{"id":24966,"date":"2019-09-24T11:30:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T19:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=24966"},"modified":"2022-03-07T07:17:32","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T15:17:32","slug":"hooters-out-ruffin-in-sands-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/hooters-out-ruffin-in-sands-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Hooters out, Ruffin in, Sands up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keeping its signature\u00a0Os, Hooters Hotel Casino<\/strong> becomes an OYO Hotel<\/strong> property this week, with a full transformation expected by \"\"year’s end. (Gotta be ready for New Year’s Eve.) The changes are subtle at first. Hotel management goes over to Highgate<\/strong> while Paragon Gaming<\/strong>, getting a vote of confidence, stays on as casino operator. Night Owl<\/strong> showroom tickets are still valid and your loyalty card points will roll over OYO Rewards Club<\/strong>. OYO says that Hooters is merely its first hotel in Las Vegas<\/strong>. It’s a sellers’ market right now, so we’re curious where OYO will land next.<\/p>\n

* Phil Ruffin<\/strong> is tipped by Bloomberg<\/em> as the phantom buyer of Circus Circus<\/strong>, which practically makes it official<\/a>. JP Morgan<\/strong> \"\"analysts value the clown casino at 8X cash flow, so it will be interesting to see if MGM Resorts International<\/strong> gives Ruffin the same home-town discount he got on Treasure Island<\/strong> and knocks it down to 7X EBITDA. If Treasure Island is any guide, Ruffin will remake things in his own image\u2014but probably won’t be in a hurry to implode Circus Circus proper, especially with so much underemployed acreage with which to play.<\/p>\n

* The effect of MGM Springfield<\/strong> on Connecticut<\/strong> tribal casinos appears to be slackening. At least the declines are smaller than they were<\/a>. In July, Mohegan Sun<\/strong> and Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> \"\"had slot-revenue drops of 15% and 11%. Last month, Mohegan Sun was down only 6.5% and Foxwoods slipped 5%. Mohegan Sun’s slot revenue was $50 million, of which the state got $12.5 million. Foxwoods reaped $39.5 million from the one-armed bandits, sending $10 million to Hartford<\/strong>. By comparison, MGM Springfield made $15.5 million at the slots, far behind the tribal behemoths. Even smash-hit Encore Boston Harbor<\/strong> could get no closer to the tribal leaders than $20 million. One underestimates the durability of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun at one’s peril, as MGM is learning the hard way.<\/p>\n

* One stock trader with brass balls bought $4 million in Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> options last week, reckoning on the stock reaching $63.20 by the end of January. You’ve got to admire that kind of cool nerve. Trading at the moment at $56.30, LVS shares don’t have to climb very far for this high-stakes wager to pay dividends.<\/p>\n

* Macao<\/strong>‘s casino economy shows signs of continued strength. Junket commissions were at a four-year high<\/a> in 2018, while the industry’s contribution to the local economy\u2014$25 billion-plus\u2014was the most since 2014. Reinvestment in the local economy was also up. Operating expenses rose 14%, largely driven by comps. 18.5% more was investing in research and marketing. Wages were up 5%.<\/p>\n

On the other side of the ledger, the 2019 decline has yet to hit bottom<\/a>. Morgan Stanley<\/strong> analysts project a 3% year\/year dip and for next year they’re predicting 3% revenue growth. So it’s a wash but obviously things could be a lot worse.\u00a0\u201cMany \"\"macroeconomic indicators are suggesting a VIP recovery between now and December, yet VIP revenue has deteriorated further in the past three months,\u201d\u00a0wrote analysts Praveen Choudhary<\/strong> and Thomas Allen<\/strong>. They described declines in mass-market revenue as “an even bigger concern,” should it cool off in 4Q19. Sands China<\/strong> and Wynn Macau<\/strong> have already announced slowdowns in premium-mass business, “as well as slower growth in room nights sold, owing to delays in new hotel openings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mass-market revenue is expected to grow 7% next year, compensating for an anticipated 2% slippage in VIP win. Meanwhile, Grand Lisboa Palace<\/strong>, that monument to Stanley Ho<\/strong>, drags even farther behind schedule. Completion is now foreseen in January 2021. Its license expires in June 2022. Well done, Sociedade de Jogos de Macau<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keeping its signature\u00a0Os, Hooters Hotel Casino becomes an OYO Hotel property this week, with a full transformation expected by year’s end. (Gotta be ready for New Year’s Eve.) The changes are subtle at first. Hotel management goes over to Highgate … 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":[251,166,153,241,62,53,112,245,167,212,119,213,9,38,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24966"}],"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=24966"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30838,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24966\/revisions\/30838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}