{"id":7629,"date":"2011-09-28T16:34:19","date_gmt":"2011-09-29T00:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=7629"},"modified":"2020-02-24T06:38:20","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T14:38:20","slug":"the-great-riverboat-robbery-revisited-wynncore-manila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/the-great-riverboat-robbery-revisited-wynncore-manila\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Riverboat Robbery revisited; Wynncore Manila?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under fire for the low property valuations it placed on Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s River City<\/strong> and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Harrah’s Maryland Heights<\/strong>, the St. Louis County Board of Equalization<\/strong> backpedaled … sorta. They accepted County Assessor Jake Zimmerman<\/strong>‘s increased valuation for soon-to-expand River City. However, the board stood by the 57% cut it make in Zimmerman’s assessment of the Harrah’s casino. It also gift-wrapped an excuse for a Caesars mouthpiece, who threatened<\/a> “less in the future by way of improvements and amenities.” In other words: ‘Raise our assessment and we’ll pull the same crap here that we’re already doing in Las Vegas<\/strong>.’<\/p>\n

\"\"In Caesars’ defense<\/strong>, its St. Louis<\/strong>-area casino saw revenue fall 8% in 2010 and River City continues to cut into its market share. But Caesars’ argument that it’s just not cricket to value Harrah’s Maryland Heights comparably to Ameristar Casinos<\/strong>‘ nearby riverboat in St. Charles<\/strong> looks, at first glance, like a crock. The former grossed $272 million last year, compared to $282 million for Ameristar St. Charles<\/strong>, which was down 6% for 2010 and is three years older<\/a> than the Harrah’s facility.<\/p>\n

Next, Wynn Manila?<\/strong> The Japanese company that’s Steve Wynn<\/strong>‘s sugar daddy, Universal Entertainment Corp<\/strong>. has a yen — 150 billion of them — for a Philippines<\/strong> casino megaresort. It figures it can pull $2 billion\/year out of Manila, provided it opens it project in 2014<\/a>. Company chair Kazuo Okada<\/strong>‘s masterplan is for a two-hotel, three-casino configuration that will cost at least $1.6 billion, possibly $3 billion, and he’s “in talks with investors.” Gee, now who might he try to recruit …<\/a> ?<\/p>\n

\"\"Angels fear to tread where Okada is rushing in and it remains to be seen what, if anything, Wall Street<\/strong> thinks of Wynn Resorts<\/strong> being one degree of separation away from the scandal-plagued Filipino casino industry. Tokyo<\/strong>-based stock analyst Takashi Oka<\/strong> is skeptical that Okada will succeed. But if the pachinko<\/em> plutocrat needs advice, good pal Steve is only a trunk call away and, of three rival developers, only Genting Berhad<\/strong> is a gaming heavyweight.<\/p>\n

\"\"G2E snooze<\/span> news<\/strong>. My G2E ennui must be catching. Earlier today, Global Gaming Expo<\/strong> released a list of discounts, rebates, contests and raffles literally as long as my arm. And you thought the days of G2E wag were over? Look! Free stuff!<\/em> A major international casino correspondent informs me that he has, on the spur of the moment, decided to attend G2E after all. (An irresistible room rate at the Plaza<\/strong> did the trick.) It’s not a harbinger of expo excitement if this particular globetrotter is reluctant to put in an appearance.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance will be Randall Fine<\/strong>, of the eponymous Fine Point Group<\/strong>. He’d better<\/em> show up: Fine’s delivering the closing address, devoted to player tracking and loyalty programs. Since Fine succeeded at Greektown Casino<\/strong> where many others failed, he can speak with authority to customer development. It’s not going to be like — or\u00a0 as funny as — Gary Loveman<\/strong> preaching fiscal responsibility or pooh-poohing the importance of new technology. (Yes, he really did.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Under fire for the low property valuations it placed on Pinnacle Entertainment‘s River City and Caesars Entertainment‘s Harrah’s Maryland Heights, the St. Louis County Board of Equalization backpedaled … sorta. They accepted County Assessor Jake Zimmerman‘s increased valuation for soon-to-expand … 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":[40,28,44,51,14,104,7,22,53,39,30,32,47,31,38],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7629"}],"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=7629"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26176,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7629\/revisions\/26176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}