Casino News Las Vegas
The Las Vegas casino industry can breathe a sigh of relief for now that it’s not facing another coronavirus shutdown.
It’s going to be tougher to get a table at your favorite casino restaurant. And you can forget about watching a show for now. If you were planning on attending a convention with up to 250 people, that’s been canceled.
El Cortez Hotel and Casino, located in downtown Las Vegas on East Fremont Street, saw a broken window and graffiti scrawled on exterior walls during Saturday night protests. Still, it will reopen. Get the latest casino news on casino games like poker, gambling, sports betting, gaming, and about the casino industry only at Las Vegas Casino News. January 29, 2021 About Us.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak put people on the edge of their seats Sunday when right after the day’s NFL games started, he announced a press conference on the state’s COVID-19 response that would take place between the ending of the late afternoon games and the start of the Chiefs-Raiders game on Sunday Night Football.
With COVID-19 case numbers being higher than they’ve ever been, Governor Steve Sisolak announced new restrictions to help control the spread of COVID-19.https://t.co/wvR2EabXVt
— KSNV News 3 Las Vegas (@News3LV) November 23, 2020
Fortunately, there’s no shutdown like the resort industry faced in March that lasted 2½ months. Since reopening June 4, Las Vegas has slowly made a comeback with visitation running more than 50% below 2019.
Encore at Wynn Las Vegas has been closed from noon on Monday through early Thursday afternoon since Oct. 19, a shutdown that includes the hotel, casino and restaurants. Parent Las Vegas Sands said. Casino owner Derek Stevens has talked a lot in recent months about downtown’s newest resort, Circa Las Vegas. Today, he reflected on its oldest, the Golden Gate. Sheldon Adelson, casino mogul. Get the latest casino news on casino games like poker, gambling, sports betting, gaming, and about the casino industry only at Las Vegas Casino News.
But now the industry faces a three-week pause in which casino floors must reduce their capacity from 50% to 25%, and casino bars and restaurants will have to do the same. Whether that pause continues depends on Nevada making a dent in its rising caseload that’s now averaging 2,000 infections a week for the first time.
“Midweek is not going to matter as much as it is on weekends,” said Brendan Bussmann, a partner with Global Market Advisors. “The notice of reductions at least over the next three weeks is going to reduce demand on weekends, which is going to hurt the industry. If people think Vegas is only open for 25%, I don’t think that sends a message that we’re open for business. That’s half of what we have right now on the casino floor and entertainment that was just starting to come back and for restaurants and other parts of the operation.”
That also means the cancellation of any meetings and conventions of more than 50 people that were scheduled over the next three weeks and vital to Las Vegas’ recovery.
Brent Pirosch, director of gaming consulting for research firm CBRE, said he believes, however, that the industry can overcome these new restrictions.
“The locals gaming market has recovered fairly well, so we believe the operators will be able to adapt to the changes and hold onto at least some of the momentum,” Pirosch said. “The new capacity restrictions ordered by the governor coincide with a slower part of the year, so we’re hopeful the impact to business won’t be severe.
“Convention visitation is typically lowest in December and group business likely won’t return to meaningful numbers until after a vaccine is widely distributed.”
Nehme Abouzeid, president and founder of LaunchVegas and who has worked for the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts, said he understands Sisolak’s actions. He said it’s clear that visitors to Las Vegas have been “letting their guard down” and contributing to the spread of COVID-19.
“The new guidance may be a blow to the restaurant, events and live entertainment industries that were trying to claw back to life, but in reality, the reduced capacity limits were already decimating their businesses,” Abouzeid said. “If we can hold off until the spring when vaccines will be widely distributed, then hopefully there will be a clear path forward at that time.”
Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resort Association, said the health and safety of guests, visitors and residents remains the greatest priority of the resort industry. She said the industry understands the governor’s actions to seek a balance between public health and the impact on the economy.
“Like every state in the nation, Nevada faces a grim future if the virus’ spread is not contained and reversed quickly,” Valentine said. “As the resort industry does its part to adhere to this directive, we strongly urge the public to join us by following recommended practices and behaviors. With the public’s help, we are optimistic we can move through this situation swiftly and return to the business of bringing people back to work safely and moving our economy forward.”
