{"id":8578,"date":"2012-03-07T12:10:18","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T20:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=8578"},"modified":"2021-05-28T07:11:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:11:31","slug":"gaughan-expands-empire-and-sundry-other-case-bets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/gaughan-expands-empire-and-sundry-other-case-bets\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaughan expands empire … and sundry other Case Bets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Having already taken charge of the hotel operations of the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa<\/strong> (for historical purposes, best known as The Resort at Summerlin<\/strong>) last summer, Michael Gaughan Jr<\/strong>. will now extend his operational control<\/a> to its Rampart Casino<\/strong>. The turnover is something of a formality: Cannery Casino Resorts<\/strong> was on its way out for some time. At this point, Gaughan is speaking only in the vaguest of generalities, promising to run the integrated property (as of April 1) on a “players first” basis. That could mean using the hotel rooms — some of the nicest in the area — as a ‘loss leader,’ but your guess is as good as mine. Gaughan’s also pledged to redo the Marriott’s restaurant lineup, probably in a somewhat downmarket fashion, and to bring in new casino games. The place has always been a queer duck: a high-end resort too close to Vegas to be a destination unto itself and too far from the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> and Downtown to feed off them. Perhaps the younger Gaughan will finally gave the place a distinct identity.<\/p>\n

Too crazy to be true?<\/strong> That’s what at least one local journo thought after hearing that Flavor Flav<\/strong> would be opening a restaurant on Maryland Parkway<\/strong>, far off the Strip. However, I am presently looking at a press release from one Rassa Eddie<\/strong>, offering me “a delicious and spicy interview” with Mr. Flav, should I so choose. The location chosen by the rapper is a long-vacant storefront in a dodgy neighborhood, just off Desert Inn Road<\/strong>. The address was home to Cappozzoli’s<\/strong>, a restaurant and jazz club that went up in flames<\/a> back in ’07. It’s also three blocks off Cambridge Street<\/strong>, fondly known to locals as “Crack Alley<\/strong>.” According to the PR blurb, in addition to Flavor’s “signature red velvet waffle … patrons might also expect celebrity sightings.” I expect not.<\/p>\n

Georgia on their minds<\/strong>. Peachtree State developers are pitching a casino<\/a> for the Norcross<\/strong> area of Georgia<\/strong>. Gaming oversight would be provided by Dover Downs<\/strong> racino, in Delaware<\/strong>, which would also hold a minority stake. Since Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal<\/strong> (R) balks even at VLTs, I’d rate the chances of this project as an extreme long shot.
\nHoly Toledo!<\/strong> Slot machines are beginning to be installed at Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s Hollywood Casino Toledo<\/strong>. Although the property might open on May 29 or 30<\/a>, Ohio<\/strong> regulators have explicitly ruled out the Memorial Day weekend for a debut, saying they’re not up to the task. The openings of both this and Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>‘s Cleveland casino have been stymied<\/a> by the regulators’ own lack of preparation time<\/a>. That might have been avoided had Gov. John Kasich<\/strong> (R) not indulged in a hissy fit, sacking all the gaming officials appointed by his predecessor … but trying to reason with Kasich is like trying to prove the existence of God<\/strong>, only harder. Meanwhile, Buckeye State legislators are trying to give some ex post facto<\/em> semblance of integrity<\/a> to the Swiss Cheese set of loopholes Kasich poked in the state constitution’s casino rules, in the process of cutting a crummy (for them) deal with Caesars, Rock Gaming<\/strong> and Penn National last year.<\/p>\n

\"\"On\u00a0 the subject of Penn<\/strong>, the company’s red-headed Maryland<\/strong> stepchild appears to have recovered from a 16-month swoon<\/a>. In its immoderate lust for slots in Ann Arundel County<\/strong>, Penn offered to close Hollywood Casino Perryville<\/strong> even before it opened. Whether that jinxed the property or not, it took until last month for the place post revenues commensurate with its opening numbers from September 2010.<\/p>\n

\"\"Build it and they’ll come?<\/strong> Visitors to Macao<\/strong> may be developing some Vegas-like habits, as the enclave posted 84% hotel occupancy and best-ever numbers of package tours last year. Mind you, Macao’s 22,400 hotel rooms aren’t a patch on Vegas’ inventory but the data is at least partial vindication for Sheldon Adelson<\/strong> and other developers who have been trying to impose a Vegas business model on China<\/strong>‘s doorstep. (But if Las Vegas Sands<\/strong> becomes “the standard used by fund managers for the whole casino and gaming sector,” that places an unrealistic burden of expectations on all U.S. operators other than Sands, Wynn Resorts<\/strong> and MGM Resorts International<\/strong>.)\u00a0 Junkets from Singapore<\/strong> also rose, despite the readier availability of gambling there … suggesting yet again that Steve Wynn<\/strong>‘s fears of Macanese cannibalization from other Pacific Rim<\/strong> jurisdictions are exaggerated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having already taken charge of the hotel operations of the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa (for historical purposes, best known as The Resort at Summerlin) last summer, Michael Gaughan Jr. will now extend his operational control to its … 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":[28,18,4,152,7,22,62,11,122,71,69,111,25,12,108,32,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8578"}],"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=8578"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29635,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8578\/revisions\/29635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}