{"id":473,"date":"2009-06-03T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2009-06-03T22:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2009\/6\/3\/Reid-rewarded-Trop-rescued"},"modified":"2009-06-03T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2009-06-03T22:47:00","slug":"reid-rewarded-trop-rescued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/reid-rewarded-trop-rescued\/","title":{"rendered":"Reid rewarded, Trop rescued"},"content":{"rendered":"

… Sen. Harry Reid<\/strong>'s (D-NV) efforts on behalf of the casino industry have not gone unrewarded. If you can follow this formatting garble<\/a>, you'll see that his donors include not only Tim & Tom<\/strong>, late of the Golden Nugget<\/strong>, but also several reliably Republican casino CEOs.<\/p>\n

Even the Fertitta Brothers<\/strong> have chipped in, which is the least they could do after the Senate Majority Leader shepherded a provision that incentivizes companies to buy back distressed debt … which Station Casinos<\/strong> has in abundance. All of which means that Sharron Angle<\/strong> and any other GOP challenger will have to build up a war chest from other industries. The coffers of Big Gaming — with possible exception of Sheldon Adelson<\/strong>'s kitty — are slamming shut. The industry has taken sides and put its money on Reid.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yemenidjian is in the house<\/strong>. Pending the stamp of approval for the Nevada Gaming Commission<\/strong>, all systems are "go" for Alex Yemenidjian<\/strong> to take the reins of the Tropicana Las Vegas<\/strong>. The feeling at the Trop must be akin to that of a besieged garrison finally seeing a relief column marching its way.<\/p>\n

The former MGM Grand<\/strong> boss is saying all the right things<\/a>. His backer, Onex Corp<\/strong>., will invest $100 million (or more)<\/a> in the property, which has suffered manifest neglect. Current operator Tropicana Entertainment<\/strong>'s capex budget was fairly puny, symbolic of CEO Scott Butera<\/strong>'s halfhearted commitment to the LV Trop.<\/p>\n

Under Yemenidjian, the casino will be extended to encompass the ends of the two pedestrian bridges. Two new eateries and a nightclub are planned. No word yet about a new evening show (or about chasing the prostitutes, pimps and — worst of all — timeshare peddlers from the premises). But Yemenidjian has too much reputation at stake to simply continue the stagnation that has been the Trop's status quo for more years than I care to remember.<\/p>\n

(Correction:<\/strong> Yemenidjian plans to lower the bridge, not raise the river. Which is to say that the pedestrian bridges will be extended to reach the casino<\/a>, not the other way around<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

When Yemenidjian was (unsuccessfully) pitching an Illinois<\/strong> casino — also backed by Onex — his prospective management team included two Gulf Coast veterans: Joe Billhimer<\/strong> and Karen Sock<\/strong>, late of Hard Rock Biloxi<\/strong> and Harrah's Grand Biloxi<\/strong>, respectively. Both are heavy hitters and Sock, in particular, is overdue for a Vegas posting. Here's hoping Yemenidjian brings them here. Better late than never … and the Trop needs some serious brainpower.<\/p>\n

"We really mean it this time."<\/strong> Another day, another "Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> has the capital to restart the Cotai Strip™<\/strong>" story. Turns out it's the same old same-old<\/a>. The prospect of asset sales, if not dead, isn't looking terribly hale. After all, who wants to buy a hotel in Macao<\/strong> if you must forefeit the casino action? Where's the fun in that (to say nothing of the money)? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

… Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) efforts on behalf of the casino industry have not gone unrewarded. If you can follow this formatting garble, you'll see that his donors include not only Tim & Tom, late of the Golden Nugget, but … 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":[48,28,14,26,7,62,11,33,25,12,57,9,21,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473"}],"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=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}