{"id":35,"date":"2009-09-08T20:33:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2009\/9\/8\/Optimism-in-Macao-euphoria-at-CityCenter"},"modified":"2009-09-08T20:33:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-09T00:33:00","slug":"optimism-in-macao-euphoria-at-citycenter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/optimism-in-macao-euphoria-at-citycenter\/","title":{"rendered":"Optimism in Macao, euphoria at CityCenter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Relaxation of stringent visa restrictions from Guangdong Province<\/strong> came a full four months sooner than expected, starting Sept. 1. Now, residents will be able to visit Macao<\/strong> once a month instead of quarterly. While this has prompted J.P. Morgan<\/strong> to raise its price target on Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> stock, analysts also fret that Sands may overreact and go pedal to the metal on its unfinished Cotai Strip™<\/strong> hotels.<\/p>\n

Those same analysts are bullish<\/strong> on the manufacturing sector, though. They think casinos will be more willing to reinvest in the slot base as 2009 draws to a close. Also, the onward march of casino expansion means more jurisdictions and facilities to whom IGT<\/strong>, Bally<\/strong> and WMS<\/strong> can peddle their products. They're 'meh' on regional casino operators like Penn National<\/strong>, Ameristar Casinos<\/strong> and Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>, due to flattish performance. (Penn could catch a break in Kansas<\/strong>, though I still think Cordish Gaming<\/strong> has that sewn up.)<\/p>\n

But that's a rave notice<\/strong> compared to the long face Morgan analysts pull when pondering Boyd Gaming<\/strong>'s prospects. They cite the slow-to-recover, promo-driven locals-casino market in Las Vegas<\/strong> ("trickle-down" economics of the worst sort); Atlantic City<\/strong>'s critical condition — "the best-case scenario here is that [Borgata<\/strong>] would do less bad<\/em>" than most of A.C. — those blah regional metrics and new competition for the Blue Chip<\/em> riverboat in Indiana<\/strong>, which had been looking like 2009's feel-good story.<\/p>\n

Intriguingly, the prospect of a Strip acquistion is floated in lieu of a 'stalking horse' bid for floundering Station Casinos<\/strong>. Boyd's still got enough unused borrowing capacity it could even swing an acquisition of The Mirage<\/strong> (with money to spare), not to mention some of the lower-hanging fruit, which now includes Planet Hollywood<\/strong>. But if the J.P. Morgan guys are gun-shy concerning Boyd …<\/p>\n

They're over the moon<\/strong> about MGM Mirage<\/strong>'s CityCenter<\/strong>: "we are increasingly under the belief that City Center will be a new must-see property for both domestic and international gamers\/travelers that should drive solid visitation volumes to the Strip in 2010. We were impressed with the massive 18m-square-foot complex … a new type of high-end product for the Strip that should garner increased trips. It has a very contemporary feel that is different than anything else on the Strip, with lots of natural light and high ceilings, interesting room product and, for a massive property, ease of getting around from one 'neighborhood' to the next<\/em>."<\/p>\n

More good news<\/strong> comes in the form of a press release from Commerce Casino<\/strong> (in Commerce, Calif.), which rolled out the welcome mat for a group of undoubtedly weary firefighters. A strike force of 30 Bay Area-based firemen is being housed in the casino's hotel, with the casino comping all meals and picking up most of the hotel tab. Let's hope that such civic-mindedness spreads through the industry like — if you'll forgive the analogy — wildfire.<\/p>\n

In case it matters<\/strong>, "super-starlet" (yes, that's the official term) Holly Madison<\/strong> has been given a 12-month contract extension at Peepshow<\/em>, so she's obviously earning her pay. Also, I've heard through the grapevine that she and incoming Aubrey O'Day<\/strong> do not<\/em> get along, so the timing of the Madison announcement should make clear who's got the upper implant in this situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Relaxation of stringent visa restrictions from Guangdong Province came a full four months sooner than expected, starting Sept. 1. Now, residents will be able to visit Macao once a month instead of quarterly. While this has prompted J.P. Morgan to … 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":[40,65,23,77,88,60,34,56,70,28,14,4,29,68,45,62,11,69,30,6,12,57,8,9,38,89],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35"}],"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=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}