News

Josh Swissman quoted on ReviewJournal.com

New Year’s hotel rates 3 times more than Christmas on Strip

What a difference a week makes, especially when you’re forecasting hotel room rates in Las Vegas.

Based on a survey of prices the Review-Journal conducted Wednesday afternoon, holiday room rates for the New Year’s Eve weekend will be about three times higher than Christmas weekend.

Room rates in Las Vegas for a Friday through Sunday stay, that includes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, averaged $127.73 a night, based on listings from hotels.com. For the same period a week later, which includes New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, the average is $371.14. The survey included 67 properties for the Christmas holiday and 65 for New Year’s.

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Josh Swissman quoted on igamingbusiness.com

New sheriff in town: Fertitta takes Las Vegas

In a city long known for bigger-than-life figures such as mobster Bugsy Siegel, reclusive tycoon Howard Hughes and casino mogul Steve Wynn, Tilman Fertitta is the newest big player on the Las Vegas Strip.

The billionaire Texas businessman and owner of Fertitta Entertainment, which owns more than 600 restaurants, hotels, casinos and other entertainment destinations across the US, has planted his flag on the Strip.

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Josh Swissman quoted on ReviewJournal.com

NFR, Raiders, concerts means higher room rates this weekend

Cowboys, music fans and sports fanatics are flooding into Las Vegas this week thanks to a long list of events that starts with the National Finals Rodeo on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center.

And a stacked calendar of events — including rodeo-related festivities, country music concerts, headlining residencies, a college football championship game and a home Raiders contest — is driving up room rates, during the slowest period of the year when travelers can typically get better deals after a busy Thanksgiving weekend.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the lowest-priced two-night booking available through Hotels.com was $209 per night for a Friday through Sunday stay at Circus Circus. Prices are flexible and can change based on available supply and demand.

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Josh Swissman quoted on cdcgaming.com

Las Vegas nears pre-pandemic visitation in October

Las Vegas edged closer to its pre-pandemic self by hosting 3.63 million visitors in October, falling 29,000 visitors short of matching the count in October 2019.

As convention business roared back last month, Las Vegas recorded 7.3% more visitors than the 3.39 million that came to the city in October 2021, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The report came as Nevada, led by Las Vegas, surpassed $1 billion in gaming revenue for the 20th consecutive month.

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Josh Swissman quoted on ReviewJournal.com

How long will it take for California sports betting to regroup?

The failure of California’s two dueling sports wagering propositions on this month’s general election ballot has left some important questions unanswered: Will California residents ever be allowed to legally bet on sports, and if so, how long will it take?

Based on what everybody saw when the election results came in, it could take awhile.

Proposition 27, a proposal favored by out-of-state gambling interests that included FanDuel, DraftKings and BetMGM, would have allowed online betting on smartphone apps. Opposed by California’s tribal casinos, the measure was supported by only 16 percent of voters.

The tribes apparently convinced voters that betting online is far more addictive than betting in person and potentially too accessible to children.

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Josh Swissman quoted on GGBnews.com

California Voters Defeat Sports Betting Props By Wide Margins

The defeat of the dueling sports betting propositions 26 and 27 in California came as no surprise—pundits predicted as much. The pundits also predicted that Prop 26 would do less poorly than Prop 27, for what that’s worth. They were right about that one too.

Despite waging the most expensive effort in support of ballot props in the history of any California campaign— almost $600 million, according to the Associated Press—Californians said no deal.

Prop 27, the one which would allow FanDuel and other sportsbooks to offer online betting, drew a measly 16 percent support. Prop 26, which brought in-person sports betting to tribal casinos and race tracks, garnered less than 30 percent of the vote.

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Josh Swissman Quoted on GGBnews.com

Voters Prepare to End the California Sports Betting Debate

California’s proposition culture tries to shy away from competing resolutions. Too many potential problems. This year could be a case in point. Propositions 26 and 27 both ask for approval of sports betting, but from two different angles.

Prop 26 calls for sports betting to be limited to in-person wagering in tribal casinos and at the four race tracks throughout the state. It also allows tribal casinos to offer roulette and craps, just as an aside. According to Cal Matters, Prop 26 levies a 10 percent tax on sports bets placed at race tracks, and requires tribes to reimburse the state for the cost of regulating sports betting. After covering the cost of tax collection, the funds generated would go to the department of public health for problem gaming and mental health research, to the department of justice for enforcement of gaming rules, and to the state’s general fund.

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GMA quoted on Ice365.com

Asia doldrums stir EuroVegas prospects

by Muhammad Cohen

Bringing Vegas to Europe fired the imagination of Las Vegas Sands founder Sheldon Adelson a dozen years ago.

As Spain struggled with 20% plus unemployment amid a devastating global economic crisis, Adelson pledged billions to create EuroVegas outside Madrid, with a dozen hotels, six casinos, shopping, golf, conventions and tens of thousands of jobs, even while championing a Vegas Strip replica on Macau’s Cotai landfill.

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GMA quoted in The Nevada Independent

Analyst: Events will make 2022 bigger Las Vegas revenue year than 2021

by Howard Stutz

As the Las Vegas resort industry awaits the full return of its convention and meeting business, one gaming analyst said high-profile events tied to the National Fottball League will boost Southern Nevada visitation in the first half of the year, despite the recent national spike in COVID-19 cases.

Daniel Politzer, who follows the gaming industry for Wells Fargo Bank, had an opposing view from another analyst who believes the Strip’s gaming market will decline in 2022. Politzer said gaming and non-gaming revenues produced by Strip resort operators with multiple properties, such as MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, could jump as much as 20 percent over 2021 – a year that already portends to be a record-setting.

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GMA quoted in The Nevada Independent

Indy Gaming: Meruelo launches SaharaBets in Arizona.  What about Nevada?

by Howard Stutz

Alex Meruelo paid an undisclosed amount to purchase the former Sahara Hotel Casino in 2018 and announced a year later that he was spending more than $150 million to restore the Las Vegas Strip resort to its Rat Pack-era name after it suffered through a failed five-year run as the SLS.

So it makes sense that meruelo would utilize the name Sahara in other gaming ventures.

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