leaving on a jet plane...wondering when you're coming back to vegas!

Not terribly shocking, really. From the Review-Journal:

McCarran passenger counts fall 1.3 percent in October
By HOWARD STUTZ

Passenger counts at McCarran International Airport fell 1.3 percent in October. More than 3.51 million passengers came through McCarran during the month, compared with more than 3.56 million passengers in the same month a year ago.

For the first 10 months of 2009, McCarran has seen passenger counts fall 9.4 percent over the period in 2008.

No real surprise that passenger counts are down this year. The real meat-and-potatoes comparison will be 2k10 numbers vs. 2k9 and even 2k8. That'll give the clearest indication if the economy is rebounding. We already know Strip development is going to remain halted. That's old news. Let's see if people are ready to occupy the rooms already waiting for them.

boyd creating distance from echelon?

Telling, telling quote from Boyd Gaming's third quarter results statement:

Based on our current outlook, we do not anticipate that Echelon will resume construction for three to five years.

While Boyd claims to be committed to a Strip presence, their actions show all they're committed to is a dormant construction site. Unless, of course, they plan to divest from the project and look to purchase another Strip property. It would only surprise me because Boyd has never shown much interest in owning one of the larger Strip properties. But given MGMMirage's financial woes and all-in strategy with CityCenter, perhaps Boyd (or someone) could purchase a property on the cheap.

one more word about the greektown.

Looks like the Greektown could have a new owner, according to the Detroit Free Press:

Celani aims to buy Greektown Casino
BY MARY FRANCIS MASSON

Tom Celani, a Bloomfield Hills businessman and investor, is trying to buy Greektown Casino in downtown Detroit.
Advertisement

Celani, who was an initial investor in MotorCity Casino, has partnered with Plainfield, a Connecticut-based hedge fund, to bid for Greektown, which is being marketed to buyers through bankruptcy proceedings. Read more.

Call me a neophyte, but how a casino goes bankrupt is beyond me.

BEYOND me!

visiting detroit's greektown casino.

I was in Detroit this weekend for a day trip to catch my first-ever NHL game. I'm a huge fan of the Detroit Red Wings, so it was great to take in a game at the venerable old Joe Louis Arena. Too bad the Wings lost.

I decided to park my car at the Greektown Casino and take the downtown people mover to and from the game, which was incredibly convenient (take note, big cities with traffic congestion issues!).

Aptly named for the neighborhood within which it resides, the Greektown Casino-Hotel boasts a 100,000-foot gaming floor with more than 2,600 slots as well as the full compliment of table games, 400 guest rooms in a 30-story tower, a nightclub and several restaurants from which to choose.

Obviously, the Greektown is shooting for weekend warriors to enter and never set foot outside the complex until they check out.

I was only there for a couple hours, but wandered the two-level gaming area to take it all in.

My first thought was, "Where are the video poker machines?" Instead of putting them among the slots, video poker is in its own, all-too-cozy room away from nearly ever other part of the casino. It's honestly kind of a strange location, if you ask me.

Greektown is one of the remaining ethnic neighborhoods in Detroit; something that's fading away in many big cities (and something you can't create out of corporate investment). The casino butts up against a street lined with Greek restaurants and businesses. It's very unique and worth the visit.

The casino itself wasn't bad, but didn't stand out at all, compared to other casinos I've visited in the Midwest. The table games pits seemed disjointed, if you ask me. The video poker room might be claustrophobic to some, but didn't bother me.

Overall, it's not bad. I'd have to go back and stay for a weekend to get a better feel for it all. I can't complain, though. I did win a few bucks. Their slot machines offer something I've never seen before in a casino for players club members: you have the choice of cashing out of a slot machine with a voucher or putting the money onto your players card; sort of like a debit card. Clever and I suppose convenient. But let's be real. They're trying to keep the money in-house. I'll take the cash, thank you very much.

"...eight straight months of declining revenue on the las vegas strip..."

I shouldn't be so harsh on Boyd Gaming, though. It's not like they're alone in this economic mess. The Big Three in Vegas--Las Vegas Sands Corp., MGM Mirage and Wynn Resorts Ltd.--are getting clobbered in the markets.

