Stiffs and Georges

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 [...]

“Lightweight” might be a apt term to describe the braintrust forming around the SLS/Sahara project. So would “miscast.” Reporting to casino novice and owner Sam Nazarian, its president will be J.P. Morgan investment banker Sam Bakhshandehpour. His main qualification for the job? Well, according to Howard Stutz, “[he] worked with Nazarian earlier this year to [...]

Monday’s interview with Interblock global sales supremo Tom O’Brien (right) yielded some passing observations that are probably too peripheral for my upcoming Casino Life piece … but perfect for S&G. Interblock maintains field offices in Las Vegas (soon to become the de facto headquarters) in Australia, Macao and Nova Scotia. In order to staff these, [...]

Sheldon Adelson must have great and abiding faith in the American legal system … at least some of the time. He’s counting on it to cover his butt over in Macao, where erstwhile partners Asian American Entertainment have filed suit against Las Vegas Sands, more fallout from the company’s promiscuous dalliance with Chinese business interests. [...]

This week finds me up to my butt in page proofs of Rick Lax’s forthcoming book, I Get Paid for This, a Michael Jackson The [sic] Immortal World Tour™ review for WizardOfVegas.com, profiles of developer Brett Torino and Mayor Carolyn Goodman, locating Sonny Liston’s grave and sundry other matters. Which means I’m totally behind the [...]

“Ferries don’t come to Macao during a typhoon but they don’t leave either.” — Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli, endeavoring to calm investor fears of “a broader slowdown in China” — anxieties that have driven MGM Resorts International, Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and Melco Crown Entertainment stocks down anywhere from 10% to 20%.

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 [...]

Las Vegas Review-Journal newshound Norm(!) Clarke reports that, in January, the Nevada Ballet Theater’s annual honoree will be … wait for it … Eva Longoria. What a concept: Fail miserably at business, get an award! S&G looks forward to future NBT recognition of Tom Barrack, James Packer, Jeffrey Soffer, Ian Bruce Eichner, Lyle Berman, Ed [...]

Oh Christ, Steve Wynn, grow up already. Busy Wall Street analysts were held hostage to a 433-word talk-radio tirade while they were probably itching to write up quarterly earnings reports. When other CEOs might have been bragging on an “amazing second quarter,” beating the Street’s cash flow estimates by $72 million and achieving a 32% [...]

It doesn’t matter to state Rep. Lou Lang (D, right) that Illinois‘ casino revenues are puny compared to those of neighboring Indiana or that St. Louis-area players are defecting in droves. He wants racinos and more casinos, by golly, and won’t stop until he gets them. Never you mind the economic consequences. Sounding like a [...]

For those of you waiting for Boyd Gaming to do something with all its undrawn credit, the moment has arrived. Having surveyed the chips on the board, Boyd has pounced upon … IP Casino Resort Spa (née Imperial Palace Biloxi) in a $288 million deal. Ten million of those clams will take the form of [...]

Caesars Entertainment Chief Marketing Officer David Norton, developer of Total Rewards, got his walking papers yesterday. The old “pursuing other interests” excuse was deployed; familiar industry code for “Don’t let the doorknob hit you on the way out.”
Publicly, CEO Gary Loveman uttered extravagant praise — as well he should, though he slightly misspoke. Without Norton, [...]

Because Sen. Harry Reid’s decision not to importune lenders on behalf of Fontainebleau (unlike CityCenter) means he steered clear of a widening circle of litigation and recrimination, that’s why. Among those in the hot seat are hapless James Packer and ousted F’blew boss Glenn Schaeffer (a once-brilliant career blown to smithereens) along with Chief Restructuring [...]

James Packer’s had enough of the U.S. casino market. While not definitively ruling out a return to the American gaming industry, the minority owner of Cannery Casino Resorts makes it clear that he’s neither the stomach nor the lucre for pursuing further stateside ventures. At least, not in the foreseeable future. Ironically, had Packer waited [...]

Sam Nazarian: bullshit wrapped in an expensive suit.
Once the Riviera changed hands, the Strip casino for whom mortality seemed most imminent became the Sahara. The ‘death by a thousand cuts’ regime of nightclub impresario and absentee owner Sam Nazarian bled the place to the extent that there was no point going there anymore. It became [...]

Thanks to the S&G reader who provided me with that ready-made headline. Yes, Morgans Hotel Group has closed the book on Scheetz’s Folly, the $770 million purchase of the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The Sun’s Liz Benston lays out the litany of disaster that followed. It’s resourceful spin-doctoring by CEO Fred Kleisner to claim [...]

Investors would do well to ask that, not least because of CEO Sheldon Adelson’s attitude of, ‘The buck stops here … except when it doesn’t.’ To hear Adelson tell it, everything that goes awry at Las Vegas Sands and Sands China is the handiwork of those old Family Circus poltergeists Ida Know and Not Me.
But [...]

So this is how Stanley Ho’s world ends: Not with a bang but with the ancient casino vizier giving a televised address in which he laboriously delivered lines from a cue card (partial audio here) and ceded control of his Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau to third wife Ina Chan. From Mrs. Chan [...]

Sheldon Adelson must have been a good boy this year. Santa left an extra present under his tree, in the form of probable approval by the Macau Land, Public Works & Transportation Bureau of apartment sales at 286-unit Four Seasons Cotai. This would add another $1/share to Las Vegas Sands’ share price, says casino analyst [...]