{"id":21510,"date":"2018-04-12T10:07:09","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=21510"},"modified":"2018-04-12T10:07:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T18:07:09","slug":"mgm-connecticut-hopes-fading-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mgm-connecticut-hopes-fading-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"MGM Connecticut hopes fading … for now"},"content":{"rendered":"

MGM Bridgeport<\/strong> will have to wait a bit. According to Connecticut<\/strong>\u00a0Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz<\/strong> (D), the best chance of passage of any gaming-related legislation is narrow<\/a>. Expressing misgivings about the \"\"consequences of further diluting the Nutmeg State’s gambling market Aresimowicz said, “we have to have a comprehensive view of gambling here in the state of Connecticut and what that looks like.\u201d That’s clearly not a near-term goal. Bridgeport<\/strong>‘s\u00a0Rep. Steven Stafstrom<\/strong> (D) added, “We could pass a bill this year that allows an RFP process to go forward and then next session come back and act on a more comprehensive gaming strategy for the state that may or may not include pieces that came out of that RFP process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Either way, it buys time for Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> and Mohegan Sun<\/strong> to get on with their satellite casino in East Windsor<\/strong>. If the Lege is presented with a looming fait accompli<\/em>, will it be less inclined to risk the quarter-billion-dollar bonanza that is tribal gambling in Connecticut? MGM Resorts International<\/strong>, meanwhile, is talking out of both sides of its \"\"mouth, stumping for a $675 million resort yet saying that the tribal casinos have been rendered obsolete by competition in neighboring states, Internet gambling and the prospect of legal sports betting. That doesn’t make a heckuva a lot of sense to us, but MGM has to perform some legislative CPR. A\u00a0Public Safety &\u00a0Security Committee<\/strong> vote to seek competitive bids for a new casino appears dead until the next session. The legislators who voted for it are playing Russian roulette with casino revenue-sharing but don’t seem to care.<\/p>\n

* Four Winds Casino<\/strong> in South Bend<\/strong>, Indiana<\/strong>, may not be the threat to Blue Chip Casino<\/strong> that was initially feared, especially since it’s only a Class II facility (no tables). While Blue Chip was slightly better than flat \"\"with last year, that $15 million was enough for the Boyd Gaming<\/strong> casino to post its strongest March<\/a> since 2013. \u201cApparently, the market decided table games are important,\u201d opined Ed Feigenbaum<\/strong>, editor of Indiana Gaming Insight.<\/em><\/p>\n

* Genting<\/strong> continues to pinky-swear that it’s business as usual<\/a> at Resorts World Las Vegas<\/strong>, saying it has let $600 million worth of contracts. Completion is pegged for late 2020. However, it is indicative of Genting’s priorities that it recently stated, apropos of Japan<\/strong>, \u201cGenting Singapore continues to be engaged in this significant business opportunity and Genting Singapore\u2019s management is diligently preparing for the eventual bidding process.” We’ll bet they are.<\/p>\n

* The long-awaited bridge to Macao<\/strong> \u201cmay open to traffic as soon as June,\u201d according to Deutsche Bank<\/strong> analyst Karen Tang<\/strong>. Based on \"\"that information, she estimates that mass-market play will go from 8% of Macanese market share to 13%<\/a>. (That’s music to Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>‘s ears.) At the risk of belaboring the obvious, Tang wrote, \u201cThis should boost Macau visitations, initially from Hong Kong<\/strong> and eventually also from China<\/strong>, as the bridge connects the Hong Kong airport to Macau in a 30-minute journey. This is positive not only for mass gaming but also for retail and hotels.\u201d Currently, 30% of Macao visitors arrive by ferry from Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

In other news, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau<\/strong> continues to fall farther behind on Lisboa Palace<\/strong>. It’s now looking at a late-2019 opening. At \"\"this rate, SJM will be lucky to have the place done before its concession renewal comes up for review. SJM’s Ambrose So<\/strong> continues to insist the megaresort will be finished later this year and start booking business early next year. Less sanguine are Sanford C. Bernstein<\/strong> analysts, who think an early 2020 opening is not out of the question.<\/p>\n

* Mark your calendars for August 3. That’s when Las Vegas<\/strong> institution Brad Garrett<\/strong> becomes the new voice of Eeyore<\/strong> in Disney<\/strong>‘s Christopher Robin<\/em><\/a>, starring Ewan McGregor<\/strong>. Garrett seems exceptionally well cast as the gloomy gray donkey but it remains to be seen how much of a culture shock a CGI Winnie-the-Pooh<\/strong> and friends are, as we’re so used to seeing them in two-dimensional animation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MGM Bridgeport will have to wait a bit. According to Connecticut\u00a0Speaker of the House Joe Aresimowicz (D), the best chance of passage of any gaming-related legislation is narrow. Expressing misgivings about the consequences of further diluting the Nutmeg State’s gambling … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14058,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,166,120,68,171,62,11,167,10,33,213,9,100,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21510"}],"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=21510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21511,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21510\/revisions\/21511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}