{"id":4757,"date":"2010-10-06T16:04:19","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T00:04:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=4757"},"modified":"2024-02-08T05:19:41","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T13:19:41","slug":"case-bets-maryland-new-jersey-arizona-the-riv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/case-bets-maryland-new-jersey-arizona-the-riv\/","title":{"rendered":"Case Bets: Maryland, New Jersey, Arizona & the Riv"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Although the Maryland<\/strong> public has warmed up to the idea of table games<\/a>, casinos in Pennsylvania<\/strong>, West Virginia<\/strong>, Delaware<\/strong> and New Jersey<\/strong> needn’t lose sleep: Marylanders are at least two years — probably four — from voting table games into existence in their state. Until then, electronic simulations will have to serve as a panacea. Casino development still isn’t an attractive proposition in the Old Line State, either, due to the usurious 67% tax rate. Gubernatorial challenger Robert Ehrlich<\/strong> (R) contends that he could improve on the slow, sometimes painful rollout of gambling under Gov. Martin O’Malley<\/strong> (D). But with O’Malley widening his lead in the polls, we’re unlikely to see Ehrlich’s thesis put to the test.<\/p>\n

The horsey<\/strong> set in New Jersey says its tracks will be self-sufficient in five years<\/a>. Oh! Oh! My sides! I haven’t heard anything that funny since I saw the late Sam Kinison<\/strong> do standup. The tracks’ assumption is predicated on several “ifs,” including the legalization of sports betting. While I still doubt that the sport of kings can stand on its own four legs, it apparent willingness to wean itself off the teat of subsidies from Atlantic City<\/strong> casinos should be encouraged.<\/p>\n

Setting an example<\/strong>. Maybe you have to go all the way to one of the two Sol Casinos<\/strong> in Arizona<\/strong> to find a place where the bosses have figured out an anti-recession formula. The San Pasqual Tribe<\/strong> is loosening its slots<\/a>, and pushing bargain-oriented entertainment and food options. (The article ends with the blackly funny saga of a player-incentive promotion at Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong> that went south in a big way.) One hopes the Sol Casinos<\/a> message gets around, particularly here in Vegas, where customers are onto the price-gouging that has become commonplace in casinos. Not so long ago, we were leaving Suncoast<\/strong> and passed a couple who’d been to Vons<\/strong>, and were toting food and beverages up to their room.<\/p>\n

That’s far from an isolated occurrence. For the time being, it would appear considerably more imperative to get people back into spending<\/em> on-property<\/a>, as opposed to spending more<\/em>. (On a side note, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> CEO Jim Murren<\/strong>‘s projections for 2010 were well off target, so I take his prediction of a 20% revenue increase at MGM’s Strip properties in 2011 with just a wee bit of salt.)<\/p>\n

Bad news for F-blew<\/strong>. Hotel projects with high costs and long timelines aren’t attractive prospects for lenders. Judging by what Starwood Capital Group<\/strong> said about its preferences in hotel redevelopment, look for the Riviera<\/strong> to be (hopefully) turned around with quick, incremental fixes that require little capital outlay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the Maryland public has warmed up to the idea of table games, casinos in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and New Jersey needn’t lose sleep: Marylanders are at least two years — probably four — from voting table games into … 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":[109,23,60,28,14,26,67,53,72,11,33,55,31,9,19,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757"}],"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=4757"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33035,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4757\/revisions\/33035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}