Las Vegas Casino Death Watch
Last Updated: February 7, 2010
02/07/10
In today's LV 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 Chatper 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.
08/19/09
The
Greek Isles has been sold. Allegedly it's still open.
The
new owners indicate they may turn around and sell it again.
08/15/09
Hooters
warns it might file for bankruptcy. The loss appears to be due to
the expected set of issues.
08/15/09
Why is Station filing for bankruptcy?
Well, one reason
is that they're losing money, $65.3 million in the second quarter of
this year.
08/10/09
The
Riviera is in some trouble. They've missed some payments, and now
they're looking to renegotiate their debt. If they can't, they'll
probably have to file for bankruptcy.
08/05/09
As Station Casinos enters its bankruptcy procedures,
Boyd
Casinos wants everyone to know that they're willing to do their
part to help. You've got to admire a well crafted knife-twisting.
07/29/09
Station Casinos files
for Chapter 11 protection. This is not unexpected, but it means
that Station's creditors were not able to come to agreement with the
company. The RJ article indicates that the casino holdings of the
company are not covered by this filing. To be honest, we don't understand
why or how this would be the case.
07/21/09
So, what will happen to the mostly constructed Fontainebleau?
Nobody
knows. However, its future doesn't look all that bright.
07/14/09
It appears that it's not just Binion's who's behind on its rent.
Now,
landlords of the Four Queens allege that the other TLC property is
in the same boat. We believe this will eventually be resolved by
someone with a gavel rather than by putting locks on the door.
07/12/09
We
have some news on what Harrah's plans for it's Strip properties. The
article includes news that Harrah's plans no implosions (not even the
IP parking garage?!)
07/09/09
It's not exactly breaking news, but
Liz
Benston has written a good summary of what's going on in the Las Vegas
casino business these days, and how they wound up in so much trouble.
Well worth reading.
07/02/09
The Tropicana is
under new ownership. We're skeptical that this will bring the
"return to pre-eminence" that the new management intends, but we fully
expect this will be a step up.
06/10/09
The Fontainebleau files
for Chapter 11. Their story seems to be that everything would be just
fine if the banks would give them the money they have already promised.
The banks' story seems to be that the project is way over budget and
they don't have to. We guess it's up to the courts to decide this. In
the mean time, some construction will continue, but it won't be full
speed ahead.
06/08/09
What's
going on with the Fontainebleau? It's hard to know what all is
happening, but we do know that they feel the need to sue to ensure that
they money they were counting on actually shows up. They've also lost
their CEO, and, as the article points out, liens are piling up.
06/03/09
Who's planning an upgrade in this credit market?
The
Tropicana, of course. They've cleared bankruptcy and are on the
verge of getting their new management team approved. Do we think
the funding for this upgrade will come through in a week or a month?
Well, no, since you ask, but at least it indicates that they don't
plan to close the place down, or maybe that's just what they want
us to think.
05/20/09
MGM Mirage has
completed its restructuring. Moreover, they plan to be part of
two new hotels in Dubai, although something tells me that construction
on those won't start any time soon. Is this enough to keep MGM Mirage
solvent? That remains to be seen, but it's a step.
05/15/09
The
Tropicana will have a new owner as it emerges from bankruptcy. This
may happen within the next month or two. As long as it's not Columbia
Sussex, we're willing to give the new owners the benefit of the doubt.
05/13/09
NORM!'s column notes
about cut backs on services at the Sahara, perhaps indicating that
the owners have decided on a time frame to close the place and
perform significant upgrades. Perhaps that time frame is really soon.
05/09/09
What's new and hip in downtown casinos?
The
El Cortez. Don't laugh, the new owners have pumped a lot of
money into the place making improvements. It's less clear if this
will pay off, but at least they've made the effort.
05/04/09
The Las Vegas Business Press
speculates
as to the future of the Las Vegas Strip. In a nutshell, they expect
spin-offs, sales, and management changes.