From Bloomberg.com:

Las Vegas Sands, MGM, Wynn May Signal 'Ugly' 2009
By Beth Jinks

Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd. and MGM Mirage, the three largest U.S. casino companies, may signal an "ugly" year ahead as gamblers curb casino trips and betting from Las Vegas to Macau.

Eight straight months of declining gambling revenue on the Las Vegas Strip and tightened visa limits by authorities in Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, eroded third-quarter profits, said Dennis Forst, an analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets in El Segundo, California.

Shares of Wynn, controlled by billionaire Steve Wynn, have dropped 67 percent this year. Sands shares plunged 23 percent on Oct. 24, bringing its year-to-date decline to 94 percent and forcing it to relinquish its ranking as the biggest U.S. casino company by market value to Wynn.

No. 2 MGM Mirage, majority owned by Kirk Kerkorian, has fallen 87 percent. Penn has shed 79 percent, while Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. has lost 72 percent. Read more.

I'm no economist, but Vegas will come back. It may take a year or two, but it'll come back. Gaming/travel/tourism are not recession-proof industries, you know. What I'm most curious of, though, is which hotel-casinos in Vegas will fold. The Big Three have deep enough pockets to survive. Harrah's is THE biggest casino company in the world, so they're probably safe. But it's going to be the little guys and outliers who lose. Are there any left in Vegas? Not many, but a few.

2009 promises to be nothing if not exhilarating.

will boyd's echelon ever open?

Things are not looking good for Boyd Gaming's mega-resort on The Strip, The Echelon. From Reuters:

Boyd Gaming sees Las Vegas project stalled thru 09

LOS ANGELES, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Casino operator Boyd Gaming Corp (BYD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Tuesday it does not expect to resume construction next year on its stalled Las Vegas Strip project and declined to comment on its fourth-quarter earnings outlook.

Boyd said in August it expected to halt construction of the partially built $4.8 billion Echelon project for at least nine months.

Chief Executive Keith Smith, speaking on a conference call, said the company is now looking at alternatives, including opening the project in phases, modifying its scope or entering into other partnerships.

Chief Operating Officer Paul Chakmak, citing uncertainty in the current economic environment, said the company would not issue its typical quarterly earnings forecast. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

This is bad. Very bad. The Echelon was slated to open in 2010. When the credit markets went kaput, they halted construction for the rest of '08. Now all of '09 is getting wiped out? Opening in phases or modified scope?

So much for building a competitor to its neighbor across the street, The Wynn.

caesars palace: "what sagging economy"?

Looks like the new Caesars Palace tower is ready for business. From Forbes:

Caesars Palace tops off sixth tower on Vegas Strip
By OSKAR GARCIA

Casino company Harrah's Entertainment Inc. topped off a 23-story tower at Caesars Palace on Tuesday as part of a $1 billion expansion at its flagship Las Vegas Strip resort.

The 665-room Octavius Tower is the sixth at Caesars and is part of an expansion the company hopes will help the hotel-casino compete with planned neighboring luxury resorts.

Gary Selesner, president of Caesars Palace, said expansion plans haven't changed, despite difficult economic conditions.

"This is all about the future," Selesner said. "We're building our capacity for the turnaround that will come, whether it's one, two or three years down the road."

Average Las Vegas hotel room rates for August were $107 per night, down 15.3 percent from August 2007. Occupancy was down, too, with 88.3 percent of rooms filled in August, down 2.9 percent compared with August 2007.
Read more.

I'm most struck by the last paragraph there, although Las Vegas is not going to go bust in the current economy. When the economy plunged after 9/11, many Vegas casinos and resorts merged to survive. There will be some fluctuation and lean times, but the economy will rebound.

I doubt anything could turn Vegas dark, quite honestly.

no bonus for mgm mirage.

Looks like I picked a bad time to start thinking about moving to Vegas. From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

MGM Mirage employees to miss bonus
Cash program out because company 'unlikely' to meet profit goals for 2008
By HOWARD STUTZ

MGM Mirage told its workers Monday that it was eliminating this year's cash bonus program, which is based on achieving a certain level of profitability.

