{"id":19057,"date":"2016-11-01T06:56:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T14:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19057"},"modified":"2016-11-03T10:46:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T18:46:34","slug":"turnaround-in-macao-trop-claims-another-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/turnaround-in-macao-trop-claims-another-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"Turnaround in Macao; Trop claims another victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s finally solid ground for optimism with regard to Macao<\/b>, admittedly a good market to be in even at the worst of times. October gaming revenues surged 9%. Deutsche Bank<\/b> \"the-parisian\"analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/b> took the numbers with a couple of grains of salt, noting that it was a holiday month and a possible, second VIP-player “retrenchment” might be on the horizon. That being said, both Parisian<\/b> and Wynn Palace<\/b> seem to be driving improved results, as was hoped of them. At this time last year the enclave was in free fall, with gaming revenues down 22%. Last month’s numbers were the strongest in 21 months, to give you an idea of the depth of the trench in which operators found themselves. Not even a visit from China<\/b>‘s premier measurably dampened the October results, though. Neither did Typhoon Haima<\/b> or the detention of The Crown 18, although the latter could chill VIP play going forward.<\/p>\n

JP Morgan<\/b> analyst Joseph Greff<\/b> predicts modest growth for the rest of the year, with gambling revenues up 5% next year. Of the publicly traded Macanese operators, he likes MGM Resorts International<\/b> best from a risk\/rewards perspective, but that has to do more with MGM’s stateside operations than Macao. Remember, MGM Cotai<\/b> has the least table game inventory it can cannibalize from the company’s older property when the new one opens, putting it at a competitive disadvantage.<\/p>\n

* A slight correction: Pennsylvania<\/b> lawmakers have a two-week lame-duck session this month in which they can fix the host-community tax mess. Whether they will<\/i> is quite another question. For one thing, the House of Representatives’ version, while retaining the state Senate’s $10 million-a-year formula, strikes down the sunset provision, which would have forced a revisit to the issue next session. For another, neither version satisfies prime litigant Mount Airy Casino<\/b>, which is already promising to go back to court, according to Global Gaming Business<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"bethlehem\"“This isn’t status quo and it isn’t helping anyone,” said Michael Sklar<\/b>, attorney for Mount Airy. The state Senate also may not care to take up the matter during its November fortnight. State Sen. Pat Browne<\/b> (R), whose constituents include Sands Bethlehem<\/b>, told The Morning Call<\/i> he and his colleagues would “take a look at it, but we still haven’t decided whether to vote on it.” Interestingly, Sands — which had pronounced itself satisfied with the host-fee structure — is now balking at making voluntary contributions in lieu of taxes, as other casinos are agreeing to do.<\/p>\n

* Continuing the Tropicana Las Vegas<\/b>‘ new reputation as the place shows go to die, revue Cherry Boom Boom<\/i> closed Oct. 26. However, in a bizarre PR move, the closure wasn’t formally announced until yesterday, five days after the fact. I guess the producers wanted to save face.<\/p>\n

* Among the factors that hamstring casino operators in Macao is the inability to offer sports betting. The latter is the sole province of Macau Slot Co.<\/b>, another Stanley Ho<\/b> monopoly. However, there’s cause for hope — the concession comes up for renewal next year, raising the possibility that the government will allow the casino industry as a whole to get in on the action. In another Macanese development, Studio City<\/b> marked its first anniversary. Already? Time sure flies when you’re underperforming the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There’s finally solid ground for optimism with regard to Macao, admittedly a good market to be in even at the worst of times. October gaming revenues surged 9%. Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli took the numbers with a couple of … 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":[14,4,62,93,11,69,95,33,12,74,61,32,31,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19057"}],"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=19057"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19088,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19057\/revisions\/19088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}