Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Erik Kabik/Retna/ErikKabik.com
Kelly Rowland performs at Surrender in the Encore on Sept. 5, 2010.
Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2011 | 2 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Las Vegas Strip casinos post $2.5 billion loss in year (1-31-11)
- Nongaming revenue a shaky leg for Strip to stand on (1-4-11)
- Las Vegas Strip looks to adapt to a changing market (1-2-11)
- LVCVA focusing marketing, ad strategy on ‘core’ visitors (12-15-10)
- Downtown breaks 28-month slide with October gaming win increase (12-9-10)
- Gaming executives foresee a tough year ahead (12-9-10)
What recession? Those opulent nightclubs are paying off for the Strip with their pricey bottles of booze.
The latest figures for 2010 show Strip partyers are running up huge bar tabs, offering a shot of hope to the otherwise gloomy numbers.
Although spending on gambling, food and hotel rooms continued to slide in the last fiscal period, ending June 30, statewide casino beverage sales rose 3 percent to $1.4 billion — just shy of the industry’s peak in 2007. Figures for the Strip were even better.
That’s according to the state Gaming Control Board’s annual report, released Monday.
“People are still coming here so (tourism) volume isn’t down by much ... and we know people aren’t spending like they used to,” said Mike Lawton, a senior research analyst with the Gaming Control Board. “But people still come here and drink.”
It’s a small economic bright spot in an otherwise downbeat report showing casinos had $3.4 billion in net losses — much from paying interest on debt. But at least that sum was nearly half what it was the previous year, further indication that the industry’s losses are bottoming out.
The figures for booze sales include 256 casinos generating annual revenue of at least $1 million.
The beverage increase was even more pronounced on the Strip, home to some of the country’s most expensive and profitable clubs. Beverage revenue rose 7 percent during the last fiscal period, to $909.6 million, for the 39 Strip casinos generating annual revenue of at least $1 million. Strip beverage revenue rose 2 percent in fiscal 2009. The Strip accounted for 66 percent of beverage revenue from the state’s highest-grossing casinos.
The booming nightclub industry in Las Vegas, including the emergence of a 24-hour, pool-centered party scene and a slew of elaborate new clubs and drink menus, is partly responsible for the increase, analysts say.
New clubs and lounges at CityCenter, Encore and Hard Rock Hotel, which opened a rooftop bar and pool as part of its expansion last year, are among the new venues noted in the report.
Today’s opulent nightclubs offer a potentially more expensive experience than the more mundane drinking holes of years past, said Brian Gordon, a principal with Las Vegas consulting firm Applied Analysis.
During conference calls with Wall Street analysts last year, Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn highlighted the runaway success of Surrender nightclub and the attached Beach Club at Encore, which opened May 25.
Encore Beach Club and Surrender on May 29, 2010.
The performance of its nightclub venues in Las Vegas stands in “sharp contrast to the softness in the market,” while generating high profit margins, Wynn told investors. The company reported a 16 percent increase in food and beverage revenue in the third quarter, in large part because of the new venues, surpassing revenue generated in other departments, with the exception of gambling.
Meanwhile, casinos are boosting revenue by giving away fewer drinks than in years past.
Statewide, Nevada casinos recorded 43 percent of drink sales as complimentary in fiscal 2010 compared with 45 percent the previous year. Strip casinos, which generally offer pricier drinks, reported 34 percent of beverage sales as comp revenue versus 37 percent for the same period a year earlier.
Increased beverage business isn’t enough to rescue the state’s sorry economy, as beverage revenue accounts for only 7 percent of total revenue generated by casinos statewide.
The report documents a transition period when casino giants were still accounting for vast discrepancies between the earnings expected of expensive resorts conceived before the downturn and the post-recession era of reduced spending.
Nevada casinos had about $1.5 billion in write-downs, well below the industry’s $5 billion in write-downs the previous year and contributing to a $3.3 billion reduction in net losses overall, the Gaming Control Board said.
Write-downs are a process by which companies reduce the book value of assets to account for reduced earnings expectations. Reducing the book value of assets, although making it more difficult for a company to borrow money and potentially hurting stock prices, is more of a symbolic accounting maneuver for the state and its gaming industry-dependent population than a fundamental change because it doesn’t affect or reflect what the casinos actually earn.
Nevada’s highest-grossing casinos would have reported $1.9 billion in net losses for fiscal 2010 even after removing the effect of write-downs — hardly a sign of a strong economic rebound.
Although other revenue sectors besides beverages fell in fiscal 2010, they declined by single digits, narrowing the double-digit losses of the previous year and placing those figures in line with revenue earned in 2004 and 2005, Lawton said.
Caesar's and Luxor have the largest talented labor pools in Southern Nevada. The talent stays for awhile then goes back to where it came from, leaving beaucoup empty bottles to take to the dump.