"It is unlikely we are going to meet those goals this year," MGM Mirage spokesman Gordon Absher said.

The company's cash bonuses differed for all employees and the company did not say what the triggering points were for each level. Absher said the casino operator wouldn't say how much it was saving by eliminating the bonus program for 2008. Read more.

This isn't terribly surprising news. Vegas profits have been down all year. Nevertheless, it does show the economy is affecting everyone.

$4 gas prices forcing gamblers to stay close to home?

Howard Stutz at the Las Vegas Review Journal has my job! He writes a weekly column about the gaming industry.

Here's a little bit of today's Inside Gaming column:

No surprise, but gasoline prices of more than $4 a gallon don't bode well for regional casino markets. Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Andrew Zarnett said Atlantic City would suffer as gamblers stay close to home.

"Consumers will choose the convenience of Pennsylvania casinos over Atlantic City amenities," he said.

Potential casino patrons are spending more for necessities, such as gasoline and food, leaving fewer dollars for discretionary activities, including gambling.

Zarnett said casinos in Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana and Missouri are experiencing declines in visitation. Here's a little bit of today's Read more.

I made the rounds in Vegas this past May and all the talk among the employees in the pits was how its business was...well, in the pits.

Whether or not we're in a recession is a debate best left to the wonks on Meet The Press, but when people are paying $4 for a gallon of gas? Something's got to give.

revenues still down in vegas.

No real surprise here...from the Las Vegas Review Journal:

Gaming revenues decline again

Gaming revenues in April decreased 5 percent compared with the same month a year ago, the fourth straight month in 2008 casinos took in less than they did in 2007. Gaming revenues were $1 billion, compared with $1.053 billion a year ago.

On the Strip, gaming revenues were $524.1 million in April, a 1.28 percent decrease compared with $530.9 in April 2007.

Gaming taxes collected by the state based on April's gaming revenues were off 3.5 percent from a year ago, the seventh month out the last 11 that gaming tax collections have shown a decrease.

A few years ago, when I was a dealer, we at the casino used to comment how casinos were recession-proof. That's not the case any longer. Although I would guess the riverboats and Indian casinos across the nation are hurting worse than Vegas as a whole. Just a guess, though.

Just a year ago the Strip was gearing up to skew high-end with lavish resorts catering to affluent people. That's not going to change, but the gaming side of things will have to skew toward "average" players until we come out of this poor economy.

Again, duhhhhh!

dubai-dubai-doooooo.

Las Vegas is proving itself to be a model for international gaming ventures. First Macau, now Dubai. From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

Dubai firm sets sights on LV hospitality: Investors aim to grow Light Group's brand

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN

It's been less than two decades since business leaders in Dubai sought to transform the desert emirate into a leading global tourism destination.

Now an investment firm that grew from the roots of Dubai's transformation wants to reinvent hospitality in Las Vegas, long one of the world's top tourist spots.

"We should be able to do it better," said Mohammed Ali Al Hashimi, head of Zabeel Investments, a financial firm that recently bought a 50 percent stake in the Las Vegas-based Light Group.

Zabeel is a private company with a stake in everything from real estate to aeronautics and a property portfolio with an estimated $5 billion value, according to news reports. Read more.

Dubai is one of those places in the world I'd love to see some day. It's such a rich nation, I bet even the homeless people wear Armani.

one-armed bandit, indeed.

It's good to be Bally Technologies these days. From the Las Vegas Review Journal:

Bally Technologies Files Quarterly Reports; Revenues Up 31 Percent

LAS VEGAS, June 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Revenues for the fiscal 2007 period increased 31 percent, to $305.6
million from $232.9 million in the fiscal 2006 period ended Dec. 31, 2005. Further, current deferred revenue increased by $16.4 million to $63.5 million at Dec. 31, 2006 compared with $47.1 million at June 30, 2006.
Read more.

In other words, the house always wins.

ALWAYS!