{"id":8821,"date":"2012-04-19T14:58:40","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T22:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=8821"},"modified":"2021-03-30T04:31:32","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T12:31:32","slug":"penn-vegas-to-gsa-thank-you-what-price-victorville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/penn-vegas-to-gsa-thank-you-what-price-victorville\/","title":{"rendered":"Penn, Vegas to GSA: Thank you!; What price Victorville?"},"content":{"rendered":"

With so many fine hotels to choose from in Las Vegas<\/strong>, it’s no wonder that it took disgraced General Services Administration<\/strong> Regional Commissioner Jeffrey Neely<\/strong> no fewer than eight ‘fact-finding’ missions at a cost of $130,000 (or \"\"$16,250 per vacation<\/span> investigation) to settle upon M Resort<\/strong>. This is serious research, people! But hey, as long as the GSA’s in a generous mood, we’ll take it. Unfortunately, the words “Las Vegas” are all that’s required to get the churchy set’s panties in a twist, so this scandal — and it deserves to be one — has become a much larger political football than it would be had the offending orgy been held at the Sheraton Tuscaloosa<\/strong> … if such a hostelry even exists.<\/p>\n

So far, it appears that the conduct of Penn National Gaming<\/strong> was on the up-and-up, as ABC News<\/strong> attests. Hell, M even threw in a $21,540 discount, which was pretty damn “george” of them. And kudos to the Penn execs who wooed the GSA away from high-powered competitors on the Strip. Well played!<\/p>\n

If any Penn execs had their feelings hurt by the media fallout of recent days, they’re crying all the way to the bank. Penn shocked<\/a> Wall Street<\/strong> with boffo 1Q12 profits<\/a>, despite a projected forfeiture of $8 million in business at $320 million Hollywood Casino Toledo<\/strong>, due to a delayed opening. Penn’s about to get another bump as $145 million Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway<\/strong> hosts its first<\/a> NASCAR race of the year. (That casino came in $10 million under budget, incidentally.)<\/p>\n

\"\"Deutsche Bank<\/strong>‘s Carlo Santarelli<\/strong> called the first-quarter numbers “a best of both worlds scenario,” brightening the outlook for what had been a cloudy-looking 2012. He went on to characterize Penn stock as “the best way to play the domestic consumer recovery in gaming<\/em>.” Those consumers about whom Penn execs used to grumble ungratefully are now coming back and the erstwhile grumblers are the beneficiaries. J.P. Morgan<\/strong> analyst Joseph Greff<\/strong> speculated that Penn’s Charles Town<\/strong> racino was driving the improved results, which makes the company’s tantrums and sleazy Maryland<\/strong> machinations against Cordish Gaming<\/strong> look all the sillier in retrospect.<\/p>\n

\"\"Also shimmering along the Penn horizon are management fees from Casino Rama<\/strong>, in Ontario<\/strong> — although they sunset this year — plus an earlier-than-expected opening of $400 million Hollywood Casino Columbus<\/strong> (in October rather than November). The Penn-style VIP (someone who drops $400 or more per visit) is on the rise and comp wars have abated, driving down promotional costs. Still on the drawing board are two Ohio<\/strong> racinos (a $550 million investment), which will be coddled from competition by 50-mile-radius exclusion zones. (A nice “juice job,” that.) The company’s push for a second location in Maryland remains inconclusive at this juncture, the Lege having gone home without even considering<\/em> Rosecroft Racetrack<\/strong> as a casino location.<\/p>\n

Penn pooh-poohed<\/strong> cannibalization both specifically (at Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg<\/strong>) and in general. However! March numbers from the Kansas City<\/strong> area put the lie to Penn’s assertion. The Speedway casino took an 8% chunk out of the market’s ass and the biggest victim was … Penn’s Argosy Riverside<\/em>, down 21%. By contrast, Ameristar Kansas City<\/em> took a 6% hit and Harrah’s North Kansas City<\/em> got off with a -2% scrape. Sailing serenely through the month was Isle of Capri Kansas City<\/em>, whose revenues remained steady. Penn’s blowing smoke up Wall Street’s rectum and analysts are, for the moment, inhaling.<\/p>\n

\"\"Elsewhere in Missouri<\/strong>, the could-use-a-break folks at Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> staged a big comeback at their Maryland Heights<\/strong> casino (up 8%) and Ameristar St. Charles<\/em> was flat in March, suggesting that Pinnacle Entertainment<\/strong>‘s River City<\/strong> (+13%) has been absorbed. However, the same company’s marquee Lumiere Place<\/strong>, right<\/em>, continues to slip (-3%, down for the fourth straight month), possibly a victim of resurgent Casino Queen<\/em> in East St. Louis<\/strong>. Two outstate boats, in Caruthersville<\/strong> and Boonsville<\/strong>, fared well, closing out a robust quarter for Isle of Capri Casinos<\/strong> in its home state.<\/p>\n

\"\"What price Victorville?<\/strong> According to a worshipful story<\/a> on the KXNT<\/strong> Web site, the controversial Desert Xpress<\/strong> will whisk you from Victorville<\/strong> to Vegas for $50. Since it’s a 166-mile trip, it would cost less to drive that distance — assuming $5\/gallon fuel and a decent gas mileage in one’s automobile. (Those who own gas-guzzling “Mormon assault vehicles” do not have my sympathy.) That perfunctory article drew an uninformed shriek of dismay from National Review<\/em> blogger Greg Pollowitz<\/strong>, who got off on the wrong foot by blasting some phantom named “Harry Ried [sic<\/em>]” in his headline. He then blames this particular Sen. Harry Reid<\/strong> (D-NV, right<\/em>) porker on “spending fetishists in the Democratic party<\/em>.” Had Pollowitz done his homework — ha!<\/em> — he’d know that Old Sixty Votes is returning a favor to former Ronald Reagan<\/strong> emissary and local GOP string-puller Sig Rogich<\/strong>. The Choo-Choo To Nowhere is Sig’s baby and Reid’s support is payback for Siggy’s “juice” during the 2010 election. At least when Sig was shilling for the infamous Voyager Wheel<\/strong>, he had the decency not to cadge for taxpayer subsidies.<\/p>\n

\"\"Merengue fever<\/strong>. On the subject of typos, it’s “beachlife” time at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino<\/strong> (with unseasonal temperatures to match). The HRH is busting out “Latin house, meringue [sic<\/em>] and top 40″ music. Now, my Mom used to make a wicked Lemon meringue pie (until she changed the recipe, that is) but we at LVA<\/em> think the HRH means merengue<\/em> music, not pie filling. As to whether the monotonous industrial thumpa-thumpa-thumpa of the “house” genre can be dignified with the term “music,” that is a topic for another discussion.<\/p>\n

A mystery flu<\/strong> debilitated me for four days straight, so I hope you will forgive me: I am in frantic catch-up mode at present, slaying incoming e-mails by the score.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With so many fine hotels to choose from in Las Vegas, it’s no wonder that it took disgraced General Services Administration Regional Commissioner Jeffrey Neely no fewer than eight ‘fact-finding’ missions at a cost of $130,000 (or $16,250 per vacation … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7079,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40,70,28,14,4,149,7,52,58,22,85,45,72,39,71,69,30,33,111,8,9,19,100,17,38,146],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8821"}],"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=8821"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29450,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8821\/revisions\/29450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}