05/01/09
Construction on the
Fontainebleau has drastically slowed down due to financial problems.
04/30/09
Is Binion's in financial trouble? Could be. For many downtown properties
the land on which the casinos sit is often not owned by the resorts
themselves.
Now,
landlords have sued Binion's for missing payments, and the article
suggests that the same thing might happen with the Four Queens as
well. We don't expect this to lead to closures, but sorting
this out isn't going to happen overnight.
04/29/09
It appears
that MGM Mirage and Dubai World have come to an agreement about the
funding of CityCenter. This is good news for everyone concerned.
04/24/09
It's a speculative piece from an unusual source of casino news, but
George
Knapp's interpretation of what's going on between MGM Mirage and Dubai
World coincides almost exactly with our speculation.
04/20/09
Liz Benston in the Las Vegas Sun
talks
about what's happening behind the finances of some of the smaller Las
Vegas casinos such as Hooters or the still-closed Lady Luck. Not
a lot of breaking news, but a good overview.
04/18/09
Do we have an
agreement between MGM Mirage and Dubai World about City Center?
Maybe, it seems, or if we don't have one, we might be close.
04/17/09
Ooooh, that rascally Carl Icahn is at it again. Always active during
times of economic strife, this time around
he's trying to
force MGM Mirage to go through bankruptcy. Why would he do this?
It can be hard to figure out Icahn, but, one of his funds owns a lot of
MGM Mirage debt, so maybe he thinks the bond holders will get a better
shake from a judge-appointed receiver than it would from the deal MGM
is currently trying to negotiate. On the other hand, maybe he's
trying to force MGM Mirage to auction off some of its properties, and
he might be able to grab one at fire-sale prices.
04/16/09
Say it ain't so!
The planned Elvis-themed
resort is in default and could be forced to sell their property.
What, a planned resort/casino without huge corporate backing is
having problems getting off the ground in this financial market? Hard
to believe.
04/06/09
From the "Shocked, Shocked We Are" Department,
The Greek
Isles files for bankruptcy. This is no surprise since the property
is already in receivership after defaulting on its financing eight months
ago.
04/01/09
Can anyone save CityCenter?
How about
Colony Capital? Apparently, this isn't an April Fool's Day joke,
and by no means is this a done deal. Note, Colony Capital already has
a foothold in Las Vegas, they're the owners of the Las Vegas Hilton and
backed Station Casinos bid to go private.
04/01/09
Add
Hooters to the list of casinos who have missed debt payments.
As in all cases, it remains to be seen if they'll have to declare
bankruptcy or if they will come to some accord with the bond holders.
03/31/09
Add
Riviera Holdings to the list of casino companies that may be forced
to file for Chapter 11 protection. It's not like these guys have
billions in debt, but their revenues have been badly squeezed by
declining room rates.
03/27/09
Update:
CityCenter
makes their payment. Bankruptcy averted, at least for now. Part of
the good news is that construction continues and 8000 people still have a
job. At least for the time being. We don't think we've heard the last
of this.
03/27/09
The Dubai World lawsuit may be the last straw.
The CityCenter project
may have to declare bankruptcy. There is a payment of $220 million
scheduled for today. Because of the rift with Dubai World, the partnership
may be in trouble and have to file for bankruptcy. If they're going to
file anyway, may as well not make the payment. Thanks to many loyal
Death Watch readers who wake up earlier than the Death Watch staff for
pointing this out. Never have we received so much email about one
news item.
03/24/09
It's that time again. Our friends over at
VegasTripping.com have asked
Death
Watch maintainer Nick Christenson some questions about the state of Las
Vegas. This serves as a pretty good summary of the Death Watch view
of the state of the Las Vegas casino resorts.
03/23/09
Uh oh. MGM Mirage was trying to line up a plan where they can continue to
own and operate the casinos that are most important to them while they
finish building CityCenter.
Now their corporate
partners have thrown a big ole wrench into the machinery. Dubai
World, their partners in CityCenter, want out. There will be some
late nights in the MGM Mirage offices this week as they scramble to
come to terms with this.
