{"id":13424,"date":"2014-04-23T12:14:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-23T20:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=13424"},"modified":"2018-12-17T08:59:55","modified_gmt":"2018-12-17T16:59:55","slug":"caesars-the-day-after","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/caesars-the-day-after\/","title":{"rendered":"Caesars: The day after"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York<\/strong> resort developers may be reeling from the sudden entry of Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> into the picture, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up the fight. After all, Caesars’ move only impacts the Catskills<\/strong> region, not the Capital one nor the Southern Tier. A direct Caesars rival, Genting Group<\/strong> stalking horse Empire Resorts<\/strong>\u00a0has sent its $1 million in earnest money to the state<\/a>. Several other groups, including Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong>, could do so before the end of business today<\/a>. The owners of the Nevele<\/strong> resort are reported as having sent in their check, too.\u00a0Two Southern Tier contenders, Tioga Downs<\/strong> and Traditions at the Glen Resort<\/strong> are getting into it, too. Not doing so are the Visram Brothers<\/strong>, whose Vista Hospitality Group<\/strong> was flirting with two sites in Binghamton<\/strong>. The Visrams have thrown their support to the Traditions at the Glen proposal. (How much do you want to bet they emerge as the managers of its casino, if it gets one?)<\/p>\n

\"Jones\"<\/a>Caesars, meanwhile, is rushing in where Las Vegas Sands<\/strong>, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> and even Boyd Gaming<\/strong> feared to tread. Caesars veep Jan Jones Blackhurst<\/strong>‘s remarks about the project had a tint of surrealism<\/a>. She said “the development, which would include a hotel and casino with restaurants, retail amenities and an entertainment complex, would enhance the company\u2019s current East Coast operations, which include four casinos in Atlantic City<\/strong> and a racetrack casino near Philadelphia<\/strong>.” How does one ‘enhance’ five other casinos that are all losing market share by adding a sixth that will contend for many of the same customers?<\/p>\n

And then this:\u00a0\u201c’This project would allow use to draw from the entire East Coast,\u201d Blackhurst said. \u201cWe have a strong East Coast customer base.’\u201d Yes, a base that will be further diluted by a Catskills casino. This is Gary Loveman<\/strong>‘s spastic-octopus business strategy at its finest [sic<\/em>]: flail about in every direction and hope that something sticks.<\/p>\n

By actively discouraging casino development at Saratoga Raceway & Casino<\/strong>, city officials have occluded the prospects for the track. The racino’s contract with its horsemen ends next year, and both the track and horsemen could have trouble remaining viable if gambling \"Saratoga<\/a>dollars are lost to other facilities — particularly the one Saratoga Raceway proposed to build in East Greenbush<\/strong>. The track’s been propped up by VLT money for the last 10 years. Majority owner Daniel Garrity is predicting a 50% drop in business once other casinos enter the picture. Hence the move into East Greenbush and the addition of a $30 million hotel to the racino. It would be a mild understatement to say Saratoga Raceway is hedging its bets. It’s also applying to build a casino in Newburgh<\/strong>, down in the Catskills region where Caesars, Genting, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> and Cordish Gaming<\/strong> are already duking it out.\u00a0\u201cI hear a lot of people saying this is the beginning of the end for us,\u201d said Harness Horse Breeders of New York State<\/strong> Executive Director Betty Holt<\/strong>, speaking both of casino expansion and Saratoga Raceway’s plans to cannibalize its training track for hotel space. To mix sports metaphors, in voting against a full casino at Saratoga Raceway, city fathers have scored an own-goal.<\/p>\n

\"WP<\/a>Solaire Resort & Casino<\/strong>, in Manila<\/strong>, celebrated its first year of operations by reporting a $6 million loss<\/a>. Bloomberry Resorts<\/strong>, parent of Solaire, announced a $29 billion overall loss, which it blamed upon William Weidner<\/strong>‘s Global Gaming Asset Management<\/strong>. (Weidner’s firm got the sack last autumn.) Former Marina Bay Sands<\/strong> CEO Thomas Arasi<\/strong> is now steering the ship. Solaire spent $76 million to generate $276 million in play. And for those who predicted that Manila would some day eclipse Macao<\/strong>, Solaire’s gross gaming revenue for the year was approximate to what Venetian Macao<\/strong> makes in three weeks. We’re already seeing the S-word, “saturation,” as government-owned\u00a0Philippine Amusement & Gaming Corp<\/strong>. is in the process of closing two casinos. Solaire hopes to improve its fortunes with a raft of new amenities and hotel rooms. However, Melco Crown Entertainment<\/strong>‘s City of Dreams Manila<\/strong>, bolstered by a Nobu Hotel<\/strong>, is coming on line shortly. At least a Kazuo Okada<\/strong>-backed resort is snared in litigation, giving Solaire some breathing space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York resort developers may be reeling from the sudden entry of Caesars Entertainment into the picture, but that doesn’t mean they’ve given up the fight. After all, Caesars’ move only impacts the Catskills region, not the Capital one nor … 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":[23,60,70,166,120,7,67,22,62,93,11,101,69,95,111,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13424"}],"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=13424"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23116,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13424\/revisions\/23116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}