¡Muy Caliente! Tijuana resort revives glory of days past

When Agua Caliente Casino and Resort opened in 1928 the wealthy elite and the Hollywood stars flocked South of the Border to take in the hospitality and excitement of the spa, casino, horse racing and entertainment offered at the Tijuana facility.

With the grand reopening of the Caliente casino after a $26 million renovation, the property hopes to attract a new generation of people seeking gaming and entertainment.

“Caliente once again takes its place as it did for many years providing the finest gaming and entertainment in Mexico,” said Francisco Lecuona, marketing director of Agua Caliente Casino and Resort. “We are pleased to welcome guests from both sides of the border to see the new excitement Caliente has to offer.”

Covering 228,000 square feet, Caliente is the largest casino in Mexico. Its new features include a Las Vegas-style entryway, remodeled race and sports books, traditional bingo halls, gaming halls, sports betting, international restaurants, shopping and a piano bar.

Players can try their luck on 1,000 new bingo-based electronic games, now permitted under legislation passed in 2004. The Class II electronic terminals appear similar to those in the United States, but they are bingo-based in that a player must align symbols, drawings or numbers, and wins are paid from a common pool of wagers, not by the house. To play, a person must purchase a card with a code that is entered into the machine. When the player wishes to cash out, the card may be exchanged for money.

Later this year, the Caliente soccer stadium will expand its seating from 13,000 to 33,000, making it Mexico’s newest and most modern sports facility. In March 2009, a 425,000-square-foot entertainment center including restaurants, bars and nightclubs, an amusement park, a convention center and possibly a hotel will be completed.

Caliente employs 8,000 people, making it one of Baja California’s largest employers.

 

Patrick, Wampanoags will negotiate for Middleboro casino

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has indicated he is prepared to enter into talks with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe about its planned Middleboro gambling resort.

Patrick told WBZ-TV the state is prepared to negotiate “under the parameters that exist within current law.”

A Wampanoag spokeswoman said the tribe would initiate talks at the “appropriate time,” according to the Boston Herald.

Reports indicate the governor would likely seek a contribution of the tribe’s gambling revenues in exchange for giving the tribe a guaranteed geographic casino monopoly, most likely in southeastern Massachusetts.

Even without a state compact, the tribe, once its Middleboro land becomes sovereign territory, could still open its casino but would have to use Class II bingo-style gaming machines and would not have to pay the state any revenue.

“We are going to have to deal with the Indians,” state Sen. Michael Morrissey (D-Quincy) told the Herald.

 

Safety at CityCenter under investigation after six job-site deaths

Dustin Tarter’s death on May 31 was the latest fatality. Construction workers at the site and their union, Southern Nevada Building and Construction Trades Council, mobilized shortly after his death to take action on concerns about safety issues.

Their one-day walkout on June 3 ultimately led general contractor Perini Building Co. to meet union demands, and two days later, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons announced the state OSHA had requested assistance from federal OSHA to help carry out a comprehensive safety inspection.

The federal inspectors do not have jurisdiction in Nevada, but their presence will expand the capacity of Nevada OSHA staff to complete the inspection, according to a statement from Gibbons.

“Given the unprecedented scope of the project and the six fatalities on the site thus far, it’s essential that we conduct the comprehensive inspection as thoroughly — and as quickly — as possible,” said L. Tom Czehowski, Nevada OSHA chief administrative officer.

Citing credit crunch, Crown bows out of planned Vegas resort

The global credit crunch has claimed another victim with the announcement last month that James Packer’s Crown Casino has dropped plans for a $5 billion casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Crown Chief Executive Rowen Craigie said that after a strategic review of the site the partners decided to scrap the project.

“The recent upheavals in world credit markets have made it increasingly difficult for Crown and its partners to develop a commercially viable project on what remains an attractive location on the Las Vegas Strip,” Craigie said in a statement. “Accordingly, we took the decision to stop making further payments to the vendors of the site and concentrate our focus on other areas of our business.”

A year ago, just after Packer said he was splitting his media and gaming empire, Crown paid $22.5 million for a 37.5 percent interest in what was to be a joint venture with private equity firm York Capital Management and Texas property developer Chris Milam. Plans called for a $5 billion casino with Las Vegas’ tallest tower and a 5,000-room hotel. The development would have been at the north end of the Strip near the Fontainebleau Las Vegas, in which Crown has a 20 percent stake.

The company said it would take a $44 million write-down on the joint venture.

Crown made some $1.5 billion in gaming acquisitions in fiscal 2007, including investments in Macau, the United States and Britain.  Holdings include a 4.9 percent stake in Station Casinos and a 2.5 percent holding in Harrah’s Entertainment.

Shopper’s heaven — a million square feet

RETAIL MEGA-THERAPY — At the recent unveiling in Las Vegas of plans for 1 million square feet of shops at M Resort, Spa and Casino: Anthony A. Marnell III, chief executive of M Resort (from left), Robert Taubman, CEO of Taubman Centers, MGM Mirage President James Murren and Anthony A. Marnell II, founder and chairman of Marnell Corrao Associates.

Resort and Taubman Centers Inc. plan to create a retail mall of up to 1 million square feet as part of the $1 billion M Resort, Spa and Casino under construction at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. 

