Sh*t You May Have Missed… Like Diablo’s Cantina Closing Nov. 7
Hey all, BigAZMarty here with this week’s news about our favorite place, Las Vegas!
It’s the start of the 3rd Quarter earnings reporting season and several have reported in the last week as well as some tidbits of info, so here we go:
Las Vegas Sands reported earnings of $0.72 Diluted Earnings per Share which is a 10.8% increase. Now, most of this is from Macau, not Las Vegas. The big news is that Sands Cotai Central will be redone in a London Theme and called “The Londoner”. Las Vegas properties are not doing that well (Singapore and Macao are over 2/3 of Sands results now) with Table Games down 7% and a slight increase of Slots Win at 1.9%. Las Vegas Hotel Room revenue decreased 5.4%. A surprise is the US east coast casino that was discussed being sold to MGM; the Sands Bethlehem was up year over year. Read the earnings report here and the presentation slides here. Again, no mention of an arena out back and no mention of what they will do with tarped St Regis building out front.
Wynn, on the other hand, seems to be doing just fine in Macao and Las Vegas; they stated $0.78 Diluted Earnings per Share. Las Vegas was up even while the construction of the shops out front was finishing up. Read their earnings statement here. Supposedly Steve is adding zip lines, bumper cars, lagoon floats you can pay to ride on and a large hotel tower (thought that wasn’t going to be until Phase II?) and a carousel that will be partially over the lagoon. Actually, I am somewhat confused as what’s been submitted to Clark County has no mention of the tower at all as of the variance on Oct. 4th. You can see that Clark County variance here. Of note in Clark County doc is direct swimming and bathing is NOT contemplated for the lagoon, that’s for the beach club pools instead. Bloomberg has a good write up on it all here. But the best write up so far on what to expect and who it’s really for is MarC from EdgeVegas (linked to TravelZork) here. That hotel building is way taller than they originally planned.
Golden Entertainment is filling in positions for the newly merged company with two previous ACEP senior staff; Ned Martin comes into Golden Entertainment as CAO and Phyllis Gilland as General Counsel. Read BusinessWire here.
Boyd Gaming is looking much better after last year’s maneuvers in the dark (selling their 50% of Atlantic City’s Borgata and picking up not one, or two, but three Las Vegas Casinos). Boy Cannery and Cannery East and Aliante probably never looked so good…. at least they were out of the downturn market of Atlantic City. They had double-digit growth in Las Vegas Locals market in addition to Downtown upturning as well but not as much as the remodel at Californian is still ongoing. Read PRNewswire here. $0.22 per share 3rd Quarter 2017 vs. $0.14 per share 3rd Quarter 2016… nice bump up Y-O-Y.
PENN National Gaming has definitely seen an upturn at Las Vegas Tropicana now that the MGM to Trop pedestrian bridge is open. Read the earnings statement here on BusinessWire. Overall a 5% uptick company-wide. Now what was interesting is the Margin Improvement targets they are trying to achieve, I haven’t seen anyone pull off an Adjusted EBITDA 30% margin but kudos for stating it and trying for it read here for details. The COO Mr. Snowden (no not that one) is mentioning drop off at LV Tropicana for 4th Quarter, a downturn of 35% in Y-O-Y Cancellations all seeming to be in October – November timeframe. This is in line with what Caesars CEO Mark Frissora said recently as well about the Asian VIP’s for Caesars, a period of grief and avoidance of the area to let the spirits rest peacefully.
Caesars Entertainment has its 3rd quarter results (now remember this is still during the bankruptcy of CEOC, but a lot of the presentations are about the new company) so have at it here. Check the presentations displayed on the pages. It’s still losing money prior to emergence as a new company, and loss per share of -$3.14 is way better than last year’s loss per share of -$4.38. It’s going the right direction but with 4th quarter taking a hit in Las Vegas, their positive cash flow may be limited. I still have no freaking idea how this company exists and a lot of fluff that tends to drown out the negative results. All this is a little easier to read here. Or even a nice short write up from LVSun here. Since they did their short announcement of plans the previous week they did not include it in this Earnings Report.
2017 SEMA show was in town, by the time you read this it will be over, but LVSun has a nice gallery here.
So ASS-HAT caused this as well, the Route 91 Festival vendors could not retrieve their merchandise or their cash registers or basically anything until Nov. 1 due to a judge preserving the site as is. Read LVSun here. This had to have been rough on people, not only in some instances could they not make money; they had to relive the events while getting their stuff out of there. I believe that there was a porta-potty vendor that had their entire stock at the festival, so basically 30-days of not being able to work.
At one time this north Nevada town was the gambling mecca of the US before Las Vegas took over the crown. Is it possible with the double draw of high tech work, fun and nearby Lake Tahoe to build a sustainable casino run of 10 – 20 years ago? LVSun seems to think so here. I’ve stayed at the Peppermill and visited downtown’s Silver Legacy, Harrah’s and Atlantis casinos. There are sections of Virginia Ave. that have absolutely nothing on them so a “strip” environment could be built out in that timeframe.
Halloween came and went this week. LVSun has some good gallery shots of LV Halloween events that occurred around town here and here.
Free local parking at Caesars Entertainment properties? Not for long! Caesars has announced that it will begin charging locals on the strip (excludes Rio and Planet Hollywood), read LVSun here.