It looks like people smartened up a bit. We all know that Vegas is probably among the top 5 greatest cities in the world. No question about it. But losing on gambling is not that much fun. So, looks to me like people decided to gamble less (knowing they will lose the money too fast) and enjoy their money on things they have a little more fun with. And in a way, it makes sense.
A way to get more people get back to gambling, mentioned so many times before, would be to offer great promotions, more funbooks with matchplays, great high percentage slots in designated areas and exceptionally competitive rules on games such as b-j and such.
Is any of the fat cats listening?
From Switzerland
More drunks. Thats a two edged sword.
poppaD
More YOUNG AND STUPID drunks.
it's the cost of drinks not the amount. the casinos are losing money on rooms, so it is a little easier for them to overcharge the comped room people. c'mon man $6.00 to $8.00 for a beer? $28.00 for a shot of hennessey? who's fooling who!
Most casinos don't "own" their nightclubs, but rather rent out the space to companies like Tao Group or Light Group and take a chunk of the revenues on top of the rent they get. For example, Cosmo keeps 75% of Marquee revenues. Clubs do make money but they also attract a lot of illicit behavior which can get the operators and landlords (casinos) in trouble. At the end, of course, these clubs are more or less all the same -- it takes a decade for young people to figure that out it seems. The bread and butter of Vegas must be GAMING, we have to design properties and games better to attract this next generation of players with disposible incomes. I don't blame someone weaned on video games for not wanting to play a slot machine -- but where are the next gen slot games?
One has to wonder whether the write downs have been adequate to reflect the current market conditions in the casino business in Las Vegas today, given the state of the economy. Rather than being a "symbolic accounting maneuver" as stated in the article, inadequate writedowns of impaired assets due to manipulation and understatement by management can mask the true earnings of the entity in question.
Suffering from insomnia last night, I immediately reached for Financial Accounting Standards Board Accounting Standards Codification 360-10-05, "Accounting for the impairment or disposal of long lived assets, restatement of FASB #144."
Among other things, companies are required to consider a writedown due to an asset impairment when, (1) there has been a significant decrease in the market value of an asset, (2) a significant adverse change.............in the business climate that effects the value of an asset and (3) a projection is forecast that demonstrates continuing losses associated with an asset.
A recoverability test is used to screen whether an impairment has occurred, whether or not the sum of the undiscounted cash flows from the asset is less (or more) than the carrying value on its books.
If an impairment is recognized then a writedown is required from carrying value (book value) to fair value. The problem is what is fair value? Here it gets really subjective, management wants maximum fair value so as not to impair borrowing or stock value, but that might not be what the fair value really is.
In an active market the method used in determining fair value for an asset is market value. When there is no active market, accounting standards require measurement using the discounted present value of expected net cash flows (highly subject to manipulation and massaging).
While the writedowns that the casinos have been taking have been substantial, some are probably wondering, myself included, if they have been enough?
We've become New Orleans with less humidity and culture.
"beverage revenue accounts for only 7 percent of total revenue generated by casinos statewide". But for some reason the out of touch geeks running these casinos are placing more emphasis on nightclubs and screwing their gamblers. There's a reason comp drinks are down - less gamblers. It's a shame the casinos don't treat their bread and butter better. I come to Vegas twice a year a week at a time and I find myself gambling less and less thus spending less because nightclubs are for people I don't want to be around. Sports betting is probably the only thing the keeps me coming back and I'm in the minority when it comes to casino patrons in that regard. Casino management needs to get their heads out of their rear ends and quit ripping off their core customers.
I'm an old timer by today's standards, and I have never in my life had to pay for an an alcoholic drink in a casino. I am neither a high roller nor a big drinker, but the casinos are very happy to provide free booze to loosen up my inhibitions to play. I wonder how much "return on investment" the casinos get "in the aggregate" for "loosening up" the patrons.
They sure have tightened up the slot machines lately ( based on my limited experience :)...
mercurialmike....I'm 25, the only time I have EVER had to pay for a drink was in a club or those big tall funnel cups lol!! Other then that, It's all been FREE!!! =) So, I know what you mean!! =)
Hmmm.....noone sees the staff furiously calling in the credit cards in the back to make sure they're actually valid and usable. The write off rate on these cards is a big issue with these clubs.
"Party On Wayne" - "Dude, Where's My Car?" If Vegas tourism marketing doesn't capitalize on the ongoing party the strip really is...then they are the losers. Why not legalize pot & prostitution to make the strip the ultimate party destination in the USA - Amsterdam ? Forgetaboutit ! Vegas is so much cheaper on airfare.
There are two interesting comments in this story:
....."and we know people aren't spending like they used to"
....."Meanwhile, casinos are boosting revenue by giving away fewer drinks than in years past."
Any relationship?