“My only problem is A.D.D.” read the T-shirt of one of the celebrants at last night’s opening of Top Golf, on the MGM Grand campus. He was certainly in the right place. If you are serious about honing your skills, you’ve come to the wrong place. But if you just
Architectural Photography by Michael Baxter, Baxter Imaging LLC
Architectural Photography by Michael Baxter, Baxter Imaging LLC
want to whack the heck out of some golf balls and feel better about your game by seeing others flounder, Top Golf is very much for you. Its sensory-overload environment couldn’t be further from the quasi-religious aura that pervades professional golf tourneys. It’s golf with a heavy infusion of Las Vegas, even including a nightclub. (What? You don’t think the Masters would be improved by having Afrojack scratching beats in Amen Corner?) I enumerated one high-volume music system, at least two swimming pools, two or three lounges — one with live music — and too many big-screen TVs to count. In addition to be able to watch, say, the NHL or NBA playoffs on the TV in your bay, you could follow both on the mammoth screens at the far end of the driving range. Those big boys had better be built to take some punishment: As expansive as Top Golf is, I saw some hackers booming tee shots all the way to the rear netting.
The food, which includes glazed shrimp and a superb Nutella pudding, is a cut above sports-stadium fare. Ditto the cocktails and the service culture, which is exceptionally positive. Top Golf patrons are encouraged to put their yips aside and just enjoy themselves, although I found that in over 20 years away from the sport, I’d lost my shank (the nine-iron is my friend). Although the facility is posh on every level, the higher you go in its four stories, the higher-end the experience becomes. One’s only real complaint was with the official shuttle, a will o’the wisp on which patrons cannot rely. Valet parking is the way to go. (The automated scorekeeping system was experiencing a glitch-prone debut, too.) I’d say MGM Resorts International has a hit on its hands and won’t have trouble filling its newest amenity on a regular basis.
* If the executives at SLS Las Vegas can keep the doors open until year’s end, they’ll get some help from Lucky Dragon Casino. At least that’s the prevailing theory. Boutique-
sized Lucky Dragon is slated to be in business by New Year’s Eve, with a heavy focus on Chinese gamblers. The risky part for Lucky Dragon is that it has to deliver customers from China or else. (Although, like Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos, it can also target Las Vegas’ robust Chinese community.) Signage will be primarily in Chinese. The main game offerings are described as “baccarat, pai gow, sic bo and fan-tan.” That risks narrowing your customer base, although baccarat is a pillar of Strip gambling revenue.
Down the street, Resorts World Las Vegas continues to move sluggishly, but it received an endorsement from American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman, who told attendees at Global Gaming Expo Asia (held at Venetian Macao) that the U.S. could learn from casino operators in the Philippines and Macao. 
Freeman dismissed the plunge of the Macanese casino industry as “an inflection point” and sought to reassure attendees that increased stateside investment by major U.S. casino operators didn’t mean they were turning their backs on the Orient. “This is an industry that can walk and chew gum at the same time: it can operate in the U.S., while looking at expansion opportunities elsewhere. And when you look at those expansion opportunities, there is no greater potential than in Asia,” Freeman said. However, things are likely to get better before they get worse, at least for small junket operators, who are likely to suffer disproportionately from the new ban on proxy wagering, 20% of junket business. (For some junketeers, the percentage is closer to half of their volume.) Some are already curtailing their Macanese business. There goes $2.6 billion in gaming revenue.
* Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino continue to shake off competition from Massachusetts. Their slot revenue was up 3% and 5% respectively last month. Mohegan Sun Pocono, in Pennsylvania, is losing long-tenured President Mike Bean, who’s leaving to take a job with another company at month’s end. According to a 
news report, Bean is leaving under a cloud, as “his tenure has been marred somewhat in recent years with several high-profile employee theft cases, including one that cost the casino hundreds of thousands of dollars.” “When I arrived, basically it was a racetrack with a plan,” reflected Bean, who turned Pocono Downs into the Keystone State’s first operational racino, a $659 million cumulative invested that climaxed with the addition of a hotel and convention center in 2013.
Bean was not so fortunate in his choice of subordinates. For instance, former Vice President of Player Development Robert J. Pellegrini is under indictment for allegedly colluding with a cocktail waitress to fleece a winning patron by stealing and forging his player’s card. That case will be churning through the legal process long after Bean has departed.
* Social casinos staved off an important court challenge in Illinois. The Northern District of Illinois ruled that because social-casino “winnings” can never be cashed out, the games are not gambling. However, it also held that the relevant applications (in this instance, DoubleDown Casino) are gambling devices per se. How’s that for fine hair-splitting? Anyway, this case and a congruent victory by Churchill Downs over a Washington State plaintiff constitute the makings of a legal carapace that could shield social casinos from serious legal challenges.