Pre ASS-HAT of course, Nevada Gaming Revenue was up 3.25% Y-O-Y for the entire state in September read LVSun here. Looks like Sports Betting saved the day for everyone. The next few months may be brutal for the Strip section but if it returns to normal levels watch 4Q 2018 number be way up Y-O-Y.
LVSun has a fun article on Brent Musburger, the VSiN network and its Live Studio at South Point read here. Wow, a $10M growth potential? Nice.
Purple Reign, by the time you read this, will have been moved to the Tropicana and have a couple of shows under its belt, the recently dislodged Westgate show has found a home in the Tropicana Theater, read LVSun here. Let’s hope the Vanity 6 portion of the show placates the Les Folies Bergere jinx.
More Monte Carlo restaurant closings; Minus 5 Ice Bar has already closed and Nov. 7 will be Diablo’s, Sambalatte and 800 Degree Neapolitan Pizzeria last day (this one is moving to NYNY). Read LVRJ here.
WTF! The ASS-HAT event could have been stopped earlier but 2 Mandalay Bay armed security guards accompanied with 2 Metro officers (armed) were on Floor 32 but did not try to gain entry to the suite and instead waited for the SWAT team. Read Washington Posts article here. How was this never in any of the timelines or announced by Sheriff?
Triple Five which hasn’t been able to sell its North Strip plots of land instead doubles down and purchases more land and plans new Strip hotel, but Peppermill Lounge may suffer because of it, read LVRJ here. Still not sure why Peppermill hasn’t built a Las Vegas casino, they have a very nice one in Reno. I think the Lounge would make a nice anchor to a new Hotel &Casino don’t you?
Moulin Rouge’s remaining buildings will be razed to the ground due to the condition of the buildings and the 200 homeless living in the open structures, read LVRJ here. Looks like the county really wants to build out the land for the Department of Family Services.
For sure NSFW, but interesting VegasSeven.com writes up the confluence of technology, entertainment, cryptocurrency and exotic dancing that is The Legends Room, read and see for yourselves here.
MarC also has a nice write up on the newly redone (and early because it wasn’t supposed to be completed until 2018) Palace Tower at Caesars Palace. View read on frontdesktip.com here. Wife has reserved a Palace Tower Premium Room for late this month and we’re hoping a $20 trick at the Diamond Check-In will get us a pool view or a Palace Tower Premium Studio room. Kiosks can’t do that nor can early smartphone check-in.
MarC also covers all the “improved” gambling at The Cromwell at Covers.com here. That VP and low $10 midweek day Blackjack tables my wife and I have enjoyed several times there. However, the machines for VP that actually seemed to pay out consistently were back where the Sportsbook is now.
MarC on EDGEvegas.com does a good write up here on Dirt Dog which is also at Bally’s Grand Bazaar Shops. HOLY COW bacon-wrapped hot dogs…. I’m there but the Sodium levels will require a serious watering down.
This just ticks me off…. after saying they’d open Oct. 1, still nothing! (wife spotted a completely unfinished ceiling when she saw the construction access doors open). Cafe Hollywood is promoting some of the design and food details but no opening date yet, per EATER Vegas here. Not sure why this is so delayed but those construction walls cut off the VP area a bunch… makes it a little tight the closer to the wall you get.
EATER Vegas also has the massive happy hour guide for Las Vegas with 106 Happy Hours, see here.
Canter’s Deli at The LINQ Promenade is finally open per EATER Vegas here. At least they are finally open; I think that coming soon sign has been up for years.
The LasVegasWeekly Industry Oontz calendar is out for the upcoming weekend, to read the Oontz in its entirety click here. Of note is the Oontz Industry Victim’s Benefit Concert next Tuesday where all proceeds go to the Victims Benefit fund.
And finally hot off the Vital Vegas Blog here, more coverage of the Monte Carlo to Park MGM conversion, of note pools have water in them!!! Scroll down to the 2nd picture to see the casino carpet differences the green/silver based carpet is the new and the newly painted walls and ceiling are very white. One thing of note and even I had a hard time seeing it but that building to the left of the pool section with the yellow stuff on it on 3rd floor looks to be the NoMad rooftop pool (look at photo captioned “You can still be lazy, there’s just no river to do it in.”)…it looks to also be long and skinny from what I saw on the left side of the tram deck on my visit.
That’s it for the news around town this week… and now over to our Editor-in-Chief, LasVegasJunkie, for our stuff and more.
Gracias, BigAZMarty!
Vegas Bright Podcast Episode 41
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Anabel Cooper offers alternatives to gambling and adult-entertainment when visiting Las Vegas
That’s all Folks!
[Photo Cred. LasVegasJunkie]
A computer professional who has worked at several types of positions with several different businesses and still learning and changing.
Introduced properly to Las Vegas and Laughlin by the spouse and have been going ever since 1990.
A frequent visitor from not to far away where it’s almost always 10 degrees warmer than Vegas.
2 thoughts on “Sh*t You May Have Missed… Like Diablo’s Cantina Closing Nov. 7”
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I’m a little sad about all the changes happening at Monte Carlo. It seems like everything that I liked about it is gone or will be soon. On the bright side the Minus 5 that they opened up at the Venetian is bigger than the one that used to be at Monte Carlo. They even take a free green screen photo before you enter, and email you the link.
Thanks for the kind words and mention of Marc’s article on TZ. Marc does a great job distilling those investor calls. There is always so much there that truly needs to be parsed down to small pieces and commentary.