{"id":27905,"date":"2020-09-04T09:40:09","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T17:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=27905"},"modified":"2020-09-09T06:50:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T14:50:45","slug":"usher-to-play-the-strip-and-other-doings-at-caesars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/usher-to-play-the-strip-and-other-doings-at-caesars\/","title":{"rendered":"Usher to play the Strip and other doings at Caesars"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What does Tom Reeg<\/strong> know that the rest of us don’t? In the first big contract signing since the Covid-19<\/strong> pandemic (still playing an extended engagement in Las Vegas<\/strong>) hit, Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> has inked a deal with Usher<\/strong> to play the Colosseum<\/strong>. Actually, it looks like a safe bet, as Usher wouldn’t debut until July 16 of next year, by which point we will surely have turned the corner on Coronavirus<\/strong>. There aren’t a lot of specifics on the show at the point, other than that it will encompass both 20-year-old hits and new songs alike. But you don’t have to wait long to buy tickets, which go on sale next Thursday at 7 a.m. Eastern time (a fan presale will conducted from Monday to Wednesday). This will either give you a reason to return to the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> or serve as a litmus test of how soon you are ready to come back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

$500 million apiece for a Manhattan<\/strong> casino license may be a bit rich, it seems. Not with the way prime hotel real estate is falling in value. A Chinese private equity firm, Cindat<\/strong>, is cashing out of seven pocket hotels for $400 million\u2014a substantial loss<\/a> on the $571 million it paid. Realtor Kevin Davis<\/strong> tried to spin it as a positive: \u201cNow is a time to invest in New York<\/strong> at a historically attractive long-term basis. We are in the market with a number of transactions in New York City<\/strong> right now and are seeing tremendous interest from both domestic and foreign investors.\u201d If they don’t include Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> do they even matter? <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Only six hotel deals closed in Gotham between January and July. Even Hilton Hotels<\/strong> is bugging out. It’s permanently closing<\/a> Hilton Times Square<\/strong>, taking 487 rooms out of the market and putting 200 workers on the dole. Strangely, Hilton’s filing said that it both was and wasn’t <\/em>permanently shuttering the hotel. According to a Sunstone Hotel Investors<\/strong> mouthpiece, a \u201cdefinitive reopening date has not been determined or established and will be impacted by negotiations with our lender, as well as market conditions.\u201d The upside of all this, if there is one, is that a potential casino developer might be able to amass a substantial amount of real estate at a bargain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While we’re in a New York state of mind, it should be noted that Gov. Andrew Cuomo<\/strong> (D) may have finally softened his stone-hearted stance on casino reopenings. At any rate, Resorts World Catskills<\/strong> is planning to resume operations next Wednesday. Resorts World promises a high-level of salubriousness, including temperature screenings at points of ingress, plexiglas screens on 150 table games and “select” slots, mandatory masking and 200 new sanitization stations. Said property President Scott Molina<\/strong>, “While the casino floor may look a little different, all of these changes are part of our 21-point plan, created with your health and safety in mind. Regulating capacity on the casino floor will allow for easier social distancing, and sanitation stations will make it easy for you to wipe down table games and other common areas before touching them. Once we are back open, we will constantly be evaluating the situation in order to gauge when we can return our full suite of amenities to our valued guests.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Molina’s work gained the endorsement of state Sen. Jen Metzger<\/strong>, who vouched that “I’ve personally toured the facility twice with government officials, and have been extremely impressed by the lengths to which Resorts World has gone to create a safe environment for guests and team members during this pandemic. I am confident that the casino has taken, and will continue to take, every precaution for the health and safety of guests and employees.”\u00a0Hear, hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next door, in New Jersey<\/strong>, Gov. Phil Murphy<\/strong> (D) has suddenly given the OK for indoor dining\u2014with conditions. Small restaurants might as well stay closed, as they can only operate at 25% capacity. As for the casinos, indoor drinking will be allowed\u2014as well as smoking and vaping, effective today. Says one S&G<\/em> reader, “What could possibly be safer than drunk gamblers blowing clouds of smoke everywhere?” What Murphy gives with one hand, he takes away with other. He is reported to be contemplating increases in both Atlantic City Expressway<\/strong> tolls and the state gasoline tax\u2014two “gifts” Atlantic City<\/strong> could do very well without.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jottings<\/em><\/strong>: In other Caesars news, the company has made it official: It will reopen hotel rooms at The Linq<\/strong> on September 10. It is currently advertising Labor Day room rates (not for The Linq) starting at $32\/night … The company is also selling low-grossing Harrah’s Louisiana Downs<\/strong>, near Bossier City<\/strong>. The racino’s non-accretive nature is reflected in the $22 million sale price paid by obscure<\/a> Rubico Acquisition<\/strong> … If you tried to eat at Bacchanal Buffet<\/strong> at Caesars Palace<\/strong> last month, you may have noticed that the promised August reopening didn’t this happen. The new timeline is “later this year” … Pig out instead at Wynncore<\/strong>‘s buffet this weekend: It’s reclosing on Sept. 7<\/a>. According to Wynn Resorts<\/strong>, guests rejected the new, served-at-your-table format … Mosquitos are going to love Excalibur<\/strong>, judging by a photo of a huge puddle of stagnant, brackish water posted on Twitter<\/strong>. Replied one reader, “Gross.” That says it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does Tom Reeg know that the rest of us don’t? In the first big contract signing since the Covid-19 pandemic (still playing an extended engagement in Las Vegas) hit, Caesars Entertainment has inked a deal with Usher to play … 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":[23,244,18,4,120,283,84,245,248,101,254,31,9,100,1,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27905"}],"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=27905"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27908,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27905\/revisions\/27908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}