This show, along with your blog, were the beginnings of my Vegas fandom. While I’d hoped you might still crank out an annual VIMPF episode, I understand the desire to move on.

There were indeed some great interviews with industry bigwigs, and I especially liked the “Meet the Gangsters” episodes where you interviewed each of your cohosts (and were yourself interviewed by Mr. Five Hundy). It was great to hear each of your backstories. In particular, your fortunately timed interview of Jeff Simpson will be required listening for anyone writing his biography some day.

If Donald Trump wins the election in November, then the USA will have a president who has vowed to impose tariffs on imports from China, and who has engaged in a bit of anti-china rhetoric which probably hasn’t gone over too well in Beijing. Assuming that Trump tried to introduce the tariffs and play hardball with China on trade, what do think the implications are for the American gaming companies in Macau – i.e would the Chinese government push back somehow and if so, how?

I’m aware that Macau is autonomous to a large degree, but I assume that the Chinese Central Government can bring pressure to bear on the territory if they really want to.

Just Curious

Hi,

Thanks for the comments. Sorry if you didn’t find it interesting.

I don’t equate value with cheapness. There are many things that are expensive that offer tremendous value. There are many cheap things that do not have value. It does seem that Alon is aiming at the higher end of the market but that doesn’t mean they can’t create a product of value for those customers.

They’ve assembled a truly top-notch team. The best of the best. If they don’t succeed in the market it won’t be because they didn’t have a carefully considered plan.

I think some of the questions you were hoping to get answers for – reasonably priced shows or restaurants, obtainable comps and even the rules in the casino – are an interesting lens with which to analyze what they are potentially trying to do. Based on the vibe I’ve gotten, I think they are going for customers who are looking for a different type of experience and likely one where those sorts of questions are less important. I don’t mean to sound like a prick – not all products are for all consumers and one of the best things about Vegas is that there are so many options.

I’ve found Andrew to be exceedingly interesting and if that didn’t come across then I failed to some degree and for that I apologize. Thanks for listening.

Between MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment they own 19 hotel-casinos in Las Vegas and have around 65,000 hotel rooms so something different like Alon might work. Hiring Jesse Waits away from Wynn to run the
nightlife operations at Alon was a fantastic idea. The nightclubs and restaurants are the two main reasons Las Vegas is extremely popular today. Alon has a great location across the Strip from Wynn and Encore so hopefully this gets built.

Andrew Pascal was the worst interview in Vegas Gang history. The guy gave no information other than self absorbed love of himself. He waxed on about offering what Vegas used to have and mentioned value and customer service. I cannot imagine elon will offer any value to anyone but the very wealthy. Will there be reasonably priced shows or dinners, good rules and pay tables in the casino, reasonably obtainable comps? The guy refused to answer any question in a straight forward direct manner. He was painful. I could not get through it all.

I commend you for trying by coming from different angles in your questions. Unfortunately, he simply did not get the point of interviews–sharing ideas and the transfer of information.

Rant over.

Thank you!

These sentences are from an extremely well written newspaper article in the Financial Times from September 4, 2010 written by Paul Morley entitled “The Importance of David Bowie”:

David Bowie’s impact as a musician, as a brand, as a sign of the times, has been as great as Dylan and the Beatles, his influence as an otherworldly pop star actually greater, and if you just want one example of what he got up to as this erudite pop combination of shaman, singer, thinker and shameless self-promoter, then his album Station to Station is as good a place to start as any. Inside six years, since 1970, David Bowie has been a psychedelic music hall singer channelling Syd Barrett and Anthony Newley, a whimsical novelty specialist, surreal folkie, risqué glam rock starman, cosmic wizard, apocalyptic androgynous Diamond Dog and a blanked-out white soul man flirting with superstardom.

RIP David Bowie

Howard Stutz predictions article for 2016 said this: Here’s a shot in the dark: merger talks might heat up between two unusual partners — Genting and Wynn. A deal would give Wynn a location in Singapore — a market he coveted — and Genting a foothold into Macau. Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Chad Beynon liked the idea but considered it a long shot.

This is interesting also because Wynn would be part of the Resorts World Las Vegas project that Genting might start construction on sometime this year. $4 billion dollars seems like a lot of money for this ambitious project but with Steelman Partners designing Resorts World Las Vegas this should turn out fantastic.

Interesting topic about the new You Tube/social media stars that the Palms is promoting. This is a good idea for the Palms because they are 1 mile or so west of the Strip and it gives people a reason to visit their property.

Imo, the future of Vegas entertainment will be huge celebrity shows like at Caesars now and planned for Las Vegas Arena. Ticket sites already have events listed through January 2017. There is no need for Aria to have a theater once MGM Resorts controls big names coming into Vegas.

After reading about Encore Players Club on VegasTripping, hearing you guys talk about it and looking at it on Wynn’s site, I still don’t get it. However, one of you said something that makes a lot of sense. If it is successful, it may be expanded to take over Encore’s casino. That would leave Wynn’s casino as the traditional high roller place for older, more conservative clientele.

I’ve been following the Adelson newspaper saga closely, and I believe you’re going to see a huge turnover of reporters and editors because they have integrity and won’t bend under Adelson. Either they’ll leave on principle or will get pushed out by Adelson’s henchmen. Journalism has to be a tough business in a one-industry town, sort of like Detroit newspapers in the glory decades of the Big 3 auto manufacturers in the ’50s and ’60s.

Wish I felt as confident about Resorts World as some of you.

Thanks for another great year of Vegas Gang; looking forward to all the new episodes in 2016!

The strip exists entirely as a resort destination. There is no other reason to go there other than to spend money in the casinos and hotels. Traditional cities that charge for parking are a huge mix of residential, industrial, and entertainment. This is why paying for parking downtown makes sense. There are many people there coming to work everyday for the government offices and businesses. If the hotels did not charge to park, these folks would fill up the garages and displace paying customers.

The garages are already in place. Adding a parking fee is just gouging a captive audience. It’s one more thing that erodes value. The corporate mafias running this town will keep doing it until the value is gone and then Vegas stops being unique.

I pretty much never have a car in Vegas so this will not directly affect me. To say it won’t affect me at all, however, would be short sighted as it ignores the larger issue at hand. I have been hollering for a decade now about the attitude shift in the town where everybody expects a hand out just for existing. Charging people to park for coming to spend money at your resort is just so… Disney.

As for W Las Vegas being part of SLS it will help in the long run
because of W’s customer base but it seems to me that any company will have problems there because of the challenging location. At least now SLS’s neighbor Carl Icahn has put Fontainebleau on the market (for $650 million dollars) so maybe something will happen there.

The MGM charging money for parking rumors are interesting. I originally posted on another blog that I thought they would do this but now I am not sure. What is likely possible is that when the Las Vegas Arena opens in April of 2016 customers going to concerts there will be charged $10 to park at the nearby hotels which include Excalibur, New York New York and Monte Carlo.

Eventually I think there will be an NHL Hockey Team in the Las Vegas Arena. With 40 home games (and possibly the playoffs) they would charge either $15 or $20 to park at Excalibur, New York New York and Monte Carlo.

In the United States most cities charge money for parking
when either going to a concert or a sporting event. Since most people who live in Las Vegas are from somewhere else I think most people will not have a problem with this at all.

That said, yes, the hosts MUST enjoy the discussion in order to do it. I totally get it. This isn’t your “job”, and you make nothing for it. Therefore, you owe us nothing. Of course I’ll listen, because a.) you’re my boys and b.) hearing the three of you bullshit about whatever you feel like is certainly going to be plenty interesting to me.

So thanks for not giving up on this completely. I look forward to what’s this evolves into.

So glad Dr. Dave talked about 442nd Regimental Combat Team. I had somehow missed it in Green Felt Journal. I had just watched a frightening CSPAN or PBS documentary on children sent to interment camps, and it was great that Dave recognized these Americans.

The Jimbo on Twitter segment is hilarious. Thanks, Chuck.

