On Wednesday this week, the Nevada State Gaming Control Board okayed Harrah's plans to buy the Imperial Palace Hotel Casino on the Las Vegas strip.
The cost of the deal is $370 million. Harrah's is the world's largest gaming company.
This should be a great thing for the strip, as the IP has not been a great attraction on the strip in recent years.
Harrah's Entertainment announced this week that it is acquiring the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas for $370M. Harrah's will not be purchasing the Imperial Palace in Biloxi, however.
Next month is G2E - the Global Gaming Expo held in Las Vegas.
From looking at what is coming, its easy to see that technology and networking could be changing the face of the casino floor in a big way.
Today, when you sit down at a slot machine, you may play for a little while, but if you want a new type of game, you get up and move to it. In the upcoming casino floors, all the games will be available at every machine. No need to exercise as you saunter from one machine to another, as you'll now have the benefits of all machines without having to move a muscle.
Click here to see some of the popular casino game manufacturers.
Like a rocket to the moon, so went the stock for Party Poker (UK:PRTY).
The stock officially hit the market on Monday, instantly creating a market cap of about $9B. To put that in perspective, AT&T (T) is currently valued at about $15B!
For those that may be jealous, the prospectus may make you feel better. The prospectus acknowledges that a major risk facing the company is the potential arrest and jailtime for its executives and founders. Also according to the prospectus, about 87% of the company's revenues come from the United States. And the US Dept of Justice believes that online gambling is illegal. Threats and rumors abound that the US will either pass legislation to stifle the online gaming business (possibly by blocking visa/mastercard from working with them in the US) or arrest the executives of the company. Of course, none of the executives reside in the US, and probably are not planning to visit any time soon.
As expected, their numbers look pretty darned good. Profits in 2004 were $371M on revenues of $553M. Thats a 67% profit margin :-) I'm surprised it isn't higher. They must be spending a lot of $$ on some big parties for employees.
Lots of news about the PartyGaming IPO over the last few days. (see partypoker.com)
Does anyone else find it funny that the founder's name is Dikshit? It is apparently a pretty common name in India. Good news for him, though, he'll probably be worth about $3billion, making him the richest Dikshit.
See also: Reuters
Shares of Wynn Resorts (WYNN) has risen about 20% this week (about $10 per share and is currently trading at $53.40 per share).
Investors are excited about the potential of Las Vegas right now, as shares of many other Las Vegas Casinos are also rising.
Wynn Resorts, the newest casino on the Las Vegas strip, will open its doors to the public next week.
Steve Wynn, the CEO of Wynn Resorts, says, "the building is dandy". He is excited about the employees he's hired to work there, as he expects them to provide some of the best service available on the strip.
The Hotel-Casino will open on April 28th. More information can be found here.
Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts, reportedly received a paltry $4.8million in compensation last year, including a $1.8M salary, a $2.7M bonus, and extras.
This is surprisingly low, when newcomer Gambling Information site, Cruzino.com, paid its CEO over $8.3million in 2004. Cruzino.com's CEO reports, "I'm flattered to be compensated more highly than Wynn, as he deserves it much more than I do. Unfortunately, I gambled away all of my 2004 compensation in a gambling rampage that lasted only 4 hours on January 1, 2005. Next year, I think I'll invest in Wynn Resorts."
The Stratosphere's thrill ride left 2 girls stuck high above Las Vegas for over an hour on Wednesday until around 2am in the morning. Nobody was hurt during the incident. Casino officials have re-opened the thrill ride after concluding that the cause was the ride's auto-shutdown feature due to high winds. Winds at that time were estimated to be as high as 55mph.
I hope the girls were treated to a nice free buffet!
Trump is certainly believed to be the all-successful businessman. But, for the Hotels named in his likeness, that just isn't the case.
New Jersey courts this week approved Chapter 11 reorganization plans to help the company come out of bankruptcy. Donald Trump will relinquish the bulk of control for Trump Hotels as part of the reorganization, and Trump Hotels will be renamed to Trump Entertainment Resorts. The hotels will be taking a $500 million loan to revitalize its Atlantic City casinos, including building a new 1300 room tower at the Trump Taj Mahal.
See also: OCN
According to Poker Gazette, the folks at GSN are planning to launch a Casino Oscars show in December. Oh joy!
In an ongoing effort to provide you with news and commentary that affects the casino industry, Cruzino.com is proud to bring you breaking news about the latest GoldenPalace.com purchase.
