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Las Vegas go hard or go home thread


bigup2dahorns

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LVRJ:

 

 

CARSON CITY – Nevada’s roadmap to a “new normal” in the wake of the virulent COVID-19 pandemic will start by mid-May as the state sees continued declines in new cases and hospitalizations and reaches benchmarks for expanded testing and contact tracing, Gov. Steve Sisolak said Thursday.

 

The Phase 1 start of the recovery will see social distancing measures still in places to guide the day-to-day lives of Nevadans, with businesses including casinos remaining closed, along with other venues where large crowds may congregate.

 

– Remaining closed in Phase 1: Bars, nightclubs, malls, large sporting events, large in-person places of worship, and concert venues, in addition to casinos. The governor said decisions about reopening gaming establishment will be determined by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

 

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/sisolak-says-most-nevada-businesses-will-reopen-by-may-15-2018190/

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LVRJ:


Station Casinos announced Friday that the company is laying off a “significant” number of both property and corporate employees, effective May 16.

“We have tried to retain our entire team, but in the face of this continued uncertainty we can no longer do so,” CEO and Chairman Frank Fertitta III said in a letter sent to staff Friday.

The news comes after Gov. Steve Sisolak announced the state-mandated closures of casinos will be extended to at least May 15 — when “Phase 1” of the state’s reopening is set to begin. Sisolak added that casinos would “not be opening at the start of Phase 1.”

Fertitta plans to reopen Station Casinos’ properties “in phases,” with Red Rock Resort, Green Valley Ranch Resort, Santa Fe, Boulder Station, Palace Station, Sunset Station and the company’s Wildfire division likely to be the first to open their doors.

The Palms, Fiesta Henderson, Fiesta Rancho and Texas Station will reopen after the company is able to assess business performance “in a post-COVID-19 world.”

“When we are permitted to reopen, we don’t know what business will look like,” Fertitta said, “other than knowing that business levels will be lower as a result of this unprecedented crisis.”

To counter the financial downfall from the phased approach and social distancing restrictions, Station Casinos is making “meaningful staffing level reductions” at the properties that will open first and at its corporate office, along with “significant reductions” at properties that are not reopening in the initial phase.

The letter didn’t say exactly how many workers would be let go. The casino operator had roughly 14,000 employees as of Jan. 31, according to its latest annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Full-time staff who are laid off will be paid through May 16, and the company is extending medical, dental and vision benefits through Sept. 30, including coverage for full premium costs after May 16.

Those whose employment status is unaffected by the layoffs will continue to receive regular pay and benefits through at least May 31.

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Potential new rules by the Gaming Board, click link to read full report:


Table Games and Card Games:

Plans must limit the number of patrons based on type of game to ensure proper distance between players by limiting the number of seats or betting positions per table. For example, player limit per table should be limited to: three players per blackjack table, six players per craps table, four players per roulette table, and four players per poker table. Casino supervisors and managers must ensure that patrons do not congregate in groups around gaming tables. Licensees should ensure dealers have hand sanitizer available to offer to patrons throughout their shifts.


https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=16731

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On 5/2/2020 at 9:12 AM, bigup2dahorns said:

Potential new rules by the Gaming Board, click link to read full report:


Table Games and Card Games:

Plans must limit the number of patrons based on type of game to ensure proper distance between players by limiting the number of seats or betting positions per table. For example, player limit per table should be limited to: three players per blackjack table, six players per craps table, four players per roulette table, and four players per poker table. Casino supervisors and managers must ensure that patrons do not congregate in groups around gaming tables. Licensees should ensure dealers have hand sanitizer available to offer to patrons throughout their shifts.


https://gaming.nv.gov/modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=16731

six people at a craps table.  Yeah that's going to work.

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All that will be very interesting to see implemented.  Not sure how much of it is possible without a 1 to 1 sanitizing staff to table ratio.

Also what good is all that if there is ongoing back and forth handling of the chips between players and dealer?  

