It pays to be a casino pit boss. “Gaming Manager” is mentioned in this article about jobs paying six-figure salaries.
If Chris Binkley’s book is about the old guard and how they shaped Las Vegas, this article from the NY Times is about how a new generation of moguls is building out their vision of Las Vegas.
MGM’s CityCenter project was discussed on NPR’s All Things Considered today. It was amazing to hear that half of the $8B budget is already paid for through residence pre-sales and foreign investments.
Here’s a photo I snapped of Steve Wynn’s latest project Encore. That’s right, it’s another hotel right next to the Wynn and it’s reportedly costing over $2B. You can’t really tell from the photo but Encore is arched the other way (convex vs. Wynn’s concave shape).
Christina Binkley was on State of Nevada today talking about her latest work, Winner Takes All. Her book is about big personalities in the casino industry shaped the development of Las Vegas as we know it today.
According to MarketWatch, a group of investors has plans to re-develop the historical Moullin Rouge. There will be a new hotel, convention space and casino built on a budget of almost $1 billion. The site is located on the troubled west side of town so this project could help revitalize the area.
The Moulin Rouge Hotel has an important place in Las Vegas history:
“The Moulin Rouge opened on May 24, 1955, built at a cost of $3.5 million. It was the first integrated hotel casino in Las Vegas, perhaps in the nation. Until that time almost all of the casinos on The Strip were totally segregated—off limits to blacks unless they were the entertainment or labor force.” — Wikipedia
300,000 football fans are expected to watch Super Bowl XLII in Las Vegas this year. I honestly don’t see the draw: sure it’s fun to watch the game with a couple hundred rabid fans but all the sports books are crazy crowded and it’s tough to make a bet or find a place to sit.
The casinos are expected to take in a record $100M in wagers this year. Sounds like a lot until you consider that many estimate total Super Bowl gambling will top $10B (most of it illegal and unregulated like office pools). On top of that, with the Giants winning outright (the spread was Pats -12) it looks like the sports books had a tough weekend.
But don’t feel too sorry for them. The brilliant Vegas business model comes through again: tonight I saw hordes of jersey-clad Giants fans giving back their Super Bowl winnings and more at the card tables. Viva Las Vegas!
This article from USA Today offers a good summary of the various construction projects underway on Las Vegas Boulevard. 2008 kicks off three years of new casino/residential/mixed-use debuts:
- The Palazzo celebrates its official grand opening this weekend and the combined Palazzo/Venetian duo should be almost as lucrative as ticket sales from the Miley Cyrus/Hanna Montana concert.
- The Maloof Brothers are adding Palms Place to their resort in February.
- The Donald opens the first of two Trump International Hotel & Towers this spring.
- You cannot miss MGM’s ginormous construction mess between Monte Carlo and Bellagio, CityCenter. It is being called the largest privately financed construction project in history.
- Steve Wynn is spending over $2B on his Encore to the very successful Wynn property.
- Fountainebleau Resorts will introduce a chic hotel and casino with “crisp aesthetics” in 2009. They own the popular resort with the same name in Miami.
- Boyd Gaming is betting big on hard-10. 2010 is when we’ll see Echelon, a sprawling resort including five separate hotels introduced on the old Stardust site.
The new Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino officially opened its doors this weekend. Yes, Planet Hollywood now has it’s own hotel and casino. The same company whose restaurant chain went bankrupt last year. The “PH” replaces the defunct Aladdin resort which fell out of favor with travelers following 9/11. Several big improvements were made to the property:
- The inside of the hotel was completely redone with a modern design - think SF MOMA
- A giant shining “CASINO” sign- it was hard to find the casino entrance of the Aladdin (probably not good for business)
- The addition of The Miracle Mile Shops - yet another shopping mall located on the strip
Overall, I like the new design but think they went a little overboard with the modern design. It’s cool today but will look dated in a few years.
There is a large sign posted on Durango Drive just off the 215 that reads “Future site of a Stations Casino”. I went online to learn more about this but could find much.
Here is an aerial view of the proposed casino site. As you can see, there’s not much to it but dirt and rocks right now but it’s quite a large plot of land.
An old article from the Las Vegas Review-Journal announced the planned construction of the new casino back in April 2005. This article described the new “Durango Station” as a 120,000 square foot resort hotel with a movie theater and bowling alley (much like Red Rock). These will be welcome attractions in our area since residents need to travel to other areas of the city for these forms of entertainment. If the new Durango Station is anything like Red Rock or Green Valley Ranch then we’ll also get some good restaurants, a few bars and maybe even a dance club.