Slot machines, video poker and computers are down at the Four Queens and Binion’s on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. (Elizabeth Brumley/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Japan is getting ready to issue three highly coveted gaming licenses. The country’s gaming market is estimated to be worth more than $25 billion a year once resorts open in 2025. If the estimates stand up, Japan would become the second-largest gaming market in the world behind Chinese gaming enclave Macau. MGM and at least eight other companies had been vying for the Japanese licenses. In 2019 Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. turned their attention to other areas. Caesars Entertainment Corp. dropped out of the race altogether. MGM teamed up with Japanese financial services group Orix for its bid for a gaming license. MGM/Orix group was the only one to participate in the RFP process. “We think MGM is in a very good position in Osaka at this point” – Union Gaming analyst John DeCree (Las Vegas Review-Journal)
While the last economic downturn had a dramatic impact on local casinos, most experts expect the industry will be better able to weather the storm during the next recession. (Mat Luschek / Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Las Vegas gaming CEOs made anywhere between $1 million and $24 million last year, according to company filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. ((Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The Stratosphere, a 1,150-foot-tall property in Las Vegas will be renamed The STRAT Hotel, Casino and Skypod.
MGM Resorts International signed a sports betting sponsorship agreement with the NBA in July It was the first professional sports league to have official ties with a legal sports betting house. The deal came just two months after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a law prohibiting sports betting in most states. In October, MGM became the first gaming company to sign a sports betting partnership with the NHL. In November, MGM became the first gaming company to sign a sports betting partnership with the MLB. Financial terms of Tuesday’s deal and earlier partnerships have not been announced.
MGM Resorts International is planning to power Las Vegas Strip casinos using solar arrays. MGM Resorts is partnering with a Chicago-based renewable developer on a new 100-megawatt photovoltaic array set to go online in 2020, about 25 miles northeast of Las Vegas. The dedicated solar array will be capable of supplying up to 90 percent of daytime demand at the company’s 13 Las Vegas casinos. The array will consist of 336,000 solar panels capable of producing enough power for about 27,000 homes. Construction is slated to start next year, and is expected to employ about 350 people during construction . All of the electricity generated by the array will go to MGM Resorts under a 20-year agreement.
The Culinary union will ask Las Vegas casinos and hotels to supply guest room attendants with panic buttons amid national attention to the issue of workplace sexual harassment. The proposal is part of the union’s demands as it readies for talks for 50,000 of its 57,000 employees on a five-year contract with casinos next month, said Bethany Khan, a spokeswoman for Culinary Local 226. Panic buttons would allow guest room attendants to notify security if they are in an uncomfortable or threatening situation. The union will be renegotiating contracts with Caesars, MGM Resorts International and several downtown casinos starting in mid February.
Several Las Vegas-based operators have casinos in states likely to enact legislation to regulate sports betting, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, assuming a favorable U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Lucky Dragon was designed to to the Asian-American and Asian immigrant crowd in Las Vegas and West Coast cities Lucky Dragon was positioned to become that community’s locals casino, The Dec. 2, 2016, launch of the first direct flight between Beijing and Las Vegas right before the official opening gave the casino another potential customer base. But things didn’t go according to plan The Review-Journal investigated signs of financial struggles in December 2017 A statement from officials Thursday said, “Effective immediately Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino is beginning the process of repositioning and, in doing so, will have a reduction in staff while it temporarily closes all gaming and restaurant operations.”
Las Vegas morning update for Thursday, August 10th — VIDEO