Trump plotting Vegas comeback; Mohegan Sun gains Korean foothold

Even after his improbable spate of electoral successes, you have to wonder if Donald Trump is serious about running for president. His attention is already wandering to a market where the art of the deal has not panned out for him: Las Vegas. He and sidekick Phil Ruffin would build a $100 million  — a price that seems unrealistically low — casino just off the Strip. The idea makes a certain amount of sense, since it would monetize the fallow land that was to have been the footprint of the second tower of Trump International. Work on the project could begin as early as this year, settling the question of whether Trump intends to get back into the casino business before, during or after his term in office.

The land has lain empty for over eight years, so development is overdue. However, it’s unlikely that Trump’s presidential aspirations would allow him to capitalize upon his latest flutter in the gaming industry: He’d have to put his share of the proceeds in a blind trust. No word yet on whether Latinos and Muslims would be refused employment at the projected casino. (Trump, incidentally, isn’t averse to using undocumented workers where his own property is concerned.)

* January should have been a lot worse than it was for Strip casinos. That is to say, the house often won when it should have lost. For instance, the amount wagered on non-baccarat table games was down 20% but win was only 5.5% off. Similarly, slot win was incrementally higher despite coin-in being 8% lower. Only in baccarat did the house get clocked, with wagering down 20% and win 26% lower than last year. Overall, the Strip was 8% down for the month.

Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli wrote that he actually had expected the outcome to be worse, due to the Super Bowl having been played in February this year (hardly an aberration). “Overall, we continue to think that the LV Strip can generate mid-single RevPAR and low-single-digit visitation growth,” added his JP Morgan counterpart Joseph Greff. The silver lining was that locals were playing more, up 6%, with 3% more coin-in and 4% higher table-game wagering.

Aside from a mild decline in the unclassified Clark County casinos and a 3% dip in Reno, all other markets in Nevada were solid. Downtown Las Vegas gained 9%, the Boulder Strip was 16% higher, North Las Vegas rose 11% and Laughlin grew 7%. Even Lake Tahoe, a tricky market at the best of times, was up 9%.

* Congratulations to Mohegan Sun on being awarded a casino-development concession in South Korea. The news does not exactly come as a shock, Mohegan Sun’s plans having been well publicized for some considerable time. In tandem with KCC Corp., Mohegan Sun has received a license to build a casino at Incheon International Airport. The project is budgeted at $5 billion, with $1.6 billion to be spent in the initial phase. When completed, the megaresort will include a three-tower hotel with 1,350 rooms, South Korea’s largest entertainment arena, an amusement park to be developed in tandem with Paramount Studios, an Eco-Adventure Park “featuring the latest in indoor rock climbing, zip lining, an indoor rainforest, and an archaeology experience,” a private air terminal and — oh yes — a 1,500-slot, 250-table casino. All that plus tens of thousands of square feet of retail and restaurants. With so much diversion right there at the airport, one wonders if the sought-after tourist clientele will have reason to stray beyond Inchon once they arrive.