Las Vegas Casino Death Watch
Last Updated: August 28, 2010
08/28/10
The
bankruptcy judge has put his stamp on the Station bankruptcy plan.
So, basically, that's that. As far as those who aren't owed any money
are concerned, things will pretty much stay the way they were.
08/19/10
More
downtown news, this time about the Tamares properties. Look for the
Plaza to get a face lift and return to its original name, "Union Plaza".
Whether any of this has long lasting effects, one way or the other, is
anyone's guess.
08/19/10
The
Lady Luck has received approval from the Las Vegas City Council to being
their remodeling plans. Actually, we don't think this is news.
Let us know when the Lady Luck actually begins their remodeling
process. That will be news.
08/16/10
What
will happen to the M? It sounds like it won't be that long until
we find out. Several suitors have expressed interest. In our opinion,
there's a lot going for the M itself. The problem is that when the
recession hit, the growth toward that area came to a screeching halt,
leaving it closer to the middle of nowhere than they'd like.
08/15/10
Liz Benston has put together a good piece examining the
aftermath
of the Station bankruptcy.
08/09/10
The Las Vegas Sun contains another fine article by Liz Benston about
MRI's CityCenter. Basically,
CityCenter
is losing money right now and stealing business from other MRI properties.
This is no surprise, but now we have facts that verify this. The article
states that CityCenter lost $128M last quarter. I'm not too worried about
MRI, though. Even if the US economy doesn't recover quickly, they have
$2 billion in cash and a growing business in Macau that should keep them
solvent.
At the same time, the article points out that with the excess capacity
of rooms and the reduction of rates at the high end properties, it is
places such as the Tropicana and Riviera that are badly hurt by this.
At the Death Watch, we believe that the Tropicana probably has
sufficiently deep pockets along with a long term outlook that will
allow them to slip by. If the economic downturn continues for several
more years, then even with restructuring keeping the Riviera viable
becomes much more difficult.
08/06/10
It
looks like Station Casinos will stay intact. The stalking horse bid
turns out to be the winning bid. There are many who will say that the
deck was stacked against outside bidders, and that this deal was not
good for minority creditors, but that doesn't make any difference in the
outcome.
08/02/10
How healthy is MGM Mirage, er, I mean MRI, these days? Their ability
to remain solvent largely hinges on whether the income from their
properties can match their debt payments, especially on the half of
City Center that they own. In the RJ, Howard Stutz has a
good
piece that provides some insight into MRI's finances.
07/30/10
Boyd
Gaming announces that they won't bid on the Station Casinos "OpCo"
properties. However, the article does indicate that other bids
have been submitted.
Now that Boyd has given up on acquiring Station assets, we fully expect
them to work out a plan to purchase MGM's half of the shared Borgata
project in Atlantic City.
07/23/10
Not exactly due to a contemporary closing, but it's a bit of history
nonethleless.
Final demolition
on the Moulin Rouge has begun.
07/22/10
This week's Las Vegas Business press has an article on
the
Station bankruptcy proceedings. There's not much new on the Station
front that we didn't already know, but there's an interesting bit toward
the end: "Boyd ... is also reportedly trying to acquire M Resort ... ."
Everyone who has tracked the area gaming business knows that M had to
emerge from the gate in a troubled financial state, but since it is
privately held we really haven't had any visibility into that process.
As far as we know, this is the first published statement on the situation.
07/12/10
Rivera
Holdings has filed for bankruptcy. It looks like this is one of
those deals where the reorganization plan already has the blessing of
most of the creditors, so this might be a fairly smooth process. We
don't see any reason to think that this will significantly impact day
to day operations.
07/11/10
TI owner Phil Ruffin was the guest on the TV show
Nevada
Newsmakers on July 7. The item of interest was regarding a possible
sale of the Mirage by MGM Resorts International, as they now call themselves,
to Ruffin. Ruffin said that such a sale is unlikely to make financial
sense for both the buyer and the seller, and that MGM is currently not
shopping around any of their Las Vegas assets.
