{"id":6283,"date":"2011-04-11T10:25:49","date_gmt":"2011-04-11T18:25:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=6283"},"modified":"2022-11-15T06:57:28","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T14:57:28","slug":"why-is-this-man-smiling-and-other-case-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/why-is-this-man-smiling-and-other-case-bets\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is this man smiling? (And other Case Bets)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Because Sen. Harry Reid<\/strong>‘s decision not to importune lenders on behalf of Fontainebleau<\/strong> (unlike CityCenter<\/strong>) means he steered clear of a widening circle of litigation and recrimination, that’s why. Among those in the hot seat are hapless James Packer<\/strong> and ousted F’blew boss Glenn Schaeffer<\/strong> (a once-brilliant career blown to smithereens) along with Chief Restructuring Officer Howard Karawan<\/strong>. (Remember him?) Scrutiny by the courts into F’blew may unravel some of the project’s lingering mysteries, such as why the “final” budget number kept ratcheting upward with no end in sight. For that matter, why have lenders tolerated a policy of ‘build first\/design later’ which essentially guarantees cost overruns<\/a>? Of all the ‘failsinos’ in Vegas history, F’blew — with its estimated completion cost of $4.4 billion — was the most out of control and remains the odds-on favorite to be the first Strip resort to be imploded without ever opening.<\/p>\n

Pit bosses sacked<\/strong> … potentially. An edict mandating a 20:1 table-game-to-pit-boss ratio in Atlantic City<\/strong> casinos has been scrubbed from the books<\/a>. Fewer suits peering over one’s shoulder is certainly to go over well with dealers, as former card-pitcher Roger Gros<\/strong>‘ reaction indicates. However, it’s difficult for S&G<\/em> not to share the reservations of ex-regulator Carl Zeitz<\/strong> that New Jersey<\/strong> appears to be going the road of allowing casinos to police themselves. Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong>‘s frequent citation of Nevada<\/strong>‘s laissze-faire<\/em> regulatory model as the standard to which the Garden State aspires ought to cause trepidation for anyone familiar with the Silver State’s habit of looking the other way when dubious business practices are afoot.<\/p>\n

Cutbacks in New Jersey<\/strong> are as nothing compared to those underway at UNLV<\/strong> and elsewhere in Nevada. Among the casualties are a slew of degree programs at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration<\/strong>, which is taking a giant leap backward to 2004 levels<\/a>. To accomplish this three-R’s move, UNLV went outside the academic profession and enlisted former Boyd Gaming<\/strong> prexy Don Snyder<\/strong>. He’s a straight shooter and somebody for whom I have a lot of respect, not least for his “rainmaking” abilities. So it’s not without considerable thought that I submit Snyder is at serious risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.<\/p>\n

In a state that lives and dies on tourism, is it wise to be making such severe inroads in a program dedicated to that very industry<\/a>? Some of the degree programs mentioned, like a major in sports management, sound either off-mission or expendable. However, casino management is a discipline unto itself and it ill-behooves UNLV to lump it under a one-size-fits all “Hospitality” major. (See the “Comments” section for a spirited rebuttal to Snyder’s rationale.) The State of Nevada’s adamant refusal to invest in its own future means fewer opportunities to home-grow talent for its signature industry … and a potential “brain drain” to other states where gaming in expansion mode.<\/p>\n

\"\"After a momentary respite<\/strong> in February, Atlantic City<\/strong> took another hit in March, down 7%. Strong slot play and high hold at Borgata<\/strong> were almost enough to stave off declines at the tables, leaving the resort basically flat from last year. Buoyed by a strong March at Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> (+10%), the four Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> properties held their ground pretty well<\/a>, off 4%. At the other end of the spectrum, Trump Entertainment<\/strong> continued its slow-motion death spiral, down -23% overall, led by Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong>, off an alarming 28%.<\/p>\n

Even the insolvent Atlantic City Hilton<\/strong> (-9.5%) defended its market share better than Trump Plaza<\/strong> and bottom-rung Trump Marina<\/strong> (-16% and -18%, respectively). The enormous Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong> continues to underperform but a change of ownership at Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> is generating tangible results, with gaming revenues up 12% last month — a pretty dramatic turnaround from the wretched Colony Capital<\/strong> era (now mercifully ended), providing at least some cause for optimism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because Sen. Harry Reid‘s decision not to importune lenders on behalf of Fontainebleau (unlike CityCenter) means he steered clear of a widening circle of litigation and recrimination, that’s why. Among those in the hot seat are hapless James Packer and … 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":[23,60,82,3,28,142,42,14,59,7,52,96,25,74,19,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6283"}],"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=6283"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31924,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6283\/revisions\/31924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}