News

GMA quoted in Global Gaming Business Magazine

iGaming Explosion

by William Sokolic

For more than two months last spring, casinos across the U.S. shut down in response to the growing coronavirus pandemic.  But for those living or visiting New Jersey, an alternative existed for blackjack, slots and other casino staples.

Online casinos.  iGaming.

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GMA quoted in GGB News

Amid Macau Concession Tenders, LVS’ $6 Billion Asia Play

by James Rutherford

The timing of Las Vegas Sands’ sale of its U.S. assets couldn’t be better in light of the Macau government’s announcement that it will stick to the June 2022 deadline for re-tendering the territory’s six casino concessions.

A public consultation on the government’s plans for new licenses will be conducted in the second half of this year. That’s according to Macau’s Secretary for Finance and Economy Lei Wai Nong, who also said that the draft of a new gaming law to guide the process will be ready for review by the territory’s Legislative Assembly in the fourth quarter.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Las Vegas shows signs of reawakening a year after pandemic began

by Richard N. Velotta and Bailey Schulz

It’s like the week before Christmas for a tot who can’t wait to open presents.

In this case, the present is a return to normal life in Southern Nevada, and the sparkling wrapped gifts are the promises that things are going to get better sooner rather than later.

This is what pent up demand looks like.

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GMA quoted in the Lincoln Journal Star

Las Vegas consultant says Nebraska gaming revenue overestimated

by Don Walton

While Nebraska senators have done “a good job” in framing legislation to launch casino gambling in the state, they may need to strengthen its regulatory structure and be prepared for an early revenue flow that is far below what is anticipated, a Las Vegas gaming consultant said Thursday.

Projected estimates of $455 million of gambling activity by fiscal 2022 – 23 are unrealistic, Brendan Bussmann, partner and director of government affairs at Global Market Advisors, said during an interview at the Capitol.

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GMA quoted on SeekingAlpha.com

Vegas Ready To Recover From Pandemic: New It’s A Stock Picker’s Game

It’s only a five-mile stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, but when the Strip shut down for the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, it was as if the entire city had turned out the lights. The party’s over.

Normally packed with tourists and traffic, Las Vegas’ resort corridor-developed with $40 billion of casino infrastructure – looked more like the ghost towns that dot Nevada’s historic mining landscape.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Virgin Hotels set to open Thursday.  Here’s what to expect.

by Bailey Schulz and Richard N. Velotta

Imagine taking a drive toward Las Vegas at sunset.

The light has started to dip behind the horizon, filling the air with pastel shades pink and purple.  The desert landscape stretches before you, eternal, spotted with surprising bursts of green from cacti and shrubs.  then, you see it: the hazy glow of Las Vegas’ lights in the distance.

That’s the feeling Virgin Hotels Las Vegas wants to give its guests when they step inside the newly renovated resort-casino.  The property, set to open at 6 p.m. Thursday, has combined modern with mid-century; floral with industrial; loud, colorful pieces with white space.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Las Vegas restaurants, casinos prepare for capacity, stimulus boost

by Richard N. Velotta, Al Mancini and Heidi Knapp Rinella

Casinos and restaurants will see their capacities bumped up to 50 percent of their occupancy levels on Monday, while another development could provide additional help: Customers may have more money in their pockets when they arrive.

A month ago, Gov. Steve Sisolak allowed capacity at businesses to increase from 25 percent of the buildings’ fire-code limits to 35 percent on March 1 and said that, barring any setbacks, it could rise to 50 percent effective March 15.

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GMA quoted on SportsHandle.com

Connecticut Sports Betting Wounded Las Week, But Betting In Time for NFL Expected

by Jill R. Dorson

Late last week, the future of Connecticut legal sports betting started to look a little bleak.

“I can’t describe what a setback and insult Tuesday was,” Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Chairman Rodney Butler told the Hartford Courant late last week.  “It almost killed the deal.”

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Poll: Nevadans optimistic that Las Vegas’ economy will bounce back

by Richard N. Velotta

Nevadans are optimistic about Las Vegas’ post-coronavirus future, but they believe a full economic recovery is going to take some time, according to a poll of likely Nevada voters.

Analysts who follow the city’s economy concur and stress that it will be as important to recover from the virus as it will be to recover economically.

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GMA quoted in GGB News

Leaving Las Vegas: Sands’ $6.25 Billion Exit

by James Rutherford

The Las Vegas Strip exists today largely in the mold that Las Vegas Sands fashioned for it, and certainly, there’s been plenty to say over the last week about the company’s $6.25 billion decision to leave.  There’s been no shortage of questions.  The most compelling: Why did the company sell?

The deal didn’t come from out of the blue.  Bloomberg News had an inside track on it back in the fall, even down to the sale price and the likelihood of a split owner/operator transaction involving a real estate investment trust (REIT) – two of which, VICI Properties and MGM Growth Properties, already own most of the Strip’s resort casinos.

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