You live in Las Vegas long enough, you think you’ve seen everything. Then somebody uses a helicopter to airlift a big-ass jacuzzi (technically an “onsen tub”) onto the terrace of the Nobu Tower at Caesars Palace, where it will grace the high-roller Nobu Villa. The tub was evidently too cumbrous for a crane — or maybe Caesars Entertainment just wanted to make a statement. No expense spared! Color me impresssed
* In what we’re assured is not the start of a trend, Biloxi‘s newest casino, Margaritaville, is taking a night train to the Big Adios. Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Allen Godfrey was in PR damage-control mode. “I think it probably was more of an instance that, coming out of the gate, they struggled a little bit to find their niche. All along the Gulf Coast, there are hotels going up, hotel renovations,” he said.
Godfrey happens to be right. He also enumerated some pretty damning assertions about Margaritaville, such as the tardy introduction of a players’ club, a 35% employee reduction and high turnover among the managerial ranks. None of that ever bodes well. Also, opening a hotel-less casino seems to have been a major setback. The stay-and-play habit seems to be as ingrained in Biloxi as in Vegas.
A refusal by Margaritaville’s landlord to renegotiate the lease seems to have been the final straw in this drink. CEO Doug Shipley also blamed his casino’s relative isolation and its lack of rooms. “The story here is without a hotel, we cannot operate in a competitive market.” Not even the offer to invest another $64 million to add 250 hotels was enough to win the landlord’s sympathies.
Gaming Commissioner John Harrison displayed unusual candor about the $62 million, little casino that couldn’t: “The commission was concerned from Day 1, but found ourselves in a difficult situation given the operation satisfied regulations at that time. We began discussing a change in regulation requiring larger scale, amenities, and hotels shortly thereafter, culminating in the regulation put in place in 2014.”
Margaritaville management is being pretty george. Employees who are loyal to the end, whether it comes on Sept. 19 or earlier, will get paid two months’ salary. As to the region’s economy, Godfrey pointed to an impressive slew of upgrades, including Tilman Fertitta‘s makeover of the Golden Nugget, as well as a new D’Ibreville project, the Scarlet Pearl. Sometimes the free market just weeds out the weak players, as was clearly the case here.
Too bad about the Margaritaville. The fact is that, however, it is in a terrible location surrounded by vacant land on a desolate street. Perhaps it could have made it if it were on a major thoroughfare with plenty of foot traffic.
I definitely agree with the Guru. We looked, unsuccessfully, for that casino on several visits as it was being built. It is on the back bay, not on the beachside of Biloxi. I love to explore the back roads between the Palace and the IP. It took several tries to find the way to Margaritaville. We found it not gambler friendly. Enjoyed the short visit but not a place we would go back to play or stay. Too bad it couldn’t have been built on the original seaside location.