There are gambling markets … and then there’s Las Vegas. Players opened their wallets — oh, did they ever — and lost big. Casino winnings on the Las Vegas Strip were up 13.5% and Nevada casinos overall did 10% better than last year, for a statewide gross of $943 million. Downtown casino winnings shot up almost 20%. That’s right: 20%. Even Strip slot play was up 4%, thanks to a combination of slightly higher coin-in and incrementally tighter hold. But what mainly drove those balmy Strip numbers, of course, was baccarat, where $185 million was raked in. Whales and smaller aquatic fauna bet larger (up 23%) and lost bigger (ditto). Other table games saw 11.5% higher play and the house was lucky indeed, its winning rising nearly 18%. (According to J.P. Morgan, 18.5%.) Except for some outlying Clark County markets like Mesquite and Primm — as well as Reno (-4%) and Elko (-2%), all significant Nevada jurisdictions reported improvement, from 2% in Laughlin to 14% in North Las Vegas and 17% on the Boulder Strip. However, Boyd Gaming missed out on the fun, its revenues up “only” 4%, according to Deutsche Bank. Maybe it’s those “Night of the Living Dead” TV spots …
The Strip will have a tough time repeating this double-digit feat in January, which saw a 29% revenue surge last year. Particularly difficult to replicate will be the explosive performance of hyper-volatile Lake Tahoe, up 57% last month and, no, that’s not a typo.
Where’s “Alcorcon”? It’s outside Madrid and you’ll soon he hearing lots about it, since that’s where Sheldon Adelson will build his $22 billion EuroVegas. But first, he’s got to persuade banks to part with $14 billion, to be spent over a 10-year period and recouped … God knows when. If the super-duper-megaresort were to return a best-case 20% of investment annually (unlikely), Adelson would be 95 when the project pays off — and I’m taking the “over” on that one.
Sheldon has struck again. (SPAIN). Sheldon is seldom wrong. I would not bet against him. This move is colossal. Get on board — while you can.
You can criticize Sheldon Adelson all u want but he didn’t become a multi billionaire by being passive and not taking risks.. He has been aggressive and done so without the help of Whorehouse Reid and the Community adviser. Getting back to the Community Adviser if u were hiring a chief executive for a major Company and u had his resume would u even consider this person to run it? With these limited qualifications he is ruining this country into ruins..