Stiffs and Georges

… starring our old friend Jonathan Galaviz, expert on gaming affairs along the Pacific Rim. But a life-sized Shrek in a casino? WTF?

“On the U.S. side … we view the State of Nevada as having uninspiring oversight of activities occurring in Macau. For every gap of oversight that exists from the Nevada Gaming Control Board or Nevada Gaming Commission, the U.S. Federal Government may fill it … If the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Commission were to [...]

French statesman Georges Clemenceau once dryly remarked that the cemeteries are full of indispensable men. Clemenceau’s quip obtained fresh sting this week when the gaming world lost Dr. William Eadington. The industry scholar has been struggling with cancer for a year and a half, and succumbed at age 67. A reserved and unpretentious man, Bill [...]

MGM Resorts International has a 50% stake in Borgata that nobody wants … except MGM. In bolstering move that Atlantic City sorely needs, MGM may get to reclaim its half of the resort (with the support of partner Boyd Gaming), not to mention all the revenue that the State of New Jersey has been holding [...]

Ever since the government of Macao put a hard cap on the number of table games in the enclave, casino operators have been forced to do a certain amount of cap-and-trade. In order to stock up Sands Cotai, 200 tables had to be removed from Venetian Macao. According to J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, these [...]

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 [...]

Except for a 4% slippage in July, the motto around Pennsylvania might be, “Cannibalization? What cannibalization?” The Keystone State has shrugged off new competition from Ohio, from New York City, from Revel in Atlantic City, and even from within the state itself. Once new Valley Forge Casino Resort (right) and its $6 million gross are [...]

Macao casino revenue grew ‘only’ 7% last month, which is bad … if you were thinking monthly, large double-digit increases (21% over the past five months) were a sustainable norm. “This is decent,” J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff said of the $3.3 billion May gross, a near-record amount. For the remainder of the year and [...]

This just in: It was pretty clear that Sheldon Adelson was cool toward his home state of Massachusetts and he officially called it quits today. His excuse? Three casinos and a slot parlor will “dilute the market.” In other words, no monopoly = no Sheldon. That’s a slight variation on the too-much-competition wheeze he used [...]

If state Rep. Lou Lang (D), the economic Rasputin of the upper Midwest, and his allies in the horsey set were actually conspiring to topple Illinois‘ casino industry in favor of quick-and-dirty racinos, they’ve done it cunningly. Frontal attacks on casino gambling almost never succeed, so why not water the gaming business down to the [...]

Although I was only joking when I suggested that Steve Wynn’s long-sought Cotai Strip land grant would come in on May Day, some Communist Party bureaucrat wasn’t. After many false alarms, the 51 acres were finally ‘gazetted’ on May 1. In lieu of Wynn brandishing a hammer and sickle, per S&G’s suggestion, it would suffice [...]

Rub a dub-dub, three companies in a tub called Rock Ohio Caesars. In emulation of Nevada’s built-first-license-later system, the Ohio Casino Control Commission is just getting around to mulling the bonafides of Horseshoe Casino Cleveland’s shareholders. Little-publicized minority partner Lyle Berman (left, who owns a 10% stake) got a clean bill of health from Spectrum [...]

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 [...]

VIP junket operators are coming to Singapore, J.P. Morgan stock analysts reported. Actually, they’re already there in the form of “shadow junkets,” according to Singaporean media. And if Las Vegas Sands or Genting Berhad are knowingly dealing with illegal junketeers, they deserve to have the book hurled at them by the nation’s government. However, a [...]

Evidently J.P. Morgan’s Gaming, Lodging & Leisure Management Access Forum, being held this week at Wynncore, isn’t sufficiently important to merit the attendance of Big Gaming’s CEOs. If Steve Wynn couldn’t make the stroll from his office to Encore’s meeting rooms, why should Sheldon Adelson cross the street, right?
There have been a few class acts. MGM [...]

Last Saturday, Sheldon Adelson personally presided over the Special Supplemental Sheldon Adelson Presidential Caucuses (an event hijacked from the state GOP) at the Dr. Miriam & Sheldon G. Adelson Educational Campus … and stepped in it again. Adelson’s footpads, according to Richard A. Oppel Jr. of the New York Times, told caucus goers “they had [...]

This is a good time to be in Florida, right? Not if you’re Boyd Gaming and have been trying to unload Dania Jai-alai, souvenir of a half-assed venture into the Sunshine State’s racino market. The company has scrapped an $80 million sale of its Dania asset after the would-be buyer couldn’t scrape the cash together [...]

A recent visitor to Las Vegas from the Pacific Rim told me that Sheldon Adelson has worn out his welcome in Macao (which is on pace to eclipse all other gaming markets combined) and is fast doing so in Singapore. Judging by his bludgeoning efforts to commandeer the Miami casino market, it’s easy to see [...]

I’ve been debating whether or not to give Global Gaming Expo a pass this year and this morning’s dispatch from Deutsche Bank’s Carlo Santarelli didn’t exactly quicken my pulse. His prediction? A “quiet” G2E, due to slow growth in the industry itself. Instead of significant new product, Santarelli forecasts a variation on what Steve Friess [...]

OK, so it’s called “paying a premium,” but Steve Wynn finally pried 51 acres of Cotai Strip™ landfill real estate loose from Macao by forking over $193 million ($3.8 million an acre), plus annual lease payments. In return. he’s got to get $2.5 billion, 1,400-room Wynn Cotai up and running by 2016. Since Wynn has [...]