You would be amazed at how many positive traits this man has that Dave also has. First of all they are both very knowledgeable on Nevada. They are both a pleasure to listen to. They both have a great sense of humor, they both speak very well, they are both captivating, they both have an unmistakable voice, and you can’t get enough of their stories when they are speaking. And of course, they are both a pleasure to talk to outside of the spotlight.

I think Vegas Gang should look him up and put his name in the hat for a VIMFP special guest or at least a VIP attendee…or maybe as a podcast guest. His discussion skills are top notch. I don’t know his drinking habits or how he would warm up to the atmosphere of VIMFP. I do know that if you wanted someone to speak 15 or 20 minutes on casino history, mob men, casino owners, or city fathers, or the passing of a LV dignitary, he could hold the crowd in the palm of his hands.

He doesn’t look like Dave, sound like Dave, or act like Dave, but he shares so many great qualities, you’ll wonder if they are related.

We’ve spent a LOT of time in the past talking about the disaster of CityCenter’s opening. A lot.

As far as the takeover of Mirage Resorts, how does that have any bearing on him being un-saintly?

A guy died. We talked about it. There are no saints.

As Dr. Schwartz said gambling has not been growing as much in Las Vegas. There are casinos in lots and lots of states now because states need tax revenue. Consequently that is part of the reason why the LVCVA bought the Riviera earlier this year and are planning to build the Las Vegas Global Business District there.

I actually enjoyed gambling there but I agree with Chuck that the food options did run their course quickly. The limited markets that they just latch on to and won’t let go are forcing the failure… why did they have people waiting behind a velvet rope for the pool when there was NO ONE AT THE POOL???

I think reworking the F&B and retail would be a HUGE first step. Monkey Bar and Center Bar always had a crowd…take a cue from these and make your nightlife accessible to people who want to have a drink and talk. And let Fred Segal go…i couldn’t believe we could not room charge from these outlets OR the gift shop. To charge from the gift shop they had to run the charge through the front desk which took at least 10 minutes. Won some money and was going to treat the wife to a minor piece of jewelry (300 bucks) but wanted to room charge and pay off at checkout. NOPE. No can do. Well no sale for you then.

I haven’t finished the episode so the answer might be in there but I’m curious what type of demographic shift might be necessary to pull in the gamblers. What should SLS’s target market be? What types of changes would bring in this market?

I’d be curious to learn how many names rise to the top in an executive search at this level. Who gets interviewed? What are they looking for?

I’ve reached out to try to set up an interview, maybe as a “Seven Questions.” Hopefully we can learn more.

I agree with Dr. Dave, Frissora should talk with Derek Stevens, not to learn from Derek, but to see what Derek really thinks of Frissora. They both have somewhat similar backgrounds outside gaming. Obviously, I know that Derek would not share his personal thoughts publicly, but it sure would be interesting.

It’s unanimous that Caesars should dump Rio, but if it were easy, it would have been done long ago. I also agree with Dr. Dave that Bally’s, Paris and Planet Hollywood don’t add to the corporation. I’d like to see Caesars focus on Caesars Palace, and the properties on the east side of the Strip north of Flamingo. I haven’t spent a lot of time in Caesars in recent years, but I believe it’s the one property that still has some of its former, glory years high-end attributes. There are enough mid-market properties in Vegas and regionally, that Caesars Palace should try to be be the equal of Wynn/Encore and Bellagio. That’s where the focus should be.

This piece on Frissora is positive, but it’s from McKinsey, a consulting firm.
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/strategy/leading_in_the_21st_century_an_interview_with_hertz_ceo_mark_frissora

The second one, from Forbes, is pretty brutal.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/08/21/hedge-fund-fir-tree-partners-blasts-hertz-ceo/

I can’t wait for Vegas Gang to do its performance review of Frissora a year from now.

So if you build a 1,000 room casino for 500 million the cost of a room is $500,000. You need to gross $500 between the room and the gaming drop.

I off the top of my head don’t know how much a room at the Wynn cost to build but I do now that at the Sands it was roughly $1,000,000 a room. The last time I looked Sands was getting about $450 a night from gaming and room revenues.

There is now way someone can put up a luxury casino in Las Vegas for half the cost of the Sands properties. Building a luxury casino in this environment is madness.

I also recently read that the 18 acre site on the Strip where the Elvis themed casino was supposed to be built (across from City Center and just south of Planet Hollywood) is for sale by Spectrum Group Management LLC. The 18 acres there though abuts up to the Polo Towers which makes the property less attractive to most buyers. I doubt Steve Wynn would be interested in this location but who knows.

The Riviera closing brings back memories when the property was more popular and that leads to nostalgia. Nostalgia is a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically
for a period or place with happy personal associations. Win or lose (hopefully not to much money) Las Vegas brings back happy memories for lots and lots of people. Some older casinos (similar to dive bars) have a certain charm to them and some people like this.

Music critic Simon Reynolds wrote a very good book called “Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past” and this paragraph was in his book: Nostalgia is now thoroughly entwined within the consumer-entertainment complex: we feel pangs for the products of yesteryear, the novelties and
distractions that filled up our youth. Mass media and pop culture take up an ever-increasing proportion of our mental lives which is why I Love the 70’s/80’s/etc. shows are so effective: the passage of our time has become indexed to the procession of rapidly obsolescing fads, fashions, celebrity careers et al.

What Sam Nazarian needs down near SLS is more foot traffic and with the $2.3 billion dollar Las Vegas Global Business District being announced to replace the Riviera this might eventually help. Now assuming the Las Vegas Global Business District is no more than 250 to 300 feet high maybe Carl Icahn would consider removing 200 to 300 feet of the
Fontainebleau so he can try and sell the property that way. At around 500 feet high the Fontainebleau would look much better than at it does now at its current height of around 730 feet.
It would cost Carl Icahn millions of dollars to do this but it would definitely make Fontainebleau more enticing so someone might buy it.

Returning to VIMFP this year. I hope to introduce myself. My only regret about your podcast is that it’s only once a month. Always great stuff.

Thanks, guys.
Robin Aubin

Also, as I have had happen to me many times under the current system, my income puts me into alternative min tax and I lose these types of deductions. I have paid taxes on payouts even though my yearly win/loss shows clearly that I net lost 2x the amount won. it sucks.

I heard this reporting figure was instituted in the mid 60s. If so, the value of $600 then is worth $4,500 now. Instead of lowering it, they should be raising it.

Unfortunately almost everyone would rather have that piece of $H!T Fountainebleau be removed from the Strip instead of the Riviera but the dice did not roll that way. King Carl probably wants at least $200 million dollars for the Fountainbleau and this might take a long, long time……

For the tax thing, there are a couple irritating things about the way w-2G’s affect your returns. The way this is all reported on our returns, all of the winnings get added to your adjusted gross income (AGI) and any losses, up to the amount of winnings, get deducted after the AGI. This has the possibility of causing you to pay more taxes even if you end up loosing since several deductions and credits you may be eligible for get phased out based on your AGI.

So, for example, let’s say in one singe day you hit a $100,000 jackpot, get a cashout, walk over to the baccarat pit and lose all of it. That 100K will be added to your AGI and you will record the loses as a deduction. It is entirely possible that several credits you were otherwise eligible for (student loan deductions for instance) are now phased out due to the jackpot reporting. Without the W-2G and a journal of gaming activity, you can treat that all as a single session and not have to report it above the line.

That is an extreme example but now imagine you play a lot of video poker and you start racking up a lot of w-2G’s even though you aren’t winning. These all hit your AGI and can add up fast.

This move doesn’t have to be about the IRS directly collecting taxes on gambling or preventing money laundering as they can also get paid in a roundabout way by artificially jacking up the AGI of gamblers.

This message is brought to you by Carl’s Jr.

Peter Morton’s brother Michael owned the Drink nightclub down the street (it also opened in 1995 along with the Hard Rock) on Harmon Avenue and the combination of those two places brought lots and lots of young people to Las Vegas.

