{"id":9075,"date":"2012-05-21T12:49:47","date_gmt":"2012-05-21T20:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=9075"},"modified":"2020-04-04T19:51:21","modified_gmt":"2020-04-05T03:51:21","slug":"dump-that-trump-caesars-takes-big-british-bath-f-blew-claims-another-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/dump-that-trump-caesars-takes-big-british-bath-f-blew-claims-another-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"Dump that Trump!; Caesars takes big British bath; F-blew claims another victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"What took them so long? That has to be the operative question now that Trump Entertainment Resorts<\/strong> owner Marc Lasry<\/strong> and CEO Robert Griffin<\/strong> have belatedly put Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino<\/strong> on the market, at an undisclosed price<\/a>. (Probably the $35 million that Griffin needs to re-do Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong>.) The timing of the sale may have something to do with Hard Rock International<\/strong>‘s planned mini-casino hitting a snag<\/a>. Considering the $300 million cost of a ’boutique’ casino in Atlantic City<\/strong>, a fixer-upper like Trump Plaza could come at a tenth of the price, leaving lots of moolah for physical improvements.<\/p>\n

Whoever the prospective buyers are<\/strong>, Lasry and Griffin should have taken this course long ago. Instead they chose to \"\"run Trump Plaza as a kind of charitable endeavor, a money-losing ($1.5 million in 1Q12) drag anchor on the company. The desired buyer would have a “better balance sheet” than Trump, said Griffin (left<\/em>), indirectly acknowledging how empty his and Lasry’s bullish talk has been. At least they’ve (temporarily) put a sock in all that bluster about expanding into other markets<\/a> by purchasing distressed gaming assets. One “distressed” casino after another has come on the market and Trump has stood pat. (It can at least revel in the belated win of a five-year-old grudge match with the United Auto Workers<\/strong>, which had attempted to organize Trump dealers.)<\/p>\n

\"\"Norton, you’re the greatest!<\/strong> Griffin’s speech painted an unexciting picture for 2012: more cost-cutting and a 12% interest rate on corporate debt do not inspire confidence. Then there’s the matter of company albatross Donald Trump<\/strong>. As though channeling S&G<\/em>, casino consultant Steve Norton<\/strong> told it like it is: The Donald must go.”I feel it is more of a negative in Atlantic City than a positive<\/em>,” he said of the played-out Trump brand. “I just don\u2019t think it brings anything to the table. They\u2019ve been bankrupt three times<\/em>.” Since the Trump portfolio once encompassed five casinos and will soon shrink to one, it’s impossible to argue with that assessment.<\/p>\n

\"\"Interestingly<\/strong>, Gov. Chris Christie<\/strong> (R-N.J.), having snubbed the East Coast Gaming Conference<\/strong>, tiptoed in and out of Atlantic City to address the Laborer’s International Union<\/strong> of North America 2012 Eastern Region Conference<\/strong> and tease significant new Boardwalk investment<\/a>. Assembled casino boffins had to make to do with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno<\/strong> (R), who offered reassuring, stay-the-course rhetoric for assembled executives. In other words, Christie may be halfway out the door to Washington, D.C.<\/strong> (or is acting that way) but you’ve still got me. Perhaps she’d like to warm up by going a few rounds with state Sen. Raymond Lesniak<\/strong> (D) on the importance to Atlantic City<\/a> of Internet<\/strong> wagering.<\/p>\n

\"\"One of Gary Loveman’s<\/strong> myriad bad decisions was the 2006 purchase of Aladdin<\/strong>-ruined London Clubs International<\/strong> for $500 million, intended as a shortcut to getting the United Kingdom<\/strong>‘s sole “supercasino” (which the government withdrew under fire). Years ago, it was reported that then-Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> was trying to trade LCI for a minority stake in Rank PLC<\/strong>. Now cash-strapped Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> is trying to unload its ’06 acquisition for $253 million<\/a>. Given the clearance price, potential buyers are quickly materializing. Renewed talks with Rank, however, went nowhere — possibly because of a rumored, $95 million spinoff of South African Emerald Resort & Casino<\/strong>. But, for $158 million, you can still have 10 British casinos and two in (yikes!) Egypt<\/strong>, if you crave risky investments in Islamofascistic countries.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Soffer’s swath of destruction<\/strong> on the Las Vegas Strip<\/strong> has broadened to snuff out<\/a> the posh Stirling Club<\/strong>. Soffer ruined the property’s outdoor atmosphere long ago by throwing up the monumentally fugly Fontainebleau<\/strong> parking garage behind it. Would-be Stirling Club savior David Atwell<\/strong> has a long track record of selling unpromising Vegas assets to European real-estate dabblers, so it will interesting to see who he lands to put the shine back into the Stirling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What took them so long? That has to be the operative question now that Trump Entertainment Resorts owner Marc Lasry and CEO Robert Griffin have belatedly put Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino on the market, at an undisclosed price. (Probably … 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":[23,28,42,26,59,22,37,6,9,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075"}],"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=9075"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26656,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075\/revisions\/26656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}