Sheldon Adelson, TV star

There I was, wrapping up a two-day “staycation” with dinner at Metro Pizza when I looked up and … let’s say I’m lucky I didn’t choke to death from shock at what I saw. There was Las Vegas Sands potentate Sheldon Adelson in the hot seat on Face to Face with Jon Ralston. What made this a jolt is that Adelson is a longtime inhabitant of Ralston’s “Chicken List,” home to local figures who boycott the show.

Perhaps since Sue Lowden had renounced her F2F boycott, Adelson couldn’t let it get about that Lowden had bigger huevos than did he. Or perhaps now that Ralston’s show is carried all over Nevada on network affiliates and has Jim Rogers‘ not-inconsiderable backing, Adelson decided it was time to graciously bow to reality.

Venetian-Macao-Hotel-and-Convention-Center

Venetian Macao: cash cow

The timing gave Adelson a chance to put the best face he could on that morning’s earnings report, about which the consensus appears to be “ho-hum,” even though net revenue was a half-million above Street expectations (and a huge improvement on 4Q08). Analysts appear to have gone somewhat into shock at the revelation that Sands is out $12.4 million to a Chinese high-roller. Bad debts are unenforceable on the Mainland — you can’t send Bernie Zadrowski into Guangdong Province to serve a warrant. (However, a recent legal precedent set by Wynn Resorts in Hong Kong may give Adelson some hope of recouping defaulted markers in the future.)

Sands dismissed the the matter — and the $12 million reserve it’s set aside — as an anomaly and non-issue. Then again, this was the company that made zero provision against having to pay out on Richard Suen‘s lawsuit ’cause there was no way it could lose, right? (Uh, wrong.)

Comparing Sands’ results to those of its rivals is always somewhat of an apples-against-oranges exercise because LVS doesn’t back out rent dollars from its cash-flow numbers. Even so, the outlook for Sands Bethlehem is even grimmer than previously thought. It missed (already low) projections and is on pace for 3.5% ROI. The company’s decision to double-up on room inventory in Las Vegas continues to prove, at worst, badly mistaken and, at best, horrendously mistimed, leaving Macao as the lone bright spot. Interestingly, Sands says mass-market play, slots and non-gambling revenues are driving 75% of Venetian Macao’s cash flow, even though one might type-cast it as a high-roller haven.

Packer & HoIf Adelson was smiling — as indeed he was — under Ralston’s grilling, it may have been because one of his principal Macanese rivals is hitting the skids. Melco Crown Entertainment is calling it quits on a planned waterfront casino, dubbed “Trinity.” I doubt Lawrence Ho and James Packer (above) are savoring the irony that the title of their abandoned, $675 million-$1.1 billion project was also the code name for one the most significant bombs ever detonated. Overpriced land and a too-small casino appear to have ensured that Trinity wouldn’t pencil out. However, it wouldn’t be the first time Packer and the younger Ho have overpromised and underdelivered.

Wayne Newton may want to think seriously about extending his contract with the Tropicana. It looks like he’s gonna need the bread. I don’t know what Alex Yemenidjian pays him, but The Wayner should probably start practicing the phrase “multi-year deal.” And if the Fokker airplane cited in the lawsuit is the same one currently rusting away in Michigan, Newton’s creditor might as well write off the $2 million today: that Fokker’s going nowhere.

Torah Bright: Gold medalist, hottie, role model … but highly unlikely Vegas customer, despite living next door in Utah. Damn! (Pssst, NBC, please stop wasting our time with those play-it-safe Chinese snowboarders; they’re like heavy-duty Sominex).

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