To agree with detroit1051, Chuck has really kept us up on the Caesars shenanigans. Music, web design, corrupt capitalism…. Chuck is a true Renaissance man. Reminiscent of the late Don Crabb.

The eb-5 thing is just weird to me. Rich foreigners of who knows what character buying their way into the country, while necessary and hard working folks die in the desert just trying to get here. We once thought condos were a valid way to finance these megaprojects. Or at least, certain “mathematical genius” types thought so. I just heard low-down mortgages for first-time homebuyers are back now. Lessons unlearned.

While 2015 will be a transition year, the thought of Élan across the street from Wynn, Resorts World, etc gets me very excited for the future. A time machine to 2017 would be great.

I have two questions:
I heard of major renovations at Red Rock – any idea what that consists of?

Also, I’d live to hear your thoughts on the continuing of the casino mess in Massachusetts – Specifically
1) is the $500 hand pay law still in effect?
2) why isn’t Mohegan Sun given any respect in terms of expansion?
3) is the experiment of bankroll limits in the new Mass casinos going to work against them?
4) your thoughts on the law that kept in Massachusetts concerning no ATMs on the casino floor – some are insisting no ATMS not in casinos at all.

Thanks guys, can’t wait for January’s podcast. Welcome back Chuck. I hope to plan better to make next year’s VIMFP – never to early to plan.

Binbin (Robin Aubin )
NETime Gambling

If these casinos are profitable sometime in the near future do these EB-5 Visa investors get some of their money returned to them?

Great show guys. Happy New Year.

I agree 2015 will be a transition year for Vegas, but I really hope we see construction get well underway on Resorts World, and we get something definitive on the New Frontier site.

Enjoyed Dr. Dave’s analogy of Sam’s restricted license to Dave’s approach to students. Whatever happens, Sam is responsible.

Finally, Chuck’s sure bet, “What stays in Vegas” sounds fascinating. The author, Adam Tanner, has an interesting background:
http://www.amazon.com/Adam-Tanner/e/B00MSXWOKQ/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

And the worst part, in my opinion, is that he just rambled and rambled on about stuff that is not part of a consumer’s choice… their insurance plans, etc. If there are insurance concerns, it should be between the Uber drivers and the company; if the driver doesn’t like the choices, he has the option to not be an independent contractor. That, as a consumer, has nothing to do with whether I choose a cab or Uber.

(Here’s where I disclaim that I have never used Uber, and shy away from Las Vegas cabs because I can’t understand a $30 cab ride downtown when I can get a rental for $30 a day).

I also took great offense when your cabbie told us that the buyer should beware regarding long hauling and should know where s/he wants to go. That was quite a BS statement for him. Like it or not, taxis are part of a public trust… I am a tourist in your town that needs to get to Point B. The trust is that you know where you’re going. The bad reputation that cab companies carry with them is largely earned. I often use the phrase “perception is reality”. If there was no long-hauling, if some cabs didn’t smell bad, if some cabbies didn’t smell bad, if taking a cab was a more pleasant experience, there would be no bad reputation.

I made it through about half the podcast, to about the point where the preacher was talking about some insurance company that had only been around for ten years – Ten years, can you believe it? – and didn’t bother with the rest.

I don’t personally care that there wasn’t an opposing viewpoint, but this was just a union rally and if this podcast were a talk radio show, the caller should have been cut off after the first side road in which he diverged.

Overall, though, I love the podcast and wish you’d increase to every third week. Thank you.

Having said that, I don’t like the way Uber tries to bully its way into markets without regard for regulations. While listening to the podcast, I was also searching for some more information on insurance coverage. This Forbes article was informative: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellenhuet/2014/12/18/uber-lyft-driver-insurance/

For the time being, I will still use cabs.

Making an argument that I (as a consumer) am not smart enough to determine my own personal risk tolerance when choosing whose car I get into….doesn’t resonate with me. I don’t need another parent. If I want all of the “assurances” that come with a regulated cab, then I’ll choose that.

Love the podcast. But I might suggest not doing an episode like this without being able to secure opinions on both sides of the issue.

According to Wikipedia the Hartford metropolitan area has a population of 1.2 million and the Springfield area 700,000.

Also, while places like Worcester and New Haven might be closer to other casinos it might be easier to drive to Springfield. I would guess that it will not be easy to get into the new Boston casino and the parking will be a pain in the ass.

I read the St. Louis casinos do about 1.1 billion in a metro population 2.8 million. As long as the Springfield casino does above about 400 million it should be fine.

Chuck thanks for the explanation of Caesars Entertainment shell game. They are over $20 billion dollars in debt and have been deep in debt for at least 4 years or longer. Now on to the REIT to waste more time. Mr. Loveman has just called Felix the Cat
to see what is in his Magic Bag of Tricks.

Maybe Caesars Entertainment should sell a casino in Las Vegas to pay off some creditors. The Rio is an obvious choice but this could have happened years ago and for some reason Caesars Entertainmenet still has it. Planet Hollywood and Harrahs are on the ends of their land bank of casinos on the Strip (thanks Dr. Schwartz) so then maybe one of them gets put on the auction block. This was probably part of the reason why Phil Ruffin was able to purchase Traesure Island from MGM Resorts International.

Planet Hollywood is newer so Caesars Entertainment could keep that and sell Harrahs. These creditors and debt holders are going to want some money soon so they better start making some suggestions to Mr. Loveman before he leaves for Brigadoon.

As best as I can tell, Hartford CT is the only metro area that will have Springfield MA as its closest gaming destination. (about 30 minutes drive to Springfield vs 1 hour to Foxwoods). Worcester MA will have a slightly shorter drive to Boston. Everywhere else of significance (and I’m including places like Worcester as significant) has a shorter drive to a different casino.

Springfield locals? How many are there? I just went to Zillow to see where the wealthy neighborhoods are. Springfield doesn’t have any. I used to drive through there in the mid 90s. Main street was a ghost town, and there were billboards, even back then, saying things like “Casino coming soon!”. Springfield has been a candidate town for a casino for a long time – back when there was no regional competition and Atlantic City was your only alternative.

I guess what I’m saying is, who the hell is going to keep this place open?

Which leads to questions about Circus Circus. Their days may be numbered. MGM breaks out the EBITDA of their casinos. By this metric Circus Circus is easily the least profitable of their Las Vegas properties. EBITDA was 16 million in 2013. The Luxor was second from the bottom at 61 million. Out of that 16 million they have to pay for capital expenditures at Circus Circus so the cash run of MGM has got to be close to zero.

In Cesar’s third quarter conference call Loveman said that management closed Tunica Harrah’s even though it had positive cash flow. Loveman deemed it a success because cash flow had increased by more at Tunica Horseshoe than Cesar’s than gave up at Harrah’s.

So Cesar’s went ahead and closed the Showboat, which in 2013 had EBITDA of 45 million. In the conference call Loveman said that the other Cesar’s properties in Atlantic City would retain at least half the business of the Showboat and that would allow total company profits to increase.

Using that logic, MGM could easily decide that they can push enough of the Circus Circus business into other properties and make more money off a smaller footprint. If you are running a hotel 80% full and you can increase your occupancy by 10% those extra room nights are almost total profit. Variable costs are relatively low.

As for the legacy of Gary Loveman the man believes that because he has a degree from MIT he is a genius. He has no self awareness. I know this because I have seen pictures of his latest hairpiece.

I have a question about Atlantic City. I have been three times. The first time was in 1987 when I was young and dumb. I walked back from one of the Trump properties down Pacific Avenue at about 1:00 A.M. on a Saturday morning to wherever I had parked. As I walked past the abandoned storefronts I watched a couple of guys launch a wino through the window of one of the edifices.

But when I went back in 2002 and 2014 I was stunned how much had been knocked down. The city has lots of empty lots. In August I drove around a fair amount and found the neighborhoods downscale but not terrifying.

