Global casino decline--not a good sign

[underpants]

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — One casino in the nation's second largest gambling market is being run by a state trustee, another may be foreclosed on and three others are facing down bankruptcy.

No more. The company this week laid off 400 of its 1,100 workers and stopped work on the interior of Revel," its first-ever project, reflecting the broad decline under way in national and global gambling markets.

MGM Mirage Inc. has shelved plans to build a $5 billion casino-hotel complex on land next to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City's marina district that would have been the city's largest. It also delayed finishing a boutique hotel at its $8.6 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas and canceled 200 condominiums there.

Las Vegas Sands Corp. has suspended construction at two sites in the Chinese island enclave of Macau and delayed projects in Las Vegas while it pursues roughly $881 million in financing. Harrah's Entertainment Inc. indefinitely suspended plans for a 660-room tower at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas Strip, and Boyd Gaming put its $4.8 billion Echelon project there on hold, too.

Atlantic City's casinos won $4.55 billion from gamblers last year, down 7.6 percent from 2007. Las Vegas saw revenue fall 9.3 percent in the first 11 months of last year compared with the year before. Full-year figures are due out soon.

Gambling revenue for casinos across the United States dropped $1.1 billion, or 3.6 percent, to $30.2 billion in the first 11 months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007, according to the American Gaming Association.

In another sign of the industry's tumble, casino game maker International Game Technology, based in Reno, Nev., announced Thursday that it will cut 200 jobs in its manufacturing operation, on top of a November cut of 500 jobs, for a total trim of 10 percent of the company's work force.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,485344,00.html

[Doctor Cynic]

1. I've lost my tiny violin. Can anyone find it?

[KharmaTrain]

2. All That's Left Are The Hardcore Gamblers...

...or the ones trying to turn a small paycheck into a big payoff. Another loser in this trend are the states, counties and cities that rely on the "juice" from these casinos to cover their budget shortfalls. A nearby town with a riverboat casino is already battening down the hatches. What's ironic was up until last fall, business was booming...the joke was people were trying to make up their loses in the stock market at the roulette wheel, but that's sure not the case now.

[underpants]

3. Yes there are a lot of localities and states that depend/assumed this was a never ending cash cow

We all remember that the first thing set back up in Mississippi was the "River boat" casinos

Haley Barbour was open about how much they needed them to be running for the state's revenue.

Casino's even in hard times, and especially when people are desperate, should be money machines...apparently not any more.

[KharmaTrain]

8. Too Many States Are Hooked On Gambling...

Be it from casinos or lotteries. Some states, headed by GOOPers like Barbour, were willing to take less federal money and lean more on the "Scratch and Sniffers" who bought lottery tickets like candy. I don't see the long lines for those last chance tickets like I used to. And this is money that goes to funding schools and social services...people who sure don't deserve to get kicked even harder.

I remember the casino boat battles in both Iowa and Illinois in the late 80s and all the rosy pictures all that money was gonna bring in. The problem was when you put up so many of those things, you both diluted the pond and took away the novelty. The fascination with "the boats" ended several years ago. So how will the states make up the shortfall? Tax cigarettes?

Cheers...

[underpants]

10. Like the NHL or NASCAR

over expansion

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Oh, shit." - Bill 'Republicon Family Values' Bennett

[underpants]

5. LOL

the worst and saddest part of Bennett's story was that he wasn't at a table (in the general public area or otherwise) but he played video poker. All by himself. Why he would need to fly in to do that is beyond me but it is sad that the human element was of no importance to him. He literally sat alone in a room with a servant probably waiting should he need something. He just sat there playing video poker, staring at the screen.

Just sad.

[Earth_First]

6. Must be from all the blackjack players making $40,000 a month...

(Okay, I promise I'll let it die after this laaast one...)

[cobalt1999]

7. Not surprising. Pay the bills or go on vacation to Vegas.

First thing to go in a recession is discretionary spending.

[soothsayer]

9. casinos are generally recession proof, but i guess

not depression proof.