{"id":19178,"date":"2016-12-01T08:21:59","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T16:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19178"},"modified":"2018-06-29T08:55:33","modified_gmt":"2018-06-29T16:55:33","slug":"caesars-no-free-ride-straub-sues-new-jersey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/caesars-no-free-ride-straub-sues-new-jersey\/","title":{"rendered":"Caesars: No free ride; Straub sues New Jersey"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an utterly predictable move, Caesars Entertainment<\/b> will begin charging<\/a> for parking at its Las Vegas Strip<\/b> casinos in late December, at the same when MGM Resorts International<\/b>‘s paid-parking regime is expected to go wide, encompassing locals. (December 29 is the date we overheard from an MGM exec.) It’s bad \"Linqenough that you have to pay a premium for everything in a Strip casino, even a simple cup coffee but the industry wants an even-bigger share of your wallet. In the case of Caesars, the surprise is not that it followed MGM’s lead but that it didn’t do it sooner, given the company’s financial straits. Only The Rio<\/b> will be exempt for the new policy (good for business there, I should expect). That’s not out of clemency but because it would not be “feasible<\/a>.” Said a Caesars spokesman, “It’s simply a huge parking area with ample places to park.” Once the necessary infrastructure is in place at Harrah’s Las Vegas<\/b> and Linq<\/b> they will be first, with other Caesars properties following irregularly.<\/p>\n

There will be an exemption for locals, at least initially, and for platinum-level Total Rewards<\/b> members. It’s a heckuva way to keep guests on-property, if it costs you $10 to park every time you take your car out of the garage and return. Caesars had the nerve to say the move would lead to an “improved parking experience” and excused itself by saying it had a shortage of parking spaces. So is the answer to build more parking? (There’s plenty of unused Caesars acreage behind the Strip.) No, it’s to potentially deter business by imposing this levy. The policy change is deliberately regressive, designed to cater to “our highest-spending customers,” those for whom paid parking will be less of an issue.<\/p>\n

Wynncore<\/b> was quick to follow with a half-measure whereby you will be charged for valet parking, at a cost which ratchets up expensively<\/a> if you leave your car in valet for more than four hours — as will those at Caesars. Since it takes rather more effort to find a parking spot oneself, this charge for an added service can be rationalized — but not without a twinge of fiscal pain.<\/p>\n

* Better put that Revel\/Ten<\/b> reopening on hold. After filing an application for a gaming license, owner Glenn Straub<\/b> is suing<\/a> the New Jersey Casino Control Commission<\/b> \"revel_0469\"
\nfor being required to apply for said license, arguing that it’s superfluous since he will merely be a landlord. “Instead of creating roadblock after roadblock, this agency should be doing everything in its power to facilitate getting this casino opening. Doing business here should not be this hard,” Straub’s attorney said, asking, “Does it matter what the nature of the business conducted is?” (If Straub is getting a percentage of the casino revenue, yes.) Gambling, it must be conceded, will be a small part of Ten if it is completed according to Straub’s ever-evolving plans, which include everything from virtual-reality horse riding to indoor skydiving, scuba lessons to e-sports (Straub has his ear to the ground), a Nikki Beach club and a cinema<\/p>\n

* Last month in Macao<\/b> was in line with Wall Street<\/b>‘s expectations, with gambling revenue up 14%. JP Morgan<\/b> analyst Joseph Greff<\/b> attributed the result to “improving VIP player confidence that it’s okay to return to Macau and [the] from recent new property \"Macau-Panoramic\"openings.” Such big numbers, however, might not play well at City Hall. According to Greff, “our industry contacts in Macau have indicated that the government does not like to see anything approaching double digit growth in VIP. Time will tell if this will be an issue.” (At present it is in the low single digits.) That sounds economically perverse to us but we defer to the experts. Wrote Deutsche Bank<\/b> analyst Carlo Santarelli<\/b>, “we remain skeptical with respect to the sustainability of the segment, given current currency devaluation and the potential mainland intervention, should VIP growth continue to accelerate and capital flight continue.” To the latter end, travelers to Macao may soon be required to declare amounts over $15,000.<\/p>\n

* December 6 is the target date to pass casino legalization<\/a> in the lower house of Japan<\/b>‘s parliament. Before we get all excited about a gaming market estimated as being worth as much as $40 billion a year, note the Shinzo Abe<\/b> is still reliant on gambling-averse coalition partner Komeito Party<\/b> to get the bill through and that opposition parties are boycotting the debate altogether. We’d say this legislation has a high slope to surmount.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an utterly predictable move, Caesars Entertainment will begin charging for parking at its Las Vegas Strip casinos in late December, at the same when MGM Resorts International‘s paid-parking regime is expected to go wide, encompassing locals. (December 29 is … 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":[23,14,105,4,185,7,171,62,11,10,33,25,157,32,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19178"}],"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=19178"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19178\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21983,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19178\/revisions\/21983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}