While the consummation of the Eldorado Resorts/Caesars Entertainment marriage has yet to occur, already Eldorado CEO Tom Reeg is walking back some of his prenuptial promises. “I think that there’s more Strip exposure than we would need to accomplish our goals with our 
regional data base,” he told reporters. “So I would expect that we would be a seller of a Strip asset, but that decision has not been made.” So, not multiple Strip properties anymore but just one (Planet Hollywood seems the most coveted). Maybe. But maybe not. Also, at least one Wall Street analyst is questioning Reeg’s promised $500 million in cost savings, saying it’ll be closer to $250 million. The one employee whose job is safe, in some shape or form, is Caesars CEO Anthony Rodio, who has key shareholder Carl Icahn in his corner. Any move by Reeg to dump Rodio risks the wrath of Icahn.
Reeg also folded Caesars’ tent vis-a-vis expanding into Japan, saying, “The opportunity internationally is going to have to be, frankly, stupendous for us to be running in that direction. But no firm decisions have been Continue reading
between downtown Miami and Miami Beach. Genting owns waterfront real estate in Miami it has been unable to monetize, mostly because the idea of casino megaresorts never gained traction in the Sunshine State. (Las Vegas Sands took a run at it, then just plain gave up.) Two cronies of Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez round out the group making the unsolicited monorail pitch. (If the track can really deliver tourists to the beach, it would make more sense than, say, its nowhere-to-nowhere Las Vegas counterpart.)
Encore Boston Harbor president Robert DeSalvio trumpeted that every detail—from carpets and drapes to beds and furniture—was created uniquely for the hotel. Yet the room didn’t feel particularly unique. Well, perhaps it’s unique for Everett,” writes architecture critic Christopher Muther. He rates this not entirely a bad thing, given the riot of colors on the main floor. If you’re suffering visual fatigue, the hotel rooms are just the place where you’d go to recharge your batteries.
11% to $517.5 million. Slots were a bright spot, up 2% on 2.5% higher coin-in. But baccarat win fell a cataclysmic 55%, despite only 4% less wagering, which means that “bad” is something of an understatement when describing the house’s luck. (JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff thinks the wipeout was confined to six casinos. No prizes for guessing which, however.) Non-baccarat table games were but 2% lower.
that it may waive almost $2 million in fines appended to the site. A $4 million judgment against the city for not approving a Dotty’s license may also be settled amicably in the interest of making a deal happen. This is not the first time that Dotty’s parent, Nevada Restaurant Services, has kicked the tires on the Moulin Rouge site—and let’s hope that Station Casinos CEO Frank Fertitta III doesn’t try to gum up the works, as he always seems to do when Dotty’s is involved with something.
might not be with the old lady this time. “Observers believe Caesars has not committed adequate resources to Bally’s and allowed the property to become outdated and unappealing to would-be guests,” reports the New York Post, alluding to a lead-poisoning scandal in 2016. Some on Wall Street think Eldorado Resorts may have been taken to the cleaners with its winning bid of $12.75/share. As Nomura Securities analyst Harry Curtis put it, could Eldorado find enough costs to cut? Sanford C. Bernstein boffins were comparably skeptical, writing that 
$12.75/share), Eldorado will buy Caesars for $8.6 billion in cash, plus the 
think this is a good decision, as it pairs Virgin with a seasoned, successful gaming operator, to say nothing of availing Mohegan of the Virgin brand (perhaps in Bridgeport). Virgin couldn’t be coming to Las Vegas in more auspicious fashion. Don’t expect any overnight changes at the HRH: Scott Roeben 
For the next several days my wife and I will be in the Windy City, scouting locations for MGM Chicago (Okay, I made the MGM part up), visiting family and attending a Stargate convention—at least if the schedule ever gets posted—among other activities. Since the convention is at the Westin O’Hare, which is hard by Rivers Casino Des Plaines, I will let you know if I see anything worthy of mention. In the meantime, kick back and enjoy the summer.
seeing a coup d’etat. Clique Hospitality is gone and now Station Casinos will try running the club itself. This isn’t Station’s long suit (Remember Cherry at Red Rock Station? Probably not.), so we’ll be keen to see how the experiment works. Meanwhile, Station, don’t sell that land below South Point just yet. A Major League Baseball stadium is rumored for the area. Too bad for Station it bailed out of the Aliante area, now that Universal Studios is mooted to be considering a theme park in that (very remote) part of the valley. Boyd Gaming must be licking its chops.