Stiffs and Georges

“It reminds me of an Applebee’s.” — remark overheard during the media rollout of Pub 1842, newest restaurant at MGM Grand, a Michael Mina “gastropub.“ Whoever’s in charge of the myriad TVs needs to be told that there are other summertime sports than hockey. (The raw bar was good, though.)

It’s Monday, so it must be time for another worshipful Sam Nazarian profile in the Los Angeles Times. Sure enough. If you can endure the usual LAT fawning, one will glean some useful facts and inferences — plus a reminder that incompetent Colony Capital has a $35 million stake in SLS Las Vegas‘ parent company, [...]

Buried at the bottom of a J.P. Morgan analyst rep0rt on meetings with MGM Resorts International executives was a real corker: “[W]we would not be surprised to see MGM look to monetize some of CityCenter’s asset base, for example Crystals, its retail mall,” whose net operating income is a measly $40 million. Morgan’s Joseph Greff [...]

Las Vegas Sands has been losing one court case after another, whether in Macao or at home in Las Vegas. But the sands really hit the fan today with the revelation that Sheldon Adelson’s company is under the scrutiny by a federal grand jury for potential money laundering. Sands imposed a prohibition on international monetary [...]

While in Vegas, Deutsche Bank’s Carlo Santarelli dropped in on Boyd Gaming and … well, the news wasn’t as good there as on the Strip. He predicts a “tempered recovery,” adding that “expectations for an inflection in the LV locals gaming recovery are premature at present.” All the important indicators — employment, construction activity, home [...]

It really looked like the fix was in, the deal was done and existing casino operators in Illinois were about to thrown to the slaughter by legislators hungry for licensing fees. But the wheels of the grand plan are coming off. The horsey set’s man in Springfield, Rep. Lou Lang (D, right) had to withdraw [...]

Given the supine attitude toward mergers and acquisitions that has prevailed in Washington, D.C., for the past 15 years and the routine, state-by-state approval of Pinnacle Entertainment’s takeover of Ameristar Casinos, I had erroneously thought it a done deal. Not so. The Federal Trade Commission has deemed it a violation of antitrust laws, as it [...]

Good news for Caesars Entertainment: Macanese gaming magnate Galaxy Entertainment Group wants to buy a golf course. Caesars has a $578 million one it desperately wants to unload. Bad news for Caesars, Galaxy wants a course that’s on nearby Hengqin Island, not in Macao proper, where Caesars Golf sits. Amazing place, Macao: Where else could [...]

Say what you like about MGM Resorts International’s plans for Monte Carlo and New York-York, the company isn’t letting any grass grow under its feet: As of 9 a.m. this morning, the Monte Carlo facade was merely walled off with naked cyclone fencing. By 3:30 p.m. — voila! — a logo-festooned banner had wrapped the [...]

Just when boosters of casino expansion in Illinois thought they had a done deal, Gov. Pat Quinn (D) sprung a carefully concealed snare: No pension reform, no dice. He dismissed Rep. Lou Lang’s endless, insane casino crusade as a “shiny object.” Even gay marriage is a higher priority for Quinn (who favors it) than adding [...]

Penn National Gaming has filed paperwork with the SEC for an IPO that would enable you to buy into 19 Penn casinos, including flop Hollywood Perryville (shown). This Penn stalking horse would go by the incredibly generic name of Gaming & Leisure Properties (ticker symbol GLPI), a moniker so dull it must have been conceived [...]

Found by Vintage Vegas Valley, a Facebook page you really should “like.” As in, right this minute.

We don’t know how it managed it but congratulations to The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It finally realized how to market to those hitherto-elusive creatures known as “gamblers.” Casino revenue shot up 33%, winning $41 million from players, partly due to better-than-expected hold. Room rates ($273) and 88% also continued to be some of the [...]

Gone and soon to be forgotten is the fugly NASCAR Cafe (site of terrible customer service), one of Bill Bennett’s dubious ‘enhancements’ to the Sahara during his ownership. Current owner Sam Nazarian is ripping the Sahara apart in earnest, although this story implies that two of the hotel towers will get just a light makeover. [...]

After a boffo February, the Silver State also posted extraordinary numbers in March. As Deutsche Bank headlined its report, “Different Month, Same Tune.” Analyst Carlo Santarelli cautioned, “we believe the underlying trends are not as strong as the headline would suggest,” pointing toward slippage in slot handle and in table drop (down 10.5%), excluding baccarat. [...]

Media previews are a double-edged sword. They can be a cheap way of drumming up advance press but can also betray a project in trouble: Surf the Musical was obviously going to be dead on arrival. And it was. Given its arid recent history in Las Vegas, the directorate of Cirque du Soleil would be [...]

America’s casino officially emerged from the doldrums with the release of the American Gaming Association’s yearly survey, showing a 5% increase in private-sector casino revenue, just $200 million shy of 2007’s record amount. Mind you, we have quite a few more casinos now than we did in ‘07, so the pie much be sliced more [...]

We saw Claire Sinclair’s new show at Stratosphere the other night … or rather, ’saw as much as we could withstand.’ Our attention and sitzfleisch gave out around the one-hour mark, with at least another 30 minutes stretching before us. Speaking of stretch, the corps de danse looks very well-toned and amazonian but some of [...]

Yes, the recovery in Las Vegas could be said to be a chastened and limping one. The national press will leap at just about anything to restart the “Vegas is back” narrative. And yes, CityCenter ROI improved exponentially … to 4%. But all that being the case, nothing seen in recent numbers — like a [...]

Every few years, brows are knitted earnestly in discussion of whether this will finally be the year in which Japan legalizes casino gambling. I’ve been hearing versions of this debate regularly since 2005, so you’ll pardon me if I suppress a yawn. Yes, billions of dollars — to say nothing of various Asian currencies — [...]