An Illinois court of appeals has struck down a pair of Public Acts pertaining to the state’s gambling industry. One nullifies a deal that would have farmed out the state lottery to Scientific Games (luckily, SGMS stock withstood the bad news). The other ixnays a statewide expansion of video poker, a pet project of Gov. Pat Quinn (D, above) but one that went over like a lead balloon at the local level.
Wells Fargo analyst Carlo Santarelli says that International Game Technology will feel the “most punitive” effect of this ruling — which could yet be overturned by a higher court. Of course, if you own a casino in Illinois it was a very good day indeed, one in which the judicial branch deflected a dagger thrust from the legislature, which seems hellbent on killing the Land of Lincoln’s gaming business through mindless overexpansion.
Salty assessment. Looks like Standard & Poor’s wasn’t the only S&P to voice a negative rating on CityCenter this week. Pedestrians continue to vote with their feet as well, as the plebiscite isn’t going well for the $8.5 billion metaresort. How much more tinkering around the edges has to take place before MGM Resorts International concedes that it went all in on a fundamentally flawed design concept?
Notice how CityCenter boss Bobby Baldwin continues to pin the resort’s fortunes on the performance of neighbor Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas? Wasn’t it supposed to work the other way around? Local historian and preservationist Brian Paco Alvarez has one of the better ‘fixits’ I’ve heard: Move canoe sculpture Big Edge from the Vdara plaza and put it in front of Aria, presumably in the space currently occupied that pissant fountain that looks so miniscule amidst its grandiose surroundings. As much as I love the skyscraper canyons of New York City and Chicago, the attempted “urbanism” of CityCenter doesn’t seem to know what it’s attempting to imitate.
Pedestrians are just walking by because it is such a long walk from the “Strip” to the casino.
Most people in and around Chicago did not want to see video poker machines in bars. There are plenty of places already to gamble around here. Governor Quinn is trying to raise money any way he can because the state of Illinois is billions of dollars in debt.
“that pissant fountain that looks so miniscule amidst its grandiose surroundings” I was at the grand opening and thought the exact same thing. Those hideous colors too! They should have just lit it in white/clear. It cheapens the entrance to a grand resort.
I visited the Cosmopolitan this weekend on my first visit to Las Vegas since it had opened. Really impressed by it. And I had no desire to walk even the short distance to Aria or the other CityCenter sites. The CityCenter ownership has a problem.
I think it’s a little more than the long walk, although putting the casino so far away was an obvious mistake. People walking along the Strip are not the gamblers that Aria is targeting IMHO. Us Strip-walkers are interested in good games, so a good dice game at O’Shea’s right next to the sidewalk works, it entices me to play. Same with Casino Royale. My party discovered this friendly joint with good games when we walked from Venetian to MGM Grand one day. Aria wants the limo crowd who never walk the Strip. Cosmo might entice people with it’s quirks, but those of us who know the Strip offers lousy games will gawk instead of play.