Vegas: Too much, too soon?

Still, Penn’s apologia pro vita sua is rife with cluelessness: “We simply could not foresee that the initial closures of our properties that were issued by one or two states for a limited period of time ultimately spread throughout all the states in which we operate and eventually be extended, interrupting almost all business and travel temporarily.” You and the federal government. All these bodies on the floor are great for Wall Street, which saw Penn stock climb. (Perhaps, given the stock market’s obliviousness to the consequences of Covid-19, we should call this the Great Disconnect.) Penn’s not alone in sacrificing its workforce on the altar of Mammon. Full House Resorts took Paycheck Protection Program money, then cut jobs anyway. That’s what we call hypocrisy. At least Penn is consistently ruthless.

Getting back to Goldstein for a moment, he compared present-day Vegas with a regional drive-in market. That’d be a burn except for the fact that the regional markets are outperforming Sin City these days, no two ways about it. Las Vegas is an anomaly in gaming in that it is uniquely ill-positioned to withstand any downturn in the economy. It simply is not a sufficiently diverse destination after all. Goldstein doesn’t see convention business returning until next year (by which time it could be someone else’s problem), adding, “I’ve never felt more gloomy than I do today about what’s happening in Las Vegas.” Sheldon Adelson may own a lot of politicians’ souls but he can’t buy off Covid-19. It’s in the economic driver’s seat and no president, no Congress and no amount of government intervention will change that, at least not until there’s a reliable vaccine.

On the positive side, room rates are shallowing for the Nov. 15-21 period, down 34% overall. The average room price is $98 and weekday rates are down 40% but weekends are just off by 8%. Las Vegas Sands is all over the place, down 50% midweek but up by an eye-popping 56% on weekends, even with Palazzo diluting the inventory. MGM Resorts International is off 3% on weekends and by 38% weekdays, Caesars Entertainment is getting hammered on the weekends, down 25%, and -34% midweek, while Wynncore is just 2% off last year’s weekend pace while plunging 48% on weekdays.

Jottings: The threesome of Caesars Entertainment, William Hill and the Indianapolis Colts have inked a marketing partnership whereby Caesars and Hill become the Colts’ official sports betting partner of the team. Specifics were few beyond a statement that the new “Pick 6 Predictor generates a series of questions, that fans predict the outcome of, before the upcoming games. Correct picks are rewarded with weekly prizes, and all participants are entered into a chance to win a trip to Las Vegas to stay” at a CZR-owned hotel. Oh, and expect to see a lot of Caesars’ jumbled new sports-betting logo … In a battle of the billionaires, Jeff Bezos is taking a shot at Donald Trump. He’s streaming Borat Subsequent Moviefilm free to Amazon Prime members. The picture would be funny if it weren’t so disturbing.