When critics of Atlantic City say the government did not fix it up how much are they saying that that more effort should have been given to ejecting these largely non-Angelo residents from their homes and replacing them with a bunch of condos full of upper income whites that the tourists would feel more comfortable associating with.

In other words the city did display sufficient energy in getting rid of the residents of said locale?

Can’t wait to hear from Steelman on a future episode.

My apologies for acting like an ass. Hope you all can get some sleep!

I thought this was a really strong show. Given all the talk about how boozy and crazy VIMFP is, I was expecting something much more loosey goosey. Instead, it was a really tight 45 minute “state of the gaming world” discussion–as Detroit1051 says, Roger and Dave worked really well together and offered concise yet very thoughtful takes on all the various jurisdictions you covered. And I thought you did a really good job guiding the discussion, Hunter.

Not that I don’t enjoy the “regular” VG episodes, but I’m assuming that you were operating under fairly tight time limitations here, and I think it really brought out the best in your team. Speaking only for myself, I tend to tune out a bit more during the intro and conclusion segments of the regular episodes (announcements and sure bets), because I think the analysis and conversation that makes up the middle of the show is so strong.

Anyway, well done, and thanks for posting the episode so quickly. Get some rest, and with luck I’ll be making it to VIMFP one of these years.

NOBODY is more upset about Steelman bailing on us than we are. You can bet a moist and musty blueprint of your cantilevered balls that this is the truth. It seems that nearly EVERY year our big celebrity guest pulls the last minute “something came up” card on us. exceptions being – George Maloof (VPP1), Tom McCartney (VPP2) and Derek Stevens (VIMFP Ballys, VIMFP D.1). MGM PR god Alan Feldman (VPP2) bailed and sent an underling, Caesars stymied our attempts to get anybody from their mgmt to talk to us (VIMFP PHo) , Seth Schorr bailed and sent an underling to (VIMFP D.1) and now Paul Steelman bails on days before (VIMFP D.2).

After working for a whole goddamn year to build a great event, we’re always forced to scramble at the last possible minute causing us (primarily Hunter) to rewrite and reimagine a show from scratch that has been advertised for months. Fortunately Roger Gros stepped up at the last minute and was just as great as he was on the previous Vegas Gang episode he partook in.

Steelman canceled because he had a pressing business issue out of the country. He was apologetic and has promised to do the regular show, which we plan to take him up on.

As for Chuck and why he chose not to participate, you’d have to ask him.

Was more an expression of frustration with Steelman, quite frankly. It’s not nice to commit to something and then bail, relatively last-minute. So as I said above, hope he had a good excuse.

Was also disappointed that Chuck couldn’t join in. Obviously he was there at VIMFP, and so even if he’s still officially “on hiatus,” would have been nice if he could have joined, even as a one-time thing.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when Roger said he met Steve and Sheldon in the Green Room, and they “were old men”. Yikes! Age is in the eye of the beholder 🙂

Now, I miss Chuck. Especially, his commentary on all things related to casino design. It is always very insightful.

But I have to say that listening to John A. Hall’s review of his recent stay at SLS was great. I walked through the property the week after they opened (it was during the early afternoon) and it was pretty quiet as I would expect. I missed checking it out at night time, so I didn’t get a great sense of the property’s energy. Loved hearing John’s comments and might head back to check it out in more detail the next time that we are in town.

John obviously did a lot of prep in advance of the podcast and I enjoyed listening. I have read John’s reviews on Vegas Tripping in the past – and while he is an excellent writer, he is also great as a podcast guest host. I would love to hear more.

Hunter and Dave – you guys are the best. John – you are right there with them!

Here’s hoping that Chuck is enjoying his well deserved time away…

I used to sell printing to the Sahara Hotel and Casino in the mid 90’s and I would wander through the property going to the different departments and it looked old and rundown then. Now Sam and his team at SLS will open this weekend and let’s see how they do.

Thanks to all you guys for putting together this show. I was reading a newspaper article recently and they were talking to a photographer who was extremely successful and has taken pictures of Lou Reed and a lot of other famous musicians. He was in his mid 40’s and he said when he was growing up in the late 70’s he would sit around and have nothing to do so he started taking photographs of different things. Eventually this led to his life long passion which is being a successful photographer. In the excellent book “Retromaia” by Simon Reynolds he said something similar in that in the early 1980’s he would patiently wait for a music magazine to come out once a week because he was also bored most of the time and had nothing to do.

Now it is the opposite. Not enough time and to many things to do which makes it more impressive on how good this Vegas Gang podcast has done over the years.

I don’t think it is unfair to say that Hunter and Chuck have been generally negative in their opinion of Nazarian’s chances in getting SLS Las Vegas open. And I think there is still a skeptical approach to whatever news comes from the project. I think the concerns about the location and getting people to go there are overemphasized. It is still on every description of “The Las Vegas Strip”. It is on one of the most famous streets in the world. A street that Australian billionaire James Packer described as something akin to the mother road of the gaming industry. It has countless cars and buses driving by, a monorail stop, an Interstate 3 blocks away. And I never hear anyone say that the Stratosphere (which is 3-4 blocks North and not on the traditional description of “The Strip”) is at risk because of it’s location. Maybe because it has been operating successfully enough for over 15 years? Seems to me that Caesars spent more than the SLS cost to build an “Observation Wheel”, a Polaroid Store and some other shops & bars. And MGM spent more to build an arena, Shake Shack and other dining/retail.

I think that Nazarian is willing to have a small ownership percentage in Las Vegas in order to maximize his “brand”. I would guess that his true ownership in many other SLS related operations may not be much different. Much as Holiday Inn was mainly a hotel/motel franchisor for decades (taking only a small percentage of the overall revenue) before Phil Satre guided it into becoming Harrah’s/Caesars, and Wal-Mart didn’t own their real estate because they didn’t have the financial ability to fund their explosive growth if it included fixed assets, SLS appears to have chosen to give up ownership for growth. It has worked for many and failed for many. Time will tell.

But, I like what I have seen of the SLS transformation I have seen so far. I think it is stuff that looks more valuable than it really is, and I want to buy in. That is what makes dreamers into visionaries IMO.

Love you guys. No BS. Pure love and appreciation.

Having said that the New Jersey gaming commission requires casinos to report profits and losses quarterly. Resorts and the the Taj are burning through a lot of cash.

If Resorts can not start producing positive cash flow from customers they pick up from the closed casinos by next summer I think it closes. The Mohegan Sun tribe owns Resorts and given the declines in the Connecticut market I wonder how long they will carry this property. The same applies for for the Taj.

Also, I find the back patting that occurs in Las Vegas over the state of the entertainment industry in that city delusional. The casinos in Nevada have losses of over a billion dollars a year. Industries that lose money eventually shrink.

Long post but I tried to reserve a room at the SLS for a week from October 4 until October 11. It costs $107 a night on average. The D cost about $65 a night on average because because weekday rooms were $34-$39. I do not see how SLS can compete with that midweek pricing given their location.

I really want AC to succeed but they really need to reevaluate their model. Charging 50 for casino parking when there’s a beach concert turns off future customers I’m sure. Not to mention I heard that the crowd may have been photoshopped to look bigger, but that’s a separate issue.

Cheers to all
-B

That said, in my mind the transportation problem is a pretty huge one. Atlantic City’s airport is too small which means most people have to either drive (north easterners) or fly+drive from Philadelphia. It’s a drag.

I also think there’s a real question about the industry, in conjunction with the local government’s willingness to really do what is required to make big changes. As we talked about two episodes ago, they don’t allow beach party type venues… I understand those kinds of things have downsides but if they’re not willing to really think differently, they’re in trouble.

This would also allow it to compete with other NJ boardwalks and beach towns. None have open container zones or beach bars, so folks tend to head to towns like Belmar and Seaside where there are larger clubs and you can rent a house cheaply for the summer.

Vegas learned long ago to market to 20-somethings with disposable income – Atlantic City (and the state) need to figure it out.

