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Posts Tagged ‘Nevada’

Nevada Suffers Setback Due to Power Outage

Monday, November 1st, 2010

There was bad news for Nevada—again. This time it was something that the gambling city couldn’t help though. Recently the Golden Nugget Casino saw numbers down due to a power outage throughout the day. Though the power outage only lasted for two hours, it was enough to do some financial damage to the casino. And it did financial damage that was the last thing the casino needed at this time. The Golden Nugget Casino is well known throughout the world of gambling. It funds a lot of programs for the state and that money is a necessity in today’s economy. Las Vegas of course has been suffering as of late. The city has seen drastically decreased numbers in the past two years and now operators are trying to find a way to revive the city. It needs to find some reasonable solutions to the problem because if it doesn’t, the city faces more problems in the future.

Casinos in Las Vegas have been fighting hard for their revenue streams. They are trying to come up with vast promotions and new games that could bring in a new market. No longer is Las Vegas necessarily an entertainment hot spot. Rather the city has changed into a family-friendly location that is welcoming to all ages. This was on purpose. Marketers for the city realized that a huge portion of their revenue over the past few years has come from families, rather than single people visiting. There still is that market, but it is families that are bulking up their numbers. This is why they are now focused on building a new market. When something like the power outage of last Thursday happens, it makes things even more difficult for casino companies. The power outage was only two hours of lost revenue, but proved to be a formidable issue for operators. People had to be turned away for that time and that dent in income is going to make a difference in their month end statements. Though the casino had a backup plan, it took some time for it to be implemented. Hopefully in the future there will be a quicker plan of action to take care of the problem if it ever happens again.

Nevada Sees Small Growth in Market

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

The state of Nevada has long been having problems rallying in the gambling market. It’s no secret that the state was hit particularly hard by the recession. The main problem was that it is built on one market—gambling and has been relying on income from gambling for sustaining itself for decades now. Nevada has no secondary market to speak of. State legislators made the same mistake that Detroit Michigan did. Detroit was a city built on automobile manufacturing. It had no true secondary market—believing that automobiles would always be in demand in mass numbers. Once the recession happened though, things changed. Part of the recession was a huge automobile industry crash, thus shutting down all but a few manufacturers. Detroit suffered because thousands were out of jobs, and there were no new jobs to replace those. This is what has harped on the Detroit economy for so long and the same thing happened with Las Vegas and Nevada as a whole. The state relied too heavily on just one market and when it took a hit, state legislators were hard pressed to find replacement markets that just didn’t exist—even at the nascent stages of development.

For a long time now Nevada officials have been waiting for good news. They want to hear that the market is turning around for them. Though that has been a long time in coming, there are some signs that it could be coming quickly. New numbers are showing that more gamers are returning to Las Vegas—slowly, but surely. Of course Nevada officials would like a turnaround to happen much quicker, but that doesn’t mean they won’t take the positive changes in small doses. It could mean that they will take that much shorter a time to turn life around for residents. It isn’t without a lot of anticipating that these changes are coming to the market. This past month there was an 11.5% growth in gambling revenue. It still doesn’t bring gambling back to what it was pre- recession, but it still is a movement in the right direction. The Strip received the biggest jump in revenue with 21% up from last year’s revenue stream.

Reid Comes Clean about Online Gambling- Part 2

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Now Reid is finally telling the real story of why he is fighting to keep online gambling out of the state. The state of Nevada remember has made a long list of changes to help the market. First there was City Center on the Strip. It is a billion-dollar endeavor that included hotel rooms, suites, condominiums for sale, retail outlets, casino gaming floor, entertainment stage and a business center. The purpose was to bring in more customers who wanted premiere gaming and to see Las Vegas in its former way of decadence and luxurious success. Unfortunately City Center was not as successful as was originally hoped. Not that there isn’t time for things to change, but if the past numbers are an indication, the center is not going to turn things around quickly. On top of that Las Vegas casino owners are pushing for a long list of bonuses and price breaks for customers. If you want to find a great deal, then now is the time to visit a Las Vegas casino. They all have some type of special bonus. That could include meal comps, half price show tickets and many other bonuses. You are going to love what the market has to offer, but still is trying to gain the same market share it has pre recessionary times.

