Thanks in part to some dramatic table-game numbers, Las Vegas Strip revenues leapt 9% last month. It wasn’t baccarat: That highly volatile game was actually pretty stable, with 6% more win on 7% less wagering (the house played lucky). Other table games, however, were an eye-popping 25.5% higher on just 7% greater wagering. Strip slots were mild, up 1.5% on 5% more coin-in. Locals casinos, by contrast (and despite an outwardly favorable calendar), were down 4%, although that was somewhat impacted by August ending on a Saturday, meaning that the slot hoppers weren’t dumped until Sept. 2. Slot win slid 7%.
Strip casinos grossed $521 million, while Downtown drew Continue reading
oncoming casino projects is four times too much. And that’s a list that Muhammad Cohen, our favorite gaming columnist, says “errs on the side of caution.” As Govertsen and DeCree write, “The reality is that the current pipeline in just the existing markets (forget about Japan for now) requires [cash flow] in Asia to literally double, even as the boom years in China GDP growth are behind it, and as so many of Asia’s wealthy individuals have already been captured.”
presidential campaign, the one the R-J endorsed three times to no avail?). What about his vindictive lawsuits against reporters Jeff Simpson and John L. Smith? Now, not content to control the biggest newspaper in the Vegas Valley, Adelson seems to have turned his ire upon the milquetoast moderation of the Las Vegas Sun. Publisher Brian Greenspun 
sued by one Benjamin Naderi over a beatdown he allegedly suffered at the hands of YG’s posse. It supposedly started with an ill-advised request for a photo with the celeb (aka Keenon Jackson), followed by YG’s homies being told to “get him,” pinning Naderi down and beating the crap out of him. YG allegedly crowned the whole incident by yanking a gold chain and diamond pendant off Naderi’s chest.
Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that Meruelo is being sued for unpaid licensing fees. In what might be called Nazarian’s Revenge, SBE Hotel Licensing is after Meruelo $450,000 in fees racked up since last November for the use of SBE brands (which might explain Meruelo’s eagerness to bring back the Sahara moniker). At steak, er, stake are 
Completion is expected in 2026. 
sports book, and they’re sitting there and they want to bet on a basketball game, they can’t do it. It made us just kind of hide in a shell ourselves and not really do major marketing because we just didn’t think it was going to be worth it.”—Golden Nugget Atlantic City owner Tilman Fertitta 
year’s end. (Gotta be ready for New Year’s Eve.) The changes are subtle at first. Hotel management goes over to Highgate while Paragon Gaming, getting a vote of confidence, stays on as casino operator. Night Owl showroom tickets are still valid and your loyalty card points will roll over OYO Rewards Club. OYO says that Hooters is merely its 
going to flourish. Last week federal authorities indicted 15 individuals (seven of whom are on the lam) and seized 60 machines, along with $150,000 in cash. The raids on Oahu were a joint operation of three federal agencies and the Honolulu police department. U.S. Attorney Kenji Price described the two busts as part of a larger effort to extirpate gambling in the Aloha State.
not a nine-casino market, and I don’t understand why nobody realizes that,” he told The Press of Atlantic City. “You could say the market is going up and that we’ve added thousands of jobs, but now every other casino has had to lay off jobs, so I don’t even know how big the net gain is. But now, none of the casinos have the cash flow that they did.” He predicts that increased competition = reduced capex. “It’s a seven-casino market, and when it was seven casinos, everybody was 
betting. However, American Gaming Association President Bill Miller, in his capacity as gaming’s premier lobbyist, took the temperature of the corridors of power and discovered no fever for sports-betting regulation. Besides, as he reminded us, there had been federal regulation—the Bradley Act—and it had failed miserably. Now the NCAA is back, 
use the standard casino-industry multiple of 7X EBITDA, that implies that The Rio is doing cash flow of $73 million a year. The official press release somewhat defensively describes the sale price as “a strong sales price to EBITDA multiple.” Caesars got a half-billion for the property, fulfilling Gary Loveman‘s long-held (but previously unrealized) ambition. Mind you, Caesars isn’t get out of the Rio business. It will manage it for “at least” two years and pay $45 million in rent.
back to MGM, which would probably roll the sale proceeds into an Osaka resort. The talks are said to be in an “advanced stage” but could yet fall apart. It makes you wonder if Blackstone really intends to sell The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas if it is about to fatten its casino portfolio with two more of the biggest casinos on the Las Vegas Strip.