bet limits are no bargain, the Las Vegas Sun finds. The Strip casino that has the stones to go back to 3:2 blackjack will become the hottest spot in town.

Who knew? Seems that Sen. John Ensign's curriculum vitae included a stint at the helm of the Gold Spike, one of downtown Vegas' seamiest casinos. Given the comparable seaminess of Ensign's ongoing scandal, perhaps it was a case of water seeking its own level. Las Vegas Gleaner reader "Goldy" puts the sordid mess in perspective: "… he didn't reveal the affair until the demands from the Hampton's [sic] (including Doug) became 'outragous.' [sic] That implies that prior demands were 'reasonable' and Doug was making them.  … he essentially was selling his willing wife, and Ensign was buying, until the number got too high. So, like most things, this entire deal was really just about the number." [emphasis added]

You can take Ensign out of the casino but you just can't take the casino out of Ensign.

A potential tragedy. Several weeks back, the Better Half and I spent a beautiful Sunday in Boulder City. The highlight of our visit was the Boulder Dam Hotel, where we enjoyed a splendid lunch and an eye-opening tour of a museum devoted to the history of Hoover Dam. (Suffice it to say that the people who built it endured privation that 21st century Americans would find unimaginable.) Sadly, we do not have the $60,000 that it's going to take to keep the Boulder Dam Hotel open. Please, philanthropic Nevadans, do not let this treasure go dark like …

Nevada itself. Visitors to Gibbons-era Nevada are likely to find it closed. History? Books? Parks? Them's pansy egghead stuff fer Commie states like Kalifornia, doncha know? Gawta get me some more guns afore Harry Reid repeals the Decoration of Independence or whatever.

Speaking of museums … could the untimely demise of Michael Jackson spell opportunity for mistake-prone Colony Capital? The casino owner has the opportunity to monetize its acquisition of Neverland Ranch as never before. Converting it to a tourist attraction rather than a (misguided?) real estate play seems a no-brainer.

Posted in Atlantic City, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Downtown, Politics, Regulation, The Strip, Tourism | Comments Off on Case Bets: A.C. Trop, 21, Ensign, Boulder City, Jacko, etc.

Quote of the Day

Posted on June 29, 2009 by David McKee

“The opening date never moved. We always threw more money at it. You just have people work overtime to fix problems. We were building, redesigning, tearing stuff out and starting again.” — Fontainebleau engineer, explaining how the project (which is at least 90% over budget) progressed in Keystone Kops, higgelty-piggelty fashion. Amazingly, not only is this common practice but F'bleau still isn't completely designed.

Posted in Architecture, Fontainebleau, The Strip | Comments Off on Quote of the Day

Michael Jackson, casino baron?

Posted on June 26, 2009 by David McKee

As the media rages down Memory Lane, here’s one from the Strange But True file: Michael Jackson partnered with Detroit entrepreneur Don Barden in a scheme to gerrymander a Motown casino into Barden’s hands. I covered the story for Casino Executive at the time but have no recollection of the Jackson angle.

Allah stands on soft 17: These guys are so busted. Eighteen Muslims got nailed for gambling in Java. Guess they couldn’t wait for those Singapore casinos to open.

What does a bankrupt casino look like? Sort of like this. If you watch the full video, you’ll see that Twin River Casino is literally going to the dogs.

Slots soaked. Heavy storms claimed 75 one-armed bandits at Rivers Casino, in Pittsburgh, a trouble-plagued project from Day One. A four-day delay of the opening is the result. I hope they’ve got a rainy-day fund.

Bad news for Sands and Genting: Potential Singaporean high rollers are fewer in number these days. The island-state is also in a tourism slump of unpredictable duration. Not only are Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa hoped to turn that around, they’ll have to. So, no pressure there.

Posted in Detroit, Don Barden, Economy, Genting, International, Neil Bluhm, Pennsylvania, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore | Comments Off on Michael Jackson, casino baron?

The Trop heist that wasn't

Posted on June 26, 2009 by David McKee

"An improvident indictment." That's what New Jersey officials are calling a case that was quietly quashed in May. Sacked Borgata veep John Conklin and two other men had been charged with plundering the Tropicana Atlantic City's database when they were in the Trop's employ (and when the Trop was still owned by Aztar Corp.).

Closer examination revealed that nothing had been purloined and the data in question was not particularly sensitive, either. All three indictees have been exonerated … but where does John Conklin go to get his career back?

