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Monday, Aug. 16, 2010 | 2:52 p.m.
Sun archives
- Fertittas win Station Casinos bankruptcy auction (8-6-2010)
- Fertitta family, lenders maintain highest bid for Station Casinos properties (8-5-2010)
- Station Casinos, bondholders settle dispute (7-28-2010)
- Station Casinos bondholders renew interest in suing over deal (7-9-2010)
- New objections filed in Station Casinos bankruptcy case (7-2-2010)
- Station Casinos, Herbst Gaming fight bondholders in bankruptcy cases (6-17-2010)
- Station Casinos bondholders seek delay in auction process (6-9-2010)
- Judge OKs Station Casinos’ plan to sell 11 casinos (5-28-2010)
- Judge deals blow to Culinary Union effort in Station Casinos bankruptcy case (5-27-2010)
- New objections filed to Station Casinos bankruptcy plan (5-25-2010)
- Station Casinos loses $53.5 million in first quarter (5-17-2010)
- Station Casinos: No competitive advantage under bankruptcy plan (4-29-2010)
- Station Casinos: Boyd Gaming meddling in bankruptcy case (4-28-2010)
Las Vegas locals gaming leader Station Casinos Inc. today said its second quarter loss widened as revenue slumped and costs associated with its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization came in at nearly $38 million.
Station lost $69.6 million in the quarter ended June 30 vs. a loss of $65.3 million in 2009's second quarter.
Net revenue of $233.6 million fell 12.6 percent as the recession reduced spending at the company's 18 Las Vegas-area casinos, hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues.
Adjusted EBITDA, a profitability measure meaning earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was $61.4 million, down 22.5 percent.
Net bankruptcy reorganization costs were $37.9 million in the second quarter. These were for professional fees ($31.2 million) and adjustments of debt swap carrying values of $6.8 million.
Station's second quarter earnings from its Green Valley Ranch joint venture were $3.2 million representing 50 percent of Green Valley Ranch’s operating income. For the second quarter, Green Valley Ranch generated adjusted EBITDA before management fees of $11.9 million, a decrease of 21.4 percent compared to the same period in the prior year.
Green Valley Ranch reported a net loss of $5.4 million for the second quarter vs. a net loss of $3.8 million in the same period in the prior year.
The Greenspun family, owner of the Las Vegas Sun, is Station's partner in Green Valley Ranch, Aliante Station and three small properties in Henderson: Barley's, the Greens and one of the Wildfire casinos.
Station's net revenue from its major Las Vegas operations, excluding Green Valley Ranch and Aliante Station, was $214.7 million, a 12.7 percent decrease compared to the prior year’s second quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA from those operations decreased 16.6 percent to $59.2 million and their net loss was $19.2 million for the second quarter vs. $15.6 million in the same period in the prior year.
Overall casino revenue tumbled from $190.5 million to $167.1 million.
Station, which is on track to receive approval to emerge from bankruptcy next week, also joined other Las Vegas hotel-casino operators in posting reduced results for its hotels as occupancy levels and room rates fell as the recession continued locally.
Room revenue decreased 15.7 percent to $18.7 million for the three months ended June 30, Station said.
The company said room occupancy of 80 percent was down from 87 percent in last year’s second quarter while the average daily room rate of $62 was down from $69.
While Station is known mainly as a locals casino operator, it has sizable hotel operations at some properties including 1,000 rooms at Palace Station, 815 at Red Rock Resort, 490 at Green Valley Ranch and 457 at Sunset Station.
It couldn't happen to a nicer co.Hopefully they will have to declare bankruptcy again and this time lose their casinos!
I as a local will not even step into a Station Property! They have lost sight of business 101 - they treated customer terribly, their employees with dis-respect and the whole way they handle this bankruptcy was near criminal.
Well, you don't have to go any farther then to see they are affiliated with the Sun to understand why they are failing.
It's not as if people in Las Vegas and Henderson are a bunch of religious fanatics. Many people live here because they like to gamble. They even understand that they will lose most of the time.
What the Station management is failing to comprehend however, is that the tolerance for losing is a fine line.
If I lose twenty dollars in a penny machine betting twenty cents a spin in an hour, get bonuses or a few four of a kinds here or there and a couple of drinks, I've been entertained. I leave the property feeling like I had a great time. (Amounts are relative to your income level, twenty dollars might be two hundred for somebody else, but the point is made)
However, nowadays at the stations, your twenty is gone in five to ten minutes, long before your first cocktail arrives. Chances are you might go through sixty to a hundred dollars in nothing flat, never see a bonus and only get a drink if you are lucky.
