Inside
Gaming: Downtown Downturn: Four Hotels, Few
Takers
Street talk is that the four
downtown Tamares Group properties are actively
being shopped. The Tamares Group, a private,
international investment company, in June rescued
partner Barrick Gaming with a $10 million bailout
for the Plaza, Gold Spike, Las Vegas Club and
Western Hotel. Scuttlebutt is that gaming operators
have been approached quietly and told a deal
can be made if they're interested. "Everyone
who might be interested has been told,"
brokers say. So far, few takers and no deals.
Operators say no one believes in downtown, not
with a downturn on the horizon.
With all due
respect, no one attended the recent Global Gaming
Expo to see Rita Rudner; she performed to be
seen by thousands of conventioneers who might
hire the headliner at their casinos. Catching
onto the craze that Las Vegas is the spot for
entertainers to be seen, HBO and AEG Live are
sponsoring The Comedy Festival Nov. 17-19 at
two Harrah's Entertainment properties, Caesars
Palace and the Flamingo. Featured comedians
include Bill Maher, Dennis Miller, Chris Rock,
Ray Romano, Jon Stewart and Garry Shandling.
The
Palms is set this week to unveil the world's
only suite with an indoor basketball court.
Designed for basketball enthusiasts like the
Maloof brothers, who own the Palms, the two-level,
10,000-square-foot "Hardwood Suite"
comes with a locker room, scoreboard, pool table,
poker table and dance floor. It's part of the
property's new, 347-room Fantasy Tower, a $600
million expansion that includes a recording
studio and a 2,200-seat showroom.
Nuts,
a Scottish men's magazine, found that gambling
has become the most popular vice among young
men. According to a new study, half of young
men in Scotland lose ?40 a month on average
gambling. Celebrities, Nuts found, have made
gambling trendy, and all the online sites have
made it easier. The poll showed that most men
gamble to make an event more interesting or
were convinced they would win big bucks. Nuts
polled 1,000 men and women age 18 to 35.
The
Nuts survey makes it easier to understand why
officials in Blackpool, Great Britain's largest
seaside resort, are openly talking about turning
the it into "the Las Vegas of the U.K."
Why not? Britain has gone through a decade-long
gambling explosion, with the number of lotteries
doubling and the number of casinos up 44 percent.
And the government is putting the country's
gaming industry through the biggest overhaul
since the '60s, with casinos now able to advertise
and gamblers freed from getting a membership
and then cooling off for 24 hours.
Gaming
Wire Editor Rod Smith can be reached by e-mail
at rsmith@reviewjournal.com or by phone at 477-3893.
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