News

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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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Sands’ $6.25B sale of Strip assets is a good sign for Las Vegas, experts say

by Bailey Schulz

The sale of Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Strip assets is a positive sign for its namesake city, industry experts say.

The company announced Wednesday that is is selling its Las Vegas properties to Apollo Global Management Inc. and Vici Properties Inc. for $6.25 billion – a price tag large enough to show there’s still value in the Las Vegas market.

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GMA quoted in CDC Gaming Reports

Cordish and Bally’s bid on a casino project in Richmond – Virginia’s last open gaming site

By Howard Stutz

The last remaining Virginia city that state lawmakers approved for a casino resort is being wooed by two of the gaming industry’s high-profile operators.

Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., and Rhode Island- based Bally’s Corp., entered the bidding process Monday for a planned Richmond casino that could result in a multimillion-dollar gaming project in the commonwealth’s capital city.

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GMA quoted in the Omaha World Herald

Sports betting surges at Iowa casinos.  Will it come to Nebraska next?

by Steve Liewer

Less than three years ago, Nebraskans who wanted to bet on sports legally had no choice but to book a flight to Las Vegas.

Then in May of 2018 the Supreme Court struck down Nevada’s congressionally approved sports betting monopoly.  The following year, neighboring Iowa became the 11th state – and the first in the Upper Midwest – to legalize sportsbooks.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

Penn signs 20-year sports wagering deal with New York casino

by Richard N. Velotta

If New York lawmakers approve mobile sports wagering, Penn National Gaming Inc. is ready.

The Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based regional gaming company on Monday announced it has entered a 20-year strategic partnership with Capital Region Gaming LLC, which operates the Rivers Casino & Resort in Schenectady, New York.

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GMA quoted in the Las Vegas Review Journal

MGM resuming 24-7 operations at 3 Strip properties

by Bailey Schulz

MGM Resorts International is set to ramp up operations to match growing travel demand to Las Vegas.

The Mirage, Mandalay Bay and Park MGM are set to expand hotel operations to operate 24-7 starting March 3.  All three Strip properties have been operating with their hotel towers shuttered midweek.

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