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

House doesn’t make much off the poker rooms, or so they tell me.

I think poker rooms are easily the least profitable  game in a casino on a $/sqft basis. But there's enough poker players in the gambling crowd that the casinos are forced to do it because  by not offering poker, they run the risk of sending gamblers to other casinos that do. The key to running a casino is to get people in the door, if you can't do that, you're done. Once they are in the door and full of booze, your profitability just went up. Wives/girlfriends have to do something while the poker player spends hours at the table. 

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9 hours ago, Blotto said:

I think poker rooms are easily the least profitable  game in a casino on a $/sqft basis. But there's enough poker players in the gambling crowd that the casinos are forced to do it because  by not offering poker, they run the risk of sending gamblers to other casinos that do. The key to running a casino is to get people in the door, if you can't do that, you're done. Once they are in the door and full of booze, your profitability just went up. Wives/girlfriends have to do something while the poker player spends hours at the table. 

This ^ has always been my understanding.

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Wynn earnings call today:

 

- CEO still anticipating late May for re-opening LV which would be in phase 2 for NV.

 

- they would likely open both Wynn and Encore with social distancing goals. No mass venues to open, like clubs and shows. Plan to open most restaurants.

 

- partnering with University Medical Center to offer swab test on site for ALL employees and guests

 

- says behind the scenes discussions going on between TSA and airlines regarding temp checks

 

- previously planned room remodel in LV scheduled for June will be postponed/pushed back

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4 hours ago, bigup2dahorns said:

Wynn earnings call today:

 

- CEO still anticipating late May for re-opening LV which would be in phase 2 for NV.

 

- they would likely open both Wynn and Encore with social distancing goals. No mass venues to open, like clubs and shows. Plan to open most restaurants.

 

- partnering with University Medical Center to offer swab test on site for ALL employees and guests

 

- says behind the scenes discussions going on between TSA and airlines regarding temp checks

 

- previously planned room remodel in LV scheduled for June will be postponed/pushed back

 

From the Las Vegas Sun article on the earnings call:

Quote

Craig Billings, Wynn’s chief financial officer, said the company had about $3.4 billion in cash available at the end of April and is burning through nearly $7.8 million a day.

 

 

 

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Yeah I tried to only post things I thought would be of interest here. Not really going to go into detail about the inner workings of Macau or the company financials. But since you posted it, they recently raised money in the debt markets and at the current burn rate are good until 3Q’21 with the ability to tap the debt markets again if needed.

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16 hours ago, bigup2dahorns said:

Yeah I tried to only post things I thought would be of interest here. Not really going to go into detail about the inner workings of Macau or the company financials. But since you posted it, they recently raised money in the debt markets and at the current burn rate are good until 3Q’21 with the ability to tap the debt markets again if needed.

 Appreciate the ongoing updates.   Thanks much.

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On 5/6/2020 at 8:58 PM, bigup2dahorns said:

Yeah I tried to only post things I thought would be of interest here. Not really going to go into detail about the inner workings of Macau or the company financials. But since you posted it, they recently raised money in the debt markets and at the current burn rate are good until 3Q’21 with the ability to tap the debt markets again if needed.

Didn't want to rain on your parade; found it interesting on how long they could hold out with their current cash situation considering they have no income to speak of.

 

Edited by Francisco 2.0
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No worries. It’s a great question. Macau is open with very little current revenue and they are waiting on the tourist visas to get turned back on again. Anticipating that to happen in the next few months with massive pent up demand in the region. I’ve been inside the Wynn Palace on the Cotai strip and it’s amazing.

As for Vegas, they need about 50-60% hotel occupancy to hit break even. There is not much visibility into the near term demand picture however. Long term there are plenty of big conferences on the books, depending on how that all plays out.

Wynn has the playbook mapped out how to reopen and has been fielding calls from other companies on how to deal in this new environment.