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and resorts took similar stances supporting Sisolak’s actions as a way to stop the spread of COVID-19. Casinos are quickly taking on the new task of dealing with the new restrictions that went into effect Tuesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Shows hosting 250 people have already been canceled.
Casino News Las Vegas
Caesars Entertainment said its bars and restaurants and will continue to provide to-go options for pickup and for delivery to their rooms.
Brian Ahern, director of media relations for MGM Resorts International, said they’re “working to adjust our operations” to comply with the new restrictions.
“This will clearly have a major impact on entertainment, and we are working with our partners to determine the path forward,” Ahern said. “While we recognize these are challenging times, we are encouraged by positive news of vaccines on the horizon and believe deeply that our resilient community will rebound.”
Josh Swissman, founding partner of The Strategy Organization, said gaming companies will take restrictions compared to Michigan, New Mexico and other states that have shuttered casinos temporarily. Swissman said the emergence of vaccines is giving people hope that even if the governor has to extend the pause or add restrictions, people see an end to the pandemic.
“If they have to operate at 25% and they lose less money than if there was a shutdown, that’s what they’re going to do until the vaccine is more widely available and starts to stimulate travel and visitation,” Swissman said.
Bussmann said for the short term, there’s no predictability that the industry craves. No one knows what to expect next from the governor.
“Two weeks ago, it was stay at home 2.0, and we’ll be O.K.,” Bussmann said. “Obviously that wasn’t the case, and we’re three weeks in a pause. The positive is we didn’t see a complete shutdown, but who knows what happens in three weeks.”
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Last updated: July 10, 2020
Recent News
Lots of things happening in the casino world, a lot of which is turmoil,but most of that has only temporary known effects, and what the businesswill look like in the longer term is a complete unknown at the present time. In the midst of this, we do have some hard news! Gaming Control approves the Eldorado acquisition of Caesars. Of course, a leveraged buyout of one of the largest casino companies in the worldimmediately before a worldwide pandemic doesn't look like the greatest business move in hindsight, but that ship has sailed.Is the new company with it's brand new debt load based on a pre-COVIDvaluation going to be viable? We'll see, but it seems like some stormyseas may be in its future.
Circa Casino Downtown Las Vegas
We have yet another sort-of sale. This time the Rio has been sold toDreamscape Companies who will lease their property back to Caesarsto operate. So, this is just like the Bellagio deal where the ownershiptechnically changes hands, but customers won't see a difference. Consequently, while it is techincally true that the Rio has been sold, the real world consequences are so minor as to not really be the sort of thing the Death Watch was created to report. Nonetheless,here we are.
It's official, PhilRuffin will be the new owner of the Circus Circus. This is sadfor the Deathwatch staff, as now there is no MGM sports book where we can park for free. In related news, MGM agreed to sell the landunderneath the Bellagio to Blackstone and lease it back. Both dealswill free up cash for MGM, although there's no word on what they planto do with it. Dun dun dun!
Apparently,Resorts World is on track to open in 2020. When in 2020? Late. That'sall. Of course, by 'on track' they mean 'on track based on the latesttrack, which has been rescheduled many times', but that's kind of understood. For those who might not remember, Resorts World is theproject of Genting that is being constructed on the site of the formerStardust.
TheSuncoast land is up for sale. Note, the Suncoast casinois not for sale, just the land it sits on. The property owners are looking to sell with an asking price of $87 million. No matter whobuys it, we don't expect it to change the operation of the Suncoast,but since the Suncoast has a two-bit management team who prefers to kick out any customer who knows the first thing about how to gamble, we don't really care. Remember, if you're allowed to gambleat the Suncoast, the management there thinks you're a complete sucker.
We're hearing a bunch of rumors that has MGM selling Circus Circus to Phil Ruffin, the owner of Treasure Island. It's entirely possible, as some sources report, that a handshake dealalready exists to make the sale happen, but we have yet to hear anythingofficial. If these talks are, indeed, occurring, they're obviouslyrelated to other talks MGM is having about selling off other assets.Stay tuned.
