Monthly Archives: August 2008

A new Strip hotel

August 29, 2008 2:19 pm

This probably isn’t new, but it’s the first time I’ve seen it, and I thought it was interesting. Apparently, there are two hotels at 3655 LV Blvd South. Sure, Paris Las Vegas is there, but according to Orbitz so is this place, which gets its own entry:

Gay Paris Las Vegas

3655 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, NV 89109

2 Miles North of Las Vegas McCarran Intl Airport

Orbitz: Gay Paris Las Vegas

It seems like something out of a sketch comedy skit–someone calls to check into the regular Paris hotel, but the staff thinks he’s looking for “Gay Paris,” and comedy ensues!

What makes this curious is that they can’t just advertise Paris as a gay-friendly hotel. They instead bifurcate their promotional efforts into “straight” and “gay” versions of the resort. Are they afraid that homophobes wouldn’t check into the Paris hotel if it was promoted as gay-friendly, and that they’ll think that “Gay Paris” is just another hotel somewhere else?

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Las Vegas song

August 28, 2008 1:28 pm

Circa 1952. This is a fun little thing that I dug up in UNLV Special Collections…well, I saw it lying on a desk. It’s sheet music to the 1952 chart-topper, “I Lost my Love When I Lost My Loot in Las Vegas.”

It’s not every singer who can appear on a sheet music cover shirtless and in a captain’s hat, a generation before the Village People, no less.

With lyrics by Adele Frazier and music by Gordon Vanderburg, the tune is meant to be sung in a bright moderato. Here are the words:

I Lost my Love When I LOST MY LOOT IN LAS VEGAS,
And that’s why I ain’t happy any more!
I Lost my Love When I LOST MY LOOT IN LAS VEGAS,
I got cleaned out and she got awful sore!

She said it wasn’t nice,
the way I rolled them dice,
I made a haul then lost it all,
When I threw those snake eyes twice!

I Lost my Love When I LOST MY LOOT IN LAS VEGAS,
And that’s why I ain’t happy any more!
I Lost my Love When I LOST MY LOOT IN LAS VEGAS,
I got cleaned out and she got awful sore!

Our love went on the blink,
When I made her pawn her mink,
Then she said, “We are washed up, boy,
It’s later than you think!”

I Lost my Love When I LOST MY LOOT IN LAS VEGAS,
but she’ll come back when I’ve got “jack.”

If I forget about about roulette, and bingo beans,
And slot machines, and horses slow that place and show,
Oh! how can I be happy any more?

This is so funny that I can’t even begin to explain why. It seems a travesty that “Viva Las Vegas” gets so much play and this perfectly good song in the key of F major is forgotten.

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Program alert

August 27, 2008 11:47 am

I’m going to be on Face to Face with Jon Ralston tonight, talking about the effects of the economic slowdown on outlying casino markets like Mesquite, Jean, and Primm. If you’re in the Las Vegas area, you can watch on Las Vegas One (channel 19) at 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 8 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and 3 a.m.

If you’re from out of town, it looks like the shows are archived on the Face to Face page, so check there.

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“New Taj” opens

August 27, 2008 9:18 am

My old stomping ground the Trump Taj Mahal has gotten a makeover and is getting a new hotel tower. From the AC Press:

They are de-Tajing the Taj. First they ripped out the gaudy pink and purple hues that dominated the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resorts over-the-top decor since the 1990s.

Then they converted the stark main hallway connecting the parking garage with the casino into a promenade of retail shops and restaurants called Spice Road to create a more inviting entrance.

Next came sophisticated European-style penthouse suites, a spruced-up casino floor and a sexy lounge called Ego that everyone jokes immediately brings to mind the swaggering personality of Donald Trump.

Now get ready for the most dramatic part of the Taj Mahals transformation: a brand new, shimmering $255 million hotel tower that rises 40 stories and symbolizes the rejuvenation of the Trump casino empire.

"For us, its really important," said Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc., parent company of the Taj Mahal and two other Trump casinos. "With the limited amount of capital that the company has, we thought this was the best use of $255 million that we could have ever done."

Taj Mahal prepares to open doors on new 40-story hotel tower

Here’s the Chairman Tower, from the roof of the Showboat parking garage. I can guarantee that some of the guests in the CT will have stunning views of the Showboat’s garage:

Somehow “Chairman Tower” sounds wrong to me. It doesn’t sound like a building at all, but like the chairman of the Tower Commission.

That aside, the Taj looks great. There’s nary a sign of the old pink and purple anywhere. They didn’t get the casino carpeting right, but you can’t ask for everything.

