Fallout from Harrah's Acquisiton of Horseshoe

Jack Binion, looking like a man who had won the lottery, had a few words for the LVRJ after the sale of his riverboat casinos to Harrah's was announced:

Lucky and proud.

That's how Jack Binion said he felt Thursday after he and Harrah's Entertainment executives signed a $1.45 billion deal for Harrah's to buy his Horseshoe Gaming Holding Corp. and its three riverboat casinos.

Binion started the company in July 1994, and in less than a decade built a company Harrah's was willing to pay almost one-and-a-half billion dollars for. The deal carries the biggest price for the sale of a privately held casino company and also would mark the third-biggest casino company sale ever.

Horseshoe's riverboats in Hammond, Ind.; Tunica, Miss.; and Bossier City, La., are the top-performing casinos in their markets. Harrah's plans to keep all three properties and operate them under the Horseshoe brand. Existing Harrah's-branded or owned casinos could also be switched to the powerful Horseshoe brand, Harrah's executives said Thursday.

"Credit goes to the Horseshoe team," Binion said of the company's incredible growth and its big sticker price. "I've got a lot of talented people. My one real talent is recognizing talent."
FULL STORY

I've got a hunch that the story isn't entirely over. Much of the top Horseshoe management will be unemployed, and the story says that they may form a casino management company. Or they may the targets of a reverse acquisition deal along the lines of Circus Circus and Gold Strike Resorts a while back.
I have a hunch about Jack Binion as well. With the proceeds from the sale of his riverboats, he would have more than enough cash to buy back the Las Vegas Horseshoe, extensively renovate, and market it as downtown's high roller haven.
Downtown is going to look much different in a few years. The Barrick group will be buying the Gaughan properties and the Golden Nugget will have new ownership as well. With Binion in the mix, this would completely reshuffle the deck and open up tremendous opportunities.
There isn't anything about this in the news, and I don't have any inside into--this is just my hunch. I've been right and I've been wrong. But I thought that when Binion moved his corporate headquarters here a few months ago that his reacquiring the LV Horseshoe might be in the cards. I somehow doubt that he moved his company to Vegas just because he likes Summerlin.
More on this as it develops.
_________________________________

Of Racinos and Indian Casinos

Steve Wiegand of the Sac Bee has a great article about the spread of racinos and, in California, possible obstacles to their creation that Indian casino operators may impose:

Louisiana Downs is the newest entry in a hybrid breed of gambling venture. Part racetrack, part casino, it's a "racino." Equipped in May with about 900 slot machines -- a number that will rise to 1,500 next year -- the 29-year-old thoroughbred and greyhound track is emblematic of the racing industry's efforts to hold onto its piece of the country's mammoth gambling pie.

With a half dozen states already hosting racinos and at least a dozen more considering the idea, California's racing industry is becoming increasingly fearful of being left at the starting gate. So the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) has been quietly shopping for a way to get the state's tracks a share of the slot-machine action.

"It's certainly something we'd like to do," said John Van de Kamp, former state attorney general and current president of the TOC. "The industry is hurting; it's stagnant in terms of its revenue growth. We are facing competition from other states. ... Clearly California has to do something to compete.

"We have 50,000 people employed in the horse-racing industry in this state. If we continue to lose our edge over other states, as we are right now, those jobs are going to be gone."

Van de Kamp knows the chance that California tracks will get in on slot action anytime soon is about as good as a three-legged armadillo's shot at winning the Kentucky Derby. He has a ready two-word explanation why: "The Indians."

He means the 62 California tribes that have exclusive compacts with the state to operate Las Vegas-style casinos and are not keen on competition.

"They are a formidable opponent," he said. "They have the money and the demonstrated political clout to make it a very uphill fight for us."

California Indian tribes have contributed more than $120 million since 1998 to political campaigns and causes and have fiercely protected their current voter-approved monopoly on casino gambling. Any change would require amending the state constitution.
FULL STORY

All in all, a detailed look at the racino industry and how it impacts both horseracing and casino gaming.
________________________________

Soon we'll found out who is the real revolutionary

Quoting Bob Marley in a headline always feels good. And here it fits. The Tropicana/Fidel Castro saga continues. From the Philadelphia Inquirier:

Yesterday, responding to incensed Cuban Americans from New Jersey to Miami, Tropicana officials said they would alter the two peach-colored billboards that feature the likeness of Castro, cigar smoke rising around him and the words "The next revolution."

Castro stays - but his image will have a circle and a slash through it, Tropicana spokeswoman Maureen Siman said.

And the slogan will be changed to: "The real revolution."

"We are not removing him from the billboard," Siman said. "We will be depicting him in a way that will be very clear as to what the message will be about. We're not making political statements."

The billboards are to promote the Quarter, a $245 million entertainment, dining, retail and spa project set to open this spring that the casino says will be "revolutionary" for Atlantic City.
FULL STORY

What a solution: the old circle and a slash. I guess they figure they already paid the ad agency and they already paid for the billboards, so they're going to use them, even if they offend a large community whose members just happen to include the speaker of the state assembly.
Brilliant.
______________________________________
That's all for today. Have a great weekend and try not to offend anyone.

posted by Dave at 9:17 AM