{"id":13361,"date":"2014-04-22T10:18:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-22T18:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13361"},"modified":"2020-09-04T07:00:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-04T15:00:18","slug":"the-right-amount-of-wrong-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-right-amount-of-wrong-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"The right amount of wrong ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"packer\"<\/a>When it comes to the U.S. gaming market, there’s nothing that can stand between James Packer<\/strong> and a bad investment, it seems, common sense least of all. According to Australian media reports, Deutsche Bank<\/strong> wants $1.5 billion-$2 billion for The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas<\/strong> and Packer intends to\u00a0\u201clodge an expression of interest<\/a>\u201d today. Howard Stutz<\/strong> provides a partial litany of Packer’s missteps<\/a> in the U.S. gaming market, which also include duff investments in Fontainebleau<\/strong>, Station Casinos<\/strong> and then-Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong>. If it was a bad idea, Packer was all in.<\/p>\n

Today’s news reminds us how much we’ve missed Packer. Making fun of his terrible investments was great sport. Maybe his Crown Entertainment<\/strong> casino chain and Melco Crown Entertainment<\/strong> partnership can bring in whales from Australia<\/strong> and Macao<\/strong>, respectively, and get some action going on The Cosmo’s anemic casino floor. Because, let’s face it, The Cosmo has a busted business model and it will take all of Packer’s ingenuity to turn it back into a casino, not a restaurant row with slots on the ground floor. However, with casino projects going in Brisbane<\/strong>, Sri Lanka<\/strong>, the Philippines<\/strong>, plus the promise to build a $5 billion megaresort in Japan<\/strong>, Packer may be starting to stretch himself pretty thin.<\/p>\n

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Further up the Strip<\/strong>, casino action is already happening at The Cromwell<\/strong>, which is also starting to house invited guests. (Rooms will be available to the hoi polloi on May 21.) The cantilevered pool deck looks a bit odd, but I suppose we’ll grow used to it. The Las Vegas Sun<\/em> has an extensive Cromwell photo gallery<\/a> and it would seem that the joint is already jumping.<\/p>\n

Over at The Linq<\/strong>, we paid a visit to Brooklyn Bowl<\/strong>, that eccentric combination of bandstand, bowling alley and restaurant. It’s definitely for big spenders, with a game of bowling setting you back $25-$30 (and that doesn’t count the shoe rental). I’m no Al Mancini<\/strong>, to say nothing of our lesser food critics, but the cuisine is pretty hit-or-miss, although the blackened salmon was as good, or better, than any I’ve tasted. As for my bowling skills [sic<\/em>], let’s not dwell upon them.<\/p>\n

Add Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong> to the list of companies being pressured to convert to a REIT<\/a>. Minority investor Orange Capital<\/strong> is behind the move<\/a>. Pinnacle, it argued, is undervalued compared to Penn National Gaming<\/strong>, which went through the same process last year. However, Pinnacle carries several operating losses<\/a> which minimize federal taxation. (The big attraction of a REIT is as a tax shelter.)<\/p>\n

In its response, Pinnacle patted Orange on the head like a precocious toddler: “Pinnacle values the views of its shareholders and regularly engages in a dialogue with its shareholders to solicit feedback on its strategy and performance with the goal of enhancing value. The board of directors and management team of the company regularly review its strategic priorities and opportunities, and assess a variety of value creating options<\/em>.\u201d Orange’s last attempted coup d’etat<\/em> was an attempt to overthrow the Patti Hart<\/strong> regime at International Game Technology<\/strong> and that was a flop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When it comes to the U.S. gaming market, there’s nothing that can stand between James Packer and a bad investment, it seems, common sense least of all. According to Australian media reports, Deutsche Bank wants $1.5 billion-$2 billion for The … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[66,18,4,59,7,29,22,96,171,62,69,30,57,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13361"}],"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=13361"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27901,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13361\/revisions\/27901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}