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I love Vegas, but there's no way I'm going until there's a vaccine. That's not something I'm willing to gamble with. I have a feeling there's more people that think like me than not. It's going to be 2 years or more before it's safe.

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4 hours ago, RPM said:

I love Vegas, but there's no way I'm going until there's a vaccine. That's not something I'm willing to gamble with. I have a feeling there's more people that think like me than not. It's going to be 2 years or more before it's safe.

Yeah, I ain’t going until it’s reasonably safe to be packed 3 deep around a craps table for hours on end, followed by having some young lady who is trying to pay her way through law school shake her tittays in my face. So it’s probably gonna be awhile.

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On 5/8/2020 at 12:27 PM, RPM said:

I love Vegas, but there's no way I'm going until there's a vaccine. That's not something I'm willing to gamble with. I have a feeling there's more people that think like me than not. It's going to be 2 years or more before it's safe.

If they made the slots looser (or gave the impression they were looser using social media influencers), word will spread and people will flock back to Vegas just like they flocked to the grocery stores and hoarded all the toilet paper.

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On 5/7/2020 at 5:06 PM, bigup2dahorns said:

 

 

On 5/7/2020 at 5:27 PM, bigup2dahorns said:

 

 

During my Saturday night online poker game with high school friends/ our Fantasy Football league, we were chatting about the COVID stuff (not Vegas) and how various people care about the masks or don't care about the masks. How some people are social distancing all of ~2 feet. The guys tonight are based in Northern Jersey, Washington DC, Dallas, and LA.

The one in LA write/produces/directs documentaries and has another weekly poker night with some of his old Harvard suite mates and their prep school friends. They're based in NYC, SF Valley, and maybe wherever former ambassadors currently reside.

He was saying that the next peak will happen 45 days after things open back up, so around June 14th COVID deaths will be peaking again in the states that opened back up on May 1st. It looks like Vegas might not peak until ~June 22nd, because they waited an extra 8 days.


Vegas should basically go to outdoor/online gambling, because casinos really shouldn't be open again this year.

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On 5/8/2020 at 12:27 PM, RPM said:

I love Vegas, but there's no way I'm going until there's a vaccine. That's not something I'm willing to gamble with. I have a feeling there's more people that think like me than not. It's going to be 2 years or more before it's safe.

 

There's never going to be a vaccine. 

This thing has a 99.5 percent survival rate.  Outside of NY and NJ, this is absolutely nothing.  Barely a thousand deaths in Texas, a state of 29 million.

Put on your big boy pants and grow the fuck up.

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12 hours ago, Napoleon said:

 

 

During my Saturday night online poker game with high school friends/ our Fantasy Football league, we were chatting about the COVID stuff (not Vegas) and how various people care about the masks or don't care about the masks. How some people are social distancing all of ~2 feet. The guys tonight are based in Northern Jersey, Washington DC, Dallas, and LA.

The one in LA write/produces/directs documentaries and has another weekly poker night with some of his old Harvard suite mates and their prep school friends. They're based in NYC, SF Valley, and maybe wherever former ambassadors currently reside.

He was saying that the next peak will happen 45 days after things open back up, so around June 14th COVID deaths will be peaking again in the states that opened back up on May 1st. It looks like Vegas might not peak until ~June 22nd, because they waited an extra 8 days.


Vegas should basically go to outdoor/online gambling, because casinos really shouldn't be open again this year.

This read like "My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who heard.....at 31 flavors last night"

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1 hour ago, PilotsError said:

 

There's never going to be a vaccine. 

This thing has a 99.5 percent survival rate.  Outside of NY and NJ, this is absolutely nothing.  Barely a thousand deaths in Texas, a state of 29 million.

Put on your big boy pants and grow the fuck up.

Maybe you're willing to bet your life on a week's vacation. I'm not. Not sure big boy pants are going to override my underlying health conditions. Besides it's going to suck until the shows open and social distancing is over.