#2 is a lot harder because there’s so much context missing so it’s unclear what the options truly are. Ideally you’d just skip The Quad entirely and not re-name anything until you could re-open with a totally transformed experience (i.e. rooms too). I don’t love ‘The Linq’ as a name but having it all be one thing makes sense. As you said, the licensing agreement around the IP stuff is not clear so I can’t say how plausible that this would have been. I assume it could have been fixe with $$ but who knows how much, etc…

… but the grand plan was not to brand the place with a bridge identity.

I think Caesars knew there was no way they could finish the Linq project before the name agreement expired, and that the Imperial Palace name was so associated with low price and bargain property that it would be a hindrance to keep it, regardless. But, there was also a long enough period where the hotel and casino would be in such a state of being both run down and renovating that using the “real” name could be permanently damaging to it’s image in the future. I think it’s likely that the entire Quad rebrand cost was lower than the cost of keeping the Imperial Palace name, and/or what Caesars saw as the damage to the long term prospects for the Linq. It is also very possible that Caesars was in such shaky financial shape, and the Las Vegas market was also so soft, that they might have had to sell off either, or both of the projects mid-stream. This would have been the easiest way to handle the separation.

I, for one, enjoyed the discussion of IGT. From a slot design standpoint, IGT was originally one of the creative forces in video reel slots, and their creative guy, Joe Kaminkow, was the best in the industry. Then, IGT lost its way and lost its creative staff. Where is Joe Kaminkow now? He’s the creative force at Aristocrat Technologies which has become a slot powerhouse. Aristocrat, WMS and some smaller names have left IGT in the dust. In my opinion, IGT has become the General Motors of slots. We’ll see what GTECH can do with it.

http://www.businessinsider.com/talent-leaving-igt-2013-2

http://www.casinoenterprisemanagement.com/articles/march-2014/joe-kaminkow-cultivates-slot-game-creativity

Removing Quad as a casino name for Caesars Entertainment was a good idea because hardly anyone liked that name and Linq sounds much better. When Chuck mentioned getting a good domain name limited the marketing department at Caesars
Entertainment in naming the casino (which is how The Quad came to fruition) I ran into the same problem ten years ago when I tried to find a good domain name for something related to dice.

I’m not sure how successful it is in their eyes, but it’s been on their website for at least a year that I know of.

Bummed I’m going to miss VIMFP, but enjoyable to listen to you guys as always

-B

Huh – hadn’t thought about the shooting. ’tis possible he just had enough.

DTG has a problem in not being a FSE member, they have no access to that land other than a wish.

When in doubt (especially when in doubt!) hit record. We’ll figure out how to hear it.

More seriously, this was recorded ad-hoc, live. The alternative was no podcast. When there are issues with sound quality, it’s not because we didn’t consider it or we didn’t care – it’s complicated and difficult. We spent a few minutes before we started getting it as good as we could. Complaints about sound quality aren’t very helpful.

This was a show we did for the people that came to VT10. Something special for them. We hit record for posterity.

I also have wondered about Jeff’s Caesars theory…I feel like any other company in any other industry would have defaulted by now. How are they still operating other than having someone that is saying “I won’t let you default”? 2 years ago, I was forced to sell a company that had plenty of business and steady income, but no financial pro could figure out any way to find a path to profitability. The operational debt was just too high…and I had no investors willing to put any more money in. I don’t see how Caesars can still exist with its current portfolio of properties in 5 years without a major investor stepping up.

Bill…surely someone that seems to know as much about the industry as you do would know that it’s “Caesars” not “Cesar’s”…

Boyd’s middle class roots have not stopped it from doing really well operating the Borgota.

Cesar’s Entertainment cash flowed 1,876,000,000 last year. Let’s make the math simple and assign a generous multiple of 10 to these cash flows. So the market value of Cesar’s properties is about 19 billion. Cesar’s owes 37 billion. So Cesar’s is underwater.

So why would Apollo and TPG pump billions in to make the bondholders whole? Remember from the cash flow they have to fund property improvements like new carpets, beds, etc. so all that cash flow can’t go to paying down the debt.

These guys are strippers. They take money out at the beginning to cover their investment. If the deal works out they make a truckload of money. If it doesn’t move on.

Regarding Cromwell. I am developing a theory about Caesars debt structure; what if TPG and Apollo Management told Gary Loveman when they took the company private “We will not let you default”? He is instructed to do anything he can to cover the $10 billion strip-out, but if default becomes inevitable, they will step in and cover the debt. Through bond purchase, recapitalization or some other means, they will keep the company intact because it provides a solid ROI and they still have liquidity with the money they took. Make it as complicated as they want, but default and loss of property is not a proper use of the money.

A thought regarding the social gaming discussion. The entertainment properties that slot makers are getting licensing on are properties that for the most part are aimed towards the Gen X crowd either via nostalgia (For example, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Cheers, Top Gun, Back To The Future, Ghostbusters, and Michael Jackson) or pop culture (For example, Avatar, Lord Of The Rings, Sex In The City, Pawn Stars, True Blood, The Walking Dead, Bridesmaids, The Dark Knight, American Idol and Titanic.). Some properties that are currently being licensed for slot machine like Star Wars and Marvel (Iron Man and Spiderman) will soon be a thing of the past as Disney has opted to let the current licensing deals manufacturers had for Lucasfilm and Marvel properties expire and not renew them.

One, I looked at the report Dr. Dave posted and ran a couple of comparisons.

According to the report adjusted for inflation national gaming revenues increased five percent while Nevada revenues decreased 10% from 2001 until 2013. But in that time frame total profits of Nevada casinos decreased from a profit of 554 million to a loss of 1,349 million.

From 1999 (I did not see the 2001 numbers on the website) until 2013 the average gaming revenue per room night dropped 21% adjusted for inflation. So I think the mix of customers changed. The casinos replaced many of the heavier gamblers started staying closer to home and were replaced by conventional tourists with far less interest in gambling, with disastrous results for industry profitability.

A couple other things. The Cromwell is supposed to go to the new Cesar’s Acquisition Corporation. The properties that the old corporation is supposed to sell to the new corporation are priced at four to five times cash flow, not the industry standard of seven.

And the logical landing place for the Cosmopolitan is Boyd. I don’t know if they have the resources even at a discounted price, 600 to 700 million but they have a strong regional market to feed the property and it would give them a facility comparable to the Echelon at pennies on the dollar.

SLS Las Vegas will be interesting to see how it does when it opens in September. The location is questionable but maybe Mr. Nazarian can get his property up and running and make it profitable.

Great show guys.

Ohio is a similar situation. Gilbert owns 80% of the stock of the Horseshoes and Thistledown Racino there. But they pay CZR a management fee. In both MD and OH, Caesars is basically paying itself in some form. Also, keep in mind that Gilbert already holds a large share of Caesars Interactive. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Rock Gaming get more involved with Caesars and use these same agreements to help prop up Caesars.

As far as Downtown Grand and walkability, that doesn’t seem to be an issue for the El Cortez, which seems packed whenever I’m in there, and it a longer walk. You could argue that it’s energized by East Fremont, but there doesn’t seem to be too much overlap there. Either people are walking, or the El Cortez is getting lots of locals to drive and park–judging from the always-full garage, that’s definitely part of the answer.

What that tells me is that, with its better location and proximity to a landmark, the (slow) traffic problems at DTG are not insurmountable.

Regarding SLS: Seems to me that they are aiming for 3 separate markets out of the gate. First is the Los Angeles market, because they are based there and have so many brands that operate there and will have locations in Las Vegas. In theory, they would draw a drive in customer who wants to visit their “known” brand and is more inclined to stay on property. Second, the nearby locals market. This includes a pretty dense and high income condo tower subset within walking distance, and a pretty good income group within 3 miles driving distance. Third (and the greatest wild card) are the 800 asians who invested 1/2 million dollars each in the eb 5 program. 800 asians who are probably in the top .01 percent of their home populations, who are probably civic leaders and titans of business and are telling everyone they see at the country club and who works for them that “I got a piece of a Vegas casino-the SLS. Be sure and go there when you visit Las Vegas. Tell all your friends too, OK?” This same approach worked back in the day when it was the Sahara getting the home builders and overcoat factory owners from Philadelphia to invest.

