Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

Episode #67 is up!

Listen here: http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com/2011/09/vegas-gang-67-september-29th-2011/

This time on the show:

- An Interview with Roger Thomas, Executive Vice President of Design, Wynn Design & Development.

DON'T MISS: Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic

** Sure Bets **

- South Florida Casino Expansion
- Tassels, Fringe, Trim and Imperial Orange
- Super B Burrito @ Eastern & Pebble
- BrainToniq

So that whole press release from Wynn Macau that strongly implied (if not straight up said) that their Cotai project was moving forward? Yeah, I guess someone forgot to tell the government.

Today in the Macau Daily Times, Secretary for Economy and Finance, Francis Tam Pak Yuen unceremoniously bursts that balloon. His quote?

"Companies may release their news, and the news should correspond to reality. Anyhow these news release won't affect the process"

Despite the fact that local officials seem to be back-pedaling on Wynn's go-go attitude, the piece also goes on to say that it's likely the project will be approved (it was filed before the 2008 cut-off) - it's just a matter of when.

Must be fun doing business in China, huh? If this happened in the US, my guess is that The Steve would be bellowing from the mountaintops about the 'unstable business climate'.

Personally, I can't wait for Cotai construction to start - if it's as magnificent as the principals have been hinting, it will certainly be something to see.

This is SoV #30! Congrats to Jeff on the milestone and thank you to all of you for reading.

Here's Jeff's latest 'advice' column, this time with thoughts on Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Cosmopolitan, Bally's, Aria, Planet Hollywood and Paris.

Enjoy!

Sometimes when a nugget or two shakes loose, the next thing you know you've got an avalanche of new info coming in. Thanks to Twitter, Google and some sharp sleuthing from VT super-boss Chuckmonster, some additional details on Andrew Pascal's new social/gaming/tech/entertainment company have come to light.

Meet incuBET (come on guys, spring for the dot-com domain too).

According to the SEC, Pascal, along with former WagerWorks exec Paul Matthews and a third partner, Humam Saknini have raised $5 million for their new venture.

My original thought was that these guys were adding some social elements to existing slot and video-based games - say maybe coming up with new ideas and partnering with an existing device maker like IGT (WagerWorks was sold to IGT and Matthews went on to work there so relationships likely run deep). The sparse incuBET homepage almost makes it sound like they want to inject wagering into 'casual gaming', which is the same code phrase used for games on Facebook, the iPhone and iPad.

Could this be a bigger play than originally thought? Obviously, adding betting to Facebook games wouldn't be legal in the United States under current law... and changing that sounds like a mighty big job... If I was incuBET, I'd at least be thinking about that possibility for the long term, while working under existing law to make slots more appealing to younger gamblers in jurisdictions that allow them.

Will we see something from these guys at G2E? That's only weeks away - time will tell but I'd keep an eye on this group.

The scuttlebutt on Twitter this afternoon is that Andrew Pascal, former COO and President of Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, is working on a new startup focused on 'social gaming'. Indeed, a view of his LinkedIn profile indicates perhaps something along those lines. His venture firm's Facebook page includes links to two upcoming products: QRious (I assume some sort of QR code nonsense) and another called MyVegas (as an aside, 'MyVegas' is also the name of the social networking feature on popular travel Web site VegasTripping.com).

The word is that he's started a new company, including former execs from companies like MGM Resorts. That gaming company has reportedly expressed interest in Pascal's new operation and may be the first to roll out any new products they reveal.

Before his stint at Wynn, Pascal ran wagerworks, a startup devoted to online gaming. Pascal is the nephew of Wynn Resorts director Elaine Wynn.

For a long time I've been saying that younger gamblers are pretty bored by slot machines and features like interactions with Facebook, Twitter, etc... seem overdue. Perhaps this is a move in that direction? I've met Pascal a few times but to say I know him would be massively overstating. Still, my impression is that he's a very smart guy and sees the tech blind spot that a lot of these gaming and hospitality companies have.

What is Pascal working on? If you have any info, email us and let us know. Anonymity guaranteed!

Picnic Goers - we now have discount codes for Planet Hollywood, Paris Las Vegas and Bally's Las Vegas. Using these links you can knock a few bucks off the rack rate at these hotels.

Thanks to Caesars Entertainment for providing these deals.

Planet Hollywood

Paris Las Vegas

Bally's Las Vegas

The July Nevada gaming numbers are out, and I've sliced, diced, and spliced them to exhaustion. After the jump, I'll share my thoughts on what's going on in Nevada casinos.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that Wynn Resort's Cotai project in Macau is moving forward. The project has been described by Steve Wynn as the 'best thing I've ever done'.

The second Macau hotel for Wynn Resorts has been long on the drawing board. Designs have supposedly been completed for many months - several quarterly calls have been punctuated by the company expressing their ability to start whenever they had their land concession and project approved.

It appears that has finally occurred.

According to Wynn's Macau subsidiary's financial disclosures, this will mean a $50MM payment will be made for the land in the next 15 days. The RJ sites a $193.43MM payment but from their story it's not clear how they arrived at that figure - perhaps some combination of the relinquishment in the linked disclosure and additional fees? [UPDATE: see the release linked below]

http://www.lvrj.com/business/wynn-subsidiary-gets-nod-to-develop-cotai-property-129633858.html

This is a major step forward for Wynn Resorts who have been waiting to proceed on this site for some time.

UPDATE: The Wynn Macau release is here: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MTA2NjUwfENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1

Episode #66 is up!

Listen here: http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com/2011/09/vegas-gang-66-september-8th-2011/

This time on the show:

- The Plaza Redevelopment
- Updated Bellagio Rooms
- Riviera Update
- Wynn Loses Key Exec to Caesars Palace
- Parry Thomas Birthday
- Vegas Homelessness

** Sure Bets **

- Drive up US 93 to Caliente, Pioche, etc...
- Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic
- Bachi Burger
- Nike AirMag Shoes

I've realized recently that I'm Vegas homeless. When I think about it, I probably have been for a long time.

What does being 'Vegas homeless' mean? I lack a consistent home base. There's no hotel I can rely on to offer me a great stay and friendly service at a price that's reasonable. I don't have a single casino in which I concentrate my play. There's no one hotel I care about and no one hotel that cares about me.

More after the jump...

The Vegas Internet Mafia Family Picnic has a confirmed venue: The Mezz @ Planet Hollywood. For those unfamiliar, this is part of the area upstairs that overlooks the casino, a perfect spot to host our shenanigans.

All the details are here, on the fabulous poster Chuck made for the event. There's also a VT post on the topic here.

Expect the unexpected: Vegas Gang LIVE, VT Match Game, Stump Dr. Dave and more... It's your chance to come out and have a hell of a lot of fun with your fellow Vegas addicts. We can't wait to see you there.

The kind folks at Caesars Entertainment are providing some room deals and we'll have the links for those shortly. It's looking to be a popular weekend in town so I'd recommend booking sooner rather than later.

Planning to come? Let us know in the comments. Not planning to come? Shame on you.