Sh*t You May Have Missed While Caesars Played with its CEOC


It’s Sh*t You May Have Missed for the week ending 1/20/17.

Hey, all! BigAZMarty here with this weeks news for Las Vegas!!!

1. The CEOC Bankruptcy has finally gotten over the US Trustee WatchDog “wait a minute” moment and presented it’s hopefully final RSA Bankruptcy Exit Strategy to the judge last Friday per Reuters here. The judge signed off on it Tuesday Jan. 17 in Chicago, so I believe that is finally a chapter closed once everyone signs off and all the appropriate transactions completed. So here it goes at a high level, CEOC is split into two companies, an OpCo which will operate the casinos and a PropCo (newly formed REIT) that will be owned by the Bond and Creditors owed the money. CZR (Caesars Entertainment Stock) with all it’s remaining properties still in ownership and new OpCo will merge with CACQ (Caesars Acquisition Company stock) owning CGP to form a new CEC (Caesars Entertainment Corporation, I think). A lot of money will change hands and the new CEC will pay leases per year for the casino/hotels it has lost to the PropCo as well as rights to use golf courses (I was surprised to learn it also includes Koval Properties not sure but probably the land out back to the east of Audrie out to Koval). New CEC will have to lease back all of Atlantic City, Reno, Tahoe, Both US Caesars Palaces (Las Vegas and Atlantic City) except for the Octavius Tower and a lot of local U.S. non-Indian casinos (Indian Owned Casinos are excluded from the PropCo REIT as well). The list of properties can be seen in the massive document listed here as the RSA agreement. Or you can see the short version here (scroll to the bottom) for the casino/hotels included. Needless to say Apollo and TPG will only retain a 16% stake in the new CEC and have no ownership at all in the PropCo REIT, so they will be out of the controlling interest of the new CEC as well. This means if the new controlling members want and have the “new” board seats they can upend the apple cart and replace all “C” level executives including Chairman of the Board Gary Loveman. I would assume at a future date once all the transactions are completed anything goes. I would still like to see a new CEC tree chart as to where everything falls as at one time CZR was offering up Harrah’s Laughlin and Harrah’s New Orleans for the PropCo REIT, but I don’t see it listed in the approved RSA. New CEC will retain ownership of everything casino/hotel in LV except for Caesars Palace which it will lease back. The funniest thing is what Reuters says here (millennials anyone?) about where the “new” company is focusing on once it’s all over…however the new CEC will still be highly leveraged with debt (only cleared out $10B out of $18B). But hey, Apollo and TPG get to say it’s yours now to the new Creditor/Bond owners once completed now right? All I can say is I hope they can still upgrade rooms and casinos (c’mon LV Flamingo and Bally’s redo’s!!!!) and be able to re-do other properties that probably haven’t been improved in years (Harrah’s Reno and Harrah’s Laughlin come to mind).

2. MGM via MGM Public Policy, LLC is opening something new in DC, a DC office! This is probably in response to the retirement of Harry Reid who for years was the biggest casino proponent in Washington. Read LVRJ here.

3. MGM is also announcing that the MGM Cotai opening is being delayed to the 2nd half of 2017, you know, construction delays and all. Read LVRJ here. Doesn’t bode well for Wynn’s new resort since that casino is affected by the construction at MGM Cotai.

4. MGM’s Aria is suing Mi Morse, and The Cosmopolitan for “stealing” trade secrets (i.e. a list of High Rollers at Aria) read it via LVRJ here. An interesting case of he said/she said as Mi’s responses sound reasonable. I say it’s competition and play on….if you don’t like it get more new High Rollers by attracting via better pay tables/table odds and providing better free stuff like in the old days.

5. The Cosmopolitan now has a friendly AI “Chatbot” named Rose, read LVRJ here. Interesting but I like Wynn’s planned use for Alexa better, at least that’s more speech based (read back a few weeks ago).

6. Speaking of Wynn, Tom Ford products are getting kicked out of Wynn for not dressing Melania Trump, read LVRJ here. With Tom’s success with Nocturnal Beasts not sure he needs the cosmetics and sunglass sales either.

