Our gambling news this week finds Caesars hemorrhaging cash and looking to sell a casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Possibly, Flamingo Las Vegas. And while most suspected Planet Hollywood would be the property sold, indications are that Caesars will try to find a buyer for the 75 year old property.
Howdy friends! And welcome to This Week in Gambling, the feel good hit of the summer! And things are going well right now in Las Vegas. And that’s where I’ll be headed next week for my vacation. More on that in just a moment. But first, as we reported on our last show, casinos on the Las Vegas strip just hit their third highest revenue totals of all time. Plus, Caesar’s Entertainment just reported that, in the first quarter of this year, they made $2.3 billion! Remember that number! $2.3 billion! Because the question now is: With all this cash coming in, how the hell is Caesar’s still losing money?
This week’s big story finds that, despite the record numbers, Caesar’s still lost $700 million just in the first three months of this year. That’s a quarter of a million dollars more than they lost at this time last year, so what gives? First of all Caesar’s Digital, which is their online and mobile division, has really been stinking it up lately. Last year that division made the company about $40 million, but this year it’s actually lost the company over $50 million!
Second, amongst other things, Caesar’s operational expenses rose to $2.3 billion… and if that number sounds familiar it’s because that’s the same number I told you to remember when I reported it as their first quarter profits for this year! That leads us to Caesar’s plans to try to right the ship. And to do that they would like to sell one of their Las Vegas Strip casino properties. Up until now, all eyes had been on Planet Hollywood. That is until Caesar’s realized that Planet Hollywood has a rather nice side hustle going with their theater hosting concerts.
It was then that Caesars turned their attention to the Flamingo Las Vegas. It’s historic. It’s a Las Vegas landmark. It was built in 1946, making it the oldest casino on the Las Vegas Strip. And while those facts are great talking points, they do create somewhat of a problem when you try to sell it. You see Caesars wants a billion dollars for the Flamingo, but so far there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in an old resort with high maintenance costs and failing infrastructure. Geez, it sort of sounds like me describing myself in my Tinder profile… I don’t get a lot of interest in that either.
So it needs a fresh coat of paint. And it creaks a little bit now and then. And the plumbing doesn’t work as well as it used to. But hey, whose plumbing does work as good as it used to 40 years ago? So some of us get up in the middle of the night to go pee! Does that mean we’re not worth as much as we used to be? Just because something gets older… You know, I may be taking this more personally than I should. We’ll keep you updated on on Flamingo Las Vegas.
This week’s game review is for the Tiki Treasures Megaways online slot from our friends at Blueprint Gaming. This is an amazing slot, with six cascading reels and over 117,000 pay lines. There’s also a bonus round and bonus spins, both wild and scatter symbols, and even a progressive jackpot. You can find this review, along with hundreds more, on our YouTube channel. And finally this week well… I’ve got nothing left to add. Except for the fact that there will be no video next week because I will be away on my vacation… at the Flamingo Las Vegas! And that’s no joke! So while I’m away, enjoy the silence!