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Gaming Execs Look to Chinese New Year

LAS VEGAS – Feb. 5, 2002 -- Las Vegas sports books traditionally measure Super Bowl and Chinese New Year's success by a simple gauge - when large numbers of bettors lose, the city wins.

But this is a far from typical year in a community battling to recover from the worldwide travel decline begun by the national recession and greatly exacerbated by the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

So Monday when local casino executives assessed the financial results of Sunday's upset win by the New England Patriots, they spoke more of the volume of wagering than the amount won or lost by gamblers.

”The game itself, we did well. It wasn't a great result for us. We've had worse," said Joe Lupo, the Stardust's director of race and sports. "But throughout the whole weekend you just saw people coming in, coming in, and for the last four months it's been kind of tough.

"This is not just a game. This is an event for the entire city."

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated that 256,000 people would be in town for the weekend, a 1,000-person increase from a year ago, although that number would be at the low end of the 255,000- to 265,000-visitor range the city experiences most weekends.

An estimate of the weekend's actual visitor count was unavailable Monday, but one thing remained clear - the Super Bowl drew visitors who partied and gambled at levels not found here most weekends.

That assessment was reflected in the comments of executives of Mandalay Resort Group, Park Place Entertainment, Boyd and The Venetian.

"Bit by bit people are returning to Las Vegas," said Mandalay Resort Group President Glenn Schaeffer. "The issue for us is the opportunity for people to come out and have a festive occasion."

Strip casino bosses are hopeful that trend will continue through Chinese New Year, which begins Feb. 12, and is expected to reflect a renewed confidence on the part of Asian high rollers who have stayed away from Las Vegas in large numbers since the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and the anthrax deaths of October.

"Looking at the reservations we have on the books right now, this Chinese New Year's compares to any Chinese New Year we've had in recent years," said Debbie Munch, spokeswoman for Park Place Entertainment, which controls about 25 percent of the city's high-end gambling market.

Operators of the competing Venetian say Asian gamblers have overcome much of their reluctance to travel to the United States.

"They had a (mental) picture of planes falling from the sky and people sniffing anthrax in the streets," said Michael French, The Venetian's senior vice president of operations. "Now, we're seeing a return to travel. It's a little softer than last year but better than we expected two months ago."

On Monday, Venetian bosses announced a deal to tap into the European-based reservation system of high-end hotelier Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts, which has 144 hotels in 57 countries.

"The Venetian Unveils Program to Lure European and Asian Travelers Back to Las Vegas," read a news release touting the agreement. "This partnership is a part of the Venetian's ongoing strategy to help revitalize the international tourism business in Las Vegas post-Sept. 11."

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