{"id":18902,"date":"2016-09-23T10:54:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T18:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=18902"},"modified":"2018-09-11T09:42:06","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T17:42:06","slug":"adelson-expands-caesars-sweetens-the-pot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/adelson-expands-caesars-sweetens-the-pot\/","title":{"rendered":"Adelson expands; Caesars sweetens the pot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> never did get around to building that historical museum it promised Bethlehem<\/strong>, Pennsylvania<\/strong>, and it finished its hotel in quick-and-dirty (and fugly) fashion. But that doesn’t mean that Sands is still clinging to CEO Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s \"Sandspronouncement that going into Bethlehem was “a mistake.” After all, it’s beating the pants off most of its competitors and — when it comes to table-game play — is in a class of its own, making $228 million last year. Sands Bethlehem<\/strong> is going to invest $40 million into an extension of the gaming floor, right up to the shores of the Lehigh River<\/strong>. This enlargement, described as being the size of two football fields, will give Sands Pennsylvania’s largest gaming floor — would you expect Sheldon to settle for anything less?<\/p>\n

A poker room and new restaurants are also components of the plan. Even though detailed specifications have been filed with the\u00a0Department of Community &\u00a0Economic Development<\/strong>, casino CEO Mark Juliano<\/strong> took the rather silly position of saying,\u00a0“We’re not prepared to comment on any plans.” Did he think no diligent journalist would notice<\/a>? Sands has apparently been trying to keeping its powder dry until the results of the referendum on New Jersey<\/strong> gaming expansion is known. The dollar amount for the \"adelson_t200\"expansion was fisked from a 2014 audit that budgeted 40 mil for “table games expansion.” “Word of the expansion has been circulating through the Sands poker room for months, as some players have been eager to leave what resembles a fenced corral in the center of the casino floor,” reported The Morning Call<\/em>. Sitting smack in the middle of the casino floor, the poker “room” is also taking up real estate that could be dedicated to more-remunerative forms of gambling. (Read: baccarat.)<\/p>\n

The biggest hurdle will be getting the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board<\/strong> to sign off on an unprecedented exception to the state-imposed cap of 250 table games. At 237, Sands is already bumping up against the ceiling. Most Pennsylvania casinos don’t have nearly that many tables. Incidentally, the new, electronic-table-game “stadium” is something of a misnomer. It’s a large oval, with everyone seated a floor level, each with his own gaming console. Adelson has always been a law unto himself. Will Pennsylvania regulators create a new class of casino specially for him?<\/p>\n

* Could Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> have finally fired the magic bullet that will mollify its dissatisfied junior creditors? Reuters<\/strong> reports that an additional $1.2 billion will be infused into the bankruptcy settlement, some of it coming from Caesars<\/a>, and the rest from Texas Pacific Group<\/strong> and Apollo Management<\/strong>. Mind you, those junior creditors think they can get more — a lot more — by taking their case to court. This won’t be the last time the fat lady has sung in a Wall Street opera of Wagnerian duration. Still, Caesars stock hit yearlong heights<\/a> once the news got out.<\/p>\n

* “Black Knights” is back in play as the name of Las Vegas’ new NHL<\/strong> franchise. Bill Foley<\/strong>‘s Black Knights Sports & Entertainment<\/strong> just inked a pact with the Howard Hughes Corp<\/strong>. to build a practice facility. Hughes has been dead and gone, lo, these many years yet his posthumous influence continues to be felt in Sin City.<\/p>\n

* Las Vegas-based artist Ginger<\/strong>‘s notorious “Naked Trump” statue discovered that Fremont Street<\/strong> is still a rough place to be. The nude likeness of Donald Trump<\/strong> was covered in graffiti and hacked off at the ankles. Does anybody know where the Culinary Union<\/strong>‘s Bethany Khan<\/strong> was that night?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas Sands never did get around to building that historical museum it promised Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and it finished its hotel in quick-and-dirty (and fugly) fashion. But that doesn’t mean that Sands is still clinging to CEO Sheldon Adelson‘s pronouncement … 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":[151,42,51,14,7,95,25,12,74,8,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18902"}],"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=18902"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22416,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18902\/revisions\/22416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}