{"id":28843,"date":"2020-11-24T08:49:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T16:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=28843"},"modified":"2020-12-01T07:40:50","modified_gmt":"2020-12-01T15:40:50","slug":"a-tale-of-two-nevadas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/a-tale-of-two-nevadas\/","title":{"rendered":"A tale of two Nevadas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October was a tale of two Nevada<\/strong>s, one of which (the north) did quite well whilst the other did not. Gaming revenue statewide was down 19.5%, with the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> acting as a drag anchor, minus 30% at $375 million. Slots were loose, with revenue down 32% on 25% less coin-in. The house played lucky at baccarat, with win up 3.5% but it was a hollow victory, wagering being 42.5% downward. What was gained at baccarat was lost at other table games, which plummeted 38% on 19.5% less wagering. (Good for the players, bad for the house.) Amidst all this bad news, Gov. Steve Sisolak<\/strong> (D) left the door open to a second casino closure<\/a>, although he was vague about how far his Covid-mitigation measures might go. \u201cSpeculating on whether these enhanced restrictions will impact the tourist casinos is challenging to predict,\u201d said casino-law expert Anthony Cabot<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Sisolak goes the full monty, a two-week closure would probably be insufficient as far as public health goes. Explained Stephen M.\u00a0Mille<\/strong>r, director of UNLV<\/strong>\u2019s\u00a0Center for Business and Economic Research,<\/strong> “You probably need more than 14 days to see significant effects, since positive tests, hospitalizations, and deaths follow a dynamic path.” Even if a vaccine debuts next month (a big and complicated “if”), \u201cIt is hard to imagine a world in which we don\u2019t see more restrictive operating environments for U.S. retail casinos across the next two quarters,\u201d forecast Eilers & Krejcik Gaming<\/strong> analyst Chris Grove<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

It’s too soon to measure the impact of Circa<\/strong> on Downtown<\/strong> but better numbers can’t come too soon. The metropolis was -23% at $53 million, while North Las Vegas<\/strong> was -27% for $19 million. The Boulder Strip<\/strong> fell 25% to $59 million and even Laughlin<\/strong> felt the blues, down 13% to $38.5 million. At least miscellaneous Clark County<\/strong> was up 2% to $113 million. Locals-derived revenue was down 11% overall, with 14% less slot win on 5% lower coin-in. Utah<\/strong> continued to be a plasma donor, with Mesquite<\/strong> gaining 7% ($13 million) and Wendover<\/strong> 2% ($17 million). Up north, Reno<\/strong> hopped 6% to $78 million and Lake Tahoe<\/strong> leapt 11% to $21.5 million. The alpine part of the state may have benefited from October’s extra weekend but the south sure didn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a few green shoots in the Las Vegas<\/strong> area. For one, after 20 years of delays<\/a>, Station Casinos <\/strong>is apparently getting earnest about Durango Station<\/strong> in the “most underserved” quadrant of the Valley. Global Market Advisors<\/strong>‘ Brendan Bussmann<\/strong> told the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> that \u201cThe anchor of a facility in the southwest Las Vegas market will be a strong addition to the area, the overall market, and a positive that may come out of the Great Shutdown.\u201d Station, for its part, said that it was making “good progress” (is there such a thing as ‘bad progress’?) on liquidating its main Reno acreage and its 57-acre site near South Point<\/strong>. Station is also looking at selling its four closed casinos\u2014with deed restrictions imposed. How one reinvents, say, Fiesta Henderson<\/strong> as anything other than a casino-hotel is hard to imagine. Sounds like a job for Bart Blatstein<\/strong>. The Palms<\/strong> is halfway out the door already: \u201cThe Fertittas were clear that Palms is not personal to them, and they do not view it as core to their portfolio,\u201d wrote JP Morgan<\/strong> analysts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another sign of hope is that Resorts World Las Vegas<\/strong> has finally started hiring, looking for 6,000 employees<\/a>. The Valley is Resorts World’s oyster, given the number of experienced casino employees who have been laid off or outright terminated. It might start business with the most-experienced workforce of any debuting casino on the Strip since Aria<\/strong> 12 years ago. Property President Scott Sibella<\/strong> (pretty seasoned himself) should consider himself in the catbird seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The NFL<\/strong> is serving up turkey for Thanksgiving all right: A ‘who cares?’ matchup betwixt the Detroit Lions<\/strong> and the Houston Texans<\/strong>. For what it’s worth, the Texans are favored by 2.5 points with an over\/under of 50.5. The Las Vegas Raiders<\/strong> are over\/under champs according to The Lines.com<\/strong>, which has them favored by two (only two?) over the wretched Atlanta Falcons<\/strong>. In what will probably be the season’s best game, the unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers<\/strong> come home favored by three over the Baltimore Ravens<\/strong>, with an over\/under 45.5. Unfortunately, our household does not get NBC<\/strong>, so these Steelers fans will be disenfranchised as it were. The spreads are pretty conservative this week, with the Green Bay Packers<\/strong>‘ 7.5-point edge over the Chicago Bears<\/strong> the closest thing to a beatdown. Incidentally, sports books must be hurting after the “Washington Football Team” blew out the Cincinnati Bengals<\/strong> in a game that was supposed to be a one-point knuckle-biter. Who knew?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an attempt to palliate New South Wales<\/strong> regulators, a penitent Crown Resorts<\/strong> said it would henceforth only do business<\/a> with junketeers who are licensed across all territories in which Crown operates. The question is, is this too little, too late to salvage Crown’s Sydney<\/strong> casino license?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jottings<\/em><\/strong>: MJ Live<\/em> is dead at The Strat<\/strong>\u2014or rather, in a three-week medically induced coma. The show shut down in compliance with Sisolak’s restriction of public gatherings to 50 people or fewer … A correction from yesterday: Presale for Harrah’s Las Vegas<\/strong>‘ new Donny Osmond<\/strong> show starts at 1 p.m.<\/em> Eastern time. The code is CRDONNY and you might have to be a Caesars Rewards<\/strong> member. Or maybe not … Feeling Derek Stevens<\/strong> breathing down its neck, Westgate Las Vegas<\/strong> has retooled the video wall<\/a> in its sports book to make it even high-tech-ier. Crowed NMR Events<\/strong>‘ Doug Whelan<\/strong>, “It\u2019s an awesome display that captivates viewers\u2019 attention with more multiviews than any other project we know of in Vegas\u2014or anywhere else, for that matter.\u201d\u00a0Take that, Derek! … Speaking of Bart Blatstein, Showboat<\/strong> in Atlantic City<\/strong> continues to move forward with its water-park concept. The $100 million project<\/a> will be funded in part with $2.5 million in sales-tax rebates. \u201cWhen you talk about adding options to our offerings as we transition to add more nongaming activities, family fun activities, this is it,\u201d enthused Mayor Marty Small<\/strong> … And finally, a clarification from yesterday. Elaine Wynn<\/strong> applied<\/em> for an age waiver for serving on the Wynn Resorts<\/strong> board, then changed her mind before said waiver could be granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

October was a tale of two Nevadas, one of which (the north) did quite well whilst the other did not. Gaming revenue statewide was down 19.5%, with the Las Vegas Strip acting as a drag anchor, minus 30% at $375 … 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":[23,103,88,244,219,51,14,237,4,97,283,76,255,49,126,207,78,159,254,79,279,74,243,57,8,9,247,184,233],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843"}],"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=28843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28845,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28843\/revisions\/28845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}