I feel as if I’ve been hearing about the SugarHouse casino for 10 years, but I haven’t and it is opening in the Philapelphia waterfront in less than three weeks.
Philly.com has a gallery of pictures so you can see the progress. This is the most urban casino I’ve seen. I’m interested to see how SugarHouse does once open.
There’s a lot of talk about the amount of hotel rooms in Las Vegas with the poor economy and lack of occupancy. I never did the math to even guestimate the answer. The Associated Press was kind enough to share the information, when reporting on the Marriot/Cosmopolitan deal.
The Cosmopolitan’s opening will push Las Vegas to more than 151,000 hotel rooms, and before the Marriott deal, it was starting from scratch on customers.
When I started going on my annual December trip years ago, I was told that the week before Christmas was one of the most quiet weeks in Las Vegas and that room occupancy was about 23%. That would mean just under 35,000 hotel guests at that time.
That’s still nice and quiet as there will be more places to spread the people out. It also means that there will continue to be bargains for a while, as long as you don’t have to stay at the hot new joint.
Resorts, in Atlantic City, has been flailing for a while now but it now has a new owner and possibly a savior in new owner Dennis Gomes.
The sale saves Resorts amid predictions that the aging and undersized Boardwalk property simply would not have survived much longer unless it came under new ownership. The announcement gives some lift to a gaming market stuck in a four-year economic slump and dealing with growing competition from rival casinos in surrounding states.
I don’t like Resorts as it is currently operated. I feel dirty just walking into the casino. Gomes has been trying to get into the Atlantic City casino market for a while as he was trying to gain control of the Tropicana. I’m looking forward to seeing what he’ll be able to do with this grand old building.
Making bank, might be a little strong, but I was a little surprised when I saw that Trump Marina was making more money from $1 blackjack than higher limits (I’m guessing $10).
(Trump Marina’s Don) Browne noted that the $1 tables are averaging about an $1,100 win per day for the casino, compared to about $950 for higher-stakes blackjack games at Trump Marina. On weekends, the average daily win on the $1 tables jumps to about $1,500.
Earlier this year I saw the money behind the reason for so many $25 limit tables in casinos. I guess for Trump this is a good thing, but the odds are not with the player. Because of the .25 extra I would tend to stay away from this kind of game. Even if I could get drunk on crappy beer and well drinks.
For full odds/strategy check the wizard of odds. And because a picture of Ivanka Trump is more interesting than a picture of Trump Marina..
I started to get some stuff up from my trip to Vegas 2 weeks ago. Of course, now that I’m caught up on sleep I’m off to another destination. Postings will be slow, but keep an eye on twitter as I’ll always pass on anything good I see.
Funny enough I was working on ECG 4.0, when I decided to work on an idea I had last year and was never able to get to. If I did things right, that will launch shortly after my next trip. Here’s the fun from this past week.
While I was away last week there were a couple interesting news bits.
Connecticut’s slot revenue increased, last month, for the first time in 26 months. Revenue increased 1.8% at Mohegan Sun and 1.3% at Foxwoods.
“Obviously, it’s a step in the right direction,” said Mohegan Sun Chief Operating Officer and President Mitchell Etess. “But keep in mind there was an extra Saturday and it took a lot of promotion to drive that revenue.” The promotions will have to continue if the casinos are going to continue to expand.
Nice to see that Mohegan Sun’s COO is keeping expectations manageable. A turnaround is good to see but as Mr. Etess says, it’s only one month. If the CT casinos can keep this positive momentum through the next couple months they may be on to something.
I like to follow trends when I gamble, so until things turn around I won’t expect this bump to continue.
