“NO COMMENT”
Recommended tweet: MGM Resorts purchases Wynn Boston Harbor and sells MGM Springfield to Mohegan Sun.
Variety is the spice of life. I’m easily bored and don’t like discussing the same topics every week. I was looking forward to a week of news that didn’t include rumors about MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts. However, I saw some information that I haven’t seen anywhere. Not even the twitters have been rumoring this!
Breaking: “MGMBostonHarbor dot com” and “Mohegansunspringfield dot com” exist
Someone(s) have purchased MGMBostonHarbor dot com and MoheganSunSpringfield dot com. A quick look at the whois for both sites doesn’t offer much insight into the owner. Domainsbyproxy.com is registered as the owner, administrator, and contact for both sites. They’re a company hired to keep snoops from knowing who owns and operates certain websites.
This might lead one to think that MGM Resorts now owns Wynn Boston Harbor and has sold MGM Springfield To Mohegan Sun. None of the parties involved are commenting on this but you can read a little more here.
Expect to hear more about this purchase before this column next week. MGM Resorts will be pressed to comment during their quarterly earnings call on Thursday, April, 26 at 8 am Pacific. You can listen along here. I’ll be listening and we’ll tweet any official news MGM Resorts has to offer.
The Longshot – Love Is For Losers
This is a side project from Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong that obviously has one thing in common with Las Vegas. This video above was shot at the Neon Boneyard. It looks great. You can listen to the full album on Spotify if you’d like to hear more.
Caesars Announces Two Non-Gaming Properties In Dubai
Last week, Caesars announced they would be licensing the Harrah’s name for a casino in California. This week they made a different partnership announcement. Caesars Palace Bluewaters Dubai and Caesars Bluewaters Dubai will become their first two non-gaming properties. They will manage the two luxury hotels and a beach club at Meraas Holdings’ Bluewaters Island development.
Caesars Entertainment will also oversee the 12 restaurants between the two properties. Expect to see at least one celebrity chef to have a restaurant. My guess is Dubai will be spared a Guy Fieri restaurant. Gordon Ramsay probably has more appeal for a property outside of the United States.
Details are sparse but both hotels will be a part of the Total Rewards network. I’m curious to see how we can earn and/or use rewards for these properties. In the meantime, enjoy this video overview of the properties. You can read the press release here if you’d like even more information.
More MGM Resorts News
MGM Resorts made two small announcements this week. First, they sold the Grand Victoria Casino in Illinois to Eldorado Resorts. The property doesn’t seem to fit with the other regional casinos owned by MGM Resorts. You can read the details of the deal here. MGM Resorts also announced they’re working on a solar array to power all their resorts on the Vegas Strip. These cost savings should go over well with investors on the earnings call.
Virtual Reality At The Orleans
A couple of weeks ago Boyd Gaming announced the first Las Vegas installation of IGT’s “Virtual Zone” at The Orleans. I watched people test the games out during G2E and it looked cool. However, shooting games aren’t my thing so I didn’t bother playing. Well, that changed on a recent visit to the Orleans.
There are two different VR games available. I visited the casino on a day where they were only offering team games. Even though I just wanted to watch, I was talked into participating. The two-person teams compete in Siege VR tournaments for $30 per team. The top daily team score wins $300 in Slot Dollars.
The “Virtual Zone” opens at 4 pm and there was nobody playing when we walked up shortly after opening. It takes about five minutes for the staff to teach the players. Gameplay lasts about 10 minutes and is more fun then I expected. The tech is super cool and literally immersive.
My shooting skills, real and virtual, are awful. Since we were the first to play we were in first place! Our score may have been a few zero’s less than previous leaders but we still had a better score than the two groups that followed us. HOLLA!
If I were to play again, I’d probably refrain from drinking beforehand. I’m wobbly enough as it is. The “Virtual Zone” will be available until June 9th. If successful, we should see it in other casinos. I’m all for variety in a casino and would like to see this catch on.
For what it’s worth, I don’t think any of the six players I saw were millennials. Three of the men playing were wearing suits. You can read more about the “Virtual Zone” here.
Quick Hits
- Carl Icahn sold Tropicana this week. Ironically, the Tropicana in Las Vegas is owned by another company – Penn National Gaming. Read more here.
- The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority released their annual Visitor Profile. It takes a special person to take time out of their Vegas vacation to participate. The small sample size and “unique” participants don’t necessarily make the results exact. However, the information does help paint a picture of the average Las Vegas visitor. Read the profile here
- The Burlesque Hall of Fame Reopens in downtown Las Vegas. Read more here.
- A Mob-themed show is opening at Plaza. Read more here.
- The owners of Ellis Island have purchased Mount Charleston Lodge. Read more here.
- Station Casinos is giving away a free bet on the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup tomorrow. Sweet deal. Read more here.
- The Plaza now has an app for maintenance, housekeeping, etc. Every hotel should offer something like this. Read more here.
- We had to update the off-strip resort fee guide thanks to Main Street Station, the California, and Fremont hotel. Read more about your $15 resort fee here.
- There are free tours of “Love” at The Mirage. Read more here.
- Last but not least, we have a little insight into the redesign of the casino floor at SLS Las Vegas. In addition to a brighter room, look for lower ceilings and better gaming zones to make guests feel more comfortable. Here’s a quote from the LA Times: “I think we’d like to present something a little more recognizable,” (general manager Paul) Hobson said. “If we put a more formal ceiling in, we’ll be able to create zones where people feel more comfortable and lighter.”
ZorkFest – Memorial Day Weekend
Featuring Anthony Curtis of Las Vegas Advisor talking about “The LVA Way.” Also, Gilbert Ott of God Save the Points, Richard Kerr of Award Travel 101 and much much more. You do not want to miss this! Be sure to check out the BIOs of all the great ZorkFest speakers and our detailed schedule page. Travel Smarter!
[Great Opportunity] May 27th – Award Travel 101 Bootcamp
Sunday, May 27th – 10am
Award Travel 101 Bootcamp — 3 hour intensive boot camp taught by Richard Kerr and Howie for anyone who wants to learn the basics of award travel and set themselves up for their first award trip. Our teaching will start with all attendees selecting a travel goal to attain with points and miles and working them from the ground up to achieve that goal. Throughout the course we give practical examples/applications of the methods using attendees goals.
Three modules:
• The FICO score and the right ways to obtain/utilize credit cards while protecting credit score
• Transferable versus fixed redemption currencies and how to use them
• Hotel and Airline Loyalty Program basics
$99 per attendee. Each attendee gets 1 year of AwardWallet Plus ($30 value).
SIGN UP TODAY!
Need a Room? Memorial Day Weekend
May 24th to May 28th 2018
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