06/30/10
The
Cosmopolitan is now accepting room reservations. It is scheduled to
open in mid-December. We wish the folks there good luck.
06/25/10
Might we see some action on the long shuttered Lady Luck?
Perhaps
we could see a reopening towards the end of 2012. If we here at the
Death Watch were the sort of people who might make the occasional wager,
and we are, we'd take the "over" for the max.
06/22/10
Judge Zive in the Station Casinos bankruptcy case says
full
speed ahead on the auction. We expect the next important milestone
to be in early August when the "OpCo" property auction occurs. Of course,
we also expect that someone will still try to make hay in this case
before the auction goes down. At the Death Watch, we still have doubts as
to whether this deal is what's best for the creditors, but once again,
we weren't consulted.
06/21/10
Bloomberg reports that Onex Partners, new owners of the Tropicana,
are
looking to expand. No specifics on what tires they're kicking, but
it's an interesting article.
06/21/10
In today's Las Vegas Sun, Liz Benston writes a typically good piece
about the
future of the Rio. Short version: Harrah's is an interested
seller, there have been some potential buyers that have expressed
interest, yet nothing has happened yet.
06/13/10
In today's Las Vegas Review-Journal, Howard Stutz takes notice that
an industry analyst suggests that
Harrah's
may be planning to go public again sometime soon.
05/30/10
This seems as good a time as any to mention the
changes
occurring at the venerable Tropicana. The new owners are in the
process of implementing $165 million in improvements in this property,
going with a Miami theme. We don't expect they will be able to compete
with top-tier properties, but if it's run right, we think that this
property can be profitable aiming at a mid-tier clientele. We wish
the Tropicana luck in reviving its image.
05/29/10
Now that we have a ruling on the Station Casinos bankruptcy proceedings,
Death Watch maintainer Nick
Christenson has written a commentary on the situation.
05/28/10
The verdict is in.
Station
Casinos' reorganization plan is given the thumb's up. Wow. we admit
Judge Zive knows a lot more about this case than we do, but we think
having Station put everything up for auction makes a lot more sense.
We'd let them make a stalking horse bid on the pieces they still wanted, but
to just hand over the best bits, plus all the corporate infrastructure, and
to give them the inside track on the rest that they still want, well, that
makes no sense to us. Where's the moral hazard?
05/25/10
The Review-Journal suggests that
progress
may be forthcoming with the long-shuttered Lady Luck downtown.
How optimistic should we be? At the deathwatch, we think the answer
is contained right in the headline. We would say that "Lady Luck showing
new life" doesn't quite seem justified in the face of "LV Planning
Commission to discuss proposal".
05/14/10
Who is tops on the list for the next bankruptcy?
It
has to be Hooters. When the company itself states that it worries
it may not have enough cash to meet obligations, that's a problem. Of
course, since they have already been missing payments, a cynic might
think that such a company might exaggerate their problems to improve
their bargaining position when trying to restructure their debt. What's
really going on? Well, they haven't chosen to give us the real scoop.
05/05/10
We're going to have to wait again to find out what's going to happen
to Station's Casino's assets.
Station
Casinos was granted an extension until mid July to come up with their
bankruptcy plan.
05/04/10
The
company that runs the Fremont Street Experience is suing Tamares Gaming,
who owes the Plaza and Las Vegas Club, for nonpayment of their FSE dues.
We're not saying this is the same situation, but the last time the FSE
folks sued a casino, it was a casino called the Horseshoe, and this was
a part of maybe the most spectacular casino death spiral in Las Vegas
history. We're just saying... .
05/03/10
The Las Vegas Business Press has a good article on the
real
costs of the failure of Fontainebleau. We can't really say that
this article is all that germane to the main topic of the Death Watch,
but it's a good story that reminds us how these failures impact real
people's lives.
04/24/10
There has been speculation for years that Harrah's might have the Rio
on the auction block.
Bloomberg
Businessweek provides the most substantive evidence of this.
04/21/10
Station Casinos has released their plan to emerge from bankruptcy, but
not
everyone thinks it's a good one. Who'da thunk it? This isn't over,
not by a long shot.