Phantom redux: Defying the odds, the Venetian's production of Phantom of the Opera celebrated its third anniversary Wednesday night. I jotted down a few observations for CityLife. (Tina Walsh fans, take note.) Having seen the Broadway production — albeit many years ago — I'll be the first to allow that it actually improves on the original in a respect or two. Oh, and my CityBlog entry misspells choreographer Gillian Lynne's last name. My apologies.

Two titans of American popular music "played Vegas" last weekend. Actually, Loretta Lynn was in North Las Vegas and Aretha Franklin all the way out in Primm … not remotely near the Strip. What's wrong with this picture? Or this one …

Midnight Jim: taking down Big Oil

It's summer and gas prices are — like, duh! — on the increase. Gov. Jim Gibbons doth suspect that dark, foul, untoward schemes are afoot. But Midnight Jim assures us he is on the case. I feel safer already.

Gay cowboys. They're queer, they're here and they're at The Rio specifically. A straight-gay coalition turned out in force last night to celebrate its victory over Midnight Jim's benighted opposition to domestic partnerships. (Because that's not how he rolls, y'see.) Speakers included Harrah's Entertainment Vice President Jan Jones, who led the charge on Carson City.

For all the failings of CEO Gary Loveman's stewardship of Harrah's, on his watch the company has expanded its already-enlightened attitude on social issues. It's not just a question of being gay-friendly; it's good business.

Worth -$23 million?

Isle of Blight. Is the woebegone Greek Isles casino-hotel worth less than nothing? In a sense, yes, since it owes $67 million on a book value of $44 million. Even a resale price at book value seems wishful thinking, considering the Isles' chequered history.

Asserts the Las Vegas Sun, "With its strategic location near the Las Vegas Strip and the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Greek Isles and its associated real estate are seen as having long-term value after the recession ends."

Yeah, but it's had that "strategic location" for as long as it's been in existence and the Isles' progress has been a steady one from Bad to Worse. I wouldn't give a plug nickel for the place — not with Strip land prices in freefall and vast acreage there lying fallow.

Miracles are possible. Work on Marina Bay Sands is, believe or night, a fortnight ahead of schedule. Next step: Hold the line on that (already swollen) $5.4 billion budget.

The waiting continues in the great state of Kansas. Its lottery commission wants another two months to review applications for the Wichita and Kansas City markets. Considering the recent flurry of dropouts (including Vegas' own Golden Gaming), you'd think this would expedite the process. Instead, the coronation is six months away.

Squeeze play. No time is being wasted as Pennsylvania rushes toward expanding into Class III casinos. Two rival proposals to add table games are presently on the table. Casino lobbyist Steve Rittvo is forwarding a plan that would tax new games at 12%. This is projected to generate $165 million for the Keystone State (assuming that slot play concurrently increases sufficiently to generate a $61 million impost).

House Whip William DeWeese (D) counters with a 21% tax, combined with a one-time $10 million/casino fee, for a potential Year One windfall in excess of $300 million. I wish Rittvo luck but fear that solons will — as they so often do — gravitate toward the bigger dollar sign. It's an institutional failing.

Neil Bluhm, Philadelphia's Sugar[House] daddy

On a happier note, Neil Bluhm's revised design for his Sugarhouse Casino, on the Philadelphia waterfront, has received the green light from the City of Brotherly Love. Barring further legal mischief by sore loser Donald Trump, this means the project can finally move ahead, with a temporary, 1,700-slot casino slated for a Spring 2010 opening. Hallelujah!

Posted in Atlantic City, Boyd Gaming, Donald Trump, Entertainment, Golden Gaming, Harrah's, Herbst Gaming, Kansas, Neil Bluhm, North Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, Politics, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Taxes, The Strip, Transportation | Comments Off on The Trop heist that wasn't

Case Bets: California, Packer pickle, Macao pix, Holy Cow!, Singapore, RoboPoker, etc.

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Editor’s note: An item involving Crown Ltd. contained factual errors, which have been corrected (as you’ll see). I apologize for the misinformation. My thanks to the reader who pulled my head out of my @$$.

California gamblers stay and play … at home. While the recession has made some inroads on tribal-casino revenue in the Golden State, it’s losing less ground than Las Vegas. Some of those Vegas losses will eventually be recouped, but this day of reckoning was bound to come.

Unlike Las Vegas, which is arguably suffering from having too many competing profit centers within each resort, California casino bosses interviewed still view entertainment as either a loss leader or a one-off. I never thought I’d say this but Las Vegas could use a little more “old school” thinking right now.

James Packer, the guy who can’t catch a break, is finds his casino company in even more hot water, in a case of the sins of the father being visited upon the son. The plot surrounding Crown Ltd.’s courtship of a self-banned high roller (and convicted felon) is thickening considerably. Seems paterfamilias Kerry Packer may have been pressuring crony John Williams to get pathological gambler Harry Kakavas back to the tables.