Reid confirmed that his biggest concern with legalizing online gambling is the fact that it will lead to more gambling competition. That competition then will make it next to impossible for land-based gambling to return to its older numbers. It won’t be easy to bring in revenues. The convenience of online gambling may stifle land based casinos from their own revenue shares. This in turn could stop their growth and severely stunt their return to normal. Reid is trying to protect the land based gaming casinos already in the state. He wants to make sure that they are safe before he makes any large changes like legalizing online gambling. He has made it clear that his primary focus is on bringing true revival to the market. The way he believes he can best do this is by protecting land based gaming and its market.

Reid Comes Clean about Online Gambling- Part 1

Friday, October 15th, 2010

Senator Harry Reid has long been an opponent of legalizing online gambling. He made many moves indicative of a man who did not want online wagering to be legalized, but until now his true reasoning was not known. Many experts speculated that Reid was holding the notion that with legalization of more gaming, inevitably comes crime and corruption. They opined that he possibly was worried about the social cost gaming would bring to Nevada. People on the other side criticized him though. They said that if he was going to be so negative about online gambling, why wasn’t he negative about the Nevada economy to begin with. Let’s face it, they argued, Nevada is a gaming state. If you ask anyone what the main market of the state is, everyone will tell you “gambling.” It made it difficult for people to understand why Reid was holding out for so long and is still negative about online gambling being legalized. He has made it clear that he is not supportive of online gambling or its regulation in the market- regardless of how much money is available as a result. Now the true reason for him dragging his heels is coming to light.

Reid stated that he is well aware of how depressed the Nevada market is. Since the recession, the state has been down in gambling numbers and nothing seems to be bringing it out of its slump. People just aren’t wagering like they did pre-recession. They are still being very conservative with their money and gambling doesn’t fit into that mix. That is unfortunate for Nevada because the state needs more traffic in casinos to turn thing around. Without an increase in customers, the state will continue to have to scrape by and possibly use more cutback tactics to manage through the end of the recessionary period it is facing. So far casinos in the state have already had to use layoffs and serious cut backs to maintain their open casinos. They are trying everything they can to reinvigorate the state, but nothing seems to be working so far.

Part two coming next.

Nevada Looking to Cosmopolitan for Revival

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Las Vegas is still suffering. The recession was particularly hard on the area because of its one industry of gambling. Though gaming operators were hopeful, they have yet to see the numbers even come close to what they were pre recession. Their first order of business was to create City Center. This was a billion dollar facility that was to open with huge numbers. Originally it was hoped that City Center would be the savior of the struggling market. It is a multi-use urban complex. MGM Resorts International and Dubai World were the ones to bring the project to the city and planned huge offerings with it. There are 2,400 condominium units, 4,800 hotel rooms, a high end retail location, entertainment center, conference center and retail center for rental. Overall it was an $11 billion investment into the city. The problem is that though the city officials had a lot of hope in the building, it proved to not perform as expected.

Las Vegas official’s next wanted to go back to the drawing board and bring yet another large gambling center upgrade to their market. Now the Cosmopolitan Hotel is the center of the change. Nevada Gaming Commission officials want to push forward and get the hotel a gaming license. The casino is scheduled to open right before the holidays in December of this year. The resort has 100,000 square foot of casino space and holds just over 3,000 rooms. Though parts aren’t going to be finished until next year, it still is a lofty project that most likely is going to be instrumental in changing the market. Las Vegas officials are pushing as hard as possible to return the city to its former gaming excellence. It could take time though. Now that officials are investing so much money into its development, they are heftily hoping that the aggressive marketing they are embarking on will pay off. Only time is going to tell whether or not the moves of officials are going to pay off in the end financially. There is a lot of competition in the market right now and that is pushing against the La Vegas economy.