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Mesquite losing streak

August 26, 2008 3:27 pm

Things are slow in Vegas, maybe, but they’re even slower in Mesquite. From the LVRJ:

If you think the slowing economy has hit casino operators in Las Vegas hard, travel 80 miles northeast to Mesquite.

Black Gaming, operator of three hotel-casinos in the town, reported an operational loss of $15 million for the quarter ended June 30, driving the company to a net loss of $20.3 million.

The latest loss is wider than the $2.6 million net loss posted for the same quarter last year. For the year, the company has posted a loss of $24.3 million.

Chairman and Chief Executive Randy Black Sr. said the company has been put in a "defensive position" and "at some point you just can't cut your way to profitability."

Late last year, Black Gaming, which owns the CasaBlanca, Virgin River and Oasis casinos along Interstate 15, began an aggressive campaign to combat the economic downturn by eliminating departments, reducing management salaries and conducting layoffs.

Black told investors the company cut more than $10.5 million in operating expenses in the first six months of the year, but it hasn't been enough.

"The combination of reduced spending by customers and price reductions we have implemented to remain competitive has impacted our profitability and continued to decrease our (cash flow)," Black said last week in a conference call with investors.

On Aug. 5, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Black Gaming's bond ratings for the second time in three months based on declining market revenues.

Black told investors that he believes an infusion of funds will be necessary next year for the company to meet "liquidity needs." However, enough money should be available to meet working capital requirements, capital expenditures and scheduled interest payments through the end of this year.

ReviewJournal.com – Business – Black Gaming posts $20.3 million loss for quarter

“You can’t cut your way to profitability” has become the new mantra of the gaming industry. It sounds like merging the sports book with South Point might help a little, but there are clearly some major structural issues here.

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Harrah’s AC ads

August 22, 2008 6:24 am

I can’t take credit for discovering these–they were forwarded to me by my Reno correspondent. They are a series of commercials for Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City. If you’ve got two minutes to spend, it’s worth it:

Continue Reading →

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Limiting gambling in South Korea

August 21, 2008 3:24 am

I don’t think you’ll see officials in Nevada, or anywhere else in the US, adopting this approach any time soon. From Bloomberg:

South Korea’s National Gaming Control Commission yesterday said it intended to limit total annual revenue of the gambling industry, including horse racing, lottery tickets and casinos, to about 14 trillion won $13.4 billion.

“The governments plan may limit Kangwon Lands revenue from the casino business and this will lead the company to cut its profit forecast, Han Seung Ho, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co., said in a report today. Hes maintaining his “buy rating on the stock because the plans havent been completed.

The gambling industrys earnings accounts for 0.67 percent of gross domestic product in South Korea, according to the commission. Thats higher than the average 0.58 percent for members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

South Korea’s government plans to introduce an e-card system which will cap excessive betting of gamblers and tighten regulations on the entry of new players in the industry. The commission said it will complete the plans next month.

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide.

“Cap excessive betting of gamblers?” What are they, crazy or something? Do they want to raise taxes? Do they want Farmer Jones to come back?

It’s like an alternate universe over there, where gaming revenues are discussed as public policy, divorced from budget needs.

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Wrong number

August 20, 2008 4:14 pm

This was a really funny piece from the LV Sun:

At least on the surface, this is a fight about a number: 7.

That digit is the only difference between the phone number of Michael Kolar’s income tax filing business, 866-MR-REFUN (866-677-3386), and the number people dial when they have questions about any of the seven properties owned by Ameristar Casinos Inc., which is 866-MORE-FUN (866-667-3386).

Written out, they look different. Punched on a key pad, they’re practically the same. And dozens of people mix up the two every month. This wouldn’t be a problem if Ameristar, a Las Vegas-based company, weren’t convinced Kolar, aka Mr. Refund, is taking calls intended for the casino corporation and saying cruel things — pretending to take reservations, offering callers specialized suites that do not exist, telling callers the casino company issues coupons to lure problem gamblers, that room rates are much higher than advertised and that any number of the hotels have burned down.

Kolar denies these allegations. And because he has to pay for the calls that come in to his toll-free number, he proposed a simple solution: Pay him $100 a month to tell callers looking for Ameristar they had dialed the wrong number.

Ameristar was not interested in that offer. Instead, it sued.

The lawsuit was filed against Kolar in Illinois, where he lives, and accuses Mr. Refund of malicious conduct designed to injure Ameristar. The company, whose closest casino is Cactus Pete’s in Jackpot, near the Idaho border, is asking the court to make Kolar surrender his phone number permanently.

Misdial casino, you may get Mr. Refund – Las Vegas Sun.