On March 22nd, GoldenPalace placed the winning bid on an eBay auction for a Dorito Chip that looks just like the Pope's hat.
In an effort to promote the item, the sellers developed a website to share this "miracle" with the world. On this page are a variety of items including a link to download "The Pope Hat Chip Song", pictures of the crunchy headwear, a store where you can buy all sorts of Pope Chip items, links to news reports about the chip and so much more.
I will now begin my search for a Cheeto that looks like Noah's Ark or a Pretzel in the shape of the Star of David. This seems like the only sure-fire way to make money off of a casino!
According to The Gambling Press, Integrity Casinos announced that they'll be conducting an audit of all of their player's accounts to determine which players simply have been establishing an account for the free new member bonus payout that most online casinos offer.
Speculation has been circulating that Integrity may be facing financial difficulties while others claim they're simply trying to fight the abuse these so-called "sharp" players have been getting away with.
Casinos owned by Integrity include Captain Cooks Casino, Kingdom Casino and Classic Casino.
I can't help but wonder why anyone would have a problem with a company taking steps to protect their assets? After all, the casinos offer these bonuses to attract potential players - not to give free handouts to people who have no intention of playing with them. Good for Integrity for showing some!
In their latest bizarre eBay purchase, GoldenPalace.com has bought the right to be crowned King and Queen of Conconully Testicle Festival. For a bid of just over $1,200, they've won all sorts of prizes and the honor of being King and Queen. GoldenPalace's CEO claimed that they did it just because it was good for them to participate in local events. Maybe. Or maybe they just wanted people to acknowledge that they have balls.
Online casino 888.com is planning for a possible IPO in the UK. CEO John Anderson states, "We have appointed CFSB (Credit Suisse First Boston) to look at a whole range of options for us, one of which obviously is an IPO." For more information, check out this article.
Have you ever built a new home only to have decided that it was time to add on an additional section even before the construction was finished? Of course not. But that's what Steve Wynn has done with his new property in Las Vegas.
Wynn just announced plans for the currently empty plot of land located next to his nearly completed, $2.7B casino, "Wynn Las Vegas". Plans include a new 2,000 suite tower, another casino, convention space and "other ammenities". If all goes as planned, the total number of rooms he'll have at this new resort will be around 4,700.
How would you feel staying in one of the newest rooms on the strip only to have to live with 24/7 construction noise going on outside your window?
The Reno Peppermill Casino announced this week that its hosting its next BLT Keno Tournament on Saturday April 23, 2005.
Players should bring $500 for their buy in (which includes two nights in a tower hotel room and four $20 food credits), and also knowledge that Keno has just about the largest house-edge of any casino game known to man....
But, you do get a nice stay in Reno for the weekend, and the chance to have a little fun guessing numbers.
According to bloomberg, Wynn Resorts is offering to build a $1.5B casino in Singapore. The proposal is one of 19 competing bids. Other bidders include MGM Mirage, and Las Vegas Sands. The "winner" will be announced in April.
Of course, this is nothing compared to the $2.7B project he's completing in Las Vegas.
Perhaps no city has seen as much change as Las Vegas has over the past 30 years. What started as a dusty town with a few scattered casinos for those building the Hoover Dam, soon became a risky town run by individuals with Mafia connections, and then turned into a corporate run Disneyland for adults.
Through these changes, people started to look at Vegas differently. Some felt that the change was good as it brought a more modern, high tech feel to it. Others felt that with every new casino attraction and mega-resort, Vegas was losing the character that made it so great. Now again, change is in the air.
A couple of days ago, the shareholders of Caesars Entertainment and Harrah's approved the merger of these two companies into one. But what does this mean for Vegas and the rest of the gaming community? Plenty!
1) There will be less competition in Vegas as there are now fewer casino companies in control. Take into consideration the MGM/Mirage and Mandaly Resorts merger, and that adds up to even fewer companies.
2) Fewer hotel owners will equal higher hotel room rates.
3) Fewer casino managers will mean that casinos will have fewer reasons to offer comps and various promotions to attract players. After all, if you don't like Casino A, you'll just go across the street to Casino B which is also owned by them.
4) Vegas casinos could lose the uniqueness they each hold now. Wouldn't it be easier/more economical to run each establishment like the others?
5) It will be difficult for new competition to become established. Whenever anyone tries, what would stop the multi-billion dollar companies from flexing their political muscle to put the squeeze on the newcomer?
