{"id":2940,"date":"2010-04-15T11:42:34","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T19:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=2940"},"modified":"2018-10-13T09:52:56","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T17:52:56","slug":"harrahs-robbing-peter-to-buy-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/harrahs-robbing-peter-to-buy-paul\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrah’s robbing Peter to buy Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DrWhen executives of Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> credit “hard-nosed” negotiating tactics for their success is reducing the company’s preposterous debt level, one suspects that threats of default and bankruptcy serve as the rhetorical equivalents of the rubber hose and brass knuckles. It’s certainly worked like a charm. Commercial-mortgage holders are taking 25-30 cents on the dollar and liking it. (“You can get a quarter or you can take your chances in Chapter 11” would constitute a pretty compelling argument, I imagine.) Well, they may not be liking it but they’re taking it.<\/p>\n

So, having bartered down its lenders like so many merchants at an Arab bazaar and having floated a $750 million note offering, what is Harrah’s going to do? If you said, “retire debt,” go to the back of the class. Emboldened by the offering and with $1.6 billion in untapped borrowing capacity, an unrepentant Harrah’s may be about to embark on a buying spree. No specific targets have been publicly identified but, given CEO Gary Loveman<\/strong>‘s apparently compulsive need to constantly buy shiny objects (then neglect them), as well as his publicly stated desire to get Harrah’s into new markets, the ground is ripe for speculation. (Macao<\/strong>! Latvia<\/strong>! And whatever happened to that oh-so-imminent deal that was going to get Harrah’s into the Netherlands<\/strong> in a big way?)<\/p>\n

But what about finishing the Octavius Tower<\/strong> at Caesars Palace<\/strong>? Or reviving Margaritaville<\/strong> — under that brand or perhaps one of Harrah’s better but underused ones — in Biloxi<\/strong>? Nah! Boring. Soooo<\/em> 2009. Somebody needs to start slipping Ritalin<\/strong> into the water supply at Harrah’s HQ.<\/p>\n

Loveman in cyberspace<\/strong>. Harrah’s is also pushing into online gambling<\/a>, seeking approval of a Gibraltar<\/strong>-based partner<\/a>, the fruit of Harrah’s protracted and secretive courtship of ex-PartyGaming CEO Mitch Garber<\/strong>. The timing is rather dicey, as the Obama administration is, after a year-plus of refraining, moving forward with enforcement of UIGEA<\/strong> in order to placate Sen. Jon Kyl<\/strong> (R-AZ). The latter was having fits over UIGEA non-enforcement, to the point of placing “holds” on a scad of federal nominees. So, in a bit of political horsetrading, the administration sold online players down the river. (Kyl has been on an anti-Internet-gambling rampage for a decade-plus and finally is in a position to claim victory.)<\/p>\n

At any rate, S&G<\/em>‘s sympathies go out to the Nevada Gaming Control Board<\/strong> agents — as overworked as a Review-Journal<\/em> reporter — who have to land Dragonfish<\/strong> and penetrate the offshore workings of 888 Holdings<\/strong>. It’s not going to be easy, especially when hamstrung by budget cuts, as well as by a governor and Legislature too testicularly challenged to back the Control Board in the clutch. Expect some feckless lawmaker in 2011 to move for the repeal of what might be called the “Pansy Ho<\/strong> Law” that requires foreign business partners to pass Nevada scrutiny. Money talks but in Carson City<\/strong> it takes on Svengali<\/strong>-like powers.<\/p>\n

\"DSCN1788\"In a potential augury<\/strong> of what it plans to do with problematic Planet Hollywood<\/strong>, Harrah’s is giving up on the showroom at The Rio<\/strong> and four-walling the place<\/a>. Since both The Rio and Planet Ho are in Marilyn Winn<\/strong>‘s portfolio, could more lease-outs be in the offing? But hey, the Riviera<\/strong> has a new show … although I can see a real “Who’s on first?” problem involving tourists who think they’re going to Tao<\/strong> and wind up at Dao<\/em> instead.<\/p>\n

Speaking of The Rio<\/strong>, as many as 7,000 people (our LVA<\/em> news bureau says) showed up there yesterday<\/a> to apply for 500 jobs, most of them part-time (the jobs, that is, not the people). According to the Twitterverse, the line went clear out the door and applicants were eventually told to go home and file online. If the point of the exercise is to find potential employees who don’t have computer access, that’d defeat the whole purpose, no?<\/p>\n

Manilow<\/strong><\/em>. The extended-play Wizard of Vegas<\/em> review of Barry Manilow<\/strong>‘s show at Paris-Las Vegas<\/strong> is now online. With pictures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

News flash!<\/strong> A rare sighting<\/a> of Archon Corp<\/strong>. CEO Paul Lowden<\/strong>. Now we can put a face with the name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When executives of Harrah’s Entertainment credit “hard-nosed” negotiating tactics for their success is reducing the company’s preposterous debt level, one suspects that threats of default and bankruptcy serve as the rhetorical equivalents of the rubber hose and brass knuckles. It’s … 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":[46,28,14,4,7,22,37,62,35,6,33,25,55,9,38,132],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940"}],"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=2940"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22678,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions\/22678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}