Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Harrah's Entertainment isn't saying much about its plans to redevelop its
center Strip properties. Details are expected this fall. In the meantime,
Strip watchers have some free advice. For starters: Don't mess with Caesars
Palace, arguably the world's best-known casino. It makes sense for Harrah's
to tear down its time-warped, low-rent Imperial Palace, but elegantly
middle-aged Caesars still is the opulent flagship and will stand up
admirably to a new wave of ultrahip Strip developments. While access to the
mazelike property could be improved and its old-fashioned Strip frontage
better exploited, Caesars doesn't need a makeover a la MGM Mirage's $7
billion Project CityCenter. "Caesars is probably going to have its best year
in the last 10 years," said Andrew Zarnett, a bond analyst with Deutsche
Bank Securities. "Every day they wake up and think, 'How can we make this
property better.' And the incremental cost of making it better is a lot more
profitable than building a new resort from scratch.' "

The property has tumbled through various owners and has grown topsy-turvy
but it "will always have a place in Las Vegas at the mid to high end" as
long as the company continues to pump money into the property, Zarnett said.
"People just love that brand."

Second piece of advice: Don't mess too much with cash cows Harrah's or
Flamingo, either. Yes, they could use some cosmetic surgery but, based on
the legions of slot players who flock to the hotels, the two properties are
still alluring and there's no need to go under the knife - ahem, wrecking
ball - to seduce young hipsters.

Harrah's base "is Middle America," Zarnett said. "It isn't the elite top 20
percent or the bottom 20 percent. They have a wide base in the middle."

Jeffrey Compton, a Las Vegas casino consultant, gives Harrah's a bit more
credit than that. "Harrah's is very comfortable catering to the upper-middle
class," he said. "They're not after whales, but they are moving up. They're
good at upgrading their properties. They're not ones to buy a property and
let it rot."

With dramatic developments up and down the Strip, it's time for Harrah's to
look into the mirror and prepare for its next close-up.

. . .

Just when you think the argument about whether poker is a legitimate sport
has played itself out, the tedious debate has resurfaced. A Washington man
is waging an uphill battle with Nevada regulators to legalize pari-mutuel
betting on poker and, for that matter, billiard tournaments.

The discussion turned downright silly at the board's July meeting.

Attorney Louis Czoka, representing Washington lawyer Harry Platis, struggled
to explain before the board why poker is different from, say, chess,
backgammon and bridge. Poker, he explained, is more similar to target
shooting and curling because it involves controlled body movements. And
still, poker is not a far cry from traditional sports, either, because it
requires stamina.

"You're not just playing your cards, you're playing your opponent," Czoka
said.

True enough, though any poker pro knows an amateur with lucky cards is tough
to beat, just as the odds of winning have gotten a lot longer as tournaments
attract the masses.

Czoka also didn't win any points with former Las Vegas FBI boss and state
Gaming Control Board member Bobby Siller, who said he didn't see many
similarities between shooting guns and playing poker.

Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander acknowledged that the sports betting
regulation is vague and should be tightened up. If read broadly, casinos
could offer betting lines on just about anything, he said.

And what's so wrong with that? Where there's a hobby, there's a fan and a
bet to be made, which means more tax money, right?

"I was in a local establishment, and they had these hermit crabs on a
table," Neilander said, implying that betting was in process. "They put
helmets on them or something like that."

Board member Mark Clayton suggested that his biggest fear would be watching
grown men bet on dominoes, video-game tournaments and even Candyland board
games.

"Where do you draw the line, Mr. Czoka?" Clayton said.

Hopefully not between Candyland and the hermit crabs.

. . .

What's old is new again on the Strip, where developers are trying to snap up
the last remaining parcels for luxury development.

At a recent Gaming Control Board meeting, the general manager of the Barbary
Coast half-jokingly referred to the 200-room property as a "boutique" hotel.

It may not look anything like the tony Mondrian in Los Angeles or the swank
Delano in Miami Beach, Fla. But the property - which sits on the busy
intersection at Flamingo Road and the Strip - is nevertheless sitting on a
redevelopment gold mine.

The Barbary Coast opened in 1979 and looks its age, with a cavelike interior
and plenty of worn carpet.

But that doesn't matter to Harrah's Entertainment, which is vying to
purchase the old dame as part of a master-planned redevelopment of its
center Strip properties next door.

If Harrah's decides it doesn't need the Barbary Coast to complete its
project, Boyd Gaming Corp. can maintain the property's status as one of the
Strip's smallest - uh, make that boutique - hotels.