{"id":28958,"date":"2020-12-22T06:44:02","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T14:44:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=28958"},"modified":"2020-12-30T07:09:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T15:09:18","slug":"mixed-readings-on-vegas-recovery-trump-vs-titus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/mixed-readings-on-vegas-recovery-trump-vs-titus\/","title":{"rendered":"Mixed readings on Vegas recovery; Trump vs. Titus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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How bad is it in Las Vegas<\/strong>? Well, the latest edict from MGM Resorts International<\/strong> is that The Mirage<\/strong> will be closed from Monday at noon to Thursday at noon, INCLUDING<\/em> the casino. (We felt that news needed a bit of extra emphasis.) Even the volcano is shutting down. That’s dire. It’s also further confirmation of what we’ve been hearing for months, that Las Vegas’ recovery is wont to be sluggish<\/a>. While 2022 seems a long time to wait for a comeback, it could be worse. Tourism to New York City<\/strong> is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025<\/em>. What tourists want now, asserts the Reno Gazette-Journal<\/em>‘s Ed Komenda<\/strong> is “a place that’s clean and secluded and far from the perils of the pandemic.” That’s not Vegas, where Covid-19 levels are skyrocketing and Gov. Steve Sisolak<\/strong> (D) dithers over<\/a> whether to re-close the casinos. (Will the Nevada Resort Association<\/strong> or Culinary Union<\/strong> allow it?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Veteran reporter Howard Stutz<\/strong> points to a near-total absence of international travel. “That’s why Palazzo<\/strong> closed. They didn’t have international business. It’s a ghost town there.” He thinks midweek closures will be the order of the day. After all, Sin City is trying to maintain 2020 A.D. room inventory on 1993 levels of business. Stutz says recovery projections are “all over the place. If the vaccine works, if this pandemic starts going away and other parts of the economy start rebounding, then we’re going to start seeing more visitation maybe by summer.” Until then, he predicts a “terrible” November (think how bad it is elsewhere in the country and then magnify that) and worse December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Macquarie<\/strong> analyst Chad Beynon<\/strong> tells Komenda, “If it’s fully distributed and kids are back at school at the end of the first quarter, I think that’s when people will start to get more comfortable\u2014when their lives are a little more normal.” That’s a big “if,” given what we are reading about patchy, slow vaccine rollouts<\/a>. And vaccinating 300 million people, at minimum, is a pretty tall order for the incoming Biden administration. At least pitchman Billy Vassiliadis<\/strong> is confident: “There will be a boom in Vegas. In my regular life, I’ve either said it or heard it a hundred times: ‘Honey, we’ll celebrate my birthday next year when it’s OK,’ or ‘Honey, we’ll do our anniversary next year’ or ‘We’ll save up all the events we missed and have one big party.'” Already there is some vaccine-related uptick<\/a>. Hotel companies like Hyatt<\/strong>, Marriott<\/strong> and\u00a0Best Western<\/strong> are seeing their highest booking levels since the Great Shutdown in March. 9,512 bookings were made on Dec. 11 alone. That’s right amid the average number for a year previous. And, yes, Vegas was one of the most-popular destinations … and the only casino-enabled one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acquisitions, at least on a small scale, continue to be the rule in a pandemic-driven world. CQ Holdings<\/strong> has doubled down on the Baton Rouge<\/strong> market. After snapping up antediluvian Belle of Baton Rouge<\/strong>, it has moved on the operational rights to Hollywood Baton Rouge<\/strong>. The real estate will still be owned by Gaming & Leisure Properties<\/strong> and CQ will benefit from GLPI’s continuing plans to move the casino onshore. The deal will cost CQ a tidy $28 million<\/a>. Given the small percentage of Baton Rouge’s gaming revenue represented by the two boats (in a market loomed over by L’Auberge Baton Rouge<\/strong>), we’d be pretty surprised if regulators raised antitrust objections. Last fiscal year L’Auberge won $123.5 million compared to a combined $64 million for Belle and Hollywood. Of course, revenues could increase with capital improvements and with a dual infusion of DraftKings. Even chief regulator Mike Noel<\/strong> allowed, \u201cMaybe with those changes, they\u2019ll be able to compete a little better at the two downtown casinos.