Wall Street analysts are weighing in on Wynn Resorts‘ preemptive strike against Kazuo Okada last weekend. Surprisingly, J.P. Morgan‘s Joseph Greff rates it as a positive in re Steve Wynn‘s ambitions for expansion into Japan and says it doesn’t hurt him in Macao, either. (So, causing a prominent Japanese businessman to lose face in his own country will have no negative cultural ramifications? Hmmmm … ) Deutsche Bank‘s Carlo Santarelli concludes that the fundamental picture of Wynn Resorts remains the same: “a solid risk reward story with limited expectations and strong free cash flow.” He furthermore noted that Okada knew Wynn’s sleuths were looking into his alleged palm-greasing before he leveled accusations that Steve Wynn was trying to buy influence in Macao, throwing a certain amount of discredit upon Okada’s j’accuse. However, Santarelli appears to walk back his previous remarks vis-a-vis a higher price target for WYNN, which he restates at $148/share. Regardless of how meritorious Okada’s indictment of Wynn was, throwing $135 million at the University of Macau, a gift timed to coincide with the expiration of Wynn’s Macanese casino concession isn’t bribery but it’s as crass, clumsy and heavy-handed a way of currying official favor as any of which I can conceive.
Save the date. Essentially forgotten amidst all the publicity surrounding last week’s opening of the Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, the erstwhile “Mob Experience” at the Tropicana Las Vegas is announcing a March 1 grand reopening. It has been rechristened Mob Attraction Las Vegas (although reader Jeff_in_OKC suggests the more musical “Mobicana Mobarama”) The A/V portions of the exhibit have been “upgraded and enhance[d]” — i.e., they’ve replaced the bells and whistles that got repossessed by creditors. The live actors have been reinstated and video footage of James Caan, Mickey Rourke, Frank Vincent, etc., has been resumed. In other words, it’s the same schlocky Mob Experience that you know and didn’t love last year. Admission has been reset at $25, which is reasonable by Strip standards — far more so than the $4o it used to cost you. The Trop really needs the second time to be the charm, as it’s taking a 10-year deferment on rent. However, I think it highly improbably that the Mob Attraction will survive for the lifespan of that contract.
To create further brand confusion, the “world’s largest short film festival,” Tropfest, is being brought to the Strip … at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Yeah, Tropfest at the Cosmo … no mixed marketing message there. Tropfest will run June 1-3 (“weeklong” in Cosmospeak) and may or may not feature celebrity appearances. They’re being a little cagey about that part. No need to come, mind you: The whole shebang will be filmed and telecast on Starz, which will get a chance to class up its image after all those Spartacus gruntfests. In case you’re still wondering “What the hell is this Tropfest anyway,” let’s just say it’s the vehicle that helped launch Man on a Ledge star Sam Worthington upon a totally disinterested world.
Never mind the blushing-violet act that’s being staged for media benefit by Sheldon Adelson. While he may not be the single largest PAC donor in the current electoral cycle, once you throw in Mrs. Adelson, her daughters and an in-law, the Adelson family largesse to Winning Our Future (aka Newt Gingrich) swells to $12 million as of Jan. 31. Take that, Caesars Entertainment co-owner John Paulson ($1 million to Mitt Romney)! A healthy 92% of WOF’s warchest came from the Adelson clan. The White House may not be for sale but that doesn’t mean Sheldon isn’t hellbent on buying it.