Williams, for his part, rolled on the late Mr. Packer, who’s now got some ‘splainin’ to do. No wonder the young Packer’s pursuit of Cannery Casino Resorts collapsed like a pup tent. The money quote, if you will, is: “[Williams] said it was common for patrons to rip up [self-exclusion] cards and that, in his view, Mr Kakavas’s loss of $2.3 million in 28 minutes was recreational gambling.”

If you lose $82,000 per minute, it’s not recreation. It’s degenerate gambling.

Globe-trotting Ian Sutton is back from Macao and G2E Asia. The sights! The sounds! The smog!

(Update: Ian says it’s not smog but mist, as forthcoming videos will show.)

Holy Cow II: GlobeSt.com, normally a continent source of business news, is shocked — shocked! — that Steve Johnson‘s proposed casino on the former Holy Cow site will include a Walgreens. Smelling salts, stat!

But there are some interesting revelations, For one, the reason that Palazzo‘s flagship retailer is also a Walgreens is that it was a compromise Sheldon Adelson effected with the landowner … Steve Johnson. (The mere fact of Adelson compromising is newsworthy enough.)

Turns out, that purchase may set the record for an on-Strip acquisition, at an alleged $50 million per acre — Phil Ruffin, eat your heart out! Johnson also paid through the nose for the Holy Cow site. The price? $23.5 million/acre for land north of Sahara Avenue. Egad!

Columbia Sussex’s casino portfolio continues to crumble. Tropicana Entertainment parent Tropicana Casinos & Resorts is selling its Amelia Belle riverboat (thereby forfeiting the New Orleans market) barely two years after the ship was acquired. Amelia Belle is former Harrah’s Entertainment vessel, having been Bally’s Belle of Orleans.

It’s a canny strategic move for new owner Peninsula Gaming, which now has a Louisiana riverboat as well as a racino and four OTBs, not to mention a small flotilla of Midwest riverboats. TropEnt CEO Scott Butera, meanwhile, has less and less over which to preside. At the moment, his ambit consists of four riverboats, mostly in tertiary markets, two casinos in Laughlin and one on Lake Tahoe. Is this TropEnt’s future: A succession of piecemeal asset sales? Sure looks that way.

Bad news for Sheldon Adelson. Over in Singapore, rival Genting‘s mega-budget Resorts World at Sentosa is letting news outlets like Bloomberg know that 60% of the project will ready for a soft opening in early 2010 (i.e., February-March). Projected attendance figures have been revised 20% downward.

In a rapier thrust at Marina Bay Sands, a Genting exec said the company was having regular meetings to make sure it came in on its $4.5 billion budget. Full completion of Sentosa is projected for 2012. Sands is going to have a sufficiently tough time making its nut without Genting crashing the party so soon … to say nothing of the fact that Genting enjoys much higher brand equity in that corner of the world.

RoboPoker has risen from the grave. Electronic table games have been OK’d for eight New York State racinos. Though the Lege hasn’t signed off, the Empire State’s lottery board is confident it has the authority to make this move unilaterally. Poor Atlantic City is dying the death of a thousand cuts.

Congratulations to Penn National. It’s scheduled to inaugurate a new pavilion for Empress Joliet today. A March 20 fire resulted in a three-month closure of the boat and substantial fiscal hardship for Penn National. In a noble gesture, CEO Peter Carlino kept employees on the payroll even though his ship was hors de combat. Capt. Carlino, S&G salutes you.

Posted in Atlantic City, Australia, California, Columbia Sussex, Current, Economy, Entertainment, G2E, Genting, Harrah's, Holy Cow, International, Lake Tahoe, Laughlin, Louisiana, Macau, New York, Penn National, Phil Ruffin, Problem gambling, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson, Singapore, Technology, The Strip, Tribal, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Case Bets: California, Packer pickle, Macao pix, Holy Cow!, Singapore, RoboPoker, etc.

Don't do it, Alex!

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Noooooooo!

That was my reaction upon reading the Mike Weatherford shocker that the Tropicana Las Vegas may be putting many of its future entertainment eggs in the basket of Anthony Cools. The latter produced an ultra-craptacular topless show, Ooh La La at Paris Las Vegas.

Shoehorned into a large, low-ceilinged banquet room, Ooh La La had terrible sightlines (kind of a problem for a T&A show), pushy ushers and charmless performers. Were it not for Raw Talent Live, it would have been the worst show I've ever seen in Las Vegas. Cools has been threatening to bring it back … please, Alex Yemenidjian, stop him before he "presents" again.

