Posted on 10/15/2019 6:27:59 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
LAS VEGAS (AP) — MGM Resorts International announced the sale Tuesday of two casinos that will significantly alter its portfolio of Las Vegas Strip properties and offer up cash.
The Las Vegas-based company said it is selling the Circus Circus hotel-casino for $825 million to Treasure Island casino owner Phil Ruffin. The company also sold the Bellagio for $4.25 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Bump
The Circus Dome was outstanding. It was also the basis of several sci-fi flicks
That 6-5 blackjack really chaps my hide.
Wow! A minimum bet of 200 dollars. I cringe when I go large and put down a 25 dollar bet.
Phil Ruffin is a close friend of POTUS Trump.
We stayed at Wynn Encore. Steve Wynn was on a video loop on the TV describing all the restaurants on the property with painfully staged shots of the restaurants in operation - people pretending to eat, to order, to converse all in a hammy pantomime. But the eye candy was top drawer.
Ironically, it was just weeks before the public accusations by former female staff against Wynn were made.
Anyway, I walked over to Circus Circus since I was rarely at the north end of the Strip and wanted to see the old place out of curiosity born mostly of seeing it in Diamonds Are Forever. Of course, that film was released in 1971 but still....
Like most ‘grind joints’ it operated on a shoestring. Worn carpet, worn walls, a skeleton crew. The trapeze was still place, however.
One of my friends visited a Fremont St grind joint out of similar curiosity. While seated at one of the tables he remarked that he wasn’t fond of a particular song on the speakers. The dealer shocked him by pulling an iPod out of a pocket and changing the song. Why pay big bucks for a music subscription?
I can only conclude that the Circus property (as in acreage) is the real item of value. With the other properties being redeveloped at the North end it would stand to reason.
Yikes! What about all my wife’s and my MGM rewards points earned at the Bellagio? Since we don’t frequent any of the other MGM properties, I hope that they will transfer to the Treasure Island system...
Whoops! Should have read the details of the transaction... No rewards issues...
I've owned a small amount of MGM stock for some years and it is actually doing pretty well...now. A bigger buy was Melco (Macau), which I understand makes Vegas look like podunk. But that stock, ironically, has not done so well. Part of it may due to the Chinese government cracking down from time to tome on the high rollers/tax cheats/oligarchs...whatever. The stock also vacillates with the USA/China tariff talks.
Have to concur with the 20 year observation. Although the theming was a bit Disneyfied at most places the staff usually played along. The Treasure Island naval battle has been reduced, inevitably, to a pointless T&A display with FX almost nonexistent.
It’s less Vegas and more Orlando/Myrtle Beach with smartass kids working most places and a flood of foreigners with little or no English. It seems that Saigon airlift in 1975 dropped them all in Nevada.
Food is bad and getting worse - as you say, the buffets are as bad as any at the beach. Cheap cheap cheap. Went to NYNY ‘Village’ where we’d had some good food at places in the past - it’s terrible now.
Can’t step inside a building without someone pestering you to get a players card. Discounts comps blah blah blah. Meanwhile they’re selling your personal details far and wide.
The once simple act of walking is even degraded now. Casinos have given up on grand entrances and are now sticking restaurants and bars on and over the sidewalks. Speaking of sidewalks, they’re almost impassable thanks to: (deep breath) people in superhero costumes (usually Batman), trashy ‘showgirls’ with pale skin, cellulite, fishnets and lots of tattoos (in other words, hookers who are daylighting), Mexicans STILL handing out hooker flyers and casino promo barkers.
But the worst addition is the vast increase in bums, mostly addicts, sprawled out everywhere and begging for money if they aren’t passed out. They are supposedly legal but they are ruining multi billion dollar operations.
I love going to Vegas and it’s not even on the top 20.
You’re right.
IMO Circus-Circus is well past it’s prime....
Stayed there in 2000. Things were pretty threadbare then. It’s the Motel 6 of LV Casino Hotels.
Yeah, saw lots of street bums on the strip during our last trip a few weeks ago for a family gathering. Downtown has become more of a freak show than it ever was as well.
Pretty sure we won’t be back anytime soon. It’s definitely not the Vegas of the 80s and 90s anymore. Back then, you could have a pretty good time on the cheap and maybe walk away with some extra money in the process.
We used to go to Vegas at least once a year. Always liked the old Aladdin and Ballys. You are really right it is not the same and much more costly.
Since you are a shareholder just FYI—the new casino in Springfield, MA is a _total_ embarrassment for MGM.
The urban site is very small, the casino is squashed together so tight it looks like the inside of the coach section of an airplane. The only nice areas are outside—which is useless for six months of the year (here in New England we have that thing called _winter_).
Security is horrible (muggings in the parking lot have made news—and the locals are _not_ friendly).
It is the worst casino I have ever seen.
(end of rant)
We like Laughlin—more low key (less traffic, less crowds, friendlier people).
Fortunately, I only have 50 shares of MGM so I’m not exactly a big fan. I think it was something a broker (whom I’ve since left) recommended.
VEGAS WAS BETTER WHEN THE MAFIA OWNED IT. Corporation Vegas blows.
Circus Circus is a great place to dump your grandmother.
ML/NJ
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