{"id":4764,"date":"2010-10-06T20:56:52","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T04:56:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=4764"},"modified":"2019-11-18T08:42:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-18T16:42:46","slug":"ameristars-altruism-and-so-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/ameristars-altruism-and-so-much-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Ameristar’s altruism … and so much more"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gaming regulators in Missouri<\/strong> got a little unsolicited<\/del> advice from Ameristar Casinos<\/strong> as to where to put Casino License #13. Ameristar Vice President of Government Relations & Public Affairs Troy Stremming<\/strong> commissioned a study on the matter. Its shocking conclusion: The best place to put a new casino is … as far from an Ameristar property as possible.<\/p>\n

“A Cape Girardeau<\/strong> casino will generate twice the amount of incremental tax revenue for education in the State of Missouri than will be generated by a North St. Louis<\/strong>-area casino and four times more than will be generated by a Sugar Creek<\/strong> casino. When considering gaming expansion, it is critical to distinguish between gaming revenue that a new facility takes from existing Missouri-based casinos and how much it takes from casinos in other states or generates as new incremental gaming revenue<\/em>,”quoth Stremming.<\/p>\n

Nor can one avoid noticing that the casino closest to Cape G., and therefore likeliest to be impacted, is Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong>‘ Lady Luck Caruthersville<\/em>. Ameristar’s not-so-altruistic analysis projects $89 million in annual revenue for Licensee #13 — if it’s placed where Stremming thinks it should go. Backers of a casino site in North St. Louis, however, can take heart from Stremming’s projection that it would derive 33% of its revenue from out of state, compared to 19% for Sugar Creek. However, the city fathers of Sugar Creek may not be on such a fast track anyway. Judging by the TV report, their presentation to the Missouri Gaming Commission<\/strong> was closer to a pop fly than a home run.<\/p>\n

Horses’ asses<\/strong>. Some of the horsey set in New Jersey<\/strong> are living in a dream world, complete with a phantom casino-industry conspiracy “to build a megacasino at the Meadowlands<\/strong> without horse racing.” If this bunch is, as they claim, the linchpin of the Garden State economy, Jersey is seriously screwed.<\/p>\n

Look out Genting! <\/strong>Scarcely had it deposited its $380 million in earnest money with the State of New York<\/strong>, nascent racino developer Genting Bhd<\/strong> found the Shinnecock Indian Nation<\/strong> breathing down its neck. Emboldened by Bureau of Indian Affairs<\/strong> recognition last summer, the Shinnecocks say they want not one, not two but three casinos on Long Island, including a “high-class Monte Carlo<\/strong>-type” one out in the Hamptons<\/strong>. “Reservation shopping<\/a>” is usually a greatly exaggerated bugaboo but the Shinnecocks’ audacious gambit is surely the most brazen such effort to date.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for the competition, land-in-trust applications grind slowly and even if the Shinnecocks should be successful (and it’s a long shot), it will be years before they can mount a serious challenge to Genting’s Aqueduct<\/strong> project or Foxwoods Resort Casino<\/strong>, for instance. But if they get their wishes, New York City<\/strong> suddenly becomes a serious casino market unto itself, which is Very Bad News for everyone else in the region.<\/p>\n

Magic bullet?<\/strong> If this game<\/a> goes mainstream could it be a significant shot in the arm for the casino industry? The early indications are very favorable.<\/p>\n

The customer is not king<\/strong>. The jury’s still out on whether Macao<\/strong> can evolve beyond a day-trip market, an Oriental analogue to Atlantic City<\/strong>.\u00a0 (From whence Comrade Steve Wynn<\/strong> complains that the U.S. is a society “dominated by government<\/a>.” Steve, do us all a favor: Please<\/em> move to China<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

However, casino scholar Desmond Lam<\/strong> sees one serious impediment between Macao and tourism success: lousy customer service<\/a>, “undesirably poor by any international standard.” A Mandarin-vs.-Cantonese culture clash is blamed, as is snobbery by Macanese toward their Mainland brethren. Las Vegas<\/strong> casinos have raised customer service to an art form. While Macao isn’t merely “Asia’s Las Vegas\u2122” as Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> would demeaningly have it, there are probably one or two respects in which it could profitably emulate its American rival, especially if longer visitor stays are to be cultivated.<\/p>\n

Then again<\/strong> … despite what a friend of mine says is very bad customer service and adverse odds, table games at Charles Town Races Hollywood Casino<\/strong> are clobbering every other property<\/a> in West Virginia<\/strong>. It’s a red-letter day for owner Penn National Gaming<\/strong>. The latter, having bought half-interests in several Texas parimutuels, is betting against itself in Louisiana. With a license up for grabs, Penn is making a play for the New Orleans<\/strong> market, with an eye to cutting in on Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Boomtown Belle<\/em>. By berthing its vessel between Pinnacle’s and New Orleans proper, Penn looks to pose a serious threat … albeit one whose proposal so far amounts to “Trust us.”<\/p>\n

Ten years strong<\/strong>. A decade into its diversity program, MGM Resorts International<\/strong> is broadening it, as well finding such kindred corporate spirits in Boyd Gaming<\/strong> and Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong>. The Las Vegas Sun<\/em> explains why it makes good business sense<\/a> — sending illiterate racists into a snit on the Sun<\/em>‘s “Comment” thread.<\/p>\n

Two steps backward<\/strong>. Forget about new, destination-caliber casinos in Atlantic City. Dinky, 200-room casinos are to be the rule, so to speak<\/a>. If this goes into law, there will scant incentive to build another Borgata<\/strong>-like resort. Harrah’s Entertainment, not surprisingly, supports the bill because a bunch of little Aliante Station<\/strong>-like casinos will pose little threat to its own Atlantic City quartet of properties.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, employees at Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> have good reason to be nervous. Invocations of<\/a> the WARN Act<\/strong> by new ownership usually mean that it’s going to try and de-unionize the place. Dennis Gomes<\/strong> is going to be off to a bad start with his employees if this is his opening salvo — although he is at pains to disavow it<\/a>. Amen to that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gaming regulators in Missouri got a little unsolicited advice from Ameristar Casinos as to where to put Casino License #13. Ameristar Vice President of Government Relations & Public Affairs Troy Stremming commissioned a study on the matter. Its shocking conclusion: … 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":[40,109,23,60,34,3,133,28,142,14,120,7,67,85,84,62,53,11,39,101,69,30,33,111,25,12,57,32,19,20,17,139],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764"}],"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=4764"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25384,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4764\/revisions\/25384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}