SEARCH NEWS:

 

Inside Gaming: Schaeffer May be Moving Uptown

With the $7.9 billion MGM Mirage-Mandalay Resort Group merger complete, scuttlebutt is that Glenn Schaeffer, formerly president of Mandalay Resort Group, is moving uptown to redevelop the El Rancho site. Turnberry Associates, based in Florida, recently bought the landmark Fontainebleau hotel, formerly the Hilton Miami Beach, and rights to the Fontainebleau name. Schaeffer may be teaming up with Turnberry to develop a 3,000-room Fontainebleau condominium project near Sahara on the Strip.

Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, who owns a controlling interest in Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage, deserves a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the pin-up king of Wall Street. Just on Thursday, takeover king Kerkorian's face appeared on pages A1, B1 and C1 of The Wall Street Journal, along with stories. The first story (with a line drawing) said Kerkorian's $868 million investment drove General Motors Corp. stock up 18 percent. The second (with a caricature) focused on octogenarian executives. And the third (with a full-color candid shot) questioned the quality of GM's stock.

If you see Elaine Wynn driving around town in a red Maserati, don't assume it came from the Ferrari-Maserati dealership in Wynn Las Vegas. She's had the car for four years, husband and developer Steve Wynn said. Seems odd a lady who gets a $270 million birthday gift of the Desert Inn five years ago has to wait for a new car, especially when her husband co-owns the dealership, along with 26 of the 31 other retail outlets in his resort.

On the other hand, Wynn went whole-hog on his wife's birthday bash at Alex. One "celebrity" chef who worked on the menu said the dinner cost Wynn $500,000 for 180 guests. And Elaine Wynn, who has always wanted her childhood sweetheart to build a night spot with a staircase like Harmonia Gardens (as in "Hello, Dolly!") for entrances, knocked the crowd's socks off, if not with the ruby-red gown, then with the $10 million ruby choker that jeweler Cartier loaned her for the night. Wynn says the staircase is what Wynn Las Vegas is all about -- compelling guests to ask "where else?"

We don't want to mislead readers. Now that we've been allowed to enjoy the rooms, we can report guests don't have to crane their necks to watch television from bed. They do need to swivel the TVs, but no big deal. Information about the TVs came from Wynn's staff shortly before the new resort opened. Wynn says the trick won't be to keep guests out of their rooms -- the reason touted for hard-to-see TVs -- but to give them scant reason to wander elsewhere.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. He can be reached by e-mail at rodneysmith1@cox.net or by fax at 387-5243.

Copyright GamingWire. All rights reserved.

< Gaming News