{"id":16411,"date":"2015-07-17T10:57:03","date_gmt":"2015-07-17T18:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=16411"},"modified":"2015-07-20T09:58:18","modified_gmt":"2015-07-20T17:58:18","slug":"sls-the-news-just-gets-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/sls-the-news-just-gets-worse\/","title":{"rendered":"SLS: The news just gets worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite SLS Las Vegas<\/strong> having lost $183 million in its first eight months of operation, against pitiful revenues of $88 million, President \"SLS_LV-Splash_v2\"<\/a>Scott Kreeger<\/strong> insists that owner Stockbridge Capital<\/strong> is in it for the long haul. It has\u00a0to be, Sam Nazarian<\/strong> having hung this millstone around Stockbridge’s neck. Aside from the obvious location problem, SLS is the subject of frequent complaints about catering to the L.A. street gang crowd. It’s also doing a dismal job of courting locals. Station Casinos<\/strong> CFO Marc Falcone<\/strong>, when asked about SLS’ effect on nearby Palace Station<\/strong>, described it as “zero impact.”<\/p>\n

Ouch. Kreeger is making some moves to try and remedy that, such as rejiggering the Code<\/strong> players card to increase gambling-related rewards<\/a>, which had been previously subordinated to hotel stays and such. And, perhaps realizing the Las Vegas<\/strong> is saturated with electronic dance music, he’s turning nightclub Life<\/strong> into what the Las Vegas Sun<\/em> describes as “a venue that will offer a more diverse entertainment lineup than just dancing and DJs.” Kreeger acknowledges that there’s no cavalry coming over the hill. He’s going to have to keep pounding the value message until Las Vegans start to feel like pricey SLS was built for them and not for Nazarian’s Beverly Hills<\/strong> cronies. Turning SLS around may make Kreeger feel like Revel<\/strong> was an easy gig.<\/p>\n

* Alabama<\/strong> Gov. Robert Bentley<\/strong>\u00a0(R) cut state Sen. Del Marsh<\/strong> (R) off at the knees, decreeing that casino legalization was off the table at an \"Bentley\"<\/a>upcoming special session of the Lege.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve got to fundamentally change the way we budget in Alabama so gambling is totally off the table as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u201d said Bentley. In earlier statement, Bentley (left<\/em>) sniffed that “Alabama is better than to depend on gambling to fund its government.” Marsh wants Vegas-style gambling at four racinos across the state, plus a lottery<\/a>. But to get that proposal back on the legislative docket, he’s going to have to duke it out with Bentley in front of the state supreme court.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Poarch Bank of Creek Indians<\/strong> is also pushing gambling as a budget-deficit fix but they way they’re going about it is lobbying for a compact with the state and taking their campaign to the airwaves<\/a>. They’re at cross purposes with Marsh, because they want exclusivity … or at least one more casino.<\/p>\n

* The gavel has fallen in the auction for Bwin.party Digital Entertainment<\/strong> and the winning bidder is 888<\/strong>, which put $1.4 billion on the table. Bwin.party chose 888 over GVC Holdings<\/strong>, although the latter’s offer was $17.5 million higher<\/a>. Bwin told Reuters<\/strong> that 888 “carried fewer risks<\/a>, with better prospects and an experienced management team all factors.” The deal is predominantly cash, with a smattering of 888 shares thrown in. It will be deleveraged in part by an expected $70 million a year in synergies. 888 gets Bwin.party’s larger sports-betting action while 888 will be supported on a more highly regarded software platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite SLS Las Vegas having lost $183 million in its first eight months of operation, against pitiful revenues of $88 million, President Scott Kreeger insists that owner Stockbridge Capital is in it for the long haul. It has\u00a0to be, Sam … 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":[135,4,22,37,53,33,111,157,162,195,57,31,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411"}],"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=16411"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16420,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16411\/revisions\/16420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}