Gaming News

Inside Gaming: Sahara Sale Rumors Roil Strip M&A Scuttlebutt

Las Vegas Gaming Wire

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Another major Strip sale may be in the works. Rumors are rife that a deal is in the works to sell the Sahara. A Sahara spokesman said phone calls and offers are coming in regularly. However, he said no letter of intent has been signed, and, to be accepted, an offer would have to come from a gaming licensee or the sales process would take too much time. Scuttlebutt suggests the Related Cos., George Clooney's deep pockets in a Harmon Street condominium project, and Turnberry Associates, developer of the Fontainebleau on the old El Rancho site, are both interested at $700 million-plus. Related denies trying to buy it, and Turnberry officials could not be reached for comment.

Despite alarm bells on Wall Street about the effect of surging gasoline prices, watch for new survey research throwing cold water on the concerns. We hear Californians are telling survey researchers who have been in the field that gasoline prices would have to climb into double digits, possibly even past $20 a gallon, before they would sacrifice their drives to Las Vegas. Boomers and money-grubbing young professionals have the discretionary funds, it seems, to plan to keep on coming.

Bible-thumping Christian fundamentalists are likely to have a major say in the future of the gaming industry when the Mississippi Legislature meets this week. To placate the conservative, churchgoing public that opposes gambling altogether, Mississippi 15 years ago limited casino operations to structures over water. The idea was to keep them off the tree-lined avenues where parishioners congregate. The wreckage left by Hurricane Katrina has reopened the issue, and gaming opponents are plotting a spellbinding debate on whether gambling should be legal at all.

Goldman Sachs analyst Steve Kent recently opined in The Wall Street Journal that not enough investors ask how gaming companies can be more successful by focusing on each employee's contribution. "Perhaps we, as investors, need to be more conscious of how those people who clean our hotel rooms, cook our meals, and deal our cards are treated and paid, rather than simply looking to see whether the expense can be cut further. Staff motivation, although difficult to quantify, should be part of the investment analysis."

A Chicksaw, Ala., woman recently pleaded guilty in federal district court to embezzling about $1.7 million from the local housing authority. Therese Brown, a 19-year housing program veteran, faces up to 10 years in prison and has to repay the money. Investigators said she threw it away on her gambling addiction.

Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith can be reached by e-mail at rsmith@review journal.com, by phone at 477-3893.

< Gaming News