Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2011 46 Briefs International Briefs Cosmopolitan opens on the Las Vegas Strip The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas was unveiled on 15th December, with a third of its 3,000 rooms opened, The rest are to follow this year. The US$3.9 billion dual-tower resort sits on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between MGM Resorts’ Bellagio and CityCenter properties. According to a Reuters article, it has rooms with open air terraces that offer excellent views of Vegas landmarks like the faux Eiffel tower across the street in front of Caesars Entertainment’s Paris resort, or Bellagio’s famous dancing fountains next door. “People talk about the Strip and the views, but most of the buildings around here are so sealed off,” said Tammy Ayre, a visitor from Fort Myers, Florida. “This looks really open—you can actually get outside.” John Unwin, the former general manager of nearby Caesars Palace who is now chief executive at The Cosmopolitan, is betting that those terraces, and other novel touches, will draw customers he dubs “the curious class.” “We are bringing back a bit of personality to Las Vegas,” he remarked at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The new resort—owned by Deutsche Bank after a 2008 foreclosure—has a hip, modern style similar to the neighbouring CityCenter, which has towers designed by “starchitects” like Cesar Pelli. Las Vegas has seen a string of high-profile casino openings over the past few years—CityCenter and its flagship Aria in 2009, Wynn Resorts Ltd’s Encore the year before and Las Vegas Sands Corp’s Palazzo four years ago. All of them, along with the Wynn and Venetian resorts, Bellagio and now The Cosmopolitan, compete for the same high-net worth individuals and corporate customers. Such free-spending guests have, of course, become harder to find in the wake of the global financial crisis that brought some casino operators to the brink of bankruptcy, including The Cosmopolitan’s original developer. Ameristar Casinos cancels sales plans The management of Las Vegas-based regional casino operator Ameristar Casinos cancelled plans to sell the company, saying in a brief statement“a sale is not in the best interests of the company and its stockholders at this time.” The company hired an investment bank and legal adviser in August to consider sales opportunities for the company or some of its regional casinos. Speculation has surrounded the future of Ameristar since late 2006, following the death of company founder Craig Neilsen. Ameristar said the transaction committee of its board of directors is no longer considering a possible sale of the company. In the statement, the company didn’t shut the door on a potential sale. “The transaction committee will continue to explore other avenues to enhance stockholder value,” the company said. JP Morgan gaming analyst Joe Greff told investors there are few buyers in the market for a casino company. “We interpret this to mean that there was little interest from third parties in buying the entire company by either casino operators or private equity at prices much higher than the US$18 (more or less) share price range,” Greff said in a research note. Ameristar operates eight casinos in seven regional markets, including two small casinos in northern Nevada. Sports wagering has record month in Nevada Nevada casinos saw gaming revenues jump 11% year on year in October while casinos on the Strip reported a 16% increase. Sports book operators statewide collected gaming revenues of US$35.7 million during the month, a jump of 113.2% compared with October 2009. The amount wagered on sports betting increased 9.4% to $352.9 million, the largest handle ever in the month of October. Gaming Control Board research analyst Mike Lawton had several reasons for the increases, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal . First, the hold percentage by sportsbookoperatorswas slightly above 10%, when the average is usually 6.5%. Also, mass-market customers seemed to be a little freer with their spending habits during the month, especially on The Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas The Ameristar Casino Resort Spa Black Hawk, located in Black Hawk, Colorado