Las Vegas expands capacity, amid clear signs that traffic is slowing, more falling trees in the forest?
yoy October:
room inventory: +3.7%
visitor volume: -0.9%
occupancy level: -4.35
lvcva.com
More levitating on bearish divergencies:
stockcharts.com[l,a]daclniay[pd20,2!b200][vc60][iUc20!Lf]&pref=G
stockcharts.com[l,a]daclniay[pd20,2!b200][vc60][iUc20!Lf]&pref=G
stockcharts.com[l,a]daclniay[pd20,2!b200][vc60][iUc20!Lf]&pref=G
Gaming Roundup: Two New Shows Hit Vegas
By Jeff Hwang
December 23, 2005
fool.com
On Thursday evening, Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) opened the doors to its brand-new $600 million South Coast Hotel and Casino, a locals casino situated on 60 acres south of the Las Vegas Strip. The company boasts that the casino, located just off of Interstate 15, will be the first one visitors coming from Southern California see as they enter Las Vegas.
The casino features more than 2,400 slot machines and 60 table games on 80,000 square feet of gaming space. The hotel has 650 rooms, with a second tower on the way next year that will bring that total to 1,350. In addition, the property features a 16-screen movie theater, a 64-lane bowling alley, and an equestrian center to further differentiate it from the competition.
The South Coast -- acquired along with Michael Gaughan's Coast Casinos in a $1.3 billion deal that closed July 1, 2004 -- certainly upgrades the quality of Boyd's portfolio of Las Vegas locals casinos, which includes The Orleans (one of my favorites), Sam's Town, Suncoast, and a collection of downtown properties.
Rival Station Casinos (NYSE: STN) opens its highly anticipated $450 million-plus Red Rock Station casino early next year, and on Tuesday announced a deal with The Greenspun Corporation to develop Aliante Station in the 1,905-acre Aliante community in North Las Vegas.
Caesars opens Strip's largest poker room
Live-action poker is back at Harrah's Entertainment's (NYSE: HET) Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, and in a big way. This week, Caesars opened an 8,500-square-foot poker room with 30 tables, with an additional 6,000 square feet of adjacent space that will hold up to 33 tables for tournament use.
The 63 total tables and more than 14,500 square feet of space make Caesars' poker room the largest on the Strip. It also gives Harrah's a premier venue for high-stakes tournaments. Caesars has already hosted the World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions (TOC) -- to be aired Saturday on Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ESPN -- and next year will host the National Heads-Up Poker Championship on General Electric's (NYSE: GE) NBC.
Caesars' new poker room is just the latest in a string of poker room openings at large Strip properties. In March, MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) opened a new 23-table poker room at the MGM Grand, and in April opened a remodeled and expanded 40-table poker room at the Bellagio.
Harrah's to sell Gulfport property
Harrah's is committed to rebuilding along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, but its plans won't include its Gulfport property. The company said on Tuesday that it had agreed to sell its Gulfport "assets" -- including the Grand Casino destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and two hotels -- to Gulfside Casino Partnership.
Gulfside will acquire the assets "as is" for an undisclosed amount, while Harrah's will keep the insurance proceeds. Gulfside had operated the Copa Casino Gulfport, which Hurricane Katrina also destroyed.
And rather than rebuild both of its destroyed Gulf Coast casinos, Harrah's will instead focus on its Biloxi location, and will design and build a new "first-class resort" from scratch. In August, Harrah's announced that it would convert the Grand Casino Biloxi into a Horseshoe-branded property. That said, it is likely that the new casino will also carry the Horseshoe brand. |