This guy may or may not be a jerk, but at least he’s creative. Anyone who can sell tourists “specialized suites that do not exist” is a genius. It’s a casino hotel room–how specialized can it be? Sure, you’ve got a few with bowling alleys or basketball courts (I’d hate to get stuck in the room under that one), but mostly you’ve just got one or more beds and bathrooms in there.

Just how specialized can you make a casino suite, anyway? I’m open to suggestions in the comments.

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Vegas tips from Oz

August 19, 2008 8:04 am

I caught this wide-eyed Vegas puff piece on an Australian news website, and I had to laugh. I’ll spare you the article, but here are the tips. I’ll let my readers deconstruct them at will. From NEWS.com.au:

# Stay on The Strip. All the action is there and everywhere else is a bust. Try to stay midweek, when room rates are slashed.

# Key mid-range casinos include Luxor, MGM Grand, Excalibur and Ballys, with high-end options including The Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas and The Venetian. If you’re down on your luck and need a cheap option on the Strip, try the Imperial Palace.

# Avoid Circus Circus at all costs. Travel agents here still have it on their books, but it is a run-down stinker.

# The best gambling casino is still Caesars Palace. Its magnificent after all these years and has been kept in tip-top condition.

# Explore The Strip yourself. Unlike in other major tourist spots, your hotel wont help you much, as it wants you to stay and gamble. Buy The Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper for $US1, with its daily visitor guide.

# Do not take a taxi down The Strip at night. The traffic is unbearable.

# Bypass the hordes of illegal Mexican immigrants in oversize T-shirts handing out advertising cards for hookers – the saddest sight on The Strip.

# Get out of Las Vegas, at least for a half-day, to check out the amazing surrounding sights including Death Valley, Red Rocks Canyon, Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. Use a tour company, like Pink Jeep Tours, for these day trips.

A revamped Vegas stakes its future on class | NEWS.com.au.

If you read the article itself, you’ll see some revisionist history: the Bellagio is now given credit as the progenitor of “classy” Vegas, and New York-New York is singled out as “garish.” Strange.

I always thought it was “Red Rock Canyon,” but I guess with all of the economic problems we’re having we need more of them to attract tourists.

Big laughs at the “illegal Mexican immigrant” porn slappers. Talk about over-generalizing. Like this guy a) checked everyone’s immigration status and b) made sure that everyone out there’s from Mexico and not El Salvador, Honduras, or some other country. And if this guy’s got a tip on how to “bypass” porn slappers, he should have shared it.

It’s ironic that Jay Sarno’s two casinos are side by side here: Circus Circus is a “real stinker” and Caesars Palace is “magnificent.”

So if you don’t take a taxi down the Strip because of the traffic, you should take a bus? Limo? Monorail? Hovercraft? Teleport? Oh yeah, Star Trek: The Experience is closing up shop, so scratch that last one.

Back to the first item: so much for the Downtown revitalization, huh?

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AC Oral History Program

August 18, 2008 11:07 am

Historian James Karmel has let me know about a great oral history project that’s in progress in Atlantic City. From the AC Free Public Library:

The interviews will take place throughout the summer, with the final product scheduled to be made available to the public this winter. Once the project has been completed, the interviews will be stored and archived in the library’s Alfred M. Heston Collection room of Atlantic City history.

Dr. James Karmel is the contractor for this project. He is a professional historian and author of Gambling on the American Dream: Atlantic City and the Casino Era, which is based on oral history interviews he conducted from 2002-05. He is an associate professor of history at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Md.

This is the librarys second oral history project involving Atlantic City and casino gambling.

In 1978, the library interviewed 68 people representing the culturally and economically diverse mix of people who live or work in the city – small business owners, lifetime residents, city government officials, transients, school teachers and local celebrities. The interviews focused on the city’s history, the interviewees’ relationship to the city and their thoughts on the city’s future. More information on the 1978 Living History Project

Atlantic City Free Public Library.

I wish I had access to the 1978 project here. I could write some really interesting Casino Connection columns, I’m sure. Dr. Karmel and the ACFPL are doing valuable work here–this sort of thing is incalculably useful to future historians.

Chris Columbo, who was interviewed in the 1978 project, was a really good friend. I always said he was the great-grandfather I never had. I used to hang out with him when he was playing drums down at the Showboat and listen to his stories about the old times. Growing up around people like that might have been what sparked my interest in history. When you’ve got someone telling you what it was like to play with Lester Young, you really get an appreciation for all of the stories that are out there. I went to school and everything, but I think I learned a lot more from Chris and a few others back in Atlantic City.

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