Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Monday, May 17, 2010 | 8:25 a.m.
Riviera Holdings Corp., owner of casinos in Las Vegas and Colorado, today said it lost $4.5 million as revenue fell in the first quarter.
The loss, amounting to 36 cents per share, compares to a loss in the year-ago quarter of $1 million or 8 cents per share.
Net revenue of $30.8 million was down from $34.7 million in the year-ago quarter.
Riviera today reiterated that it's in default on debt obligations and continues to negotiate with lenders to refinance or restructure its more than $227 million in debt. If it's unable to do so, it will likely file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Riviera said.
In the first quarter, revenue at the 2,075-room Riviera Las Vegas of $20.5 million was down from $24.4 million in the 2009 quarter. At the Riviera in Black Hawk, Colo., with 750 slot machines and a dozen gaming tables, revenue of $10.3 million was up from $10.2 million.
Amid tough competition on the Las Vegas Strip, Riviera said its room revenue there of $8.4 million tumbled 18.4 percent as the average daily room rate fell about 20 percent to $55.69. Room occupancy of 82.2 percent was up from 76.8 percent.
"We believe that due to a number of factors affecting consumers, including but not limited to a slowdown in global economies, contracting credit markets and reduced consumer spending, the outlook for the gaming and hospitality industries remains highly uncertain. Based on these adverse circumstances, we believe that the company will continue to experience lower than expected hotel occupancy rates and casino volumes," Riviera said in its quarterly report.
With its glass, star-lit exterior, visitors can't miss the Riviera when driving down the Strip. As the first high-rise to open on the Las Vegas Strip, featuring a nine-story hotel, the Riviera has seen more than 50 years as an entertainment destination in Las Vegas. Top bill acts like Liberace, Dean Martin and the long-running Splash revue (closed in 2006) have graced its showrooms over time.
The Riviera still offers its share of entertainment options with topless revue "Crazy Girls," a comedy club and "Illusions," starring Jan Rouven.
The 100,000-square foot casino has been featured in many films like "Casino," "Austin Powers" and "21." Although the hotel has passed through a long list of owners over the years it has always held on to it's unique theme (for Las Vegas) in that it lacks any particular theme. It also features a William Hill Race & Sports Book walk-up betting window right off the sidewalk on the Strip.
The Riviera has dining options well covered, from seafood and steaks at R Steak and Seafood, a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner fare at Banana Leaf Café to an international cuisine at the R Buffet.
$227 million is all? Can't they sell the joint for that much? Maybe the other casino owners should just buy out Riviera, Sahara, and Circus Circus and implode them just to eliminate a few thosand rooms from the market.
I think we should make it a VA clinic. it's convenient and would need some renovations . It would be great for all the returning VETS and serve as an much needed clinic until the new one is finished (2013)
hey, riviera:
i own stock in your company. you might want to ask any attorneys that sit on your board of directors what "serving two masters" means.
and "sun"...do some freaking REPORTING!
you're missing something here.
So sad, I remember the late 70's early 80's when the good times rolled day and night on that end of the strip.
More of those darn "green shoots" in the economy harry Reid keeps seeing. He helped save or create 2 million jobs (just none in Las Vegas). One more year of harry cleaning up this mess and everyone will be unemployed.
Discetionary spending is still in the toilet. Until that changes there will be more of the same kind of news. We spent the weekend in shreveport and just can't see spending the extra money to go to Vegas right now.
Will someone please put this poor, suffering property out of its misery. They shoot horses, don't they?
I go to Vegas every year but I have not been inside the "Riv". I will be sure to visit it this year. It looks kind of dumpy.
it is about to get a whole lot worse...
more job losses soon = more foreclosures
it is a shame some of these old places are not making money, but then are the new ones actually making money or just moving it around with edgy accounting
I always kind of enjoyed the tattered old-school style of the Rivera. I played among the last Bingo games there. Dare I say enjoy it while you can?
Anyone who has recently steeped foot inside the Riviera can tell you that the place has fell into such disrepair, and dirty carpets, crappy tight machines. This property used to be quite a good time with good gambling, floor shows, comedy etc. If the owners expect people to visit their place, they had better clean it up.
They should have a betting line on which will close first. Riviera, Sahara or CC.
Riviera does have some classic neon and is still a cool place in a classic kind of way. I'm talking the casino, haven't ever stayed there. Do they still have the "everybody wins" slot games, where you paid $20 and after you lost it all, got to pick a prize from the prize booth?
Most foot traffic from the south stops at Wynn.
they made the huge mistake of trying to compete directly against newer and larger properties and what they ended up with was a third rate resort. they just physically can't compete with mandalay bay, palms, etc.
what they SHOULD have done was done conventions and promotions that appeal to a "mega-niche" population.
like have some kind of japanese anime convention or beer pong tournament or hot asian girl speed date, etc.
they're goofy little things, but the larger resorts aren't doing things like that.
These headlines are not good. Talk about a supply and demand imbalance. Sounds like a bunch of places just need to close down... Too many ant hills and not enough ants!
