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Inside Gaming: Venetian Boss May Collect Big in Mall Sale29 March 2004The much-anticipated, on-again, off-again sale of the Grand Canal Shoppes in The Venetian seems to be on again. Wall Street sources say Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson should be able to pick up a cool $600 million, and maybe $650 million, from the sale of the 500,000-square-foot retail complex. Original estimates had been that Goldman, Sachs & Co., which is managing the sale, would be able to land a price closer to $400 million. Look for an announcement in about six weeks. ¥ ¥ ¥ Nothing brings out the gambler more than March Madness. This month, $80 million in college basketball wagers will be made in Nevada, where sports betting is legal. Online casinos will take in $1.6 billion. But the bulk of the total $3.5 billion in bets the FBI estimates will be gambled is in the millions of office pools across the country. Those office pool bets translate into $1.5 billion in lost productivity, business outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates. This includes time on the Internet, time to discuss bets and time to recollect everybody's upsets. ¥ ¥ ¥ Lawyers are scrambling to put together a contingency plan in the event the Illinois Gaming Board's decision to put a casino in Rosemont falls apart. A Bankruptcy Court hearing on the plan to sell the 10th license to Isle of Capri has been put off from April Fools' Day to May 17, setting the process back six weeks. That also delays a gaming board investigation. And Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants his own investigation -- and the last word. Meanwhile, several separate groups are left in the lurch: the state, bankrupt Emerald Casino and gaming operators who expected a tax cut after the license is complete. ¥ ¥ ¥ February looks like a blowout for the gaming industry. February casino revenues have all been released, with the exception of Nevada. February saw an aggregate 17 percent year-over-year increase in revenue across the regional markets (Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri and New Jersey). Partly, credit easy comparisons with 2003, when hostilities were building in the Middle East. Still, Wall Street is seeing a slowdown in March. For Nevada, we'll just have to wait. ¥ ¥ ¥ Talk about odd couples. Last week looked like the week for medical group meetings. No less than eight medical or health-oriented organizations came to Las Vegas for their annual events. Attendees tended to push preventive medicine and healthy lifestyles. All the while, the National Association of Tobacco Outlets Conference and Expo was under way at the Rio. We suspect there wasn't much mingling. The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith. You can contact him by phone at (702) 477-3893, fax (702) 387-5243 or e-mail at rsmith@reviewjournal.com. Copyright GamingWire. All rights reserved. |