Station Casinos is bringing two name-brand chefs to the upgraded Palms. Between high-in-the-sky Vetri Cucina and Michael Symon‘s Mabel’s BBQ, I wouldn’t know which to choose. (My mouth is watering as I type this.) Fortunately, Las Vegans riding a burgeoning local economy don’t have to choose.
* Ever wonder why U.S. casino operators don’t go into the Philippines? The fact that it’s only a $3 billion/year market might have something to do with it. Even Sheldon Adelson, who has romanced Vietnam, hasn’t bothered with the archipelago.
* Never underestimate the drawing power of a new bridge. The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau span has boosted visitation to Macao by 15% in its first Continue reading
numbers was a mind-boggling 53% explosion in baccarat win on 26% higher wagering. Non-baccarat win was up a comparatively modest 3.5% on 7% greater play. Slot coin-in on the Strip was up 8% but win increased only 3.5%. Last December was dreadful for baccarat (-30%), so this month should impress in that department. Locals casinos’ performance didn’t reflect the robustness of the Las Vegas economy, being 1% down, pushed by 4.5% lower win on 2.5% more coin-in. Not even an extra weekend day could help.
hesitate to jump into the opportunity with both feet. Feelings about the change were strong on both sides of the issue. Garden Café employee Nicolas Kepner was looking at being able to spend less time with his dad, a long-haul trucker. Nonetheless, he offered a fair and balanced take on the change. “He’s only going to be home Christmas Eve and some of the day on Christmas, so we’ll have to get up early,” Kepner said of his father. “The good part is I’ll be making time and a half, and that will help pay some bills.” We appreciate McGlynn putting a little extra largesse in his employees’ Christmas stockings.
operators. After all, they are raking in billions of dollars from Chinese citizens in businesses that depend on government licenses.” Plus, half of the gaming concessions in Macao are held by running-dog capitalists from the Great Satan. “Further incentive could come from the pressure by some to open Macau to more Chinese operators,” Fantini continues, adding that Macanese Secretary for Economy & Finance Lionel Leong suggested the government “should reconsider” rebidding the six concessions. And when a suggestion is made in China, it almost has the force of an order. As Muhammad Cohen puts it, “seating arrangements and cryptic quotes from second rank officials at third rank functions become critical policy rubrics.”
the 35 million who came this year — and that number 
“In a Bitkom survey, more than half of respondents said they would not use a robot reception and check-in. The majority of respondents are also hostile to controlling lights or music with a smartphone app, or using their smartphone as a room key.” — Hmmmm. Seems like 
permission from the federal Attorney General to offer sports betting but the American Gaming Association‘s Sara Slane hit the nail on the head and drove it clean through the board when she called the legislation “the epitome of a solution in search of a problem.” She added, “Additional areas this bill seeks to address – including the mandatory use of official league data and the creation of a national sports wagering clearinghouse – can, and should, be decided by marketplace negotiations between private businesses and cooperative agreements among jurisdictions. In the mere six months since the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for legal, regulated sports betting, significant developments on both of these fronts have already occurred without any federal involvement.”
than to spend Jesus’ birthday surrounded by slot machines instead of friends and family. True, my wife and I ate at Sam’s Town one Christmas, but that was very much the exception. WalletHub’s criteria include the cost of a three-star hotel room (#1), toy and hobby stores per capita (#3) and Christmas-tree farms per capital (#26). Further down we find Christmas events per capita (#36) and average price per Christmas party ticket (#39). Hoteliers obviously won’t be happy with having the cheapest three-star rooms in America but it serves them right for gouging us with resort and parking fees.
Miller should be able to hit the ground running. Thirteen years of lobbying on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce won’t hurt either. Miller is said to run in conservative Republican circles, so it will be interesting to see how this affects AGA policy, particularly in the wake of the centrist Freeman. Perhaps Miller’s relationship with Sheldon Adelson will be less strained than was Freeman’s.
continuation of positive current casino trends.” He predicted an upward surge next July but “between now and then, the current four-month negative revenue trends among most of the seven [incumbent] operators will also likely continue until next summer and perhaps beyond. In other words, the hoped-for expansion of Atlantic City’s tourist market demand will continue to lag considerably behind the expansion in casino supply triggered by the two new casinos. … If Atlantic City’s past history has taught us to be 
James Sottile, trying to spin a loss as a win. Scientific had been dealt a serious blow last August 7 in a suit brought by Shuffle Tech. The jury not only found in Shuffle Tech’s favor, the $105 million in compensatory damages was subject to trebling plus court costs. This would have brought Scientific’s tab to $335 million. The parties settled out of court for $151.5 million, which is a serious haircut for Scientific but