Well, they finally went ahead and did it. Caesars Entertainment, or is it Eldorado Resorts, has gone ahead and sold the Rio. Sort of. Oh, they sold it alright, to some mostly undefined consortium of real estate investors for $516.3 million. However, Caesars is basically leasing it back, and will operate it for at least two years. So, for at least the next two years, absolutely nothing in the customer experience will change.
According to Bloomberg, theBellagio and the MGM Grand are on the auction block. Apparently,the potential buyer is Blackstone Group. We have no idea how real this is, since all parties alleged to be involved deny it, and no idea if it would come to pass if the negotiations were serious. Blackstonealready owns the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.
We here at the Death Watch have long memories and that's more than aeuphemism for being old. Every now and then we enter a reflectivestate, and ask ourselves, 'Hey, wasn't X event supposed to have happened by now?' One of these that has seemed like it has beenpending for at least a decade is Hootersrebranding. Well, that day has finally come. It has been sold and will become OYO Hotel & Casino, with the transformationallegedly occurring by the end of the year.
Alert! Hotel Closing.The Hard Rock had initially planned to remain open during its renovation and renaming to become Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.Nowthey plan to close down for most of 2020. So, if you want to visit the Hard Rock Hotel, you have until just after the upcomingSuper Bowl to do so.
Owner Alex Meruelo has announced thatthe name of the SLS Las Vegas will be changing ... back ... to Sahara.Okay. We think 'excited' would be to strong a word to describe howwe feel about this, but we're not opposed.
CaesarsEntertainment has agreed to have a majority of its shares acquiredby Eldorado Resorts. While Eldorado has grown mightily sinceit first opened its namesake property in Reno in 1973, this still seems like a seriously levereged buyout, and we recall that the last time a levereged buyout of Caesars occurred it didn't end upgoing so well. But once again, we weren't consulted.
The new owner of the shuttered Lucky Dragon says he plans to have the hotel up and running in about two months, and to have the casinofloor converted into a convention hall by the end of November. Healso plans to change the property's name, but doesn't yet have a new one selected. It kinda sounds like the dim sum restaurant, our favorite part of this property, won't be part of it's future.
Las Vegas Casino News New Construction
TheLucky Dragon has been sold. The new owner is Don Ahern, head cheeseof Ahern Rentals, a familiar name in Las Vegas. He paid $36 million forthe property, which is a really low winning bid. As far as we know, Ahern himself doesn't have a casino license or any direct experience inthe gambling business, so we don't know what his plans are. The placehad some good things going for it, so we hope that someone can turnit into a successful business. In any case, we wish the new ownergood luck.
TheWall Street Journal reports that the Cosmopolitan is for sale (article behind a paywall). The article speculates that its sale could bringin as much as $4 billion. We think that's a wild number. We do haveto congratulate Blackstone, the current owners, on sticking with thisproperty long enough for it to turn around. There was a time when despite good reviews, this place was considered a financial albatross.
There's an article at the Las Vegas Independent that does a pretty goodjob of summarizing the changes that have been affecting the casinos of the Las Vegasstrip. While nothing going on seems to rise to the level of casinoclosings, there are reasons to think that the casino industry maybe heading for some changes.
This one kind of slipped through the cracks on us. TheHard Rock Hotel will close at some point, either late this year orearly next, and after four months it will reopen as the Virgin Hotel. So, this is more rebranding than a real 'permanent' closing, and therewon't be an implosion of any sorts, but it's kind of a hotel closing.
CarlIcahn has taken an ownership stake in Caesars Entertainment. Heowns about 10% of the company's stock and controls a quarter of itsboard. Icahn usually doesn't take a significant stake in a companyunless he thinks it should make changes. The idea of significantmanagement changes, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and assetsales all seem more likely going forward. What these changes willactually be remains to be seen.
We now know the name of the resort that will occupy the site of the former Las Vegas Club, itwill be called Circa. The current schedule has this place openingin December 2020. It will be nice to have a shiny new attraction downtown,so obviously we wish the Stevens' success in this venture.