{"id":951,"date":"2008-02-11T16:03:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-12T00:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2008\/2\/11\/Somedays-it-sucks-to-be-ColSux"},"modified":"2021-06-20T07:46:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T15:46:02","slug":"somedays-it-sucks-to-be-colsux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/somedays-it-sucks-to-be-colsux\/","title":{"rendered":"Somedays, it sucks to be ‘ColSux’"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Northern Kentucky hotelier William Yung III<\/b> may be gambling on Gov. Steve Beshear<\/b> and Covington to save his crumbling casino empire.” Those are the words of the Lexington Herald-Leader<\/i>, catching readers up on the quickly evolving troubles<\/a> of Yung, CEO of Columbia Sussex<\/b> (colloquially known online as ‘ColSux’).<\/span><\/p>\n

The really interesting information comes near the bottom, where reporter Janet Patton chronicles the Flying Dutchman-like saga of the former Belle of Baton Rouge<\/i> (now apparently destined for yet another relocation; see previous blog entry). She also reveals that Yung’s company is under investigation in Mississippi<\/b>, pursuant to its eviction from New Jersey.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Yung’s proposed Covington, Ky., casino has to overcome quite a few hurdles<\/a> to become a reality. If Kentucky solons or voters ixnay casinos, it’s a moot point, never mind whether Yung would get a license (though he’s in favor with Beshear) or mollify historic preservationists — or even whether Covington would get approved for a casino, period. (Several readers also envision nightmarish traffic problems.) The Cincinnati Enquirer<\/a> lays out some of the other complications. The paper’s editorial board keeps its powder dry<\/a>, letting readers debate the issue. The\u00a0Online Casino Advisory<\/span>\u00a0is less circumspect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, what of the sagging fortunes of Yung’s erstwhile cash cow, the Atlantic City Tropicana<\/a>? Justice Gary Stein<\/b>, and his “lonely” quest to turn around and sell the revenue-leaking property are profiled.<\/p>\n

There’s also an interesting scorecard<\/a> on potential Trop buyers, though I take strong issue with some of its conclusions. I’m in agreement as far contenders #1-3, but the Steve Wynn<\/b> card seems overplayed. Wynn has washed his hands of Atlantic City twice before. If he isn’t gun-shy at this point, state officials may be.<\/p>\n

Also, it’s a grave disservice to Penn National Gaming<\/b> and Ameristar Casinos<\/b> to equate them with Columbia Sussex. These aren’t hoteliers who dabbled in gaming on the side; they’re successful, casino-centric operators. Ameristar, in particular, may have something to prove after being an also-ran in the bidding for A<\/b>ztar Corp<\/b>. A Tropicana acquisition would also increase the company debt load (like, duh<\/i>) thereby achieving the strategic objective of making Ameristar less attractive as a takeover candidate.<\/p>\n

And don’t count James Packer<\/b> out, either. Although he’s put his money on Pennsylvania with a racino purchase there, he’s also on a casino-shopping spree that has seen him snap up<\/a> the growing\u00a0Cannery franchise<\/a> in Las Vegas, as well as getting large stakes, at bargain prices, in Fontainbleau<\/b> and Christopher Milam<\/a>‘s as-yet-unbuilt Las Vegas Tower<\/a>, now Crown Las Vegas<\/b>. Depending on how much Packer has left in his piggybank, the Trop may not be out of his reach.<\/p>\n

Now for some good news:<\/b> One of the more conservative presidential-delegate estimates, that of CNN, now has Sen. Barack Obama<\/b> only 27 delegates behind Sen. Hillary Clinton<\/b>.*<\/p>\n

Why is Obama’s success important. Well, it seems that — in East Baton Rouge<\/b> — it gave casino expansion some extra muscle at the ballot box<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* — Sen. Clinton’s name is un-bolded not out of disrespect but because, through a computer glitch that has everyone here baffled, sometimes our system just deletes copy when commanded to boldface or italicize it. Strange but true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Northern Kentucky hotelier William Yung III may be gambling on Gov. Steve Beshear and Covington to save his crumbling casino empire.” Those are the words of the Lexington Herald-Leader, catching readers up on the quickly evolving troubles of Yung, CEO … 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":[15,28],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951"}],"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=951"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29734,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951\/revisions\/29734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}