I think these are 3 good groups who can help them overcome the isolated location issue people have been so concerned about. Not cure it, or be the entire customer base, but help it.

I think a big problem for Downtown Grand is getting people to walk the 1/2 block from the Fremont Street Experience to Downtown Grand using the 3rd Street sidewalk. I suggest Downtown Grand pay the cost to remove the “shoot the basketball 20 to 30 feet in the air” midway attraction; rent the 2 little retail spaces on the east side that appear to have been closed for years, and put some kind of attractions in that space that could draw people that direction and make a little income; and use signage and furniture to draw peoples attention that direction. Basically do everything they can to make people look that direction.

Because one of the first obstacles to the Downtown Grand project was mayor Oscar’s concerns that the walkway between the DTG towers blocked the view to the Mob Museum, I think the City of Las Vegas wants people to look and walk that direction in order to draw people to the museum. I think an attractive makeover of that space would draw people to both places. Now, the question might be if FSE has a problem with people leaving their area to visit other places? I suggest that the words of Jackie Gaughan would apply “If it’s good for Las Vegas, it’s good for all of us.”

Regarding the CZR shuffle game, I’m curious as the new Horseshoe in Baltimore is part of the “solvent” group. When MGM joins the party in 2016, and revenue decreases, I’m curious what happens at that point in the game? Certainly with the lack of maintenance anymore, those free rooms aren’t worth it in my view.

Finally, instead of FinCen, I kept hearing RenCen, but that might be because of Detroit on the brain lately.

The reason I ask is that in the latest Caesar’s conference call Loveman acknowledged that Caesar’s continually cuts their capital budgets through out the year. I don’t think much has been done in the last seven years at Caesar’s properties and don’t believe much will be in front of the debt that comes dues on 2018. So I think that properties deteriorate.

And my bet-literally, I bought stock- is that the new company is given the nice profitable assets and the old company is mailed back to the creditors.

@bob data mining requires miners and data, something newer independent properties don’t need or can’t buy, hence the cross marketing contracts between X casino and Y signature collection of properties.

The ‘big data’ mining advantage as held by the megagloms like Caesars and MGM are at least 15 orders of magnitude greater – an ocean to a drop… but all that information means nothing if the response to it is glacial. Perhaps the boutique owner has the advantage here… but unfortunately Revel & Cosmopolitan aren’t built to boutique scale… heads in the beds (food & water) is their primary concern.

The casino owner who can analyze, discern and respond to massive data nimbly and effectively will revolutionize the industry. Perhaps this explains the majesty and power of the rhinoceros.

At a typical resort hotel in Hawaii or Bali or wherever two guests staying in identical rooms are about equally profitable. They will pay the same amount for the room and about the same for food and drink.

Not so at a resort casino. The profitability of the customer varies greatly based upon his gambling drop. Thirty years ago casinos did not really know who were their most profitable customers.
The casinos would know some really high roller but they would probably not realize that Charlie from Chicago who came a couple times a year and dropped an average of 5K a trip while Bob from Denver came to hit the five dollar prime rib specials, the cheap shows and play nothing but $2 blackjack (those were the days).

Now, with the customer card programs the casinos know who the profitable customers and in the face of competition will comp the hell of the profitable customers like Chicago Charlie. The new market entrant will largely attract the unprofitable customers like Denver Bob because of a lack of good customer data. The new entrant get stuck with the unprofitable customers like me.

We have seen the Revel and Gold Nugget in Atlantic City and the Cosmopolitan open to abysmal casino results. Which leads me to believe that the existing entrants in the industry have built a formidable barrier to entry and that we sadly we now have an oligopoly of the existing large casino companies. The Kirk Kerkorians, the Sheldon Adelman’s and other great entrepreneurs are a thing of the past.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/vegas-gang-podcast/id197984456?mt=2

I love the fact that they had the porters there open the doors for their guests. That’s old school and unfortunately a rare sight anymore (I think 4 Seasons, Venetian/Palazzo and Mandarin are the only ones that do it anymore.)

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see they will struggle to get foot traffic during the winter months and will rely heavily on the warmer months to deliver the numbers. When I was there a week or so ago, they had live country concerts going on downtown and Fremont St. was surprising packed given it was 35-40F degrees out and yet it was a ghost town walking down N. 3rd St. to the Downtown Grand. I think in the winter months, people are willing to walk down Fremont as access to any hotel that is virtually ten feet away, but walking 1000 feet to the Downtown Grand is “tough” for the winter tourist. Again, in summer it should be much less of an issue.

Lastly, I’m glad we have some youth leadership like Seth and Tony Marnell that lived the what I feel was the last great decade of Vegas, the 80’s. Most of the rush of new Vegas residents or more importantly Vegas hotel employees the past couple decades are from other cities and don’t have any reference point to what the town was like in the past, so they push their own concepts of what they think Vegas should be, and for many that’s one of the keys to the loss of the town’s luster, whether it’s good for their stockholders or not.

Chuck’s question, bringing in Brahms, was one in a million. Brilliant!

Seth brought back great memories when he talked about living in the Golden Nugget as a child. His references to Stefano’s with its singing waiters, and the elegant Lillie Langtry’s made me remember what an elegant property it was when Steve Wynn owned it.

All I know about Downtown Grand comes from your podcasts and press releases, but Schorr made it sound like he’s working on fine tuning it every day. I still don’t understand what this new Picnic venue will be.

Interesting hour. Thanks.

However, I think that this Tower of Hubris that is the Fountainebleau is an assault on the landscape that must be removed. It can never be anything other than a big, ugly, blue blob.

Boyd’s has one big problem with expanding anywhere. They have an immense amount of debt and are heading to Chapter 11.

The three downtown casinos are only marginally profitable, even with the Hawaiian niche. The three downtown properties only cash flow about 35 million a year. They only get room rates of $34-$38 a night.

Which is why I think the Downtown Grand will not make it. They will not get high enough rates to make money off that hotel.

Paul – I was about to add to the FB discussion Carl Icahn’s activist intentions as a large shareholder of Apple, but I feared Hunter’s head might explode.

JeffOKC, ever the jokcster –

All kidding aside. I loved a lot of Downtown Grand. The casino floor looks great. The pool deck will be a great addition. The high end suites are some of the best in the neighborhood. Plus, I’m fascinated by dt3’s real “urban” concept – the attractions, dining and entertainment are an actual neighborhood. dt3 is more city center than City Center.

When relaunching a hotel whose actual history is well documented, touting a fake history for it is inane. As discussed on the show, creating a creative narrative makes some kind of sense when trying to tie property concepts together, but those stories need to be left in the design room. Maybe they think that these little vignettes will make good fodder to content farm bloggers who will write about anything regardless of how inconsequential.

If I were the boss, I’d explain WHY someone should visit, answering “The Dad Question” I ask at live events. “From the time you arrive you’ll have an adventure ranging from heart pounding excitement to sublime relaxing reflection, creating a personal, unique experience that lasts long the after glow fades into half forgotten memories preserved in a digital junk drawer.” Then move on to each vertical of offerings before wrapping the whole thing in the value proposition and a cozy reminder of how Vegas is just fun anyways.

Who would’ve thought that casino marketing folks have no idea to how sell the idea that when you stay at their property, you’ll have a great time that will live with you forever.

Maybe I’m just a jerk.

Re: The standard room sizes, DG’s are slightly bigger than the Golden Gate rooms.

Re: Post VIMFP depression, one day I was a little blue, but it passed very quickly. I’ve got too much VT work to catch up on that was deferred while doing VIMFP planning!

The Fontainebleau is just an enormous piece of junk and belongs somewhere in the vicinity of the World’s Tallest Thermometer in Baker, California. That being said Carl Icahn paid around $150 million dollars for Fontainebleau back in 2010 and he wants to make some money off the World’s Tallest Piece of Junk so it will sit empty for awhile. If there was ever a need for a “Greek Lightning” occurrence the Fontainebleau would be at the top of the list.

