Thursday, Dec. 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
"That's the sum of the other major location-based entertainment industries combined - theme parks, box office cinema, cruise ships and professional spectator sports," said Glenn Schaeffer, president of Circus Circus Enterprises Inc.
Gaming has become more available to more people, closer to where they live, and easier to access, Schaeffer said in a keynote address to the American Gaming Summit.
No where is this more evident than in Las Vegas, where a multibillion-dollar building boom of new hotel-casinos continues unabated.
"The leading indicator will be Las Vegas, which will not only remain the industry's largest market, but will also generate the most new revenues of any gaming market," Schaeffer said.
"The next five years will see us raise the bar on ourselves," he said.
Circus Circus is scheduled to break ground in January on an $800 million megaresort, one of several new hotel-casinos under construction or planned on the Las Vegas Strip.
Schaeffer said hotel-casinos on the four-mile long Strip generate total revenues that outpace "the revenues of all the theme parks in America put together."
Rand Araskog, chairman of ITT Corp., told the convention of gaming analysts and executives that his company was committed to "keeping Las Vegas the gaming oasis of the world."
Araskog said his company, which owns Caesars World Inc. hotel-casinos in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and Atlantic City, was going to spend 'a couple of billion dollars" along the Las Vegas Strip.
"It's the best place we could find to gamble that kind of money," Araskog said.
Robert Bowman, president of ITT Corp., promised his company would have "a larger footprint in Las Vegas."
ITT is adding 2,400 rooms at Caesars Palace here, spending $160 million on renovation of the Desert Inn, and will break ground Wednesday on a $800 million, 3,000-room Planet Hollywood Hotel-Casino on the Strip, the first hotel venture for the famous name.
It is also expanding the Caesars' property in Atlantic City from 638 to 1,125 rooms and plans a 1,000-room Planet Hollywood Hotel-Casino there.
Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, who is recovering from prostate cancer surgery, addressed the conference by video hookup. He said there was concern that a congressionally-mandated study of gaming would be biased by those who would "wrest the control of gaming away from the state."
Miller said he hoped the final report of the seven-member commission would be "balanced, not biased."
Schaeffer and Bowman said hotel-casino profits were climbing as resorts expand their income base past gaming and into all areas of retail merchandising.
Bowman said his company's 420 hotels worldwide were taking back leases and moving into the retail business
Steve Wynn, chairman of Mirage Resorts Inc., said he was spending $70 million to $80 million on a fine arts collection that can be seen by the company's customers.
"We think it gives Las Vegas another dimension," Wynn said. "We keep pushing the envelope. We want to broaden the invitation."
Mirage is currently building the $1.3 billion Bellagio resort, scheduled to open in 1998. Wynn says it will be the most beautiful hotel in the world.
Mirage currently operates the Mirage, Golden Nugget and Treasure Island resorts.
"People who come to this town do know the difference between good and bad, beautiful and ugly," Wynn said. "Every time we've taken the high road, we've been rewarded."
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