Caesars vs. Caesars; Wynn Palace opens

In a surrealistic turn of events, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. has filed suit against parent Caesars Entertainment, and against majority owners Apollo caesars-palace-02Management and Texas Pacific Group. This bit of shadow puppetry is apparently intended to get at the goodies before junior bondholders can sue for relief (which they are enjoined from doing before the end of the month). In the meantime, Caesars has a new offer on the table, contingent upon converting CEOC into a REIT. Reports Global Gaming Business, “senior bondholders, who are owed about $6.35 billion, would get all the stock in the property company, $2 billion in cash, almost $1.9 billion in new debt and nearly 16 percent of the equity of the parent company. Creditors who hold $5.35 billion in bank loans would get $3.2 billion in cash, $2.2 billion in new debt and 5 percent of the parent.” So even if Caesars is prevalent in negotiations, it’s going to have to live with creditors metaphorically on the premises for some time to come.

* Columnist Brian K. Trembath thinks that, regardless of who wins the outcome of the presidential election, a bill to legalize Internet gambling is likely. I beg to differ. There are many more-pressing issues a new president would have to confront and meddling with states’ rights with regard to gambling laws would be a low priority. It’s far more likely that the Obama administration’s reinterpretation of the Wire Act would simply be allowed to stand.

* The more I think about Steve Wynn‘s planned, animatronic King Kong, the more the word “tacky” springs to mind, sucking all the class out of Wynn Paradise Park. Besides, Universal Studios theme park in Orlando may have beaten Wynn to the punch. Your move, Steve.

* Speaking of Wynn, if nothing succeeds like excess, he should do very well with just-opened Wynn Palace. His most opulent property to date, Wynn called it “arguably the Wynn_BG1most beautiful hotel in the world.” (And if Wynn has reached that empyrean height, where does he have left to go?) He won’t please the Macanese government by dissing its call for diversification within resorts. “There are better places for kids than Macao and Las Vegas. All these convention and meeting spaces and entertainment are pitched at 21-year-olds or above,” he said. However, Wynn is aware of the challenge he faces and of the inability of megaresorts Galaxy Macau and Studio City to budge Macao out of its doldrums: “The last two places that opened did not cause the market to grow, did they? No. Will this one? Good question. We’ll get an answer to that in September or October. I’m anxious to see it myself.” So are we.

* If you want to own the tumbledown White Sands Motel, across from Luxor, you’ll have to pay top dollar: $25 million for a little more than an acre, a land valuation not seen since the overheated real estate market of 10 years ago. Although the vagrants have moved on, as has a feral cat colony, that doesn’t ease the sticker shock among the real estate community. “They’re asking a ridiculously high price that they’ll never get,” CBRE Group‘s Michael Parks told Vegas Inc. And although MGM Resorts International owns land on three sides of the White Sands, the company issued an uncharacteristically blunt and unequivocal denial of interest. Besides, why go shopping for a mere acre on the south Strip when you can get 38 acres nearby from Howard Bulloch … provided you’re willing to fell the twin towers of his failed SkyVue observation wheel. Timber!

* In a surprising show of deference to daily fantasy sports, New York State granted temporary operating permits to five companies — including big boys DraftKings and FanDuel. Since DFS is uncharted waters for the Empire State, permanent regulations are still under development by the New York Gaming Commission, so you might say the game has started before the rules have been written. DFS operators have to pay $50,000 a year to operate and are taxed at 15% of gross revenues … terms far steeper than DraftKings and FanDuel are trying to have inscribed into Nevada law, under which they would pay chicken feed.

This entry was posted in Election, Entertainment, Florida, Galaxy Entertainment, Harrah's, Internet gambling, Macau, Melco Crown Entertainment, MGM Mirage, Nevada, New York, Steve Wynn, The Strip, Wall Street. Bookmark the permalink.