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I’m young and healthy and my international trips have been canceled for the summer so I suspect we’ll go to Vegas at some point even it’s a watered down version. There aren’t a lot of travel options right now and I can still enjoy eating good food and hanging out at the pool for 2-3 days.

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1 hour ago, wild_turkey said:

I’m young and healthy and my international trips have been canceled for the summer so I suspect we’ll go to Vegas at some point even it’s a watered down version. There aren’t a lot of travel options right now and I can still enjoy eating good food and hanging out at the pool for 2-3 days.

I'm sure there will still be some fine dining, but not every casino is going to be open (read something from an analyst that MGM might not open Mirage until fall '21, for example) and the pool scene might not be watered down, so to speak.

We've all but written off our late July trip.  If Vegas can't be Vegas, we might as well just do some remodeling project on the house with the money.

 

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On 5/10/2020 at 10:43 AM, PilotsError said:

 

There's never going to be a vaccine. 

This thing has a 99.5 percent survival rate.  Outside of NY and NJ, this is absolutely nothing.  Barely a thousand deaths in Texas, a state of 29 million.

Put on your big boy pants and grow the fuck up.

Really?  Interesting.  Here I thought they have been working on developing one.

What will be interesting is the fate of all the buffets.  Those are petri dishes of exchange.

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Caesars:


CEO Tony Rodio also said on Monday’s first-quarter conference call that Louisiana could reopen casinos by Memorial Day weekend and that North Carolina is looking to open casinos in a few weeks. Caesars operates properties in both markets.

Rodio said Caesars would initially open Caesars Palace in Las Vegas and at least one of the “value-oriented properties” on the east side of Strip. He said others could open quickly.


https://www.cdcgamingreports.com/caesars-plans-casino-reopenings-in-three-states-announces-health-and-safety-program/

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11 hours ago, bigup2dahorns said:

 

Huh, using the term "installed" pretty loosely there.  Would have thought they'd spring for something a little nicer than a couple crappy tripods and a folding table.  I don't know, maybe something a little more built in looking?  Budget cuts I guess...

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1 hour ago, Sbbruin said:

Really?  Interesting.  Here I thought they have been working on developing one.

What will be interesting is the fate of all the buffets.  Those are petri dishes of exchange.

I liked the Bellagio Sunday Brunch. Ate enough bacon, plus a bunch of macadamia nut cookies for dessert and drank several Bloody Marys to ward off any nasty bugs.

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On 5/10/2020 at 10:43 AM, PilotsError said:

 

There's never going to be a vaccine. 

This thing has a 99.5 percent survival rate.  Outside of NY and NJ, this is absolutely nothing.  Barely a thousand deaths in Texas, a state of 29 million.

Put on your big boy pants and grow the fuck up.

Are you saying that this thing has a 0.5% fatality rate?  Where you getting those numbers?  

AZ is 4.8% and CA is 4.0%.  I get my numbers from Johns Hopkins.

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2 hours ago, Landomatic said:

Huh, using the term "installed" pretty loosely there.  Would have thought they'd spring for something a little nicer than a couple crappy tripods and a folding table.  I don't know, maybe something a little more built in looking?  Budget cuts I guess...

Yeah.  That setup looks like something at Excalibur or Circus Circus.

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MGM plan is out, couple of highlights (link below):


Employees will be provided and required to wear an approved mask when on one of our properties. MGM Resorts will also strongly encourage our guests to wear masks in public areas and will offer masks to any guests who need one, free of charge. Gloves will continue to be worn by employees who require them to do their jobs, such as food handlers and employees who clean public areas.

Guests may be required to wear masks when appropriate physical distancing or barriers cannot be maintained.

Asking guests to refrain from eating at table games and slot machines.

Suspension of self-service buffet-style food service. Employees will be required to serve guests.

Providing more pre-packaged food options for guests.

https://static.mgmresorts.com/content/dam/MGM/corporate/corporate-initiatives/safely/seven-point-safety-plan.pdf

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