04/09/10
Station
Casinos has proposed how some of its assets will be disposed.
We'll see what interested parties might have to say about it.
04/08/10
Apparently, February was a pretty good month for Las Vegas casinos.
The Review-Journal reports
that
casino revenues are up 13.9% year-over-year. In the Las Vegas Sun
they
tell it as a 33% in gross win. The layout of the calendar had
something to do with these numbers, but it's still the best news Nevada
gaming has probably heard in 30 months.
04/07/10
We have a schedule for the opening of the "Cosmopolitan of
Las Vegas".
It
is scheduled to open to the public in December.
Of course, this isn't exactly a great time to open a new Strip
hotel, but what are you going to do? We wish them luck.
04/05/10
The Las Vegas Sun has
an
article about how bad business is on the north end of the Strip.
There's nothing big picture here that followers of this site don't already
know, but there's, some good facts and figures, and it makes a good
overview of what's going on in town.
04/02/10
So, which casinos in Las Vegas are having difficulties?
John
Edwards of the Review-Journal gives us a list of three who have
reported serious red ink in 2009: Hooters, Herbst, and the
LV Hilton. The Hooters news is nothing new. The bad news for Herbst
is prior to the approval of their Chapter 11 reorganization. Hilton
is showing losses, but not huge ones compared to the equity of the
property. Plus, Colony Capital can probably afford to limp by for
a while.
03/30/10
The Las Vegas Business Press has a
revealing
look at the state of downtown Las Vegas. There aren't any breakthroughs
here, but there is some information on the Lady Luck, and a really
interesting list ranking downtown casinos by gaming revenue.
03/25/10
Big news: The Station Casinos reorganization plan has been filed.
They
propose to keep four properties, manage a fifth, and sell the rest.
They would keep Palace Station, Boulder Station, Sunset Station, and
Red Rock. They would also control the Wild Wild West. Presumably,
they don't care much about the property, they care about what they
might build there some decade.
The list of things that would be sold includes Texas Station, Santa Fe
Station, Fiesta Rancho, and Fiesta Henderson. The sale list also
includes half shares in Green Valley Ranch and Aliante Station, as
well as several smaller casinos that generally fall below the
threshold of interest for the Death Watch.
Two big questions remain: Will the bankruptcy court and creditors
accept this proposal, and who will be the bidders on what ends up
for sale?
03/24/10
There are rumors on Wall Street that
Boyd
may be a takeover target by Las Vegas Sands (who owns the Venetian.)
We at the Death Watch agree with the article at TheStreet that Boyd is
more likely to acquire Station Casinos than be acquired by anyone. We
can't rule it out, though.
03/24/10
We know the Riviera is in a bit of a financial bind. Consequently,
in some quarters people are worried it may have to close its doors.
We don't think that eventuality is that likely, especially since
someone
is trying to purchase the place by buying up the Riviera's debt.
This illustrates our maxim that during tough economic times, casinos
change hands, but rarely close up altogether, and that casino closing
are far more common during good economic times than bad.
02/17/10
The bad news keeps coming in for Lake Las Vegas. First, the resort
community itself is in bankruptcy, closing two of its three golf
courses. Then the Ritz-Carlton announces it will close in May.
Without the Ritz-Carlton,
the
already struggling Casino MonteLago just isn't viable, so it will
close shop in mid-March. This is a ways from the Strip and
downtown, but it's a sign of the times.
02/15/10
In this forum we had wondered how it is that Harrah's, which seemed on
the verge of filing for bankruptcy, could afford to buy Planet Hollywood?
In the Las Vegas Sun, Liz
Benston asks basically the same questions. To our benefit, she
also provides some answers.
02/07/10
In today's LV Review-Journal, NORM! passes on a rumor from an anonymous source
that
projects that the proper line is "three" Las Vegas casinos to "go under"
in 2010. NORM! doesn't say who it is, or who his source is. I guess
being able to report on a story while
not having to actually provide information is one of the cool things about
being NORM! Of course, we don't know if this source knows anything, and
we don't know what "go under" means. Is that "file for Chapter 11", or
is that "put plywood over the doors and windows"? It makes a big difference.