Our long civic nightmare continues. Five more years! Five more years! Yes, Luxor has extended Carrot Top to 2015. Mr. Top accepted the honor in typical family-friendly style.

While I'm under the knife at the dentist next Tuesday, Lance Burton will be fielding questions at Monte Carlo. The venue alone makes the nature of the announcement self-evident. Three cheers to MGM Mirage for pulling back from the brink and not evicting Burton at a time when he's been getting some of the best reviews of his career. There was nothing like the fumbling Criss F. Angel to make people appreciate just how much better Burton seems to be.

Reading Room axed. You know those three cheers for MGM? Make them three Bronx cheers. "Literature? Pah! We no like! Make way for shiny trinkets!"

Why launder money in Las Vegas or Macao when there's … the Dominican Republic?

Peepshow 2.0 tonight. The pain of yesterday's dental procedure is likely to be but a gentle zephyr compared to the near-certain ordeal that lies ahead. For reasons too convoluted to explain, my review won't appear in CityLife until July 9. With luck, the show won't have closed by then.

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Entertainment, Harrah's, Internet gambling, Macau, MGM Mirage, Planet Hollywood, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | Comments Off on Don't do it, Alex!

S&M at Station

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Bondholders of Station Casinos must have an infinite capacity for suffering. Either that or CEO Frank Fertitta III is such a virtuosic Pied Piper that they'll follow him anywhere. It's difficult to rationally explain why they're letting a superior offer from Boyd Gaming collect dust, opting instead for the umpteenth forbearance in six months.

Among the drawbacks to the "prepackaged bankruptcy" that Station is languidly pursuing are that it would leave current Station leadership in place, to say nothing of its enablers at Colony Capital. Also, once Colony's share of the promised $244 million in new equity is subtracted, what the Fertitta clan kicks in is likely to be chicken feed — at least when compared to the half-billion clams various and sundry family members took out of the company during its catastrophic LBO.

S&G never, ever advocates violence … but if Station's debtors are getting antsy, we'd completely understand if they took a cue from the Stewie Griffin collection method:

For "fake moustaches," mentally substitute "dog tracks in Massachusetts."

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Colony Capital, Massachusetts, Station Casinos, TV, Wall Street | Comments Off on S&M at Station

Seven essential Web sites … and other news

Posted on June 25, 2009 by David McKee

Yes, you too can can be a gaming-industry blogger, with the help of but a few absolutely indispensable Web sites. The ones that I check Monday-Friday without fail (and, as they say on Dancing with the Stars, “in no particular order”) are: Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Atlantic City, Current, Entertainment, G2E, Harrah's, International, Macau, Movies, Steve Wynn, Technology, The Strip, Tribal, TV, World Series of Poker | Comments Off on Seven essential Web sites … and other news

By request …

Posted on June 24, 2009 by David McKee

'Tis another day of hopscotching betwixt the doctor and the dentist, which sure cuts into quality blogging time (as did a nasty attack of fibromyalgia yesterday). However, by reader request, we present this special, (not) exclusive S&G photo of a special plenepotentiary Apollo [Mis]Management representative — perhaps Leon Black himself …

… contemplating piling additional money into Fontainebleau.

Serously, overspending — not lack of business — is what really got this town into its present pickle. Profligacy and/or dangerous incompetence at the highest levels are the true culprits for the Vegas meltdown. Yet it is people like maids, cocktail servers, security staff and — by extension — customers who are literally paying the price for clownery in the executive suites.

F'bleau and Cosmopolitan need to take a page from the Echelon playbook: Say "that's a wrap" and wait 'til the economy improves, attendant litigation is settled and the tsunami of new hotel rooms that is CityCenter has ebbed a bit. We don't need multiple new megaresorts now for the simple fact that the market will not support them.

Then again, if Harrah's Entertainment or Wynn Resorts wants to sail its luxury liner straight into the Big Bleau iceberg (or the Cosmo) … it's their money. Just don't complain to the press when you can't get triple-digit room rates, 'kay?

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Cosmopolitan, Fontainebleau, Harrah's, Steve Wynn | Comments Off on By request …

Not what the doctor ordered

Posted on June 23, 2009 by David McKee

While the Better Half and I managed to quaff at least some of the infamous bacon martini w/o negative ramifications, we were not so fortunate with Sunday night's visit to a certain casino buffet. Suffice it to say that the carnitas cosseted a modest case of Montezuma's Revenge and that blogorrhea was KO'd by otherrhea.