Don't get me wrong - I love Vegas! And I love many of the individual casinos that line the Strip. But it's this love that I have that makes me worry about what the future holds.
One thing is for sure - The days of 99 cent breakfasts, $1 shrimp cocktails and liberal comps are a thing of the past. We can only hope that the little things we take for granted won't begin to disappear as merger-mania continues.
Without Pink to entertain at their casinos, how do they "get the party started" at Casino Poker Tables?
Well, like with everything else in life, they pay people. "Prop Players" is the name given to the folks that are paid to sit at the poker table and play and get the poker games rolling. These players are paid to play, but the money that they win or lose at the table is their own money. They have no house advantage.
So, if you were a casino, where your target audience is the 21-35 year old single male, who would you hire as your Prop Players? Well, pretty women, of course. I'm definitely not saying that women of poker are just there for their looks, mind you! (Read this for proof!) I'm just saying that a casino might find these people very effective. Still, I suspect most prop players are actually male...
Anyway, if you want to read the experiences of a real-life cute and sassy prop player, who happens to also write a fantastic Poker blog, go check out http://www.poker-babe.com/.
If you are curious what Indian casinos look like, one successful one to check out is that of the Seminoles in Florida. They own and run a set of themed casinos, including the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa and the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL.
How much do they make?
Since opening in March, 2004 and May, 2004 respectively, both casinos have done extremely well - attracting 20,000 visitors per day and generating over $1B in annual revenues.
According to this article, that means that each of the 3,000 Seminoles in the tribe will receive about $42,000 per year, free health care, and college tuition. This amount may increase as the casinos do well.
Taxes
Maybe the only good news is that the IRS is investigating the tribes having recently sold $345 million worth of tax-free municipal bonds to fund yet two more of their themed casinos. But that will likely hit the bond-holders, not the bond-sellers if the IRS determines it isn't tax-free.
Jealousy
Yeah, I'll be the first to admit I'm pretty damn jealous. I thought we lived in a land of freedom and equality, but apparently I'm not the right race to share in the propsperity of gambling.
If someone were to ask you, "What is the biggest gaming area in the world?" you'd be correct in saying "Las Vegas". However, the correct answer will soon be changing to "Macau".
Where's Macau? It is a peninsular city located in southern China. And it is quickly turning into the Gambling capital of the world How big? Just look at the numbers:
Las Vegas Strip Casino Revenue (2004): $5.3B
Macau Casino Revenue (2004): $5.2B
Average Bet Per Hand in Macau: $85
Average Bet Per Hand in Las Vegas: $25
Average Table Revenue At The Sands Casino in Macau: $6,100 / day
Average Table Revenue at The Venetian in Las Vegas (Same Ownership): $3,050 / day
Number of Slots at The Sands Casino in Macau: 850
Number of Slots at The Venetian in Las Vegas: 2,000
Number of Tables at The Sands Casino in Macau: 360
Number of Tables at The Venetian in Las Vegas: Around 120
And the Chinese play more hands per hour as they insist cards are brought to the table already shuffled. Plus they play while drinking tea and warm milk instead of the free cocktails most gamblers slam down in excess in Vegas.
One can only wonder how long it'll be until Macau has erupting volcanos, dancing waters shows, an Eiffel Tower replica and other Vegas-type attractions.
Harrah's, an industry leader in the land-based casino business, has announced the closing of their UK-based LuckyMe.com online casino.
If I had to bet on which company could be successful with an online casino, I would've said Harrah's. They're leaders in most of their other gaming ventures and have some of the best executive staff in any industry. But the site, which has been open since November '03, closed after losing $9.4M in 2004.
The site was unique in several ways including that they charged a membership fee to the players and they used technology to block US based players from logging on.
While it is a shame to see Harrah's fail at this attempt, I still believe the online casino industry has a lot of growth ahead of it!
They're at it again! We've all heard about some of the crazy publicity stunts GoldenPalace.com. has done in the past to advertise their casino site. They were the ones who bought the Grilled Cheese sandwich that looked like the Virgin Mary from eBay, bought an "Evil Kermit Doll", paid someone to tatoo "GoldenPalace.com" permanently on their forehead and more. (You can view their page of strange purchases by clicking here.)
So what's their latest stunt? They just paid $5,600 for the right to name a baby boy! This is the world's first known sponsored birth. The mother is the same woman who they paid to print "GoldenPalace.com" across her pregnant stomach.
