Stiffs and Georges

If Carl Icahn holds the note on your life, you are in a world of hurt, my friend. Just ask Trump Entertainment Resorts, whose $20 million sale of wretchedly performing Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino suddenly looks very shaky. What’s Uncle Carl’s reasoning? That the casino is “worth more,” although how much more is conveniently [...]

One doesn’t really think of going to shore in March, so it’s no surprise that Atlantic City casino revenues were — excluding Revel — down 14% last month. The latter grossed $10 million, pulling it almost dead even with the Golden Nugget and a bit further behind the Atlantic Club. The surprise bulletin of the [...]

Sheldon Adelson being too busy trying to dictate American foreign policy, it was left to his Number Two Man, COO Michael Leven (left) to go to Toronto and make the case for a Las Vegas Sands megaresort. Leven soft-pedaled the gambling stuff and talked up conventions instead. Leven’s unconcern about having only 2,000 parking spaces [...]

Although the government of Macao enjoys nothing better than to make casino owners wait and fidget for their land leases to be “gazetted,” today is MGM Resorts International’s lucky day. MGM China received final approval for its Cotai Strip megaresort. Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli calls the timing “ahead of expectations,” which suggests that Macanese [...]

For months, state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), has been threatening to push an enormous gambling expansion through the Illinois Legislature during its lame-duck session. He says he’s “getting very close” but we’ve heard that kind of braying from Lang previously. A sock puppet of Illinois‘ horsey set, Lang won’t be satisfied with any bill that [...]

Caught between the twin hazards of prospective higher taxes on investment income and the looming fiscal cliff, Steve Wynn made headlines today with his $750 million Thanksgiving special dividend, which ought to help pay for all those Black Friday purchases on Wynn Resorts‘ investors to-do list. The New York Times also speculated that there might [...]

No sooner were Wall Street analysts uttering serious concerns about a slow post-Sandy recovery for Atlantic City than who should pop up on CBS This Morning but Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman, doing damage control …

It’s hard to decide which is funnier: doddering Charlie Rose unwittingly picking at a Loveman sore spot by mentioning Macao, [...]

Actually, a few hardy souls — like fearless restaurateur Montgomery Dahm, who was semper fidelis to his fellow citizens — never closed. Add Tun Tavern to your list of must-see stops when you visit Atlantic City. Ditto Ducktown Tavern & Liquors, which hung tough in the face of Hurricane Sandy. However, although casino owners have [...]

If the Stalin organs of the Zynga PR battery had fallen silent, it was only to reload. As predicted yesterday, Zynga is regrouping around Internet gambling as its new strategy of choice. Zynga unleashed “announced an exclusive partnership [with Bwin.party] to offer real money online Poker and Casino games in the UK market. Zynga’s UK-based [...]

Folks down in the Pelican State had better things to do than gamble last month … like clean up after Hurricane Isaac. This might account for a 5% year/year decline in casino revenues. Louisiana’s gambling venues grossed $200 million last month, posting a 2% increase entirely on the strength of Pinnacle Entertainment’s new L’Auberge Baton [...]

Pursuant to our last S&G dispatch, here are the USA Today choices for top attractions on the Strip (uniqueness and affordability being prime considerations). If you’re not staying at a Hilton property right now, you aren’t vouchsafed access to the actual guide, but here’s a potted version …

Dining: Gordon Ramsay Steak [Paris-Las Vegas]; rm seafood [...]

Let the record show that the American Gaming Association’s daily SmartBrief is an invaluable one-stop shop for casino-related news stories, especially now that several of the leading Las Vegas-centric blogs have taken a dirt nap. However, if you can’t find one good laugh per SmartBrief, you’re just not trying. Monday offered this chuckle, courtesy of [...]

Remember all those rumors that had the Sahara’s now-vanished Speed: The Ride packed up and headed for Circus Circus? Not so! The good folks and inquiring minds at VegasChatter.com were sussing out some dormant South Strip developments and discovered …

… our old friend Speed adorning an as-yet-unbuilt shopping mall called Akita Plaza. I have my suspicions [...]

“A swift letter from [Sheldon] Adelson’s lawyers produced an apology, and the removal of the offending [Democratic Congressional Committee] blogs. That made Adelson happy, according to a spokesman, who added, ‘More broadly, this should serve notice to those who would attempt to smear Mr. Adelson by repeating the false and inflammatory statements of a fired [...]

Our favorite welfare queen, Xpress West (née Desert Xpress) isn’t letting its plans be constrained by anything so mundane as reality. Original pitchman Sig “The Fixer” Rogich has crawled off into the underbrush somewhere but his Choo-Choo-to-Nowhere has found additional front men. And Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) continues to push for a record amount of [...]

• Anti-gambling prick Rep. Steve King (R-IA) may find himself under investigation. Unfortunately, he’s not being investigated for being an anti-gambling prick. But it might remove one more obstacle to online poker.
• The online-gambling world wet its panties last weekend over the (dubiously sourced) prospect of the U.S. Department of Justice OK’ing a Full Tilt [...]

No, I don’t know who Cobra Starship is but their “#1Nite” (yes, that’s how they spell it) is the sort of bubble-gum pop that ought to stick to the top of the charts. It’s another entry in that can’t-fail music-video genre, “Wacky Weekend in Vegas.” What sets this one somewhat apart is the use of the [...]

“[X] took five years to build at a cost of $2.4 billion. The building is nearly two million square feet, and will offer the latest technology at check-in, creature comforts … including a spa and several dining options, and almost 300 slot machines.” — Care to guess the casino? It’s — wait for it — [...]

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 investigation) to settle upon M Resort. This is serious research, people! But hey, as long [...]

First, the good news. Business is off and running at brand-new Sands Cotai Central, whose Himalaya casino (372 tables, 600 slots) opened last Wednesday. In total square footage, it overtakes Venetian Macao for status as the world’s largest casino (30% larger) and will be joined by the Pacifica casino in September. Incidentally, if you think [...]