So I'm taking advantage of a 20-minute lull between a doctors' visit and a trip to the dentist to bang this out. The big news in Vegas this morning is the collapse of a rebar column out at the McCarran International Airport expansion, injuring five. So far there have been no fatalities, thank God.

A Bataan Death March of shows continues tonight with Sin City Bad Girls at the Las Vegas Hilton. I wriggled out of seeing Todd Paul at Hooters last night, though I hear he was very funny. (Hooters scares me; is death contagious?) Wednesday brings yet another visit to Phantom of the Opera, followed on Thursday by Peepshow 2.0 and a Friday pair of one-acts featuring members of Insurgo Theater Movement. After which, I will not leave my apartment for a long, long time.

Posted in Colony Capital, Current, Dining, Entertainment, Planet Hollywood, Sheldon Adelson, The Strip, Transportation | Comments Off on Not what the doctor ordered

"Peep" slow

Posted on June 22, 2009 by David McKee

Saturday night's 8 p.m. performance of Peepshow played to an audience one might describe as "pitiful." If the auditorium was even half-full, I'll eat my hat. Planet Hollywood has got to be beseeching the heavens that the curiosity/trainwreck factor of adding Holly Madison will get bums in the seats and that Shoshana Bean will keep them coming back. We're talking wing + prayer, folks.

Rump faction: Mel B. with the star of Peepshow.

If you've not seen "original cast" Peepshow, I'll confine myself for now to two observations: A) it's a 75-minute tribute to Mel B.'s derriere — which is admittedly spectacular — and; B) Kelly Monaco has the easiest paycheck in show business. Her once — and future? — General Hospital costar Nancy Lee Grahn was sitting in front of us.

As star sightings go, that wasn't quite up there with Rita Rudner taking in Sunday night's performance of Patti LuPone: The Gypsy in My Soul at The Orleans. If a meteorite had, God forbid, fallen on the Orleans Showroom, Las Vegas' gay community would have been annihilated. The same projectile could strike Peepshow and miss all four spectators in attendance.

Posted in Boyd Gaming, Entertainment, Planet Hollywood, The Strip, TV | Comments Off on "Peep" slow

A-Yem to the rescue

Posted on June 19, 2009 by David McKee

“No corporate liposuction.” With those words, new Tropicana Las Vegas CEO Alex Yemenidjian not only coined the catchphrase of the year, he implicitly repudiated the policies of forerunner William J. Yung III, whose Columbia Sussex modus operandi was to solve all problems by sacking large numbers of employees, stripping out amenities, raising prices, slashing marketing and decimating advertising budgets. (A super-stupid policy, it turns out, as revenues and cash flow at at least three of four former Aztar Corp. casinos plummeted under Yung’s reign of error.)

A-Yem’s approval hearing with the Nevada Gaming Commisson was marred only by a senior moment from Commissioner John Moran Jr. According to the Las Vegas Sun, Moran “applauded Yemenidjian’s efforts and recalled playing golf at a course near the Tropicana, adding that he hopes new management will be able to return the property to its glory days.”

WTF? Is Moran flashing back to the Tropicana golf course that used to be in back of the old Marina Hotel and was cannibalized by MGM Grand? Or maybe the Dunes Golf Course across the street? That was more than 10 years ago, dude, and what’s it got to do with the price of tea in the Trop? Is he suggesting A-Yem put in some links? The only ones you could fit into the current Trop site are the putt-putt kind — not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Yemenidjian’s $440 million debt-for-equity swap effectively reprices the Trop at $12.9 million/acre … possibly even less depending on how great of a discount Onex Corp. obtained on that debt.

Kudos to NGC Chairman Peter Bernhard (pictured) for crafting a sensible solution to the problem of licensing Las Vegas Gaming CEO Jon Berkley. Both the new CEO and his company have been stumble-prone, so Bernhard’s provisional one-year license is a prudent compromise, giving Berkley just enough rope to either hang himself or prove that he’s the Mr. Fixit his lawyer says he is. As for Las Vegas Gaming, it’s where your phone call rolls over when you dial up …

… the Ensign scandal’s casino connection. Over at the Las Vegas Gleaner, Hugh Jackson has unearthed “the forgotten Ensign,” brother Bill, onetime COO of Nugget Gaming, a company with a remarkable development slate. When S&G rang up Nugget’s executive offices on Ali Baba Lane, we got Las Vegas Gaming instead. Neither Bill Ensign nor Nugget CEO Stephen Crystal were to be found on the voice-mail directory either.