Nevada Finally Sees Some Growth in Revenue

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

It has been a long time coming, but Nevada may finally have some good news. Officials are watching their revenue changes closely and hoping that the numbers continue moving upwards. The month of August may just be the beginning of something good. Numbers are in and showing an increase of 11.5% since last year the same time. That translates into $945 million in revenue. This is great news because of the harrowing time the city has had with recovery. Though it used to be a gambling Mecca, it now has seen decreasing numbers and had to go through a total cutback to maintain budgets and overcome the deficit. Some companies in the state have tried to focus on expansion to other cities and other countries. They are hoping that they can bring up revenue in these other areas to help defray losses in Las Vegas.

Of course Las Vegas used to be a center for gaming, but now that the market has opened up so much, it isn’t the case anymore. In fact, the Macau area is pushing to take over all of the gambling industry and doing it relatively easily. In fact in one month the city showed a 40% growth in revenue! That is huge in any market, and even in the billion dollar industry of gambling it is a huge growth rate. Las Vegas is having a hard time to compete and maintain its own position in the market. Officials are hoping that the recent changes are enough to push for a return to the old numbers. So far City Center and Cosmopolitan Hotel’s expansion are both coming together to help the economy take on the competition. Though City Center has not performed as officials had hoped, it still isn’t something that they are giving up on easily. They are still hoping that the market is able to recover quickly and come back to revenue streams that were received pre-recession. Now that more areas are open to the gambling market, this is pushing it to a mainstream activity. No longer is gambling just a pastime for a select demographic. Now it is one of those things that everyone can take part in. Hopefully the future will be bright for Las Vegas.

Online Casinos Getting Government OK

Monday, September 13th, 2010

There are many countries debating the legalization of online gambling. There are billions of dollars to be had in the market and that is proving to be too big a price tag for legislators to pass up. The reality is that if people cannot gamble in one country, they will find other countries to wager in. That means that governments that are staunch against online gambling will merely be losing billions of dollars and channelling them out of the country. That is proving to be too big a loss for governments in today’s market– especially after the recession that made it difficult on the markets worldwide.

So now it is leaving online companies in a great position. The US for example is one country that is moving towards legalization and most likely going to come to some agreement within the next few months. Namely it is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who holds the key to legalization of gambling in the US for online gamers. He is believed to be the integral part of the puzzle who can push the market forward. Reid is a Nevada politician and is very much on the side of the state’s best interest. He has made it clear that he is focused on what will benefit his state and will make moves accordingly. Initlally Nevada gaming casinos were concerned that Reid would legalize online gambling at their expense- they would then have to share their markets with a slew of online gambling companies. They beleived that this would surely cause a deline in their revenues and pose problems for their own businesses. Reid assured that though he is in support of online gambling, he also wants to make things as fair as possible for companies already established in the land-based industry within the state. His main goal is to protect Nevada’s economy. Though it will be difficult, he most likely will find a way around the issue that protects his state. Nevada was one of the hardest-hit states when the recession occurred. It is still reeling and looking for recovery since the recession and millions of people in the state are still struggling.

Dancers Added to Payroll at Nevada Casinos

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

Nevada gaming officials just announced that they are adding dancers to casinos in the area, but how effective will that be? Gaming has become stale in a lot of ways since casinos have lost millions of dollars in revenue due to the recession. The recession was hard on the market and now gamers everywhere are still not returning to their old buying patterns. Many believe that they should still be conservative with their discretionary funds as the market works its way out of the recession. They are trying to push gamblers to come in and start gambling again. This may prove to be a difficult task and whether or not dancers will have an effect on the issue has yet to be seen. It’s clear what the casinos are trying to do though. Consider this—a young male gambler comes in to a casino and wants to gamble at the blackjack tables. He is met by the slew of dancers set to entertain on the dance floor when he rushes to gamble. Rather than reading the table rules (which is a necessity in the world of gambling) he jumps right in. it blinds him to the fact that those same casinos who brought in dancers also changed the payout rates to 6-5, which is considerably lower than it has been in past years. He also may not be able to focus on his strategy and good gaming.