As part of the event, they decorated everything possible in the delivery room with their logo. Surgical masks, gowns, blankets, baby stuff and more. They even decorated the baby's room at home in a similar way!
The press release announcing the event said the child's name will be "Parker". Maybe when he turns 18 they can pay him a few bucks to change his name to "GoldenPalace.com". I'm sure they're already drawing up the documents!
Wynn Las Vegas has signed the last of its 10 premier chefs this week. The chef selected is Richard Chen, from the Shanghai Terrace at the Penninsula Chicago Hotel. He will run "Wing Lei", which means Wynn in Chinese.
Wynn Las Vegas is gearing up for its grand opening on April 28. Have you booked your rooms yet? Ah... too late.
One complaint that is coming up more and more in the press is the complaint from charity groups that creation of Indian Gaming sites will hurt charities. Why? Well, it turns out that 45 states allow some form of charitable gaming, and these fundraisers represent significant portions of the charities' overall revenues. When Indian Casinos open up, these local fundraising events allegedly are less successful.
North Dakota has been complaining of this recently. Apparently they run bingo halls for charities almost 24x7, and raise over $20M annually through these games.
I wonder if casinos really are a threat? Is there empirical evidence that indian casinos cause the charities to raise less? I suppose that if the charities run 24x7, then it might be true, as they will find it hard to compete with the real money spent on entertainment in a professional casino.
Here is an interesting article too.
According to this article, you'll have to dress nicely if you want to get into some parts of the Tropicana in Atlantic City after 11pm.
I think its a good idea!
I found this blog (via BoingBoing), which is run by an alleged ex-casino cheater. He's now promoting his book about his experiences.
I guess this goes to show that book writing is a better business than trying to cheat in the casino.
At the end of the day, I'm not against legalized gambling. However, our system is completely screwed up. For most of our citizens, our laws clearly ban running of casinos. However, the Indian Casinos are a massive loophole in the system that is subverting our laws. What are we thinking?
Several problems exist. First, in order to accept Indian Gaming, you have to believe that American Indians today are somehow wronged and treated unfairly. For some reason, these people not only receive ridiculous government subsidies that most Americans don't get, but these people also get to make their own laws. How long is it before its legal to do crack cocaine on some Indian Reservation? Many Americans are victims of discrimination and hardship from the past. For Indians, its now been 200-300 years since their forefathers lost their land. Todays American Indians are no more "victimized" than you or I. African Americans arguably had an even tougher (and more recent) hardship than American Indians with slavery. Yet African Americans don't get to set their own laws. And they don't get extra subsidies either. Why do we think we owe American Indians anything whatsoever?
The next problem is that Indian Casinos would not exist were it not for big business coming into reservations, planning the casinos, subsidizing them, and then walking away with a majority of the profits. Don't be fooled into thinking that all this money gets pumped back into the tribes. It doesn't. One famous company which does exactly this is Lakes Entertainment, Inc. You've probably heard of them. They are also the creators of the World Poker Tour. The owner of this company is Lyle Berman, a definitely NON Indian, but he manages many indian casinos. He has been quoted saying, "We're the most successful company in Indian gaming".
And recognize that Indian Gaming is basically completely unregulated. The NIGC allegedly oversees what is going on, but the industry is known for loopholes to billion dollar business. The financials of most all Indian Casinos are closed books- we don't get to see how much they are making, who is getting paid, and how much really goes to the tribes. If we're going to be so naive as to think that we owe these people something, shouldn't we at least allow ourselves a little audit? Lets make sure that if we're treating a group of people as "special", that the special treatment is going to the right place.
Lastly, the worst offense in all this is taxes. Indians are allowed to run casinos in areas where they should be illegal, and then they don't even pay taxes on their profits! How is it that these people can consume products from the rest of our nation, and take money from the rest of our nation, and not contribute to the governmental overhead required to make it all exist? Its absolutely asinine to let this happen.
I don't blame the American Indians. We should take advantage of the laws which benefit us. Its not their fault - its ours. And it is definitely time that we start treating American Indians as equals. They are not dumb. They are not underprivileged. They are not unable to survive on their own. The injustices that occurred to their ancestors is now hundreds of years in the past. Allowing any group of people within the United States to be exempt from the laws of this nation is immoral, unjust, and against our very own constitution and bill of rights.
