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Inside Gaming Column: Rooms at Wynn Las Vegas on Internet

Expedia.com, the Internet discount travel site, began listing Wynn Las Vegas rooms for the first time last week. Expedia listed rooms at Wynn for $199. Wall Streeters said it was an effective way to boost demand from free and independent travelers over the hot summer months and should not erode room rates. Most analysts are projecting an average daily room rate at Wynn Las Vegas of $245 over the summer and say the resort should yield a 20 percent return by summer's end, though we're told most investors have more modest expectations.

Vigilance in defense of competition, apparently, is no virtue. Commissioners on the Nevada Gaming Commission sitting in on the Gaming Control Board's hearing on Harrah's Entertainment's merger with Caesars Entertainment dozed comfortably while supposedly soaking up the details of the deal to save time during their own hearing, later in the day. I'd be curious to know if they heard Harrah's claim that the company will "reap" $80 million in synergies in the first year on its $9 billion investment. Granted, there are other benefits, like being the biggest gaming company in the world.

Don't bet on Atlantic City. Barron's, the national financial newspaper, recently reported that while Atlantic City and the Strip had similar gaming revenue -- $4.7 billion for Atlantic City, $4.9 billion for the Strip -- Strip hotel-casinos took in nearly $7 billion from rooms, restaurants, stores and entertainment; Atlantic City took in $1.2 billion. Remember, most hotel rooms in Atlantic City are free to gamblers.

Despite the luster of the name, Wall Streeters say, prospects for Trump Entertainment Resorts, formerly Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, pale next to Aztar Corp., operator of the Tropicana on the Strip. Both are big Atlantic City players, but Aztar has finished a $280 million Atlantic City Tropicana expansion and owns 34 Strip acres. Aztar and Trump have about $200 million in cash flow, but Trump's is leveraged on double the debt load. The Strip property alone adds $14 to each Aztar share, analysts say.

Investors take heart. Wall Street analysts say certain Strip properties, such as Excalibur and Luxor, should be able to pick up gobs of business as the redevelopment craze accelerates. Their point is that as the New Frontier, Riviera, Sahara, Stardust and possibly the Tropicana close for demolition to pave the way for redevelopment, competing properties have a lot to gain. Deeper down, the advantage for mid-Strip operators might assuage investor concerns about overbuilding on the Strip. Replacements can take a long time to finance and build.

Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith can be reached by e-mail at rodneysmith1@cox.net or by fax at 387-5243.

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