From all indications that I can see, Downtown is full, but the people aren’t gambling the way they used to. A lot of this is because of the rise of Southern California tribal casinos, which really cut into the Downtown base. The Boyd properties are somewhat insulated because of their built-in Hawaiian trade (which might be why they haven’t been as aggressive with renovations–they feel they don’t have to be) but it’s hurt everyone.

I think that, as with markets like Atlantic City and Reno, there are still opportunities for long-term profitability–the owner just has to get in on the right terms and have realistic expectations.

I got the vibe that Chuck’s comments about the Downtown Grand had a negative undercurrent to them. As a body shop psychologist, I attribute this to a couple possible causes: 1. Post VIMFP depression. B. Fatigue from having a bunch of Wynn level high minded, self important BS pumped into him by young people who refuse to acknowledge that they are downtown casino managers, not owners. 3. His (our) seduction by the fine folk at the D has made him (us) overprotective of any perceived threat to their rise to the throne at the top of downtown properties. Or X. One of the pugs just pissed on the corner of the sofa and he knows even Febreze won’t get the smell out enough to where his wife won’t notice when she gets home, and there’s gonna be Hell to pay in about 2 hours.

Having snarked that, I agree with the sentiments expressed about the backstory silliness. Personally, I am a bare knuckles history fan, and anything else is a disservice. I fear this trend is a sign of a hipsterization of some parts of downtown, and I am concerned about that.

Please help me with one thing, if possible. Chuck’s comments left me with the impression that the Downtown Grand regular rooms are a small as the Golden Gate. Do you have any idea how large they are and how they compare with the standard rooms at Fremont Street hotels?

1. My question is about the investment that is currently going into downtown Vegas. I understand that the idea of the new investment is to sell the entertainment experience, not just gambling. But gaming revenues are down one percent which indicates that traffic is not increasing significantly despite the capital outlays. I would think that if traffic really was materially increasing that we would see some increases in gaming. When it be time to conclude that the rebuilding downtown is a failure?

2. My comment is this. It is quite apparent what Cesar’s is doing. They have moved every property that is not underwater over to the new company. Cesar’s got local partners to put up the money for the the Ohio and Maryland casinos which are doing well. The fact that so few properties are moving to the new company is just an indication of how sick the rest of the company is. If additional properties were making money they would be moving to the spin off. Internet gaming should be quite profitable given the size of the company rewards program and the customer databases the company has.

Once the new company starts up owners of the old company will watch the company go into bankruptcy while they make their money at the new one.

We recorded the same way but there were two differences:

– I used the brand new version of Apple’s GarageBand for the first time.
– I did a but more editing than usual.

Downtown is the real deal.

We’re all for questions in general and are happy to answer them. As for doing audience QA during a live show, I’d say maybe. Depends on what else, if anything, we’d have to cut to get it in.

Hunter

Regarding Jeff Simpson: I miss his contributions and voice, and I complained loudly after his untimely death about the void in the show. But, I have noticed the last couple months that I like the show in it’s current format. I think you guys have found your collective voice and flow within the existing framework. I no longer think during a show “What about this? What about that? If Simpson were alive he wouldn’t let X slide.” Instead, I think “This is a great show done by smart guys. I like it.” You are doing a fine job and I thank you for all your efforts.

I hope to see everyone next year. Lord willing.

elgin – not a day goes by when we don’t think about Jeff. the huge gaping hole left by his passing is still tender, nearly two years later. his knowledge, depth of experience and fearlessness are impossible to replace. perhaps if the right person organically came along we would consider it. not ruled out.

DoubleD – I agree with you. Zach had a command of the narrative of Downtown Grand and is a very witty and effective communicator. Folks seemed to uniformly like his presentation skills although I felt he was a little schmoozy. Who knows, perhaps that is his schtick – sardonic faux politispeak.

When we do interviews, I get the biggest rush with guests whose authenticity is unimpeachable… REAL people telling their real stories. Go back and listen to the episode with Anthony Marnell…. truly the gold standard.

2) As I followed the daily progress of (and drinking at) #VIMFP, I kept having the same thought. Could anyone imagine the rapport you all had with your hosts at The D happening at any other property? I couldn’t visualize Jim Murren, Sheldon Adselson or Steve Wynn actually partying with you all and tweeting in real time like Derek and Nicole did. It emphasized to me how important personal involvement is in this business. From my outside perspective, Derek and Nicole Stevens went above and beyond in hosting #VIMFP. That is exactly why The D has become the real resort catalyst for downtown. Plus, it helps that they are Detroiters 🙂

-B

Thanks for the reminder on the Kings. I clearly don’t follow baseball. 🙂

– Hunter

The Maloffs sold the Sacramento Kings last spring.

And I think Dr. Dave answered his question about what drives casino traffic in his walk down the Boardwalk. Promotional discounts such as slot points are driving traffic.

Which leads to another question. I would think Cesar’s could make more money by closing a couple or casinos in Atlantic City and Las Vegas and using the data from their card programs to entice profitable customers into the remaining casinos. Why hasn’t this happened?

@chuckmonster’s Dan Lee post on Vegastripping.com was fascinating, but his expansion on speculation about Lee and CZR is even more so.

Dr. Dave’s Atlantic City comments were equally intriguing. I never thought about Mohegan Sun and Resorts Casino before. Made me look up the original story from a year or so ago. http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/resorts-partnership-with-mohegan-sun-to-make-atlantic-city-s/article_8a96f402-e3cb-11e1-8649-0019bb2963f4.html

And, who would have thought I’d listen to Webstock or the Underscore Orchestra.

You guys outdid yourselves.

Y’know, we used to think of Bellagio in terms of:

1) the Fountains, and
2) Julia Roberts descending the grand staircase, meeting George Clooney, while waiting for Andy Garcia… all dressed to kill.

The reality?
Yeah, not so much…. 😉

Really enjoyed Dr. Dave’s description of Monte Carlo, including putting its casino revenues in perspective.

So excited about MGM finally doing a spectacular update of The Mirage Villa 10.

I also feel that LasVegasSun.com is the best example of comprehensive news and information for a city or region. In this case it’s Las Vegas. The site may have plenty of fluff content (bikini shots and gossip stories, etc) but any comprehensive news source will have some of that. It gets eyeballs and mouse clicks, right? Stories like that will get much more global interest than the news of why neighborhood recycling is going from weekly to biweekly. But those stories are what makes a local news source. I think the news buzzphrase is hyper-local, but I think they have are just repackaging the basic reason newspapers, or local news websites exist; provide more, and better, information about your area than any other source.

I can’t figure out the net-net about the mechanics of the deal. Looks like the Greenspuns are currently paying Stephens Media $1.2 million a year when all is said and done ($2.5 mil/year paid out for the use of LasVegas.com and $1.3 mil/year back from the JOA). This makes me try to figure out of it is worth giving up $1.2 mil/year to the Stephens to be rid of the Sun, or saving paying $1.2 mil/year by the Greenspuns is worth giving up the Sun newspaper, and dumping the foundation of the family name?

internet revenue is only about 13% of all newspaper advertising.

I have no idea what the existing editorial staffing is but I know that internet revenue is only about 13% of internet advertising. I doubt that the Sun currently makes money. That is why I think the majority of the family wants out. The Graham family just bailed in Washington, for god’s sake.

Sp I think the print version dies and the Greenspan’s keep a community voice with a website. But the RJ has a lot more editorial feet on the ground and will probably crush it financially.
But given the trouble newspapers have had in picking up internet advertising I don’s see them being a major player editorially or in the advertising market.

I think the sky is the limit for Schorr and it will mean something when we tell people 25 years from now that we met him when he was a little guy. After the Downtown Grand, then it’s off to the LVH, Riviera, and later, the TropiHooters will be thrust in front of him. At that point Steve Wynn will ask him to partner up on the Frontier site and he will be on the Cover of Forbes in a story titled “The Savant Of The Strip-How Everyone Wants To Be, Or Be With, Seth Schorr!”