\u201d We agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In what may be a difference without a distinction, Penn National Gaming<\/strong> has purchased the operational side of Hollywood Perryville<\/strong> for $31 million from GLPI. The latter will still own the physical asset. Penn’s reasons for exercising this option include having a platform in Maryland<\/strong> from which to launch Barstool Sports<\/strong>. It will pay an $8 million\/year lease. \u201cWith the recent approval of sports betting through the overwhelming passage of Question 2 on Election Day, Maryland is expected to soon become a significant retail and mobile sports betting market,\u201d said Penn CEO Jay Snowden<\/strong>. Hollywood Perryville earns its keep but Penn is obviously banking pretty heavily<\/a> on that sports-betting revenue. While one might assume a casino will have rights to offer sports betting, that’s for the General Assembly to decide. \u201cRight now there\u2019s a presumption that every casino will have a sportsbook operation, but we don\u2019t know for sure,\u201d said gaming analyst James Karmel<\/strong>. For instance, it might be reserved for horse tracks. Even mobile wagering can’t be assumed. It makes sense but when was the last time politics made sense?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump<\/strong>‘s casinos were never known for their architecture (at least not in a good way) but, if his latest executive order stands, federal buildings from now on will have a Trumpian signature to them. That will be a pseudo-Classical style, with vague addendum that they be “beautiful.”<\/a> Now, beauty is a notoriously subjective criterion, difficult to enforce (as Steve Wynn<\/strong> found out when he hired Philip Johnson<\/strong> and Frank Gehry<\/strong> to co-design his never-built Le Jardin<\/strong>). So if you see a lot of Greek colonnades and Palladian windows when you visit a federal building in the future, you can thank the auteur of Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong>. The idea is to create architecture that ‘commands respect’ from John Q. Public, which is kind of a chilling idea when you think about it. Already, Nevada<\/strong> Rep. Dina Titus<\/strong> (D) is pushing back, introducing legislation to preserve creative freedom. Said Titus, \u201cImposing a preferred architectural style for federal facilities runs counter to our nation\u2019s democratic traditions. Attempting to implement this misguided mandate from Washington, D.C.<\/strong>, by circumventing Congress and gutting decades of … policy and practice without any public notice or hearing is even worse.” We’re reminded of the attempts to classically retrofit Howard Roark<\/strong>‘s architectural designs in The Fountainhead<\/em>, a mandate more comical than compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jottings<\/em><\/strong>: Good news for Macao<\/strong> casino-concession holders and bad news for anybody wanting to enter the market\u2014the Macanese government appears likely to scrap 2022 re-bids in favor of a unilateral extension<\/a> through 2025. In other news Londoner Macao<\/strong> is announced for a Jan. 22 opening … What do you with unlicensed casino-resort? Open it without gaming. That’s what Crown Sydney<\/strong> did … Interior Secretary-designate Rep. Deb Haaland<\/strong> (D) has tribal gaming experience<\/a>. There’s another reason for optimism on that battlefront … Circa<\/strong> has unveiled yet another promo: a bar crawl. A pass (price unspecified) entitles you to seasonal cocktails at Vegas Vickie’s<\/strong>, Circa Bar<\/strong>, Bar Prohibition<\/strong>, Bar Canada<\/strong> and Vue Bar<\/strong>. Buy four passes and you get a free room night to sleep it off … Bart Blatstein<\/strong>‘s proposed water park at the Showboat<\/strong> in Atlantic City<\/strong> is a go<\/a>\u2014provided that the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority<\/strong> comes through with $2.5 million in annual tax breaks, stretched over 20 years … London<\/strong> casinos can’t catch a break: They’ve gone from curfew to shutdown<\/a>, in response to Coronavirus<\/strong> mutations that Mayor Siddique Khan<\/strong> described as “deeply alarming.” (OTBs remain open.) This caused Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> to permanently pull the plug on Rendezvous Casino Southend<\/strong> … Ho-Chunk Inc<\/strong>. has established an operating company, WarHorse Gaming<\/strong> to run racinos in Omaha<\/strong>, Lincoln<\/strong> and Sioux City<\/strong>. The company’s political partner, the Nebraska Horsemen\u2019s Benevolent & Protective Association<\/strong>, will be a part of WarHorse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How bad is it in Las Vegas? Well, the latest edict from MGM Resorts International is that The Mirage will be closed from Monday at noon to Thursday at noon, INCLUDING the casino. (We felt that news needed a bit … 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":[65,23,103,291,244,294,219,155,42,51,277,14,190,283,67,22,241,84,62,72,245,10,156,207,69,33,111,25,31,9,19,20,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28958"}],"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=28958"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28964,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28958\/revisions\/28964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}