{"id":4353,"date":"2010-08-12T14:48:04","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T22:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=4353"},"modified":"2019-04-09T09:33:20","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T17:33:20","slug":"the-summer-of-loveman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-summer-of-loveman\/","title":{"rendered":"The Summer of Love(man)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It may be hard to believe in retrospect, but at the time of Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong>‘s LBO, some analysts thought it would be partly amortized by selling off the company’s regional properties. That prompted me to write something to the effect that it would be like “saving” a tree by severing its roots. Harrah’s has not only not<\/em> pulled back from its Mid-America base, it continues to expand thereupon.<\/p>\n

\"\"Today comes word that a casino-management deal with Dan Gilbert<\/strong>‘s Rock Ventures<\/strong> has been signed<\/a>. This would put Harrah’s at the helm of casinos in both Cincinnati<\/strong> and Cleveland<\/strong>, at the price of a “significant” (but unquantified) monetary investment. Or Harrah’s equity stake may be thriftily achieved by throwing its<\/a> Thisteldown Racetrack<\/strong> into the deal in lieu of cash.<\/p>\n

A significant redesign of Gilbert’s original concept for Cincy (above<\/em>) may also be on the drawing boards, metaphorically speaking. It’s speculated that the Caesars<\/strong> and\/or Harrah’s or Horseshoe<\/strong> brand will be emblazoned upon the finished product.<\/p>\n

They darn well oughta be: Those are strong brands and I’ve long argued that Harrah’s isn’t deploying them aggressively enough (“Bill’s”? WTF?). The Cincinnati.com<\/strong> story includes a complete inventory of Harrah’s properties and it’s staggeringly impressive. The accompanying photo essay<\/a>, though, is so fugly that only The Rio<\/strong> comes off looking good.<\/p>\n

I’m not sure I buy into Rock Ventures<\/strong>‘ exec Matt Cullen<\/em>‘s (paraphrased) contention that “Harrah\u2019s has made its downtown New Orleans<\/strong> casino part of the surrounding community.” Back during the Phil Satre<\/strong> regime, Harrah’s agreed to operate in New Orleans<\/strong> without either restaurants or a hotel … concessions that it wrested back from the city and state during the casino’s painful early years. So, instead of becoming part of the surrounding area, Harrah’s N.O. became a self-sufficient islet of commerce.<\/p>\n

Such is the nature of the contemporary casino; I just think Cullen’s blowing smoke unless he’s referring to “green” or social-responsibility initiatives, areas in which Harrah’s can be found at or near the forefront. (Fiscal responsibility … well, let’s leave that for another day.)<\/p>\n

It’s also an open question<\/strong> as to whether the Ohio<\/strong> casinos will generate a beneficial ripple effect on businesses in the immediate vicinity. That’s not happened in Atlantic City<\/strong> and I saw scant evidence of it in Detroit<\/strong>. That isn’t a knock on casinos (I’ve heard the same spin put on\u00a0 proposed sports stadiums). I just wish Gilbert and his people would argue the merits of their project — the creation of jobs, amenities, amusement, revenue — and not promise things which are beyond their power to deliver. Hopefully, Gilbert’s concept of a pleasure palace in which retail and dining line the streets, and the casino is inside, at the hub, will be retained. (Some of the downtown Vegas and Reno operators, I swear, they’d put slots out on the frigging sidewalk, if only they dared.)<\/p>\n

Once bitten, twice shy?<\/strong> Harrah’s is also in the paddock for the umpteenth running of the Sumner County<\/strong> Casino Derby in the great state of Kansas<\/strong>. This is the same market that Harrah’s jilted in 2008, as its finances were going into the toilet. Given Harrah’s well-documented fickleness toward projects, the company would appear to be a long shot in this three-horse race. But compared to its rivals, Harrah’s is offering the most generous inventory of gambling options. This comes at the price of a somewhat vague and spartan amenity package, despite the $260 million budget. Such add-ons “an RV park, water park, golf course, tennis facility, retail, and swimming pools and spa<\/em>” aren’t covered by the initial investment and would happen somewhere down the road, presuming that business is good.<\/p>\n

\"\"Harrah’s ace up its sleeve, of course, is Total Rewards, a customer magnet that can scarce be rivaled in gaming. It’s no coincidence that Harrah’s is the only “major” that has a heavy presence in the tribal-casino industry right now (although Station Casinos<\/strong> is making inroads) It brings serious brand equity and an immensely powerful marketing engine to the table. Tribally owned Global Gaming<\/strong> and rival applicant Peninsula Gaming<\/strong> aren’t remotely in that league. Peninsula is offering to put the biggest investment ($300 million) and hotel (150 rooms, left<\/em>) into the pot, and throw in an equestrian center for good measure.<\/p>\n

Global counters with the quixotic notion<\/strong> of building a horse racetrack, as part of Phase II. Its principal Phase I amenity would be a concert arena and Global’s planned arsenal of gambling options is far more diverse than Peninsula’s. Global is considerably less experienced in Class III gambling than Peninsula, though, and its presentation (as seen on video) was laughably vague. Also, it’s very eccentric to hear a Native American conglomerate being repped by an executive with a near-impenetrable Australian accent, one who makes “power- and utility-trading” come out as “cow- and utility-trading.” How big a credit line will a Guernsey get me a Global casino?<\/p>\n

All my predictions<\/strong> as to who’d get which Kansas casino contract have been wrong, so I won’t make any more. Peninsula looks like the safe, reliable (if somewhat unexciting) choice, Harrah’s the riskier but also potentially more lucrative one. Global (above<\/em>) wouldn’t seem to have a prayer but, in the topsy-turvy world of Sunflower State politics, that usually makes you the front-runner. Better go out and buy some cows, just in case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may be hard to believe in retrospect, but at the time of Harrah’s Entertainment‘s LBO, some analysts thought it would be partly amortized by selling off the company’s regional properties. That prompted me to write something to the effect … 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":[23,103,28,44,18,14,4,7,140,67,45,53,71,111,25,57,31,19,20,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353"}],"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=4353"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23875,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4353\/revisions\/23875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}