Crystal was the chief huckster for Barrick Gaming, an underfunded company that fronted Lichtenstein-based Tamares Group‘s stealthy acquisition of six downtown Las Vegas casinos, before vanishing in a cloud of insolvency. During my early months at the Las Vegas Business Press, I quickly learnt to take Crystal’s public pronouncements cum grano salis. (Well, he was an ex-politician, after all.)

Helpfully, the Nugget Gaming site actually provides old news clippings that show just how hilariously full of it Crystal and front man D.W. Barrick were. A former colleague who had a ringside seat for Barrick Gaming’s licensing told me that Nevada regulators were desperate and convinced themselves the (wholly unrelated) Barrick Gold Corp. fortune stood at Mr. Barrick’s back. As the Barrick/Crystal house of cards was collapsing, I called Toronto-based Barrick Gold spokesman Vince Borg for comment. He’d never heard of Barrick Gaming. So much for that.

DINO? Not as in “Martin,” sadly. Reporter Dennis Myers breaks down why casino executives and other bidness bigwigs are lining up behind Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Yes, this is the same Reid the Las Vegas Review-Journal routinely and hysterically calls “socialist.” Then again, the R-J thinks anybody to the left of Grover Norquist is a pinko.

Posted in Alex Yemenidjian, Columbia Sussex, Current, Downtown, Election, Entertainment, Labor, Regulation, Tamares Group, The Strip | Comments Off on A-Yem to the rescue

Harrah’s Azov?

Posted on June 18, 2009 by David McKee

Bloomberg News reports the following: Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s biggest casino company, may build a resort on the Azov Sea, Vedomosti reported Tuesday.

Harrah’s may join U.S. construction company Asati in building a complex in Azov-City, one of four gambling zones planned in the country, Vedomosti said, citing Asati founder Alex Kogan.

The resort, which will include a casino, hotels and conference centers, will cost between $50 million and $100 million, Kogan said.

Wow! Try building a U.S. resort — or even a Macanese one — for so little money. I’ve asked Harrah’s for confirmation but have yet to hear back. Although several overseas ventures have gone belly-up, the company continues to persist.

However … despite the Russian government’s decree that all casinos be moved to special zones, scattered around the far reaches of the empire, little headway has been made: “One Russian publication sent a reporter to check out progress on one of the zones, who discovered open fields filled with grazing cows.” The Azov-City project, for one, has a long way to go.

And how is Harrah’s/Asati going to build a casino for $100 million or less? One word: tents. “Several foreign investors have begun preparatory work, including the Austrian company Asati. The company plans to build on the 20 hectares of inflatable structures, area of 100 thousand square meters,” explains one investment site, “… the inflatable structure can be a casino and a water park and the congress hall. In addition to inflatable structures Asati company intends to build a 17-storey hotel and 34 bungalows.”

If there’s to be gambling under a big top, I’d suggest they call the place Circus Circus, but Jay Sarno got there first. Potential feeder markets for “Harrahs’ Azov” would include Kiev and Odessa, but the closest major city appears to be Stalingrad … er, Volgograd.

Yung & the restless: Closer to home, in Kentucky, the grand vizier of Columbia Sussex, CEO William J. Yung III, is loaning out the corporate locomotive for charitable causes. Company locomotive? No, we’re not making this up.

Restiveness marks the labor situation at one of the distant outposts of Yung’s hotel empire. Both in the slow pace of negotiations and the demand for employee give-backs, it’s very reminiscent of the scrumdown that was the Culinary Union/ColSux stalemate of two years back. At least Scott Butera intervened to make peace before it reached the point of a Tropicana Las Vegas boycott.

Small beer? Just what Resorts International in Atlantic City needs … more regulatory problems. C’mon, guys. We hook up beer kegs all the time here at LVA. It’s not rocket science. Then again, it’s difficult to “misunderestimate” Colony Capital.

Posted in Alaska, Atlantic City, Charity, Colony Capital, Columbia Sussex, Culinary Union, Harrah's, International, Regulation, Tropicana Entertainment | 1 Comment

Case Bets: Our LVA mascot; Menopause; Mob museum

Posted on June 18, 2009 by David McKee

Woe betide anyone who dares to plunder LVA HQ, for we are under the protection of a fierce — but beautiful — watch iguana. Mojo, as she is named, is at this moment sunning herself on the balcony of my office. The photo above shows Mojo in her customary habitat: a massive iguana "condo" that takes up nearly half of one of the downstairs offices.

As cushy as her lifestyle may be, Mojo occasionally gets cabin fever and either rampages around the research department or attacks her "evil twin" in the mirror. Watch your head if you're coming in the front door; Mojo recently leapt off the second-floor balcony in pursuit of (we presume) some fat, juicy pigeons and suffered no injury whatsoever. She's one tough little hombre.