"Riviera loses $4.5 million, says bankruptcy possible"
"Station Casinos loses $53.5 million in first quarter"
"Hard Rock Hotel reports 1Q loss of $26.5 million"
"Las Vegas Hilton reports loss in first quarter"
"Hooters loses $3.9 million, says bankruptcy still possible"
"Stratosphere owner loses $2.7 million in first quarter"
"Las Vegas Sands narrows loss in first quarter"
http://jimmyhoofa-lv.blogspot.com/
Similar to how the P HO was bought by Harrahs, The Riv is going to be bought by Starwood Capital. Buy the debt on the cheap and move in. They have made their intentions known.
You would think that some of these properties would try to compete by offering better games. (single deck at full BJ payouts, single "0" roulette. I know most of the players have no clue but a good number of locals and some tourists would visit if the odds were a bit better.
Open the roof top pool...let the water trickle inside and open a Rain Forest cafe.
guess this place got old, just like me. once we we're both classy back in the 60's, now the golden years stink for both of us.
True,foot traffic isn't much at that end . Maybe if the Fontaiblue ever opens,it will revive thate end. But the Riv is a dump. Sad,really.
I went to a tattoo convention at the Riv. They could pull off income as a second-rate convention hall, but Vegas isn't getting the same conventions it used to. When people used to flock to Vegas in the thousands for COMDEX and CES and MAGIC and the Adult Expo, then the Sahara, Hilton, and Riviera were very convenient places to stay in. At CES one year, the Sahara was selling rooms for $275 a night. These are the same rooms they are giving away for $1 now with their new promotion. Bring back the conventions to Las Vegas and these properties will be relavent again.
I used too love this place good times in the casino, lounge when it was still a place to see a good show, and the showes upstairs. Now tightttt extra tightttt slots high min.bet on table games with bad odds. Lounge gone, and all but one show gone from upstairs. Time are still bad I don't care what Mr. Obama says about improvement. I have been a true and faithful patron of the Riv for 20 years. After last year trip don,t know now. Sorry to see Her go.
It didn't help when the knocked down the Stardust across the street.
I remember when these idiots would not sell at $36 a share. Now its .36 cents. LOL
Thanks for the stock info Dan. The Dow Jones closed at 10,600 today. What a disappointment, after it looked like it was headed past 11,000. Maybe there will be no recovery because people are in too much debt and they have no money to spend.
The stock quote of .33 for 1 Riviera share reflects a speculation that the place will not go bust. Technically, there is no substance behind every share. The company is not generating any profit and is far from the breaking point. However, what does bankruptcy actually mean? Station Casinos are technically bankrupt, apparently stopped paying back interests on their debt and still remain in action? WTF, bankruptcy is nothing but a parole without consequence, is that it?
From my point of view, there are simply too many casinos in Las Vegas now. The big ones, Wynn/Venetian/MGM/PH/CityCenter, etc, are swallowing up so much money that the "little ones" stand no chance to survive. It's like these big Wall Mart superstores killing the granny's neighborhood stores.
It's the people that have been loyal to a property who bring the cash to that particular casino. They should come up with some sort of a "loyality program" instead of hard calculated comp rating. That way people would perhaps even gamble where they are staying and this might help hotels like the Riviera that's offering fairly low rates. The El Cortez is offering free rooms a few months after a customer stayed there. that's a nice incentive to come back. I like that idea.
Without these super big size casinos, even the "New" Frontier and the Riviera would have survived. But now the market shares have shifted and some casinos have no future anymore. It's like that. Vegas wants it that way. I just don't get it that a company that is in bankruptcy can operate just like nothing happened.
Give Boyd the control over Station, they offered a fair price.. Instead, corrupt lawyers delay the process......
From Switzerland
I wonder if they'll be able to corner the market on cobwebs.
If a casino cannot take a four and half mil. loss it should not open it's doors.
My suggestion is to not pay it's Federal taxes and let the Fed's take it over.
The bicycle card club (Bell Gardens Ca.) managed to do it many years ago and it is still in business today.
Just a suggestion.
The Riviera must go. Implode it now and take it of its misery. Once the Fountainbleau opens, it will crush the Riviera AND Sahara in less than a month. Times change and you have to have a not only large but TALL casino tower to keep up.
Bring back Pia and all the great old names that played there.All that glitters is good...Sammy,Deam,Frank and all the rest should be on the stage in 3-D at the Riviera. Technology can turn this club into the best on the Planet if anyone cares.
The Riv needs to do something about those annoying check-in Kiosks. The older people have no idea how they work,either.
I was going to book a few nights there for my next upcoming trip to L-V, just curious to find out if it's true that the rooms at the "newly remodelled" tower are actually really nice. I am shocked to see that the rates are still way to high. At the Riviera, I would pay up to 40 dollars, all expenses included, but not one single penny over that limit. They seem to be crazy by charging 60 and more midweek.
From Switzerland
They have something called "last minute offers". These room rates look great but on second glance is says that all rooms in that (apparently old) tower are all smoking rooms. They also offer 10 dollars slot play per day, which is worth approx 6-7 dollars, depending on what type of machine you intend to turn this slotplay into real cash. This sounds quite interesting. I will keep my eyes open for similar offers. The moment is good to visit Vegas....
From Switzerland