{"id":19895,"date":"2017-06-30T07:03:52","date_gmt":"2017-06-30T15:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=19895"},"modified":"2017-06-30T07:29:56","modified_gmt":"2017-06-30T15:29:56","slug":"strip-has-a-strong-may-the-robots-are-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/strip-has-a-strong-may-the-robots-are-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"Strip has a strong May; The robots are coming"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> casinos posted a 3% revenue increase in May, led by a 12% upswing in baccarat revenue (on only 3% more wagering). Slot <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-19896\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/flamingo3-300x203.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/flamingo3-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/flamingo3-150x102.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/flamingo3-768x521.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/flamingo3.jpg 982w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>coin-in was up 4% but winnings were flat. Non-baccarat table games won 3% more even though wagering was 5%. The gross gaming revenue for the Strip was $547 million, while statewide it was just short of a billion-dollar month, coming in at $991.5 million. Locals lost 2% more, mainly driven by a 6% increase in casino winnings at the slots, while table games fell 6% on 1% less wagering. (The calendar was neutral with 2016, having the same number of weekend days.)<\/p>\n<p>In the valley, only <strong>North Las Vegas<\/strong> was revenue-negative, being down 1.5% ($27 million). Downtown <strong>Las Vegas<\/strong> was up 9.5%, grossing <!--more-->$55 million. The <strong>Boulder Strip<\/strong> was up 3% to an even $80 million, while uncategorized <strong>Clark County<\/strong> rose 2% to finish at $98 million. <strong>Laughlin<\/strong> was 9% to $43 million and <strong>Reno<\/strong> rode a 2% increase to $51. Volatile as ever, <strong>Lake Tahoe<\/strong> shot up 30%, contributing $18 million.<\/p>\n<p>* At the risk of sounding like <strong>Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>\u00a0fulminating against\u00a0the invention of the McCormick reaper and the cotton gin, I must register some reservations about the concept of the <strong>Tipsy Robot<\/strong>, newly installed at <strong>Miracle Mile Shops<\/strong>. <a href=\"https:\/\/lasvegassun.com\/news\/2017\/jun\/28\/bionic-bartenders-deployed-at-las-vegas-strip-bar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The two-robot bar<\/a>, the brainchild of <strong>Rico Armeni<\/strong> <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-19897\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Tipsy-Robot-Opening-4-300x206.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Tipsy-Robot-Opening-4-300x206.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Tipsy-Robot-Opening-4-150x103.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Tipsy-Robot-Opening-4-768x528.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Tipsy-Robot-Opening-4-1024x704.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>(one of the best restaurant minds in town) will prepare your beverage of choice With all due respect to Armeni I&#8217;m not entirely sold on the concept. I&#8217;d like a bartender who takes more than 70 seconds to prepare my dirty martini and who is receptive to human input. Also, I&#8217;d have more confidence in the Tipsy Robot&#8217;s prospects if it wasn&#8217;t in Miracle Mile, one of the Strip&#8217;s dodgier malls. Still, with access to 72,000 prospective customers a day auguries for success seem good and perhaps the concept will spread further along the Strip. Still, I&#8217;d hate to see <strong>Rhumbar<\/strong> being run by robots.<\/p>\n<p>* Speaking of drinking, the Lege in <strong>North Carolina<\/strong> has decreed that <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wect.com\/story\/35774470\/expanded-casino-night-bill-approved-by-north-carolina-senate\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" class=\"broken_link\">you can booze away<\/a> at charity bingo and raffle nights. Bottoms up!<\/p>\n<p>* Casinos caught a break when the <strong>Baton Rouge Metro Council<\/strong> failed to pass a proposed smoking ban, with a do-over now scheduled for August. <strong>JP Morgan<\/strong> analyst <strong>Joseph Greff<\/strong> predicts that, if passed, the ban would have a $1\/share negative effect on <strong>Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong> stock, adding, &#8220;The decision to defer the vote reflected the &#8230;\u00a0uncertainty on how the smoking ban would be enforced and how much time would be necessary\/appropriate for casinos and bars to tweak their business models.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Las Vegas Strip casinos posted a 3% revenue increase in May, led by a 12% upswing in baccarat revenue (on only 3% more wagering). Slot coin-in was up 4% but winnings were flat. Non-baccarat table games won 3% more even &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/strip-has-a-strong-may-the-robots-are-coming\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[88,18,51,4,117,76,49,84,78,30,6,25,79,8,9,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19895"}],"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=19895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19900,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19895\/revisions\/19900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}