So will the dancers prove lucrative for the casinos in Nevada? Well, casino operators are setting themselves up for an additional cost of paying that roster of dancers. That in itself is a considerable cost, but with the money coming partially out of former gambling payout money, it may work. Whether to not it will bring in more customers, or make them gamble longer has yet to be seen. Only time will tell, but it seems like a pointless addition. Though casinos are hoping it works, are people really that interested in watching dancers? This is Las Vegas! They can go to see dancers at any location, and that may sway them from falling for the dancer trick.

Playtech Waiting in the Wings as Gambling Expands

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

The world of gambling in the US is changing drastically. It seems as if one state after another is going through debates over gambling and its legalization. Since the recession states were left with huge deficits to manage and few options for finding money generating activities that can carry their budgets for coming fiscal years. It is taking a lot for them to find other ways of funding, but gambling seems to be the most viable. It is one of the only markets that has the ability to bring in millions of tax revenue dollars to states. For this reason many gaming companies are waiting with bated breath for the changes in legislation. They want the states to open the door to legalized gambling because that means they have access to the millions of dollars collected via gambling in any given month.

Playtech is a leader in the world of gambling and provides software to some of the top online casinos in the world. It is ready to enter the US market and its operators are waiting patiently for the US to continue to change its laws. Once it legalizes online gambling, Playtech is one of the gambling giants ready to pounce. It already has a great gaming reputation in other markets, and now it is ready to capitalize on the millions of gamblers in the states. Playtech officials believe that the US will be opening its doors to gambling soon and they are predicting that Atlantic City and Las Vegas are the main areas where gambling online will initially dominate. For this reason they want to set themselves up to make the change as quickly as possible once gambling laws are passed. It was back in 2006 when online gambling was banned in the states that Playtech moved out of the market and focused on other areas of the world. The UIGEA was what pushed them out but now it is about to change or be amended. Back at the time of the UIGEA institution, Playtech was one of the first companies to pull out of the US and now it wants to be one of the first to reenter when the time is right.

Nevada Legislators trying to Increase Gambling

Sunday, August 29th, 2010

There have been many changes in the world of gambling in Nevada. Recall that the state has suffered greatly since the recession. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that Nevada had one primary industry—gambling—to rely on. When that industry suffered due to the hefty unemployment rate burdening the state, Nevada as a whole was left with few options to generate money needed to overcome. Once the recession started people stopped gambling altogether and casinos in the state were left with drastically diminished revenue streams. With no other industries in the mix, the state was left stifled. It was a lot like Detroit, Michigan. This was another state that relied on one major industry for survival—automobile manufacturing. In a lot of ways it mirrored the problems that Nevada had once that industry fell too.

Nevada legislators are now trying to come up with ways to spur on the economy by making changes. One of those changes is working to revamp the casinos in operations. Legislators are trying to come up with better deals and specials for gamers in the hopes that it will help to reinvigorate the market. one of the latest changes is the inclusion of dancers in area casinos. The casinos are positioned in the party pits and they are set to help to entertain gamblers and encourage them to continue gambling for longer periods of time than they have been as of late. Though the inclusion of dancers is making casinos more interesting, it is also creating more of a financial strain for the communities. So what are casinos doing? Casinos are decreasing the payouts of blackjack tables in an effort to defray the cost of the added workers. This explains that recent change a lot of Nevada casinos made by changing the 6-5 payouts, from the normal 3-2 payouts. This is bad news for blackjack players wanting to maximize their potential payouts but it still is an added gaming bonus for people who may enjoy dancers and the club atmosphere. Only time will tell if the change pays off to the market, but if it does, then expect to have more fun at the gaming tables.