Bus shutdown of little consequence to casinos

David Strow

Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

Today's shutdown of Greyhound Lines is expected to have little impact on the already struggling Las Vegas casino market, observers and casino officials said.

Las Vegas visitor numbers took a dramatic fall in the weeks following Sept. 11's terror attacks and a subsequent decline in air travel across the United States. For Las Vegas, a slowdown in air traffic is particularly painful, as about one-half of the city's visitors come to Las Vegas by air.

Bus service does not play nearly as important a role for the city.

In Nevada, Laughlin and Primm are more reliant on bus service for business, but a downturn in these markets should not have a huge effect on major Las Vegas casino operators, said Andrew Zarnett, gaming analyst with Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.

"The importance or significance of today's tragedy isn't the effect of Greyhound shutting down, but the fear instilled among bus passengers, who might be afraid or reluctant to travel by bus after this incident," Zarnett said.

However, Zarnett added, "this is a one-time incident that happens occasionally across America. It's sad and unfortunate, but it doesn't get people to change their travel patterns."

Greyhound and other bus lines are particularly important to Atlantic City, where the bus line brings in nearly 1 million passengers a year. Station Casinos Inc. used to have an agreement with the company for its Las Vegas casinos.

The "Lucky Streak" service, initiated in January 1999, brought Greyhound passengers from Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno, Calif., and Phoenix directly to Texas and Sunset Station.

But that agreement expired several months ago, said Station spokeswoman Leslie Pittman.

"I wouldn't think we'd have too much of an impact from Greyhound (shutting down)," Pittman said. "Whether this slows drive-in traffic ... remains to be seen."

Harrah's Entertainment Inc.'s Showboat Atlantic City busses more customers into Atlantic City than any other property there, said Harrah's spokesman Gary Thompson, and the company is trying to contact Greyhound to find out when service will resume.

"In other markets, it's more drive-in (traffic)," Thompson said. "Bussing is not a real big issue at this point.

"If bus service resumes as quickly as you'd expect it to, I think the impact would be quite minor. But if bus service is delayed for a period of time, it would have an impact."