{"id":3772,"date":"2010-06-08T17:24:10","date_gmt":"2010-06-09T01:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=3772"},"modified":"2023-02-05T07:32:02","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T15:32:02","slug":"harrahs-still-pining-for-macao","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/harrahs-still-pining-for-macao\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrah’s still pining for Macao"},"content":{"rendered":"

While we’re on the subject of white elephants today, Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> still has a little boondoggle in Macao<\/strong> in the form of a $577 million golf course. Cornered by a reporter at G2E Asia<\/strong><\/a>, Harrah’s Asian viceroy, Michael Chen<\/strong>, conceded that his strategy for cracking the market consists of “patience.” What else can he or Harrah’s do when the Chinese government holds all the cards, shows no inclination to open the market to new concessionaires and is currently threatening to revoke planned casino sites<\/a> if they’re not expeditiously developed?<\/p>\n

\"\"There’s now speculation that Harrah’s could piggyback its way into the Macao market by taking over moribund<\/a> Macau Studio City<\/strong>, from which Playboy<\/strong> as well as<\/a> Taubman<\/strong> have defected. (Studio City’s slogan: “Where Cotai<\/strong> Begins.” No, really.) That would bittersweet, as Harrah’s would have to function simply as developer, hotelier and resort operator — and leave the casino operation (and casino revenues) to someone else. That “someone else” was slated to be Melco Crown Entertainment<\/strong>. Who knew? James Packer<\/strong> may finally make some money off Harrah’s after all.<\/p>\n

If you’re staying at Vdara<\/strong> isn’t the whole “saving money” thing<\/a> somewhat beside the point? It’s a long cab ride to the Whole Foods Market<\/strong> down at Town Square<\/strong>, too.<\/p>\n

However, MGM Mirage<\/strong> is cleaning up in the baccarat segment and says it’s up to 47% of Strip market share (from 37%). No word on whose players they’re siphoning away but, based on other factors, I’m guessing it’s mainly the Harrah’s properties.<\/p>\n

Battle of Gettysburg, The Sequel<\/strong>:
\n<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Hey, Do-Gooder Lady<\/strong>, who ever said casinos had<\/em> “socially redeeming value”? Ditto for movie theaters, bars, the Indianpolis 500<\/strong>, pinball machines and any movie starring Shannon Tweed<\/strong>. So? And anchorman Leon Harris<\/strong> looks familiar. Isn’t he a refugee from CNN<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Anyway, as a recovering Civil War<\/strong> buff, I have concerns about the project’s proximity to the battlefield and about a lack of infrastructure (particularly with regard to water). But if this is what the burghers want, so be it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While we’re on the subject of white elephants today, Harrah’s Entertainment still has a little boondoggle in Macao in the form of a $577 million golf course. Cornered by a reporter at G2E Asia, Harrah’s Asian viceroy, Michael Chen, conceded … 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":[56,28,18,14,104,7,140,96,94,62,93,11,10,95,25,74,9,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772"}],"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=3772"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32300,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3772\/revisions\/32300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}