Andrew Breibart heir Matthew Boyle has his bloomers in a twist over the fact that Nevada Sens. Harry Reid (D) and Dean Heller (R) have tweaked the immigration bill currently before the Senate to include an indefinite extension of the Travel Promotion Act, which promotes tourism … including to Sin City. This seems to horrify Boyle, who fumes that it is “little more than a handout to Vegas casinos.” Caesars Entertainment also feels Boyle’s ire for having had to gumption to publicly thank Reid on the Bally’s Las Vegas ticker when the bill was originally passed, in 2009. “Reid has consistently pushed projects that benefit big casinos over the course of his career,” is Boyle’s concluding harrumph. Yes, because they’re
among his (and Heller’s) largest constituents, Southern Nevada’s biggest employers and because that’s what your U.S. Senator is supposed to do: Keep the home fires burning. Methinks Boyle’s fiscal-responsibility boilerplate is just an ill-fitting disguise for a deep-seating aversion to gambling and the icky-poo “Las Vegas Casino [sic] industry.”
Unless you count a high, plywood fence, Boyd Gaming was never quite able to conceal the unfinished Echelon from Strip pedestrians and motorists. New owner Genting Group, however, is wasting no time in pitching the idea of two, five-story pagodas that will act as a preview of Resorts World Las Vegas. Given some of the dissatisfaction on the Clark County Commission with the site’s appearance, Genting’s idea was music to their ears.
It may spark some look-see foot traffic on the North Strip but it comes to late to save the job of Riviera CEO Andy Choy, who has just been sacked. Vice President of Gaming Noah Acres has also jumped ship. After the most recent — and very disappointing — set of numbers from the Riv, this move was predictable. In fact, S&G reader H_Park and I were discussing it over lunch recently. The Riv’s revenues were in a dive at a time when the rest of the Strip was rising. That tide did not lift all boats, especially the Riv.
Choy had a lot of terrific ideas for reinventing the aging resort and the look of the property greatly improved under his watch. But however exciting his plans were on paper, they didn’t click with the marketplace. Choy may not be the answer but Paragon Gaming CEO Diana Bennett, long exiled from the Strip and to the fringes of the industry, isn’t it, either. Abandon all hope, ye who enter the Riv.
