casinoreview
Colorado sees worst ever decline
Mississippi’s casinos saw month, down from
Revenue at Colorado casinos dropped 10.7 per cent during the
a 19.4 per cent drop in $229.6m in March, but still
beginning of 2008, the worst fall in the industry’s history due to
winnings from March to up slightly from $205m in
Deep South
April, while Louisiana’s April 2007.
the state’s new smoking ban as well as high gas prices.
Coast recorded a 7.2 per cent
The drop in revenue between January and April this year is the
drop. In Mississippi, the
second-largest among gaming states. Only Illinois saw a
decline
total spent by players in the
greater decrease in revenue. Like Colorado, it has banned state's 29 casinos fell from
smoking inside casinos from January.
$260.6m in March to
$210.1m in April.
Louisiana's 13 riverboat
casinos, Harrah's New
Orleans land casino and
WORLDNEWS
the four slot machine
casinos at horse racing
tracks took in $213.1m last
Connecticut’s big two
size up the credit crunch
With the credit crunch squeezing the GGR margins across the United States, the gaming industry isn’t quite as
recession proof as once thought. No such fear at two of the biggest casinos in the country, though, with both
Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun looking to prove that when the going gets tough the big get bigger.
strategicspending of May’s press conference on a feet to Mohegan Sun’s exist-
UNITED STATES custom motorcycle to help ing structure.
Packer
Mohegan Sun executives and Like the rest of Project
Two of the casinos considered Tribal members usher in the Horizon, the House of Blues
pulls plug
the biggest in the world are next phase of Project Horizon, components will open in
shunning the weak economy its multi-million dollar expan- October 2010.
on Vegas
in the US with expansions sion. Fittingly, the phase But the big question con-
raising their profile, increas- includes a second hotel along cerning these large scale
adventure
ing their gaming floors and with new retail outlets and expansions is the timing with
boosting their overall enter- restaurants developed in part- both Foxwoods and Mohegan crunchtime
tainment offerings. nership with House of Blues, Sun suffering from declining UNITED STATES
Connecticut’s big two, Fox- an organization co-founded by revenue from slot machines
woods and Mohegan Sun, Dan Aykroyd. due to growing competition It would have been the
have long been embroiled in a Mitchell Etess, president from surrounding states and highest building in Las Vegas
tug or war over which param- and chief executive officer of the weak economy, which but James Packer’s Crown
eters should make each the Mohegan Sun, said: “Project have already seen credit down- Gaming has folded on a $5bn
bigger and now both are gam- Horizon has been evolving grades and plans to cut jobs. casino complex on the
bling on attracting more visi- for the past couple of years Keith Foley, senior vice pres- former Wet ‘n’ Wild site at
tors by becoming more and is among our most ambi- ident with Moody's Investors the northern end of the Las
complete entertainment des- tious ventures. With it, we Service, said the risk was nec- Vegas strip, blaming the
tinations. And all face of some again bring together the team essary but did warn: “They're credit crunch.
of the most depressing that so successfully con- expanding their reach and The complex was to have
monthly forecasts Las Vegas, Foxwoods is marketing the to bring in an additional 10,000 ceived and designed the exist- there's a risk in doing that included a 5,000-room hotel
the undisputed US capital of project as Connecticut’s third daily customers to its current ing complex and welcome because ultimately you're and one of the tallest towers
gaming, has ever posted. casino designed to attract a draw of 40,000 to 60,000 and our brand new partnership going to see markets bumping in the US at 324m high.