As a consequence, we don't put that much credence in this, but like NORM!,
we report it anyway.
01/28/10
How close did MGM Mirage come to having to file for bankruptcy last
year? According to Murren himself,
within
minutes. What has Murren taken from his "near-death experience"?
That after a six year absence, MGM Mirage should rejoin the Las Vegas
Chamber of Commerce. That wasn't what we would have guessed, but okay.
01/27/10
It's official,
Icahn
gets the Fontainebleau. The big question we're hoping he answers, will
construction resume?
01/25/10
Tropicana
renovations are underway. We're guessing this will be
ongoing for more than the next year, and that it will be
a while before we see big changes on the casino floor.
01/22/10
It has been brought to our attention that Global Gaming Business web site
has an
interview
with Four Queens and Binion's owner Terry Caudill on the future of
Binion's and downtown. Note, this interview took place well before
Caudill announced that Binion's would close its hotel rooms, and
he gives no indication that this might take place in this interview.
Also conspicuous by its absence is that no mention is made about both
properties' dispute with their landlords. The most eyebrow-raising
moment is when Caudill suggests that downtown can absorb three to
five thousand additional rooms. Well, maybe he means once the economy
improves.
01/20/10
It looks like
Carl
Icahn will be the new owner of the Fontainebleau. Now we look
forward to hearing what he plans to do with it. In any case, we
wish him luck.
01/16/10
We'd expect no less, but Liz Benston has a good article in
the LV Sun on
Carl
Icahn's options should he succeed in acquiring the Fontainebleau.
Our guess falls somewhere between options 2 and 3.
01/16/10
At midnight tonight,
Harrah's
will take over hotel and some restaurant operations at Planet
Hollywood. Note that they haven't yet purchased the property.
That's still in the works. This seems backwards to us, but what
do we know?
01/14/10
Penn
National Gaming says they're bowing out of the Fontainebleau bidding
process. That leaves Carl Icahn with the stalking horse bid and the
inside track. Frankly, we're at a loss to think about who else might
come forward and make a play for this place.
01/13/10
The
LV Sun has a report about Binion's post closing of their hotel rooms.
We've been through the casino since the keno lounge, hotel rooms, and
coffee shop were closed, and at least on the surface the place looks
reasonably busy.
01/03/10
Howard
Stutz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal makes predictions about Las Vegas
gaming in 2010. He doesn't provide any bold glimpses of the future,
but he does provide a pretty decent recap of where we are.
12/27/09
Binion's closing their hotel rooms has disturbed a great number of
readers of the Death Watch as well as many fans of "old Las Vegas".
Death Watch maintainer Nick
Christenson has written a commentary on the Binion's situation.
12/27/09
TI
owner Phil Ruffin makes some predictions about what will happen
to the Las Vegas casino business over the next decade. It's
always gutsy to make predictions, especially about the economy
on how things will go, so we applaud Ruffin and cut him some
slack for even venturing out to do this. My opinion is that his
timeline for a complete turnaround by 2020 seems a little optimistic
to me. By 2020, I'm not sure Echelon is completely built, but I
think it's more likely than not that construction is well along the
way. I doubt the MGM/Kerzner venture is operating by 2020. Other than
that, his projections seem plausible.
12/19/09
Boyd Gaming appears to be serious about not just acquiring some of
Station Casinos' assets,
but
about acquiring all of Station Casinos' assets.
Wow.
12/16/09
What do you do when people aren't filling your rooms?
Close
some rooms. The Sahara is doing just that. We fully expect this is
on a temporary basis, but there's not as much foot traffic on that end of
the Strip, especially not these days, as one might like. As long as
there truly isn't anyone to fill those rooms, this seems prudent. Whether
this points to longer term problems for the Sahara or not, time will tell.
12/01/09
Opening: CityCenter
Well, Really the non-gaming hotel Vdara is opening. Crystals, the retail
space, opens Thursday, the Mandarin Oriental opens Saturday, and the property
with the casino, Aria, opens December 16. We wish the new project good
luck.
