{"id":12055,"date":"2013-11-13T12:45:41","date_gmt":"2013-11-13T20:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12055"},"modified":"2021-02-07T10:05:36","modified_gmt":"2021-02-07T18:05:36","slug":"life-beyond-wynn-crazy-bounce-in-atlantic-city-pressure-rises-in-macao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/life-beyond-wynn-crazy-bounce-in-atlantic-city-pressure-rises-in-macao\/","title":{"rendered":"Life beyond Wynn; Crazy bounce in Atlantic City; Pressure rises in Macao"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/weinberg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-11596\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/weinberg.jpg\" alt=\"weinberg\" width=\"160\" height=\"160\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/weinberg.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/weinberg-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 160px) 100vw, 160px\" \/><\/a>Applicants for <strong>Philadelphia<\/strong>&#8216;s remaining casino license <a href=\"http:\/\/cdcgamingreports.com\/casino-applicants-say-they-remain-high-on-philly-ap\/#.UoPhP_nOnw9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">say they&#8217;re still keen on their chances<\/a> even though <strong>Steve Wynn<\/strong> has dropped out? And why not? Everybody else&#8217;s odds just got better. I&#8217;d be doing the happy dance, too, if I was <strong>Penn National Gaming<\/strong> spokeswoman <strong>Karen Bailey<\/strong>. (I also agree with her that Penn&#8217;s project is &#8220;right-sized&#8221; for the market and others are much too ambitious.) But it was quite an understatement by <strong>SugarHouse<\/strong> CEO <strong>Greg Carlin<\/strong> to say Philadelphia was &#8220;showing signs&#8221; of saturation: It&#8217;s been downright soggy for some time now. As for Wynn&#8217;s blaming <strong>New York<\/strong>&#8216;s casino vote, I&#8217;m glad to see that I&#8217;m not the only person who found that perplexing. <strong>RBC Capital Markets<\/strong>&#8216; <strong>John Kempf<\/strong> took note of the huge geographical distance involved, adding, &#8220;We&#8217;re a little bit skeptical about [Wynn].&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As for <strong>Wynn Resorts<\/strong>&#8216; entry into <strong>Massachusetts<\/strong>, should a federal criminal probe be a bar? Probably not, since the feds have had seven months to request documents <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/2013-11-12\/wynn-resorts-discloses-criminal-probe-into-macau-university-gift.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">and can&#8217;t be bothered to do so<\/a>. The <strong>SEC<\/strong> has already called off the dogs regarding Wynn&#8217;s gift of $135 million to the <strong>University of Macau<\/strong>. Perhaps, given its lack of urgency, the DoJ should do the same.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s time for a new business strategy at <!--more-->the <strong>Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong>. Its reliance on high-stakes, high-volatility table games caused a 118% (<a href=\"http:\/\/cdcgamingreports.com\/njs-october-casino-revenues-up-by-3-6-percent-ap\/#.UoPas_nOnw9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">that&#8217;s no typo<\/a>) drop in table revenue last month. <strong>Revel Resort<\/strong>&#8216;s slot promotions, by contrast, are paying off, with one-armed bandits racking up 58% more. Players shunned <strong>Trump Plaza<\/strong> with a vengeance, though, forcing the resort to eke along on about $190K a day. The bottom line for the Boardwalk is that, even with post-<strong>Hurricane Sandy<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pressofatlanticcity.com\/communities\/atlantic-city_pleasantville_brigantine\/atlantic-city-gambling-revenue-rose-percent-in-octobe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">increases in October<\/a> and November comparisons, it&#8217;s still headed back to 1991 levels, at the sub-$3 billion level.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Chui-Sai-On.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-12061\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Chui-Sai-On-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Chui Sai-On\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Chui-Sai-On-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Chui-Sai-On-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Chui-Sai-On-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/Chui-Sai-On.jpg 2024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>Faced with public discontent, the government of <strong>Macao<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/article\/1354764\/macaus-residents-each-get-9000-pataca-handout-critics-not-satisfied?source=email_rt_m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is trying to buy favor with its constituents<\/a> with a year-end &#8216;dividend&#8217; of $1,127 per Macanese citizen. Chief Executive <strong>Fernando Chui<\/strong> (<em>left<\/em>) can afford it: Casino taxes are expected to bring in $11.9 billion this year. Coining the slogan &#8220;Macau properties for Macau people,&#8221; Chui promised to make affordable housing Job One, while slightly relaxing quotas on imported labor. He also waived the idea of quotas with regard to Macanese in managerial positions in the enclaves casinos. But he did vow to lobby for more. That&#8217;s probably something U.S. operators dread: A Macao workforce that knows the casino business so well, top to bottom, that it can take over and run the ship. When that happened in tribal gaming, private-sector operators found themselves superfluous.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Applicants for Philadelphia&#8216;s remaining casino license say they&#8217;re still keen on their chances even though Steve Wynn has dropped out? And why not? Everybody else&#8217;s odds just got better. I&#8217;d be doing the happy dance, too, if I was Penn &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/life-beyond-wynn-crazy-bounce-in-atlantic-city-pressure-rises-in-macao\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,62,91,101,69,95,157,32,21,169,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12055"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12055"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29231,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12055\/revisions\/29231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}