{"id":16473,"date":"2015-07-24T11:39:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T19:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=16473"},"modified":"2015-07-24T11:39:13","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T19:39:13","slug":"mgms-march-to-the-sea-reitmania-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mgms-march-to-the-sea-reitmania-explained\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM’s march to the sea; REITmania explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where MGM Resorts International<\/strong> goes, other casino companies <\/a>\"Kasim<\/a>are quick to follow<\/a> — to Atlanta<\/strong>, in this case. Mayor Kasim Reed<\/strong>\u00a0(pictured<\/em>) is being coy about who the new suitors are, other than two are domestically based (would Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> pass on another urban opportunity, having turned down Boston<\/strong>?) and one is from overseas, which surely must be Genting Group<\/strong>. Not that the Hizzoner is a fan of gambling, saying Las Vegas<\/strong> is what it is for a reason but “it would be fiscal malpractice … not to hear these people out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rumors of the potential site continue to circle on doomed Turner Field<\/strong> (the Atlanta Braves<\/strong> go through baseball stadiums like you and I through Kleenex). For its part, MGM is backing a bill<\/a>\u00a0by Economic Development Committee<\/strong> Chairman Ron Stephens<\/strong> \"nathan_deal\"<\/a>that would turn Georgia<\/strong> into the new casino mecca, authorizing up to six gambling halls in the Peachtree State. To keep the casinos from clustering around one or two cities, Georgia would be divided into five zones. Regulation would be handled by the Georgia Lottery Corp<\/strong>. Any proposed casino would also have to get the thumbs-up from Gov. Nathan Deal<\/strong> (R, right<\/em>) and that’s where it gets especially tricky, since Deal is a firm casino opponent.<\/p>\n

Momentum would appear to be going against Deal. But one would have thought Florida<\/strong> would have approved resort casinos by now and the process\u00a0remains stuck in the mud. In the meantime, Georgians will have to keep going to Harrah’s Cherokee<\/strong>, in North Carolina<\/strong>, for their gaming fix.<\/p>\n

* The Railroad Pass<\/strong> casino, near Boulder City<\/strong>, may have been a \"railroad-pic\"<\/a>low priority for MGM but it’s Job One<\/a> for new owner Joe DeSimone<\/strong>. He’s already had the joint repainted and is almost done with repairing the roof. Next on his agenda is a new entrance to the casino. It’s nice to see that MGM’s trash is DeSimone’s treasure.<\/p>\n

* If you’re wondering what REITmania is all about, The Associated Press<\/strong> has an excellent explanation. For the seller, it’s a means of offloading long-term debt<\/a>. And for shareholders in the REIT, it means that 90% of potentially taxable income goes straight to them. The onus for property upkeep, however, remains with the renter (Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>, Penn National Gaming<\/strong>) not the landlord. It’s interesting to see that Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong> did a bit of cherry-picking in its Pinnacle buyout, excluding newest and most challenged property Belterra Park<\/strong>, Pinnacle’s Ohio<\/strong> racino.<\/p>\n

* If you were on the Strip last week and saw vans full of young men in athletic gear pulling up to casinos, you may have witnessed some of the frenzy<\/a> of the Korean Basketball League<\/strong> draft, recently held in Sin City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where MGM Resorts International goes, other casino companies are quick to follow — to Atlanta, in this case. Mayor Kasim Reed\u00a0(pictured) is being coy about who the new suitors are, other than two are domestically based (would Las Vegas Sands … 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":[113,88,120,152,190,112,11,71,69,30,33,25,12,74,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16473"}],"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=16473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16477,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16473\/revisions\/16477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}