Online Casino Score

Las Vegas casino icon, The Sands, is considering changing their name to create a more global presence. With the opening the Venetian Macao Resort Hotel, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation is growing globally. Executives are looking to change the name to either Sands International or Sands Resort International. This is a reflection that they aren’t only located in Vegas.

The Las Vegas Sands Corporation is looking to change the name as soon as November. This will be a primary topic at the next board of directors meeting where each member will get one vote to change. If the voting is in favor of a change, the following vote will be on the new name of the corporation.

Currently, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation owns three hotel-casinos in the Macao region. This makes them the largest U.S-based casino presence in the area. The three casinos include:

• The Venetian Macao
• Sands Macao
• Four Seasons Macao

As recent as April 2010, the company extended its casino presence to Singapore with the opening of a $5.5 billion, 2600 room hotel-casino known as the Marina Bay Sands. With these numerous global investments, it is no wonder The Las Vegas Sands Corporation wants to increase their global branding by becoming a household name like they are in the United States.

The company is the second Las Vegas casino operator within the past few months to express interest in a name change to improve their global presence. The MGM Mirage shareholders voted in June 2010 to change the name of the company to MGM Resorts International since they have casino-resorts outside of the United States.

MGM has recently acquired the development of hotels in Vietnam, Egypt and Dubai. The plan is for the company to acquire 42 hotels across the globe within a 10 year period. MGM will truly become a global household name.

With the struggling economy, corporations need to look in other places to find their clientele, even if it means tapping the global marketplace. As a result, they must change their name to reflect their global presence. Macao is becoming a major hotspot for many casino operators including those based out of the United States.

The Las Vegas Sands Corporation and MGM Resorts International are ahead of the competition by making these moves. Over the next few years, they will begin to show strong profits due to their international marketing methods.

The opening of CityCenter Las Vegas brought fun and excitement. Month’s later statistics are showing that there are more hotel rooms in Las Vegas than people to fill them. Evidence is appearing that indicates CityCenter is stealing business from other resorts.

Single-Property vs. Multi-Property Owners

This information is much more detrimental to single-property casinos such as, the Riviera and Tropicana which have more to lose than their competitors like MGM International who own multiple establishments on the Las Vegas strip. In the end, the single-properties are generating less money and have a smaller customer base to market too.

Also, visitors are staying at fancier, more expensive hotels because they have lowered their rates (which are aligned with budget hotels) due to the global recession. Many properties are back in the black, but aren’t making as much as they would if CityCenter wasn’t open.

The Numbers

From January through May of this year there was a 1.5 percent increase in visitation to Las Vegas. On the other hand, the number of overall hotel rooms jumped by 5.6 percent over the previous year. The occupancy rate throughout the city from January to May was 80 percent which is a 10 percent decrease from 2007 when Las Vegas tourism was at its greatest.

The total cost of CityCenter is $8.5 billion. The whole complex continues to struggle, not yet turning a profit. In the second quarter of 2010, an operating loss of $128 million dragged down MGM International’s earnings.  MGM believes that its competitors are losing even more money due to decreased gambling and room revenue.

MGM’s Aria consists of almost 30 percent gamblers. This is higher than any casino and resort in the Las Vegas area. This is due to marketing specifically to the gaming community who are expected to take the place of the traditional business. The gamblers are MGM loyalty program registrants that receive discounts.

Causes of a Decrease in Revenue

The global recession is the primary cause for the decline in the leisure and entertainment business. Also, with the opening of CityCenter, there has been a huge influx of competition in a tight market. Additionally, there is currently an overabundance of convention space but not enough conventioneers to fill it.

The combination of these things adds up and results in a major decrease in business. Casinos and resorts will need to look to new methods if they want to attract new guests and retain the loyal. Promotions and offers don’t seem to have the same effect as they once did. A new idea must be implemented for the gaming industry to jump back on its feet.

The gaming industry’s big three, MGM Mirage, Sands and Wynn, saw a decline in their stock prices during the month of May. The previous month, the three corporations witnessed a wild and unexpected upswing due to a recovering economy. Luckily, these declines didn’t hurt local casino operators that are under the corporate umbrella or gaming equipment manufacturers.

In April 2010, all three organizations saw double digit jumps in stock prices. May 2010 brought about daily average decreases in stock prices. Applied Analysis, which records the average stock price of six major casinos, believes this occurred for three reasons:

1. Investor speculation of the large purchase of MGM Mirage’s stock
2. Sands restarting construction in Macau
3. The European financial crisis

The first reason is that investors speculated the purchase of a large portion of stock by a hedge fund. Paulson and Company, based out of New York, purchased 40 millions shares of MGM Mirage, making them the second largest shareholder of the company. This resulted in an increased pressure on pricing within the gaming industry.

The second reason is that the Las Vegas Sands restarted construction at the Cotai Strip in Macau. This project was halted for nearly 18 months. Finally the European financial crisis has significantly decreased travel to the United States and overall spending, especially in major casino resort areas. This has also resulted in flights being cut to Las Vegas from around the world.

Major casino area’s like Las Vegas and Atlantic City may take a much longer time to recover from the global financial crisis. The Aqueduct Racetrack in the New York City area may add table games. This would eliminate the need for area residents to go to Atlantic City. Also, casinos in Pennsylvania will also be offering table games as early as this summer. As a result, this will limit the need of residents to go to large casino areas.

On the other hand, many slot machine makers like International Game Technology, Bally Technologies and WMS Industries experienced a strong month of May with the average daily stocks improving by two percent overall.

Although casinos have taken a slight hit during the month of May, there is no doubt they will recover. Due to clever strategic moves by smaller competing casinos, the recovery process may be slower than desired. Major casino destinations have had their fair share of ups and downs, always coming out on top.