Menopause The Musical: I don't mean it pejoratively when I say that if you like this sort of thing, then this is the sort of thing you'll like. Either you get the joke(s) or you don't. It's that simple.

Oscar Goodman's pet project, the so-called "Mob museum" just got whacked, albeit not fatally … we think.

Posted in Animals, Downtown, Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Oscar Goodman, Pets, The Mob | Comments Off on Case Bets: Our LVA mascot; Menopause; Mob museum

MGM: Deal or no deal?

Posted on June 17, 2009 by David McKee

MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren is re-mulling asset sales of MGM Grand Detroit, Gold Strike (Tunica, Miss.) and Beau Rivage. But all Strip assets are definitively off the market (yes, even Slots A Fun). Since the Detroit and Tunica casinos are already encumbered with CityCenter-related debt, presumably Murren would transfer those mortgages to some or all of the “Mandalay mile.” As far as I know, those three casinos are still unencumbered. The Detroit resort would be a real “trophy asset” for any potential buyer … presuming that banks are more inclined to lend than they were(n’t) the last time Murren shopped this trio around.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal took a good look at MGM’s Giza deal — and it’s even better than initially thought. Not only will the company collect management and franchise fees, it also gets a cut of any profits. If there’s a downside here, I’m too myopic to see it.

MGM wouldn’t sell Monte Carlo when Jack Binion came calling. One presumes this had more to do with potentially being able to extend CityCenter into Monte Carlo, rather than Jack’s money not being good enough for MGM. However, if the company really cares about the property, Continue reading →

Posted in Baseball, Detroit, Downtown, Economy, International, Jack Binion, James Packer, Lawrence Ho, Macau, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Mississippi, Politics, Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off on MGM: Deal or no deal?

Macao” rises again?

Posted on June 17, 2009 by David McKee

Block out the shopworn, mostly useless generalities coming from Las Vegas Sands and groove to Macao's scintillating casinos, recoil from its thick blanket of smog, and take some heart from Credit Suisse's prediction of an upturn in VIP play in the Chinese casino protectorate.

A contemporaneous Australian TV report — which can't be embedded, alas — was even more striking, especially in the stunning contrast between the sleek architectural beauty of Melco Crown International's new flagship, City of Dreams, and the fugliness of Sheldon Adelson's nearby monoliths. Cheers to Melco Crown for bringing a needed infusion of taste to the Cotai Strip™.

Posted in Architecture, Economy, Environment, James Packer, Lawrence Ho, Macau, Melco Crown Entertainment, Sheldon Adelson, TV, Wall Street | Comments Off on Macao” rises again?

Scratch one Europoseur

Posted on June 15, 2009 by David McKee

Hot off the wire from Harrah’s Entertainment: “The visionary force behind Club Fuego, ND, has opted to close the nightclub in order to pursue future projects in other formats. The closure is effective today [June 15].”

Durr: Friends don’t let friends become Europoseurs

This mouthful of fulsome flattery requires a bit of translation. “ND” is the pretentious moniker chosen by Nicole Durr. The German impresario garnered a small but fawning following during her latest Vegas stint. She also was credited with conception, creation, writing, direction, producing, musical conception, co-composition, costume design, co-choreography, co-program design and photography for Raw Talent Live.

The latter was a mercifully short-lived Cirque du Soleil wannabe that ran at the Sahara and looked like what you’d get if you let Franco Dragone run riot with a budget of $17.95. Centering upon “The Laptop of Life” (don’t ask), this incomprehensible mishmash — I believe the operative German word is Scheisse — featured among its dramatis personae one “Miss Conscience Guilt,” who presumably was dropping in from The Land of Babelfish.

Not only did Raw Talent Live have the miniscule distinction of being the single worst Vegas show I have ever seen, it was memorable in another respect: It used prerecorded applause. Either that or the theater was full of invisible people the night I saw Raw Talent, because there were probably fewer spectators than cast members.

In an effort to keep this Esperanto-flavored flub afloat, it was renamed Fuego Raw Talent Live, then just Fuego. But adding or subtracting words from the marquee provided no solution to an addle-pated concept.

That lesson went unlearnt when Ms. Durr set up shop over at The Rio. Posters on the property gaseously proclaimed: “ND’s Fuego • The Club • Evolution of Nightlife.” Now, if Steve Wynn were to announce that henceforth he was to be addressed and mentioned exclusively as “SW,” and marketed his new property as “SW’s Encore • The Resort • Evolution of Las Vegas” … well, we’d all think El Steve had jumped the shark, to put it politely.

