{"id":18397,"date":"2016-06-17T10:04:58","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T18:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18397"},"modified":"2016-06-17T14:52:58","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T22:52:58","slug":"atlantic-city-goes-to-pot-mgm-boyd-pinnacle-red-rock-resorts-meet-the-street","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/atlantic-city-goes-to-pot-mgm-boyd-pinnacle-red-rock-resorts-meet-the-street\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City goes to pot; MGM, Boyd, Pinnacle, Red Rock Resorts meet The Street"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve come a long way from the days of Reefer Madness<\/em>. Latest case in point: Atlantic City<\/strong>, where\u00a0Assemblyman Reed Gusciora<\/strong> (D) is pushing recreational “tea” as a cure\u00a0to the city’s penurious condition. Weed would be legalized on the Boardwalk and taxed 20%. \"atlantic_city_boat\"Half of that amount would go to alleviating Atlantic City’s fiscal problems, another 30% would be dedicated to transportation infrastructure, and the remainder would be split between anti-drug enforcement and women’s health. Gusciora’s introduced legislation called “Promoting Opportunities for Tomorrow” (POT, geddit<\/a>?), arguing that prosecuting marijuana offenses\u00a0\u201cis archaic and has had a disparate, harmful impact on minority communities …\u00a0A well-designed and heavily regulated marijuana industry would move Atlantic City\u2019s economy\u00a0into the 21st century and provide extreme economic benefits to a new generation of Atlantic City residents and business interests, including existing hotels and casinos.\u201d (You can see the casinos installing enclosed, pot-smoking lounges even as we speak, can’t you?)<\/p>\n

Gusciora’s idea doesn’t appeal to all his fellow Democrats.\u00a0\u201cThough we appreciate the Assemblyman\u2019s efforts to create additional revenue streams for Atlantic City, I can\u2019t support promoting drug use,\u201d said City Council President Marty Small<\/strong> (D). As for Mayor Don Guardian<\/strong> (R), he’s keeping his opinions to himself. We don’t know if Gusciora is up for reelection this fall but we’ve already got a campaign slogan: “Weed for Reed.”<\/p>\n

And of course we’ve all got the same, burning question: What does Glenn Straub<\/strong> think?<\/p>\n

* MGM Resorts International<\/strong> was feeling its oats when it met with JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong>. It expects MGM National Harbor<\/strong> to be its most profitable non-\"MGMVegas casino “benefitting from 3,000 rooms within trolley distance.” High-roller villas are behind schedule at MGM Grand Cotai<\/strong> but, when the megaresort opens, “MGM continues to expect the property to punch above its weight.” Nor is REIT MGM Growth Properties<\/strong> just looking at acquisitions outside the company. Bellagio<\/strong>, The Mirage<\/strong> and Circus Circus<\/strong> are back on the sale block, as is the in-progress Park Theater<\/strong>, plus joint ventures CityCenter<\/strong> and Grand Victoria<\/strong> (in Elgin<\/strong>, Illinois<\/strong>). Buying Boyd Gaming<\/strong> out of Borgata<\/strong> “should provide an influx of new [player’s club] members as there is only a 5% overlap between M Life<\/strong> and Borgata\u2019s existing program.”<\/p>\n

The company expects to generate $10 million a year in cash flow from its new M Life Rewards Master Card. As for the advent of a new, mobile application for sports betting, that may explain MGM’s rather sudden display of interest in daily fantasy sports, for which it has been lobbying of late.<\/p>\n

* Deutsche Bank<\/strong>‘s Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> has been a busy boy this week, meeting with MGM, Boyd and Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>. Boyd opined that it was from done extracting cost savings from its recent acquisitions. It also expected improved performance at IP Biloxi<\/strong>, where “management is beginning to see visitation improve post the initial \"Eastsidemarketing blitz from the Scarlet Pearl<\/strong> …\u00a0As it pertains to Eastside Cannery<\/strong>, management believes there is an opportunity to market more prudently to the Sam’s Town<\/strong>\/Eastside Cannery customers given the proximity of the assets.” Well, if they say so, although I still believe<\/a> Eastside Cannery to be a redundant purchase.<\/p>\n

Like Boyd, Pinnacle expects this month to be a more reliable barometer of the regional casino market than April and May were. (In Boyd’s case, May softness will be ameliorated when end-of-April slot revenues are reported as part of May’s numbers.) The company has added high-end Asian gaming pits at Ameristar St. Charles<\/strong> and Ameristar Kansas City<\/strong>, and an expanded smoking terrace at Belterra<\/strong> has translated into higher win per unit. “We believe the exit of Caesars<\/strong> [Entertainment<\/strong>] from the market should also help profitability as we anticipate a reduced marketing effort,” Santarelli concluded.<\/p>\n

He also dropped in on Station Casinos<\/strong>, which is deep in planning for the post-acquisition era at the Palms<\/strong>. As you might expect, Station expects the 50\/50 tourists-vs.-\"palms-pic\"locals split to skew more toward locals once Station takes over (and brings the Palms into the Boarding Pass<\/strong> fold). It also hopes to bring down the amount of rooms (40%) that are being booked through online travel agencies, “a significant cost save, in our view.” Out at Red Rock Resort<\/strong>, whose growth was stunted by the Great Recession, meeting business is driving the bus (55% of room nights), which may portend a new convention center and even an additional hotel tower.<\/p>\n

After a long period of seeming torpor, Station has turned out to be a beehive of activity. It’s applied for a gaming license in Reno<\/strong>, igniting a long-in-abeyance diversification into that market. Although the decision could come after the trigger-pulling on Durango Station<\/strong>, the smaller scale of the Reno project leads Santarelli to believe the latter will reach fruition sooner, a $100 million casino in a market that has seen “exceptionally strong” trends of late.<\/p>\n

* Casino gambling failed in the Georgia Lege<\/strong> but the Georgia Lottery Corp<\/strong>. keeps on trucking. It just signed Scientific Games<\/strong> to a seven-year extension of their current pact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve come a long way from the days of Reefer Madness. Latest case in point: Atlantic City, where\u00a0Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D) is pushing recreational “tea” as a cure\u00a0to the city’s penurious condition. Weed would be legalized on the Boardwalk and … 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":[23,88,60,73,56,14,152,185,7,58,68,37,62,53,72,11,35,39,159,30,33,79,160,57,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18397"}],"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=18397"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18411,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18397\/revisions\/18411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}