Double standard

Posted on January 24, 2008 by David McKee

According to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, the Culinary Union has sent Nevada casino regulators a tape and report purportedly documenting prostitution at the Tropicana. Why I’m shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you! The oldest profession being practiced on the Las Vegas Strip? Next thing you know, somebody will be saying the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth. Oh, never mind.

A few thoughts. A) The local dailies not only got beat to this story, they continue to snooze; B) This is hardly the first time I’ve heard assertions that ladies of the evening are being allowed to ply their trade in Strip casinos — even at ones more upscale than the Trop; C) Would D. Taylor be making an issue of this if the Culinary wasn’t at an impasse with Tropicana parent Columbia Sussex? D) Isn’t this a case of suspiciously selective outrage? E) If the Culinary knew about criminal activity taking place on the premises of the Trop (or elsewhere), why didn’t it come forward sooner?

I’m not saying the Nevada Gaming Control Board should bury its head in the sand. But even IF these allegations should bear out, the Culinary Union doesn’t exactly have clean hands. Apparently if it can’t get Columbia Sussex to the bargaining table, it’s going to reach into its bag of Deep Dark Secrets and either embarrass Columbia Sussex into making a deal or try to run it out of the state.

What else — if anything — does the Culinary know about non-kosher activity at Strip and Downtown casinos that it’s not telling us? And why are whistleblower hotlines and secret dossiers only being produced when there’s a contract at stake? The Culinary is behaving like the worst caricature of a strong-arm union.

Posted in Columbia Sussex, The Strip | Comments Off on Double standard

MEGACENTER attacks; Viral marketing

Posted on January 21, 2008 by David McKee

“I am MEGACENTER; prepare to be destroyed!”: If you scroll down to “Best Name Ever?” on David Schwartz’s blog, you’ll find a very funny and thoughtful item about the thunderously unimaginative name Las Vegas Sands dreamed up for its agglomerated Sands Expo/Palazzo/Venetian super-megaresort. What they came up with sounds like something out of Transformers or Toho Studios. “Eek! It’s MEGACENTER! Run for your life!” Where’s the Cloverfield monster (aka “Mr. Grumpypants“) when you really need him?

Speaking of Cloverfield, a dreadful movie whose marketing campaign (here’s its original spore) is the best I’ve ever seen, to what extent is the casino industry exploring viral marketing?

Given the high level of interest that surrounds every new casino or redevelopment of an existing one, not to mention the fever pitch that usually accompanies a grand opening (when properly done), wouldn’t it benefit Company X’s coffers to tease the consumer with hints and tidbits throughout the long runup to that moment when the doors swing open and the players stream into the newest pleasure palace?

In view of the popularity of sites like Two Way Hard Three and VegasTodayandTomorrow.com, it would seem that giving these folks a well-timed glimpse here and there would only help ramp up (and shape) expectations for new and remodeled properties. Instead, casino companies get all defensive and demand, for instance, that all CityCenter images be removed (as briefly happened to VegasTodayandTomorrow).

These people are your allies! Work with them! It’s a win-win scenario if ever I saw one.

Posted in Cloverfield monster, Election, Marketing, Movies, Sheldon Adelson | Comments Off on MEGACENTER attacks; Viral marketing

Case Bets: Caucuses, Cosmo, "Cloverfield" & Coasters, etc.

Posted on January 17, 2008 by David McKee

You wanna make Bill Clinton lose his cool? Ask him about caucuses in casinos. Not a good moment for the ex-Prez. He can’t be happy about this, either.

Now that the Culinary Union is enjoying a moment in the sun, thanks to its Obama endorsement, it’s getting a moment in a different kind of Sun. Seems it may be overplaying its hand. All of this tit-for-tat nastiness might (just barely) redound to the benefit of my guy, John Edwards. (And, yes, you get to taunt me if Edwards is crushed on Saturday.)

BUT … if you enjoy online gambling (click about three screens down) you won’t want to vote for Edwards, who’s against it, full stop. Sen. Clinton holds the same position as the AGA, favoring a Continue reading →

Posted in Cloverfield monster, Election | Comments Off on Case Bets: Caucuses, Cosmo, "Cloverfield" & Coasters, etc.

A Friend Indeed

Posted on January 3, 2008 by David McKee

William Yung III doesn’t deserve friends like UNLV’s David Schwartz. He really, truly doesn’t.

I mean, we’re talking about an exec who, as Schwartz writes, “seems to have brilliantly alienated most of the New Jersey gaming community.” Who else but Yung would tell the Garden State’s governor to, in essence, bugger off … or radically downsize the Atlantic City Tropicana‘s workforce at the very moment when it was guaranteed to enflame a citywide unionization movement? (Had Yung been a mole for the UAW, he could scarcely have done better for them. Maybe they should name him “Organizer of the Year.”)

Pleas for moderation from fellow casino operators apparently fell on deaf Yungian ears — and since the A.C. Trop had always been Columbia Sussex predecessor Aztar‘s cash cow, ‘ColSux’ (as one Net wag dubbed it) was ill-advised to trash it. But Yung wanted to do his signature “slash-and-burn business model” (in the words of The Press of Atlantic City) and confected any old rationale to justify the outcome.

My disagreement with Schwartz is twofold and one of the points is fairly minor. He refers to ‘ColSux’ as a “prosperous, expanding company.” By its own admission, it’s a debt-burdened company, flirting with Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Atlantic City, Columbia Sussex, Regulation, Sheldon Adelson | Comments Off on A Friend Indeed