Before long, “Fuego” was doused and the Rio room became “ND’s The Club.” (Judging by its use of “Club Fuego,” Harrah’s Entertainment was as confused by the name-of-the-week as anyone.) All of which presumes that there’s some brand equity in those two initials. Honestly, does anyone not on the Las Vegas Weekly‘s nightclub beat lie awake nights, tormented by the question, “What, oh what will ND do next?”

Durr earned herself a place in the Vegas history books when she helped spirit 50 Cuban artists to freedom. But of late she’s drunk rather too deeply of her own bathwater. The ensuing cult of personality will not be missed.

OK, Durr is “develop[ing] the various elements of the brand.” Guy Laliberté is being sent into outer space (meaning he’s got 10 weeks to kick his nicotine addiction). So when will Christian Audigier take the hint?

Farewell to a legend. Europeans — as opposed to transplanted Europoseurs — remembered and revered saxophonist Sam Butera even after many in Vegas had forgotten him. Amidst the ongoing fuss over the demise of Danny Gans, the departure of Louis Prima‘s legendary sideman might have gone unnoticed were it not largely for the dedicated reportage of Cult Vegas author Mike Weatherford. Opportunties to hear Butera in Vegas were, in the past decade, few and fleeting … but I wish I hadn’t passed them up. That’ll be something I regret.

Posted in Cirque du Soleil, Current, Entertainment, Harrah's, Sahara, Steve Wynn, The Strip | Comments Off on Scratch one Europoseur

Train to Nowhere II

Posted on June 15, 2009 by David McKee

Sig Rogich's choo-choo to nowhere won't really be the privately funded enterprise that it's being sold as, the Las Vegas Sun helpfully explains. Bottom line: Rail transportation is inherently unprofitable, so you and I will be ponying up for the R&R Express (as in Rogich & Reid) sooner or later.

Vegas on TV: Our fair city is showcased on Dateline NBC tonight, but not in a nice way. Look for the cameo appearance by Bally's Las Vegas in the pimp-daddy segment. Judging by the brazen attitude of the miscreants shown in this morning's preview on Today, they've taken that "What happens here, stays here" bromide for gospel truth. 

Posted in California, Harrah's, Politics, Technology, The Strip, Transportation, TV | Comments Off on Train to Nowhere II

Loveman in denial

Posted on June 15, 2009 by David McKee

Harrah’s Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman continues his media-availability tour. In today’s installment, he grants an audience to the Las Vegas Business Press and insists that not only is everything as right as rain at Harrah’s but that the LBO he steered the company into is really “an ability to focus on long-term viability and the health of the business.” (Bond analysts remain skeptical.)

Despite bragging on the vast “resources and … expertise” of Apollo Management and TPG Capital, Loveman doesn’t have any new strategems or projects to offer. The overwhelming consensus of stock analysts and customers nowadays is that Less = Less at a Harrah’s-owned property. Meanwhile, the debtholders who bankrolled the buyout are asked to take haircut after haircut, and could be forgiven for thinking they’ve been played for suckers. Is anybody benefiting from this deal? Oh, I forgot.

One could go on but the story’s mostly a rehash of old Loveman platitudes, plus another refrain of “We Love Macao.” Harrah’s management has been warbling that tune incessantly of late — so much so that it sounds like an overt courtship of Pansy Ho, should she and MGM Mirage get a divorce.

The most newsworthy aspect of the story is the accompanying photo, in which the former Harvard prof appears to gotten a deep chestnut-brown dye job. If indeed that’s the case, Loveman should ask for his money back: It’s not only undignified, it’s inept.

Gordie Brown goes down: If you think Loveman gets a bad review, you should read about the Golden Nugget‘s star attraction, who inhabits “a place where pop culture pressed ‘pause’ at about the time of ‘Achy Breaky Heart,’ Hootie & the Blowfish and Forrest Gump.”

Then again, there must be people who groove to Hervé Villechaize jokes. Trouble is, they’re all going to be down at the Riviera, watching Charo. And when you’re described as a poor man’s Danny Gans … well, do the blows land any lower than that?

Great news for slot players: Seven more years of Clue and Battleship. Give Hasbro credit for knowing a good thing (in this case, its alliance with WMS Gaming) when it saw it. And, just because we can’t say it enough, WMS’ Star Trek machines are the cat’s pajamas. Just for the record, you know.

Posted in Downtown, Economy, Entertainment, Harrah's, Riviera, Technology, Tilman Fertitta, Wall Street, WMS Industries | Comments Off on Loveman in denial