{"id":6823,"date":"2011-06-01T15:46:11","date_gmt":"2011-06-01T23:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=6823"},"modified":"2011-06-04T10:48:15","modified_gmt":"2011-06-04T18:48:15","slug":"sands-pump-up-the-volume-nevadas-new-casino-tax-cannerys-secret-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/sands-pump-up-the-volume-nevadas-new-casino-tax-cannerys-secret-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"Sands: Pump up the volume; Nevada’s new casino tax; Cannery’s secret weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"As in “VIP volume.” That’s what Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> has to do in order to monetize some of its Macao<\/strong> assets, according to a J.P. Morgan<\/strong> report that appeared this morning. In the course of meeting with Sands honchos, Joseph Greff<\/strong> and colleagues learned that “underutilized” (read: underperforming) spaces in Macao include the new Four Seasons Plaza<\/strong> casino — in a market whose appetite for gambling is a long way from sated<\/a> — and the Playboy Club<\/strong> in Sands Macao<\/strong>. The proposed solution: Ramp up VIP junkets to these properties. To this end, Sands has signed pacts with two new junketeers and hopes to show results by the new year.<\/p>\n

\"\"Somewhat paradoxically, Sands asserted that “underutilized real estate … is attracting solid interest<\/em>,” although I suppose one could draw a distinction between interest and actual foot traffic. Also, did someone misspeak in stating that the attractions of Four Seasons Plaza (left<\/em>) include offering excellent credit? U.S. operators are forbidden to extend markers to Macanese punters; hence the importance of the junketeers, who can advance money to their VIP clients — and collect it in ways about which we’d rather not know.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sands officialdom wasn’t<\/strong> offering specific numbers regarding the performance of Marina Bay Sands<\/strong>, saying that it was improving quarter to quarter. Based on 1Q11 $3.7 million\/day in casino revenues, Morgan analysts project it will be at $4.3 million\/day by year’s end. Greff’s crew reckons that investors put too much stock in Sands’ Singapore<\/strong>-VIP performance (disappointing) than its mass-market play, which is steady and strong. There’s even good news on the VIP front, which is described as reliable, with a firm baseline.<\/p>\n

Nothing was said by LVS casino supremo Rob Goldstein<\/strong> about the ongoing investigation of Sands in re<\/em> the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act<\/strong>. And if anything was mentioned with regard to Sands Bethelehem<\/strong>, Venelazzo<\/strong>, the St(ump) Regis<\/strong> (which may get capped at its present height) or Sands’ various expansion proposals, it wasn’t deemed worthy of repetition.<\/p>\n

\"\"Casino players are balancing<\/strong> the budget for the State of the Nevada<\/strong>, to the tune of $17 million. An accord between Gov. Brian Sandoval<\/strong> (R, right<\/em>) and the Legislature includes a new law whereby unclaimed slot winnings become the property of the state<\/a>. In the long view, that’s not going prevent the gaming industry from making ends meet — but it’s an additional levy on casinos and a one-step-removed tax on players themselves. So cash out every last nickel on those TITO vouchers, unless you feel like tithing Carson City<\/strong> your winnings. While hardly painless, the budget process was at least handled with a professionalism not seen since the late Kenny Guinn<\/strong> was governor.<\/p>\n

While some Las Vegas casino operators<\/strong> have been on their uppers, that would not include Cannery Casino Resorts<\/strong>. Not even the loss of its Rampart Casino<\/strong> management contract (Rampart will be run internally, with some help<\/a> from Herbst Gaming<\/strong>) could dampen the ardor of bond analysts<\/a>, who raised their rating on the company.<\/p>\n

\"\"While cash flows at its Vegas-area casinos have been down, Cannery’s not-so-secret weapon has been in Meadows Casino<\/strong> and racetrack (above<\/em>) in Pennsylvania<\/strong>, driving 65% of the firm’s overall cash flow. The company is carrying nearly a half-billion dollars in debt but has narrowed losses from $23 million in 2009 to $15 million last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"“However, we do not expect a return to meaningful growth or to previously generated levels of revenue and EBITDA in the locals market over at least the next few years<\/em>,” warned a Standard & Poor’s<\/strong> report on Cannery. That’s a sobering reminder that, even as things are turning around on the Strip, damage to Las Vegas<\/strong> from the collapse of the ’07 gaming\/housing\/construction bubble extends deep into the community, to the extent that Mayor Oscar Goodman<\/strong> recently estimated that the devastation could take a decade to erase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As in “VIP volume.” That’s what Las Vegas Sands has to do in order to monetize some of its Macao assets, according to a J.P. Morgan report that appeared this morning. In the course of meeting with Sands honchos, Joseph … 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":[88,73,14,123,62,53,78,50,95,111,25,12,108,31,9,19,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823"}],"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=6823"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6828,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823\/revisions\/6828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}