Big Ease; The Mirage, 25 years later

Even with 19 non-tribal casinos and racinos to support, the Louisiana market continues to rebound. It was up 4% last month, with even 2% growth in the crowded Shreveport/Bossier City marketplace. El Dorado was the second-highest grosser and the percentage leader (+7%), while Diamond Jacks (-6%) brought up the rear. Horseshoe Bossier City was the top grosser, at $15.5 million.

In the Baton Rouge area, Pinnacle Entertainment‘s L’Auberge du Lac Baton Rouge continues to be responsible for over 50% of all the dollars grossed therein. It raked in $11 million million, while Tropicana Entertainment‘s Belle of Baton Rouge and GLPI‘s Hollywood Baton Rouge grossed slightly less than $5 million and $6 million respectively. Pinnacle may not be a ubiquitous company but it builds better mousetraps wherever it goes.

Only Churchill Downs‘ Fair Grounds racino posted a decline (-2%) in the New Orleans market, while Boyd Gaming‘s Treasure Chest swelled 12%. The revenue leader was Harrah’s New Orleans, grossing $27 million, which would be tops in the state …

… were it not for original-flavor L’Auberge du Lac, in Lake Charles, which raked in $30 million (+6%). Isle of Capri Casinos‘ Isle Grand Palais rose 5%, grossing $11 million. Nearby Delta Downs burgeoned 10%, for a $15 million gross. Boyd’s strong performances there and at Treasure Chest more than made up for a 4% dip aboard Amelia Belle and a flat performance at Evangeline Downs. In fact, all operators save Diamond Jacks had a revenue-positive month, so there’s plenty of cause to celebrate.

* Imagine The Mirage being called Victoria Bay and sitting downtown in the current site of the Clark County Government Center. It almost happened, but
history had different plans for Steve Wynn. That’s one of the musings in a Steve Friess essay on the 25 years of The Mirage and how it influenced Las Vegas. I don’t know that I’d agree that it was not “anything more than a different presentation of elements that already existed in Las Vegas.” Step inside any of the casinos that preceded it (and several that followed) and see if you can find comparable ingredients.

Still, if there was a nodal moment when the Las Vegas Strip began moving away from a metropolis fueled by gambling revenue to one driven by amenities, the Nov. 22, 1989 opening of The Mirage was it. Unfortunately, less creative and selective developers than Wynn would create amorphous, something-for-everyone properties and the march toward casino resorts with costs in the unsustainable, multi-billion-dollar range had begun, though nobody seems to have suspected it at the time.

At any rate, this landmark anniversary is going uncelebrated. Friess writes, “[Jim] Murren and the gang still seem reticent to celebrate the historic gem they own, planning no public events or marketing pushes. That could be because nobody in Vegas likes to emphasize something getting old. Or, perhaps, Murren still resents the fact that his CityCenter brainstorm did not place him in the Wynn-[Sheldon] Adelson pantheon as he hoped.”

That may be the case, but MGM Resorts International clearly knows it has a good thing in The Mirage and limited its revisions to fiddling around the margins. As Friess notes, Caesars Palace has changed far more in 15 years (as has the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino) than The Mirage has in 25. The Hard Rock, by the way, is a good example of how to crap up a well-designed property in the name of “improvement.”

* There’s been some misbehaviour in Pennsylvania and a couple of casinos are getting their knuckles rapped. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course is having to forfeit $10,218 in ATM fees because it put a cash machine on its casino floor that permitted players to access their credit cards. This no-no may have been the work of some Sneaky Pete but a simple oversight seems more likely: The machines are permissible in the racetrack portion of the complex, so one could have been shipped to the casino by mistake.

Sloppy operating procedures proved costly for Valley Forge Casino Resort, which was fined $150,000. During a nine-month period in 2012, it frequently failed to clear its promotional materials with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. It also did not enforce the mandatory $10 admission to the casino for “patrons redeeming free non-gaming promotional rewards.” Paperwork regarding the issuance of passes to the casino floor — supposed to be restricted to resort patrons — was also deemed not up to par. Such a costly lesson will no doubt ensure sharper observance in the future.