11/30/09
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that
Binion's
will close their main hotel tower on December 14. Presumably, this
is a temporary move, but we don't know if it's a temporary measure
for the holidays, for the duration of the recession, or the beginning of
something ominous.
11/28/09
If you're a company on the verge of insolvency, what do you do in
a down market? Why,
bid
to acquire another casino, of course. Harrah's is apparently
looking to extend their long line of casinos on the east side of Las
Vegas Boulevard to include Planet Hollywood.
11/23/09
Majestic
Star Casino files for bankruptcy. Note that even though Don Barden is
in charge of both Majestic Star and the Las Vegas Fitzgerald's, this
filing does not directly affect any Las Vegas property. Nonetheless,
it's a sign of the times.
11/23/09
We have another bidder for the incomplete Fontainebleau,
Billionaire
financier Carl Icahn. He offered $136 million, outbidding Penn
National Gaming. These aren't exactly the sorts of bids that the
Fontainebleau contractors were hoping to see.
11/13/09
Another commentary! This time on
what the opening of
CityCenter means for Las Vegas.
11/13/09
We're still looking for the first true Deathwatch casualty of the current
economic downturn.
It's
now looking like Hooters might be a candidate. This is enough to
move Hooters up the list a notch.
11/13/09
Not
everyone thinks the filing by Boyd Gaming asking for consideration of
their bid in Station's bankruptcy proceeding is entirely altruistic.
Okay, in actuality nobody thinks they're being entirely altruistic. Boyd
wants their bid for Station's assets to be considered, Station doesn't.
11/10/09
The
Riviera is losing money and missing payments. Why? For the same reasons
everyone else is losing money and missing payments. Revenues are down.
What seems unusual to us is that they're missing debt payments. How does
a property that has been under the same ownership for so many years have
$227.5 million in debt?
11/01/09
Now that it's official that the Echelon project has been mothballed
for the indefinite future,
Death Watch maintainer Nick
Christenson has written a commentary on the Echelon situation.
10/31/09
Herbst
wins the race to be the first casino company with a Las Vegas presence
to emerge to bankruptcy. Don Pardo, tell them what they've lost.
"They've lost complete control of their company, including the slot routes
and their Nevada casinos, including their Primm properties along
with Terrible Herbst in Las Vegas!"
10/06/09
Penn
Gaming puts in a bid for the Fontainebleau. It's a lowball
bid, but in this market and with no other obvious bidders,
the bankruptcy judge may not end up with other options. We'll
see if other bidders emerge.
10/02/09
Selling
the Fontainebleau appears to be on the fast track. Whether there are
buyers out there who agree or not is an open question.
09/24/09
Casino
mogul and Las Vegas celebrity Bob Stupak has passed away. The Death
Watch extends our condolences to his friends and family. He left an
indelible mark on Las Vegas.
09/24/09
Reports
are that former casino mogul Bob Stupak is seriously ill.
09/19/09
Will it be Penn National that buys up the Fontainebleau assets and opens
that construction project?
Some
say they will, but
some
say it wouldn't be such a good fit.
09/16/09
We're used to seeing reviews of Strip restaurants in the local papers, but
we thought it was cute to see
a review of the revamped
Golden Grille at the Gold Spike appear in the RJ. We like the
"reservations are not required" bit.
09/15/09
There
may be a buyer for the Fontainebleau. The current owners are hoping
it doesn't come to that, but it looks increasingly likely that someone
else will be at the helm when the project is finally completed.
09/11/09
The Stations bankruptcy proceedings heat up. Liz Benston of the LV Sun has
an
excellent overview of what's going on and why.
09/09/09
The
Golden Nugget executives are looking at taking the company private again.
They've already tried this twice.
09/02/09
Lenders
to Station Casinos are asking why Boyd's offer to buy Station assets
was rejected. If one of the purposes of restructuring is to get
the best deal for the bond holders, it would seem that selling off
casino assets is something that should receive serious consideration.
The lenders also claim that there are reasons that Station management and
some of the larger lenders may have a conflict of interest.
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