Bonafide rescue may be in sight for the acreage upon which the Moulin Rouge once stood. Dotty’s may use some of its considerable cash flow to buy up the land and the Las Vegas City Council is sufficiently eager to see something done 
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.
It only took 24 hours for a quartet of arrests to be made at Encore Boston Harbor. One trespasser pushed his luck and was clapped in irons when Continue reading
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 “Observers believe Caesars has not committed adequate resources to Bally’s and allowed the property to become outdated and unappealing to would-be guests,” reports the New York Post, alluding to a lead-poisoning scandal in 2016.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.
on Boston‘s potential as a resort town. So far the Bay State track record is mixed: Plainridge Park has been a home run for Penn National Gaming while MGM Springfield is but an RBI for MGM Resorts International. Academics and legislators are all ratcheting back their early revenue projections for Encore, down from $800 million/year to as little as $540 million. Wynn’s predication of success by luring Chinese whales to Beantown also looks as loony as 
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.
financial commitments quite so much as Sheldon Adelson. Sands will scrape together the money from a quartet of banks, the first time in seven years that Marina Bay Sands has needed new underwriting. Still, one banker warned, “The borrower has not raised such a size before and it is also unprecedented for the market in Singapore.” Adelson’s last big loan was for $5.1 billion and it took 28 lenders to pull that one off. The maturity on that debt (of which $4 billion remains) has been been pushed out to 1Q20. One Chinese banker was enthusiastic, saying “We are keen to participate. There’s no issue for us to join a casino deal, and take large take-and-hold positions in the sector.” Still another bank offered, “As much as the credit is attractive, there’s a known restriction in terms of liquidity from the market towards the casino sector.”
responded that it would be equally prompt in building $350 million Saracen Casino Resort. In the meantime 
never seems to stop changing hands, Isle of Capri Cape Girardeau and Lady Luck Caruthersville … in other words, the low-hanging fruit of the Eldorado orchard. This lessens competition with Harrah’s Metropolis and reduces Eldorado’s potential exposure in the Show-Me State, going from a possible market share of 33% to 28%, which might be enough to make the Federal Trade Commission happy. Operation of the properties goes over to Century Casinos (no, I’ve never heard of them before), which paid $107 million for that prerogative.
C&W icon. It’s booked Twain into the cavernous Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood, starting Dec. 6, although you can start buying tickets on Friday. As the Caesars publicity blat puts it, “Shania will serve as creative director for her new Las Vegas show, combining her three decade-long career with inspiration from her iconic videos and elements from her 2018 sold out global NOW tour. This country rebel at heart will push the boundaries in Vegas, just as she always has done, taking fans on a journey of nostalgia and blowing them away with outside-the-box concepts and visual spectacles.” Given the comparative limitations of the Planet Ho venue, it’s a good question whether Twain will be able to offer the high-tech flourishes of her previous residency.
but will last for an as-yet-unspecified length of time into the next decade. Franco Dragone remains artistic director but Melco is taking over management of the show, which will probably enable some cost savings. By contrast, “Elēkrŏn,” a car-stunt show at Studio City will close next month after lasting barely half a year. The House of Magic, also at Studio City, was another dud. No wonder Lawrence Ho was so happy to ink a new pact with Dragone, saying, “I feel privileged that Melco Resorts has had the opportunity to work with Dragone’s talented team for the last decade and I believe we will continue to deliver even more exhilarating performances for years to come.”
very large VIPs continue to travel but they don’t take as many risks as they have in the past,” said Star CEO Matt Bekier. It’s not that they’re hurting in the wallet from Trumpian tariffs but “The potential trade wars have just created a level of uncertainty and they’re not as aggressive in their outlook as they might have been in the past.” Star shares took a 17% beating (Star’s worst decrease ever) after the company revised profit guidance from $390 million down to $377.5 million, well below consensus expectations of $413 million. “The update from the company has been quite poorly received,” said one analyst, displaying masterful understatement.
Atlantic City‘s two heaviest hitters had a not-so-merry month of May. Borgata fell 15%, to $52 million, and Tropicana Atlantic City tumbled 18%, landing at $25 million and ceding second place for the first time to Hard Rock Atlantic City (guess that business plan is paying off), which grossed $28.5 million. Other revenue-negative casinos were Bally’s Atlantic City, off 2.5% to $15.5 million, Harrah’s Resort, down 7% to $25.5 million and Golden Nugget sliding 13% to $17 million. Gainers were Resorts Atlantic City, up 14% to $16 million and a tie with Ocean Resort, and Caesars Atlantic City, up 3% to $23 million. Citywide, slot revenues were 14% higher (down 8% on a same-store basis) while table game win was 20% up (down 7.5% same-store). Borgata saw 13.5% less table, a very unlucky month, while slot win slid 9% on 10% less coin-in. The Caesars Entertainment trio managed 4% more table win despite 11% less wagering.