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Inside Gaming: Peak May Keep Peeks Where Wynn Wants Them

Las Vegas Gaming Wire

Las Vegas developer Steve Wynn tells the tale of taking his wife, Elaine, and a gaggle of guests to Picasso in the Bellagio to celebrate her birthday about six years ago. Inside, he says, the only thing his guests could see was the reflected neon light of the Aladdin. Wynn vowed then he'd never let a neighbor control, let alone wreck, the view from one of his resorts.

We presume that is the raison d'etre for his faux Alp on the Strip, which will hide all the restaurants at Wynn Las Vegas from the Strip. He doesn't want guests at his dining spots along the pools on "his" side of this mountain to be captivated by the Cloud over Fashion Show mall. We're left to surmise, of course, since Wynn has chosen to play "I've Got a Secret" with the public and the press about his resort.

Deutsche Bank's master spy Marc Falcone was snooping around the Kremlin last month, checking out intelligence. Russia, he says, is fast-becoming the hottest gaming market in the world. Falcone found the 240,000 slot machines there now could increase 30 percent annually over the next three years. Further, he expects total revenues of $4.5 billion in 2004 to hit nearly $9 billion by 2007. Falcone also thinks the country's expanding economy should accelerate demand and that Russians want highly volatile gaming experiences Nevada manufacturers like International Game Technology and Alliance Gaming have been developing.

Wall Street isn't easily impressed, but the $1.5 billion Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino, set to break ground on the Strip this summer, is turning heads. Analysts say the participation of Soros Fund Management is a "really big deal" because of its leadership role on the Street and because this will be the company's first direct investment in a Las Vegas resort. Soros Fund chairman and founder George Soros ranked 55th on Forbes' richest Americans list this year and is worth an estimated $7.2 billion. His interest is expected to encourage other New York-based money managers fishing for investment prospects in the country's hottest real estate and hospitality market.

Las Vegas developer Sheldon Adelson has been winning kudos for being a development maestro, but he may have missed the mark in Detroit.

It seems in February, Adelson spent a weekend with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Adelson was trying to grease a deal for a Midwest casino, but the two excluded Oakland County executive Brooks Patterson from the talks. Patterson has broken the cease fire that existed between the two Michigan pols because the county would get no benefits from the deal Adelson and Kilpatrick were cooking up, and because of ego. He says any deal is dead, and casino insiders in Michigan say he has the muscle to kill it.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. He can be reached by e-mail at rodneysmith1@cox.net.

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