This time on the show:
– VIMFP
– G2E
– Atlantic City
and more. Leave comments here on the site!
** Sure Bets **
Chuck – Vacation
Dr. Dave – The Underscore Orchestra
Hunter – How Designers Destroyed the World
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What a far ranging Vegas Gang! Of course, I’m in the middle of Grandissimo and savoring every page.
@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.
Great show!
Don’t ever underestimate the power of the Parrothead.
Everything Buffett touches seems to generate cash.
See you at VIMFP.
Rob@skyyontherocks
A couple of comments.
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?
Bob,
Thanks for the reminder on the Kings. I clearly don’t follow baseball. 🙂
– Hunter
Bob makes a good point. Looking at the promo expense numbers for last month, Resorts is being very, very generous.
Although the Maloof family has agreed to a deal to sell, I don’t recall reading where it has actually closed. Since the last Maloof desperation deal was to sell to Seattle interests and keep a percentage, the movements have been followed very closely by the OKC media. Any NBA team in Seattle gets us off the hook, so to speak. I have the sense that one of the issues that NBA commissioner wanted cleared up before he retired was the Kings ownership, and more importantly, was keeping them in Sacramento. It also became clear IMO, that Maloof ownership was no longer welcome in the NBA.
Regarding Caesars closing any properties: A closed casino can’t make any money. Doesn’t matter what seems like a good move, I have to believe that Caesars has covenants that are based on every property being open and working.
@Jeff – yes, the Maloof sale went through and closed (it looks like late May 2013). There is new ownership in place currently. Also, re: Dan Lee – it sounds like he was sort of unceremoniously outsted from Pinnacle. Would CZR or whomever be that quick to bring him on? Does he need to try and rehab Palms to fix up his image a bit? I honestly don’t know but find the story very interesting.
Nice podcast -although I like for Hunter’s sure bet, how the VIMFP promo was playing in the background. Did the designers do that too? Have to agree with Jeff – while CZR has a large presence in AC, I’m curious what if any, debt are associated with those properties. I saw that they’re putting in some money to renovate the floor at Bally’s. Whether that can change anything remains to be seen.
-B
It is certainly true that a closed casino amkes no money. But do three casinos running 85% capacity make more money than four running 70% capacity? Especially if the business you lose are the customers picking up cheap rooms that are being dumped onto a travel website? At what point do the savings from running fewer buildings exceed any lost revenue?
It costs $15-$20 million to maintain a closed property (utilities, security, insurance, taxes etc), so that factors into the equation as well.