03/23/09
The first bankruptcy shoe drops.
Herbst Gaming submits
its reorganization plan. This is the plan we expected. The Herbst
family keeps control of their slot route operations, the lenders take
control of the casinos.
03/20/09
Phil Ruffin takes
over the TI today. We at the Death Watch wish Ruffin luck with his
new venture.
03/18/09
Rounding up the bankruptcy talk is
Liz
Benston's overview of the subject as it applies to current Las Vegas
gaming companies. A good one-stop article on the state of the
industry.
03/18/09
The bank
group who holds MGM Mirage's debt have given them until May to get
their house in order. In the mean time MGM needs to figure out
how they're going to make their payments. Part of the solution is
selling the TI to Phil Ruffin, a sale which should close within weeks.
Others have speculated that the rest of the solution will involve the
sale of more assets. By no means is Chapter 11 off the table.
03/18/09
Court
documents reveal that Station Casinos expects to file for bankruptcy
protection in a mid-April time-frame. As the days go by, the buy-out
proposal for a slate of casinos probably looks better and better to
the Station bond holders.
03/18/09
Completing the trifecta of potential bankruptcy stories,
Harrah's
warns that come 2010, it may not have enough income to pay off its
upcoming debt payments. They may be able to coast along for
a while until it all comes to a head, though.
03/04/09
The
Riviera is officially in default. The Riviera seems to think this
is no big deal, but we don't know if this is really the case, or if this
is the start of bigger problems.
03/03/09
Next up on the potential bankruptcy list,
MGM
Mirage.
03/01/09
Liz Benston of the Las Vegas Sun has written an
excellent
article discussing the state of the Las Vegas casino economy in
the context of the national situation.
03/01/09
M Resort opens.
Everyone knows this is the wrong time to open a casino, and it's
in the wrong place right now, but if there's a saving grace, it's
that the folks operating it are fully aware of the challenges they
face. In any case, we wish the new venture luck.
02/27/09
From the "Blow Our Own Horn" Department, the good news is that Death
Watch reporter Nick Christenson was finally consulted. The bad news
is that it was by reporter and "friend of the Death Watch"
Nolan
Dalla rather than the casino industry themselves. The article asks
several insiders, experts, and Nick about what the current economic mess
means for poker.
02/24/09
From the "I Don't Think We Even Have a Department for This" Department:
Boyd Gaming offers to
buy a big chunk of Station Casinos for $950 billion. Given that
Station is on the cusp of filing for Chapter 11 protection, this is
an offer they'll have to take seriously.
In our opinion, it's a brilliant move by Boyd. If Station accepts the
deal, Boyd wins by getting worthwhile assets at a dirt-cheap price.
If Station doesn't, they've got to sweeten the restructuring deal to
their own bond-holders, 'cuz the partial Boyd buy-out is better for
those folks. If they sweeten the deal, that weakens Station's cash
position. A clear win/win for Boyd.
02/11/09
The Greek Isles goes
into receivership. The dozens of customers of this place may not
even notice, as the place will remain in operation ... for now.
02/10/09
Should we add Landry's, the corporate parent to the Golden Nugget, to the
list of Las Vegas casino companies that might have to restructure?
Some
folks from US News & World Report think so. Again, we believe the
Golden Nugget is profitable enough to not need to close, even if LNY has
to restructure, but what happens if these companies experience a cash crunch
but then can't get their restructured debt financed? That's the nightmare
scenario.
02/10/09
The RJ reports that analyst
Barbara Cappaert
expects Hooters Hotel to have to file for bankruptcy.
02/10/09
The economy may be in the tank, revenues may be in the toilet,
but
when you need a new image, you need a new image, and the Tropicana
certainly needs a new image. We have to say, since Scott Butera took
over, it looks like the Tropicana is on a better track. Of course,
one could fairly claim that this is faint praise.
|