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/Dow Jones/
- LOS ANGELES, CA - Las Vegas hotel and casino operator Mandalay
Resort Group reported on September 2nd that its average nightly
hotel room rate rose in the second quarter to its highest level
ever, surpassing the average just before the tourism industry
was chilled by the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
"We
are running record room rates at our five resorts for any summer
season. Above those received in August 2001, our previous high
mark," said Chief Financial Officer Glenn Schaeffer in
a conference call following the company's second-quarter earnings
report.
The higher
room rates, said Schaeffer, was helped by rising demand for
hotel rooms, successfully implemented price increases, ongoing
recovery for Las Vegas tourism, and the opening of a convention
center at the company's flagship Mandalay
Bay Resort on the Las Vegas strip.
"Mandalay
is among the fortunate few corporations in the consumer sector
that is achieving organic revenue growth from pricing increased
well higher than the U.S. economy's own growth rate," said
Schaeffer.
The most
dramatic increases in revenue per available room, or revpar,
came at Mandalay's resorts on the Las Vegas strip, where it
operates the Mandalay
Bay, Luxor,
and Excalibur
hotels.
At the Mandalay
Bay Resort, revpar was up 18%; at the Luxor,
revpar was up 14%; and
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at Excalibur,
revpar was up 11%.
But the
improvement was generally contained in Las Vegas, said Schaeffer,
who noted that "outside the strip, our Nevada experience
was decidedly tamer."
He described
slight setbacks in earnings at the firm's Circus
Circus Reno, Nev., hotel and its 50%-owned Silver
Legacy hotel in Reno.
Schaeffer
estimated that for August, revpar was generally up about 6%
to 7% average for the company's properties, and he expects it
to be up "double digit" percentage points in September.
He added
that a new 1,122-room tower being built at the Mandalay Bay
is expected to have an average $220 per night room cost, but
that "seeing how things are behaving, that could prove
to be a low number." |
Gambling
Takes Over Florida
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/Orlando
Sentinel/ - FLORIDA – The unmistakable sights and
sounds of a casino greet visitors entering 577 Deltona
Blvd. Plush carpeting, flashing video screens, bells,
beeps and free food and drink are part of the atmosphere
at Gold
Dust Casino.
Instead
of payouts in cold, hard cash, winners get gift cards,
restaurant coupons and even discounts to the chiropractor
next door.
Yes,
this is Florida, and these are slot machines. And they're
apparently perfectly legal. Since the state rewrote gambling
laws in the late 1990s, mini-casinos have been popping
up from South Daytona to Port Charlotte.
The
sudden proliferation of these "adult arcades"
has caught most cities by surprise. The stores aren't
filled with video games and kids. They look more like
a Bally's or Harrah's. And the idea of having a little
of the Las Vegas strip in a strip mall has not gone over
well.
While
leery city officials search for ways to regulate the arcades,
owners such as Jack Manning insist they run legitimate
businesses.
Manning,
who owns Gold
Dust Casino in Deltona, said his slot machines are
legal because of one small but important feature: Patrons
hit a button to stop the colorful spinning wheels on the
video screens. "They're skill games," he said.
"That's how they're programmed in the factory."
The
loophole in the law allows arcade-type games to pay out
credits that can be traded in for prizes instead of cash,
as long as the games involve some degree of skill. Because
it's not considered gambling, there is no state regulation
of the arcades.
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