“We are very excited about the opportunity to work with the Taubman group, [pioneers] in the retail industry for 50 years,” said Anthony Marnell III, chairman and CEO of M Resort. 

The integration of the Taubman Centers’ retail know-how into M Resort will be the first of its kind in Nevada, Marnell said during a recent media briefing at RECon, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual convention in Las Vegas. 

“With the location of the M and the retail that we have in the competitive set within a seven-mile radius, something of  this scale and size and integration with a local destination resort — I’m not going to call it a category killer, but I think it’s a category killer,” he said. 

The project puts scores of tenants — including as many as four anchor department stores — at an ideal location near the growing Henderson and south Las Vegas areas and the Interstate 15 corridor. When complete in late 2011 or early 2012 it will also include restaurants and theaters. 

M Resort, Spa and Casino is slated to open next spring on 90 acres at the southeast corner of St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard. It will include a 12-story hotel with 360 rooms and suites, 92,000 square feet of casino space, 60,000 square feet of conference and meeting space, a 23,000-square-foot spa and salon, nine restaurants, five bars, entertainment venues and a 100,000-square-foot pool area. 

The project is being developed by Marnell with architectural and construction services by Marnell Corrao Associates. MGM Mirage is an investor and partner in the resort. The retail center will be owned, developed, leased and managed by Taubman Centers.  — Marian Green

New CEO named to get Tropicana back on its feet

Casino operator William Yung III has resigned as chief executive officer of Tropicana Entertainment Holdings, which is reorganizing its finances under protection of U.S. bankruptcy laws.

According to a company statement, Yung will continue to serve on a new board of directors, but President Scott Butera will take over as CEO of the Kentucky-based company.

Tropicana Entertainment operates 11 casino hotels in Indiana, Nevada, Mississippi, Louisiana and New Jersey, but it lost its license to operate the Tropicana Casino and Resort in Atlantic City in December after state regulators judged the company unable to properly operate a first-class casino due to drastic layoffs and poor performance.

Butera, a veteran salvage artist, joined Tropicana Entertainment in March. He is former chief operating officer of the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino under development in Las Vegas. Prior to that he was president, chief operating officer and executive vice president of Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts, where he was the principal architect of that company’s successful recapitalization plan.

As a part of its restructuring, Tropicana is also considering moving its corporate headquarters from Kentucky to Las Vegas.

Michigan greets new tribal casino: the Turtle Creek

Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel was scheduled to celebrate its grand opening June 24 near Traverse City, Mich.
The 347,000-square-foot property, which opened to the public a week earlier on June 17, features a six-story, contemporary-design hotel with 137 guest rooms and 10 suites, 4,500 square feet of meeting space and a 54,000-square-foot gaming floor with approximately 1,300 slots, 40 table games and a poker room. Amenities include a gift shop, fitness center, two restaurants, six bars, a nightclub and VIP parking with car wash.

Construction of the project, owned and operated by the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, began in October 2006.

Rumors swirling as Cosmopolitan awaits a buyer

Strapped with significant debt, but nearly 85 percent complete, the $3 billion Cosmopolitan Resort Casino on the Las Vegas Strip has been the subject of increasing speculation in recent weeks as to who its ultimate owner-operator will be.

The original developer of the 2,998-room resort, New York-based businessman Ian Bruce Eichner, defaulted on a $760 million loan from Deutsche Bank, and at the beginning of this year the investment bank said it would foreclose on the property.

Reportedly, several hotel and development companies have been negotiating to purchase it.

Gaming industry observers and analysts note that MGM Mirage may have both the best motive and resources to emerge as the new owner. The eight-acre site sits between two of MGM Mirage’s biggest ventures, Bellagio and the $9 billion CityCenter. But President and COO Jim Murren said, “It’s not something we’re looking at.”

Speaking to the Las Vegas Business Press, he added, “We hope somebody can find a way of fixing this because it doesn't help the Strip, Las Vegas or us to have a half-finished project sitting there.”

Another possibility could lie with some form of joint venture between Marathon Asset Management, a New York-based hedge fund that loaned roughly $125 million to Eichner, and Hyatt Hotels, which had signed on to be the project’s hotel operator. Other interested parties include Starwood Hotels and real estate developer Related Cos. There is also speculation that established casino companies without a Strip presence, such as Pinnacle Entertainment or Penn National Gaming, may become involved.

IN OTHER NEWS …

—Mike Telesmanic has been selected as chairman of the board of DEQ Systems, a provider of table game bonusing, jackpot and loyalty solutions. Telesmanic has more than 30 years of international gaming industry experience and is currently serving as principal director of National Gaming Development Group. Also named to the board were Hervé Eschasseriau, director and president of the Governance Committee, and Marcel Lachance, director and president of the Audit Committee.

—PokerTek has installed six PokerPro electronic Texas Hold’Em games, plus one for demonstration purposes, at Loto-Quebec’s Ludoplex Quebec in Quebec City, Canada. The installation marks the fourth PokerPro installation in Quebec this year and brings the total number of devices installed in the province to 50.

—Cintas Corp. is expanding into international markets as part of a multi-phase strategy led by the uniform maker’s new Global Accounts and Strategic Markets Division. New sales and service offices in Hong Kong and Macau opened in April, and Cintas has plans to expand into Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.