7. Table and Slot Machine manufacturing sales could go up internationally as Japan opens up to gambling (may have casinos open by early 2020’s) read LVRJ here. Although I would have a hard time thinking that IGT or Scientific Games could outdo Sega or Konami on their home turf, we have some unique games that might do well there (WMS division of Scientific Games could invent a complete Anime line). Still another 20% of sales to a new location would be a heck of a bump in business. Still interesting that North America would still be 60% of the market with Macau and Japan eating up 20% chunks each. Pachinko anyone?

8. Katz has some Hard Rock updates, read here. In a nutshell, Vanity club is closing, Body English is being redone to become Club Dominica for the Magic Mike shows, and the convention center for HR is complete just in time for the May residency at The Joint for Journey. Also reported that the Hard Rock Cafe sign will be cleaned up and no announcement yet about the building plans for the Hard Rock Cafe that closed recently. Hard Rock Store maybe with some small food/bar options or a big dance club out front?

9. AVN is in town for the weekend, Robin has pretty good coverage (with AVN is it really about coverage?) here. Not NSFW, but you probably don’t want to be that guy or gal that opens this in a crowded bullpen office. I think an after party is at Light at Mandalay Bay as well….yup read here. Interesting timing because the World of Concrete convention is going on at the same timeframe read below. Can you say new male actor recruiting?

10. Construction convention going on, World of Concrete read here and mason’s competition there as well see here. As mentioned above, AVN is in the same timeframe….I can bet Hard Rock will be busy this weekend. Or maybe Light?

11. Entertaining…someone is cashing in on the Naked Donald statue that was abducted and broken near Life is Beautiful last year. Bobbleheads!!! Read LVRJ here, only in Las Vegas….I wonder if they will be sold at the Las Vegas Gift Shop on the corner of Sahara and LV Blvd? Not sure how this will go over now that he’s about to become Pres, but you can’t blame anyone for making money off of it, right?

12. Vegas, Inc (c/o LV Sun) has a decent write up about Santa Fe Station’s new Bingo Hall that opened in November, read here.

13. Sports books getting smooshed by upset victories, you betcha, after last week’s report on the Clemson victory, this week it is all about the Steelers and Packers carving up some big NFL payouts in Las Vegas, read ESPN here.

14. Looking for a good deals in Las Vegas? Read LV Sun here on some expert tips on how to still feel like a winner while on the strip. While I still remember the old days of cheap bargain buffets and somewhat loose VP machines at the quarter level, I don’t mind visiting the strip if the room is bigger and better. And, if the food, entertainment or shopping is nice enough to counter the bad VP paytables or lowered table odds for the house. Getting a killer room and being able to eat better than at home while seeing a good show can make up for the nickel and diming the strip casinos are known for now.

15. Want some LV History? Vital Vegas has 15 casinos that were named something else read here. Still waiting for the new name of the Las Vegas Club to be announced as well as the new footprint has a lot more land now than just the old LV Club site. With Glitter Gulch and Mermaids, they have the whole block + the parking lot across the street between The Plaza and Main Street Station. I am assuming the old one torn down next to Golden Gate will be for new Golden Gate expansion. Have some fun.

16. Vital Vegas also risks life and limb to stop a self-driving shuttle test downtown. Read here and watch the video. The test may be over by the time you read this.

17 .Vital Vegas also has an honest review of the newly opened Milk Bar in The Cosmopolitan read here. I am now glad it was busy, and we moved to Secret Pizza during New Years Eve timeframe, really don’t want MEH to be the experience.

18. EDGE Vegas has a review for Momofuku at The Cosmopolitan here. It sounds like they still have some kinks to work out (wait staff, correct servings and such).

19. EDGE Vegas has what they are calling the Game Changer for LAS airport, Uber and Lyft with detailed instructions on where to meet your driver as well. Read here. While these rideshare companies have been at the airport for a bit, this details where the pickup zones for Terminal 1 and 3 are. Also nice that you can avoid the shuttle/taxi lines completely. Too bad my drive into town is about equal to complete travel time (including house to airport with appropriate lead time for airport lines and baggage wait times at LAS) so I won’t even experience this unless I move further away.

20. EDGE Vegas has ways to plan for the SuperBowl watching in Las Vegas here. Interesting that the SuperBowl weekend pulls in almost as many people as New Years Eve. If Caesars is any indication, you will need to reserve and possibly pay for that sportsbook seat…they seemed to not be free recently at PH when it’s expected to be crowded (i.e. any big NFL weekend or other sporting event).