It's a sad but vicious cycle I guess. Wind the machines as tight as possible so that payout exposure is at a minimum, thus saving money for payroll, advertising and promotions.
Unfortunately, the net result of this strategy is fewer patrons, less profit, poor word of mouth, and an end result that concludes with shuttered doors.
People are going to think twice about a cruise or trip to Europe long before they think twice about heading to the casino for a couple of hours, if the conditions are fair.
Even in a bad economy the local casinos could flourish, if they'd simply remember gambling for us needs to be entertaining, not just gambling.
Boycott Stations!
I gave up on Stations 6 months ago, when the bartender told me I wasn't playing fast enough. Funny, I was gabbing with a rich lady who loses 3-5 G quite often in a day. We left. One other time, I was playing 4 credits instead of the 5 max, and they were on me like you know what on you know what. Seems they have a program that tracks your play live at the bar. The bartenders say "Please play the max and faster-I don't want to get in trouble, or I can't give you a 75 cent beer". What a pathetic joke.
We go to Eastside Cannery now. Newer place, Heiniken is a buck the whole month. Bye, bye rip off Stations, you won the BK battle, but you will lose the locals war. Good...
I wonder how much Station spent for Lawyers? Stations and other Casino's will not come back until they change their attitude. In order to make money u have to give the customer a break.
"Adjusted EBITDA, a profitability measure meaning earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, was $61.4 million"
So in other words, Station's OPERATING PROFIT was $61.4 million dollars in the second quarter. That's a huge profit and that's AFTER paying all their off-the-top property management fees and huge personal salaries!!!
If the second quarter is in line with the 1st, 3rd and 4th that's an OPERATING PROFIT SOMEWHERE AROUND $240 MILLION DOLLARS FOR THE YEAR!
Why not charge a $25 "resort fee" when a customer "wins" a "free night" lodging in their Swipe'n Win contest? They won't stop treating their customer base like dirt until they start ACTUALLY losing money, or the company isn't able to cover the interest on the family's private debt.
Sadly, that doesn't seem like anytime soon.
The lynch-mob's here...predicting the end of Las Vegas from behind their $500 e-machines computer. The Fretitta's are fighting to hold-on to something they've spent the better part of their lives and millions of their dollars buidling! Any of you would do the same thing in thier position, but you're not... throwin' stones is easy!
A higher percentage of my nothing is still nothing.
Perhaps they should declare bankruptcy...might give the brothers a chance to adjust their finances. Oh wait, that was the last story of Stations sucking teet.
I'd bet a load of cash that not one of the haters posting here has ever launched and operated a business.
I love the station casinos...nothing to do with "hate"....they borrowed huge amounts of money to take the company private. For better or worse THAT WAS THEIR DECISION. It didn't turn out good. That's the breaks. Economy soured....but, but they took on too much debt to finance their decision to privatize.
There should be no Re-do's...for anyone that runs a company into bankruptcy.
What they did is the equivalent of a homeowner short selling their house to themselves....wait, that's illegal.
They had a plan, it didn't work. Now, let someone else who didn't go bankrupt give it a shot. It has nothing to do with their long standing ties to Las Vegas. No one should be rewarded by having billions wiped off their debt only to restart the process. They can yell "unforeseen economic collapse" all they want. I'd make the same argument if it was Wynn, Sheldon or Kirk. No re-do's!!!
I don't see Stations as better or worse than other casinos. If you go any of them just expect to lose most of the time. Go where you like the atmosphere, the people and have fun.
Look at the payout rates posted on the Gaming Commission website for different denominations and you will see why a $ 20 will disappear in minutes.
I believe if you took out the top two tiers of executive salaries - a far different picture would emerge.
I have noticed at Boulder Station they only seem to be dealing one deck of a 2 deck game. If you are playing side bets I would only play at properties that play 2/3 to 3/4 of the double deck shoe.
talk about a ponzi deal, that's stations
Emerging successfully from the bankruptcy doesn't exactly equate to future profitability.
The excess profitability of the late nineties was a mirage - what we're seeing now is a readjustment in our economy. Fiscal senses have returned, and we won't see anything like we saw five years ago in our lifetimes.
The local casino market is over-saturated, and those who profess "the casinos will rebound when the economy rebounds" are looking at things through rose colored glasses.