One thing I do want to know is how Schorr & co. got the timeshare tower of the Lady Luck to give up? I have always heard that when a property goes timeshare it is almost impossible to go back, because every owner of a share is considered a real estate owner.

Do you guys have any thoughts on the Macao companies starting to diversify their opeartions? Melco, are developing a property in Manilla’s ‘Entertainment City’ area, while Lawrence Ho has announced investment in the Russian city of Vladivostok.

Great show, as usual. You guys efforts make America a better place. Never forget that.

First, let me make clear that I am a big fan of Brian Greenspun. I think his ideas and efforts in the early part of this century were visionary and would have established his (and his family’s) legacy as worthy heirs of the mantle of their father, and one of the great leaders in the communications industry and American society. But…when the bottom fell out of his economy he was shown to be greatly overextended and the family lost something like 80-90% of their wealth. From billionaires to millionaires. Poof.

I think Greenspun has retrenched, and is still being surprised and forced to re-retrench. Almost daily, it seems. In reality, I don’t think the Sun has been an economic benefit to the family since the late 1970s; as their land development, cable TV system and TV station became big forces in the region. But it did give them a platform to be a prominent voice in any discussion regarding the region. And many times national and international issues, as well. I think that Brian Greenspun has carried his father’s belief that the Sun is the foundation of all their success and it is to be kept at any cost. And there is something more important and special about being a newspaper editor/publisher than a web site and leaflet company operator. I don’t think his siblings have the same level of love for the newspaper business.

I’m guessing that LasVegasSun.com operates profitably and pays for all the local newsroom operations. I’m guessing that the Sun newspaper pays for the comic strips and the editorials and columns from other cities. Since it seems that all the local content in the paper has run on .com a day or more earlier, I’m assuming it is charged to the web site 100%. A wild guess would be that the true cost of operating the Sun paper, in it’s current configuration, is about $300,000 a year. That would mean the paper gains about $1 million a year from the JOA. If true, this would be something that must gall the R-J ownership no end in these difficult times for the print business, and would be their reason to seek to end the agreement. Of course, that wouldn’t explain the Greenspuns interest.

I wonder what the value of LasVegas.com is? R-J owner Stephens Media currently owns it and leases it to Greenspun Media, who then sub leases it to the LVCVA, if I understand the structure correctly. I recall Stephens tried to make it a portal for all things Las Vegas and failed miserably. Seems like most of their Internet activities are not strong and print is their area of expertise. Stephens is giving LasVegas.com to the Greenspuns as part of the JOA dissolution and I think it’s the main part of the agreement. I haven’t seen anything else in the reports of the agreement that seem to have enough value to make it work for the Greenspun family.

It sure seems like the print version of the Sun is on it’s way out. It is just a matter of time, regardless of this latest issue. 8 pages of local features, editorials and New York, Washington and Los Angeles columnist reprints don’t seem like anything special. But I sure read every word when I am in Las Vegas! Go figure. I think Brian Greenspun needs to recognize the inevitable, give up the print edition, regroup around the web site and a weekly paper in the same size as their Las Vegas Weekly. I’m 55 years old, a huge newspaper fan, but I no longer have a special attraction to newsprint versions. I now prefer to read them on my iPad or any other electronic format. This is one time I think I am the wave of the future (old people going electronic) and the sooner the Las Vegas Sun goes all in for that format, the farther ahead of the competition they will be.

I do think the most crucial point of the discussion was that the OTAs don’t get any of the resort fee revenue. While the taxes are different, there is a monetary benefit to classifying these fees as resort fee. (Beyond the obvious, nightly fee).

I also think that Derek clarifying up front that comp rooms will not be charged it is a positive. One of the things that I think was most frustrating with MGM was that there never seemed to be a consistency.

That’s what I took away from it, though I don’t have any data to verify if that’s actually the case.

Thanks for the comment, though I’m not totally sure I’m following the first paragraph.

Did someone say that Caesars claimed they would lower rates? Also, do you not believe that people sort hotel results by price and thus find that rationale unbelievable?

I feel like I’m not getting what you’re trying to say. It could be me, I’m kinda dense sometimes. Cheers.

Having said that, I don’t fault “the D” for implementing a fee. I do like that they made it a flat $20 and that they did lower most of their prices as they said they would. I also appreciate the fact that they are clear in not charging it for a comp room.

Perhaps he will be staring in a hipster Cosmo ad soon?

As far as the boycott goes, it never made much sense to me. If no one played poker there and the room closed, they’d probably be doing Sheldon a favor (short term) by letting him put in more slots or another restaurant/boutique in the same with guaranteed rental income.

I’m probably going to write a bigger piece on this for Seven, but the problem with the way most player “advocates” approach poker legalization is that they assume that it’s a matter of dire importance to everyone, when in fact most people a) don’t want to play poker online and b) don’t really care if other people do or don’t. I guess things like the boycott might rally a few like-minded people, but if you’re just doing it to “raise awareness,” why be so serious about it?

After all, all it took was a little impromptu #vimfp demonstration to get Caesars to (a href=”http://www.vegastripping.com/news/blog/4768/tourist-group-stages-protest-at-foot-of-paris-balloon/”>”paint the balloon.”

I understand that a lot of people make their living from poker and feel very strongly about this, but at the end of the day I always remember that there’s a reason they call it the “gaming” industry.

Re: Nevada-style gambling being a triumph of liberalism: Dotty’s and William Hill (sports betting kiosks) are strong evidence to the contrary. I’ve discussed this in class before (and will do so again), and usually come to the conclusion that Nevada’s embrace of gambling is far from libertarian–in fact, regulatory barriers to entry and legislative set-asides (see above) effectively make the gambling business in Nevada anything but a free market.

Comparatively, with no cap on licenses, Nevada’s gaming market is much freer than those in other states, but it’s still relatively circumscribed by regulatory and legislative structures that, for better or worse, favor the established operators.

Revel is an example A/B testing and I believe that we’ll learn quite a bit from it.

Silver City Casino here in Las Vegas — on the Las Vegas Strip — tried being smoke-free back in the day, and the smoking ban lasted (if memory serves me correct) about 5 months. Granted… it was not a high-end property, but back then, that area of The Strip had decent foot traffic.

That “bad taste” may still be an issue when any property thinks about going smoke-free. Even if it was a long time ago. Plus if I remember, Laughin properties who did areas of smoke-free gaming had issues and abandoned that idea.

Gambling is all about freedom. Libertarian style freedom. As both Chuck and Hunter essentially chimed in, you feel like you are in a REAL casino when you sense/smell smoke.

Per Dr. Dave’s comments about Hard Rock mailers to him in Henderson (since those old comments are closed):

The only reason I believe they are targeting that area is because it is essentially a short freeway and airport tunnel ride from them. And/or some consultant has convinced them that that Green Valley is full of people who are really hip and cool and visit the tourism areas often.

Maybe RIO on snail mail is so cheap, they can just carpet-bomb everyone. (Which is may be). Which makes one wonders why North Strip properties are not doing the same. Which they probably will now and I won’t get a dime for the advice. (They know where to find me… they need more than mailers to turn things around).

And in the “Comments Closed” but I’m catching up category:

Ya… the “Chuck Hates Everything” is a pretty common thought here. Like Vegas Rex before him. Except that Rex lived here and still sniped.

Our Clark County, Nevada capitalistic, “sell the tourism” driven society dates back to the Rat Pack days can’t can’t be quantized. Some enjoy it, some want to make their name kicking it in the nuts. I respect everyone making a living off of our crazy town.

Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots… Everybody!

Good job as always,
-B

Of course, other people without small kids like to do strange things like “go out” at night, so I might not be their target customer, but if I’m not, why are they spending money mailing to me? I wonder how many “hits” they need to get for the “locals marketing” thing to be considered a success.