21. Ouch….for those $20 trick sandwich lovers…those times may be coming to an end. MGM and Caesars are now in the business of “upselling” rooms per EDGE Vegas here. I’ve noticed at Caesars you no longer get a better room type, just a higher floor with a view normally…same with MGM. So if you like the room type do the $20 trick sandwich…it’s still worth the higher floor and view….just don’t expect a room type upgrade anymore. If that is the case…I’d love to see the Caesars Kiosks move to a Ticketmaster type choose your room location style instead of it just kicking out the keys predetermined since I’d rather not have an upseller in my face (yup that’s SOP at Paris…been like that for a long while).

22. EATER Vegas is reporting Wynn’s remodel of Parasol Up is complete, read here, now work begins on Parasol Down.

23. EATER Vegas is also reporting where chef Joseph Swan landed, at JW Marriott at the new Hawthorne Grill (steakhouse). Read here. May have to drive out there next visit, always wanted to see that property for their pool complex. Rampart Casino is on property and Suncoast (Boyd) is nearby. Never been to either of these properties as they are almost in Summerlin.

24. EATER Vegas is also reporting that the Palms 24 Seven Cafe is going to get a $2.6 million makeover. Whew that’s a lot of money for Red Rock Resorts to sink into a 24 x 7 cafe. Interesting option for the cafe while construction is ongoing, Bistro Buffet and that late night overnight graveyard spread for $8.99 (only with Players Club discount). That sounds like a great deal…and way less expensive than the late night room service. I wonder if they will keep that deal ongoing…sometimes at late/really early hours a buffet is nice to be able to get into. Personally, we’ve (my wife and me) had better luck with Red Rock Resorts properties (Sunset Station on the way into town if we are really early and Red Rock or Green Valley if we are in the mood to drive a bit or see a movie). They usually return better than any strip casino, but it’s usually for a small amount of play a couple of hours at the most (4OAKS seem to occur regularly on VP), so we can’t rate a whole day’s or longer play at any of their locations. For a few short hours of play, we tend to come out even or ahead of the house.

25. EATER Vegas is also reporting Steak and Shake is expanding in Las Vegas, read here. However, 99% of you will never go to the location. UNLV Student Union!!! It’s the short menu quick serve concept that was started on Mill Ave near ASU in Arizona. If you want full service full menu continue to go to the South Point for either the full sit down service or the TAKHOMEASAK take out service (a great option if you are staying at SP and have a room or rooms full of kids).

26. VegasSeven has an interesting article here on Infrastructure for the Strip, with all the recent power outages this is becoming an issue. If the trend continues to happen someone somewhere will build a better mousetrap.

27. This just in, the Raiders have submitted their Las Vegas move request paperwork to the NFL. Read LVSun here. NFL Owners will vote in March.

That’s it for this week’s around the web’s news for Las Vegas, now to Michael Movestro for our news and more!

Thanks, BigAzMarty! What a write-up! Hi, peeps! Here’s the stories we brought you last week:

28. The week started with the first Vegas Bright podcast episode of the year, discussing VB writer’s and contributor’s wishes for 2017.

29. Blonde4ever Visits The Garden Court Buffet at Main Street Station.

30. I brought the story on how Resorts World construction should have “full project mobilization” in March 2017.

31. Michael James takes a morning photo-walk through Downtown Las Vegas.

32. New contributor Lisa Sanchez shares her NYE experience at NYNY’s Brooklyn Bridge Bash.

33. Me again with SNL alum Carvey and Lovitz in multi-weekend residency at SLS.

34. And, me one more time with Christina Tosi’s Milk Bar opens at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas.

That’s it for this week, we’ll see you next week!

[Cover: Michael Movestro]

One thought on “Sh*t You May Have Missed While Caesars Played with its CEOC

  1. The $20 trick still works, my brother and I went to MGM on 1/1/17, booked a Grand Queen, gave the guy the $20, and got a Stay Well Accessible Executive Queen. It was bigger and better than what we booked, worth the 47 minute wait for a $60 a night difference.

Comments are closed.

Milk Bar Previous post Milk Bar Opens at Cosmopolitan
Next post Love and Nostalgia: Blonde4ever Reviews Elton John – Million Dollar Piano