Foxwoods Resort Casino, younger crowd than its origi- boost revenue by about 20 per with House of Blues.” into each other.” The project, a joint venture
run by the Mashantucket nal offering with night clubs, cent. With the new performing The new Earth Hotel Craig Parmelee, managing between Australia’s Crown,
Pequots Indian tribe, has concerts and high-end restau- arts theatre, MGM Grand is Tower, owned and operated director of Standard & Poors Texas developer Christopher
opened its US$700m MGM rants and shops. already attracting celebrities by Mohegan Sun, will stand credit rating agency, said Milam and private equity firm
Grand complete with its 30- According to Gillian such as comedian Jerry Sein- 39 storeys high and feature however: “The timing of the York Capital Management,
storey, two-million-square-foot Murphy, senior vice president feld and singers Celine Dion, approximately 920 rooms, expansions are not well has been under review by
hotel and casino, boasting a at Foxwoods, it aims to bring Groban and Mayer. including 261 themed aligned with what is happen- Crown since February.
4,000-seat performing arts separate offerings to comple- Foxwood’s main rival House of Blues rooms. A new ing in the economy. We’re TheAustralian operator has
theatre, celebrity restaurants, ment the core gaming busi- meanwhile, the Mohegan Sun, casino called Casino of the worried enough we have neg- decided to stop making pay-
stores, the largest ballroom in ness at Foxwoods and run by the Mohegan tribe, held Wind will open later this ative outlooks on each of the ments to the site's owners
the Northeast and a new con- broaden the market. a groundbreaking ceremony year. It marks the return of two companies.” and write off its investment.
vention space. It is planning to more aggres- prior to this for its own 39- poker to Mohegan Sun with Foxwood’s Gillian Murphy Crown’s chief executive
Several celebrities, includ- sively target the New York storey hotel and House of a 42-table poker room, along described the investment as Rowen Craigie said: “The
ing Michael Douglas, Cather- market by tripling its advertis- Blues music hall expansion with 680 slot machines and ‘strategic spending’ perhaps recent upheavals in world
ine Zeta Jones, Josh Groban, ing, it said, putting it in greater which generated a construc- 28 table games. both expansions are better credit markets have made it
John Mayer and Sean ‘Diddy’ competition with its main tion bill of a $925m. When all is said and done described as huge gambles by increasingly difficult for
Combs, participated in the rival, Mohegan Sun, as well as In a blaze of publicity Dan in 2010, Project Horizon will the gambling companies Crown and its partners to
grand opening ceremonies. Atlantic City. Foxwoods hopes Aykroyd roared onto the stage add more than 1.4m square themselves. develop a commercially
viable project on what
remains an attractive loca-
tion on the Las Vegas strip.
City Centre tops out
Accordingly, we took the
decision to stop making
further payments to the
vendors of the site and con-
tiptop toward opening in late 2009. urban metropolis that will centrate our focus on other
UNITED STATES Bobby Baldwin, president redefine Las Vegas.” areas of our business.”
and CEO of CityCenter, said: MGM Mirage, which last Angus Gluskie, a portfolio
CityCenter this month “CityCenter commenced in month reported a 30 per manager at Australia’s White
commemorated the ‘topping 2004 as a blank canvas cent profit drop in its first Funds Management, which
out’ of its 57-storey Vdara imagined by a diverse group quarter, has emphasised the owns a small stake in Crown,
Condo Hotel, the first of six of people. With the topping project to investors and said: “It is indicative of the fact
distinctive high-rise towers out of Vdara, we see our others as a sign that the that in part credit markets are
that will be topped within vision of creating one of the company is not pulling back difficult at the moment. It is
the coming months. world’s most ambitious on the massive casino also indicative of the fact that
The completion of developments coming to complex even as some other Bellagio and CityCenter’s studios, deluxe studios, in a slowing growth environ-
Vdara’s structure is a fruition. In less than 20 companies’ projects have gaming resort, Vdara's 57- one- and two-bedroom ment, the gaming sector does
milestone for the months, we’ll open the been shelved or delayed. storey tower will host residences as well as one- carry some short-term risk,
construction progress of doors to CityCenter and Located between two of approximately 1,495 and two-bedroom given its exposure to discre-
CityCenter as it moves introduce the world to this the world’s finest casinos, residential units including penthouses. tionary spending.”
12 July 2008 • worldnews
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40