Station is telling their team members that everything is going back to the way it was - 401K match, free benefits, company wide raises.
That's comical at best. Stations, like every other local and downtown casino, will continue to bleed money until the weakest finally shutter their doors, and allow the remaining to increase their patronage.
The poster "anchorbine" makes a very valid point about the perception of gambling fun versus ripoff.
Emerging from bankruptcy will definitely help Stations. Out-of-state tourists are leery of booking at a bankrupt casino, because they don't want to risk the casino closing its doors just before one's trip. Also, shedding so much of the accumulated debt will allow Stations to turn a profit, and as they do, improvements should be noticeable in their casinos, because the funds will be available to finance the upgrades to staff and facilities.
I do however agree with those posters who have a bad taste in their mouths because the very people who caused the bankruptcy by taking on so much debt, are now the owners again. That certainly gives the illusion of collusion.
Ouch!
I'm always in the minority at this site...I like Stations, I always complain when I have company in town and we go to the strip that I like my local Station casino better. I don't know the Fertittas, and maybe I wouldn't like them, but I know several Stations employees and they all seem happy with their jobs and provide me with good service.
If you gamble, stop whining about loosing. The purpose of a casino isn't for players to win. It's for them to loose so that the casino makes money. You want to be entertained? Then save your cash and buy a big TV and watch some movies at home. Go camping, save up for a vacation, go walking around @ the mall to get some exercise in, spend some time with your kids or grandkids, or whomever. It doesn't matter if it takes you 15 minutes or two hours to loose $20. You still lost $20. The only difference is how much time you actually wasted pressing buttons on a video poker machine like one of those chickens that's trained to play tic-tac-toe you find at the circus. Only instead of your "reward" being some seeds that slide down a chute, it's a cocktail waitress bringing you a drink. If you're actually entertained by that, then just wow. Otherwise, stop hating on the casinos that provide this service that your hollow lives so desperately need.
Wow, somebody needs a hug. :)
Indeed DMC, the purpose of a casino is to generate revenue and a profit.
This however becomes difficult when you have no patrons in the casino. We don't live in a town with a single casino, we live in a town with numerous casinos. The casino that provides the best experience on a consistent basis will generate the best word of mouth, best return business, and create the best opportunity to create a profit for their property.
Of course, a casino with zillions of patrons can still mismanage, overextend themselves and find themselves bankrupt in spite of a great customer base.
At this point in time, there is no question the M casino is doing a much better job of taking care of their customers in comparison with either Sunset or Green Valley Ranch Stations. Unfortunately for the M, their location is subpar unless you are in Anthem or Seven Hills.
The M, however, at the moment, is going out of their way to make sure a visit to their casino is pleasant from any perspective you choose. The machines "seem" to be a bit looser then station, but that's not necessarily factual, only my experience.
All that being said however, if Station Casinos put out the same effort the M put out, the M would be in serious trouble due to their subpar location. Fortunately for the M however, Station seems to be on autopilot for the moment.
As for wasting time, I can't imagine sitting in a boat for six hours waiting to catch a fish I'm going to toss back in the water, but I certainly wouldn't tell the angler he was wasting his time. How one chooses to spend their time is their own business, not somebody elses.
Why'd they build these things? They expected to fill hotel rooms and have we out-of-towners play at these outlying locations?? They thought locals would fill these places? I don't get it.
The pent up rage of the disgruntled gamblers finding fault with a great company is so sad. I'm not saying Stations is the best managed company but their accomplishments are indisputable. Those who hurl stones must even feel worse about themselves for continuing to patronize businesses they despise. Their poor judgement is manifested in their rants. As regards Sun ownership, what has that got to do with the discussion? The Greenspuns are a victim of both the economy and Station's managment steering business to their wholy owned properties.
Lots of sour grapes from lots of losers. They are a Nevada company that supply jobs. We need more of these creative people to supply more jobs.
Sortdata your an idiot. "Creative people" what are you talking about. These pirates ran their company into the ground, stiffed their lenders, bought off a judge, and continue to lose money. If the company had been run better and more efficiently they would have created more and better paying jobs. Instead they went bankrupt by overleveraging their properties with unreasonable debt. The result was job layoffs, reduced marketing efforts and lower wages. Now these racketeers are bidding on the "M"'s debt load for pennies on the dollar. Don't they have enough losers in their portfolio?
I would rather go to a Stations than Terrible Herbst!