Some people will say that my statements here are to recommend recinding the sovereignty that "we" gave Indians long ago. They are right. They would probably say it was just "one more lie from the white man". But come on, these people are not sovereign. If they were, they would not need to travel outside of their nation for food, gasoline, equipment, supplies, and *everything* which maintains their existence. About the only thing produced in quantity on reservations is gambling. If they want to live as their ancestors did long ago, and hunt on the land, etc. That is fine. But if they want to run casinos, that is not indian culture. That is American culture. And the American culture pays taxes and abides by American laws.
If we were to continue to abide by the ridiculous laws that gave them sovereignty, when does it ever end? Is it forever? What about the other people that have been victims of injustice? I guess they lost the "lottery". They weren't Indian blooded.
References:
Time Magazine's Indian Casinos Reports
This is Time Magazine's report, so its a little less in depth. But overall, it sites excellent examples and is a good overview.
The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC)
This site is interesting, because it appears to be down, and has been down, for days. I suspect its their modus operandi.
Indian Scam
An article from the National Review Online.
Thunder in the Foothills - The State of Indian Gaming
A series of articles from the Reno Gazette Journal.
Casinos and Indian Sovereignty
Do Native Americans really have it bad as we think?
This blog raises a couple of great points about why its unfair to treat American Indians as special.
How
Funny article about special treatment for American Indians. A bit colorful - not to be read by the too serious or faint of heart.
"Indian Gambling" and Farm Subsidies
Takes the opposite view on Indian Gaming as myself.
I've been meaning to write a little about Wynn Las Vegas for a while. We've been anticipating the arrival of this new resort for quite some time - way back to when it was going to be titled "Le Reve" (and we need to update that page)!
But alas, our wait is finally almost over. The latest Steve Wynn resort will open next month. According to this article, its going to be a great place to work. So, if you live near Las Vegas, you may want to apply!
Several years ago, I shook Steve Wynn's hand. I'm sure he doesn't remember me. I wish it were worth a stay at his new hotel!
Well, the casinos are doing great. And here is further evidence that its going to continue:
Online gambling generated $9.2 bln in 2004, driven mainly by poker by ZDNet's IT Facts -- Gamblers lost $237 bln to gaming companies worldwide in 2004 and will be losing about $277 bln a year by 2008, according to investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Online gambling has grown to $9.2 bln globally since its birth in 1995 and is forecast to produce a 22% compound annual growth rate between 2003 and 2008, driven in particular by poker. Sports betting represents 45% of total online gambling spending with other gaming representing 32%, but both could be overtaken by poker by 2008, if not earlier.
Casino stocks this past 6 months have done tremendously well.
Check out these results:
Harrahs Entertainment (HET) up 32%
Caesar's Entertainment Inc (CZR) up 25%
MGM Mirage (MGG) up 65%
Mandalay Resort Group (MBG) up 30% [being acquired by MGM]
Gamble in the casinos, or gamble in the market!
The Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas plans a $600 million expansion, with an addition to the hotel and a 50-story luxury condo tower. Read the press release here.
They also said they have an agreement with Playboy Enterprises to use the Playboy brand with their new high-end lounge.
When we go to vegas, we pride ourselves on getting good comps. I'm not sure why, its usually not a lot of money. But there is appeal to challenging the notion that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Because for some reason, thats seems untrue.
Over the past few years, we've written a couple of articles on how to get comps. You can read the quick version here, or read the full Cruzino.com comps book here.
We recgonize that much of this is common sense. But hopefully these pointers show what works for us and may be useful to you. The biggest thing you need to learn is TO ASK. If you don't ask, your comps will be limited.
What do you think?
You may have read some of the contraversy going on at the Borgata. Those waitresses can't gain weight without risking their jobs.
From my perspective, this policy is just fine. The business works because they attract clients. Part of attracting clients is having attractive waitresses and bartenders. The Borgata is not being unfair - they are applying this policy evenly across the board. Whats the gripe?
Hooters certainly wants to have a certain physical appearance in their employees. Why shouldn't casinos be allowed to do the same?
Lakes Entertainment Inc, the owners of WPT Enterprises, has approval from the state of Mississippi to build a new casino. The casino will have a 250 room hotel, 1500 slot machines, and 45 table games according to this article.
According to this article, Trump's casino company has abandoned plans to build a casino in French Lick, Indiana due to state taxes that would be applied to the business.
