(no subject)

[jbsegal]

How many companies actually own all the big casinos?

Comments

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Define 'all' please. All the ones in Vegas, all the ones in the US, all the ones in the world? The dominant companies are ITT Corp, Hilton Hotels, MGM-Grand and Mirage. The top tier is more or less an oligopoly between these four; however, independent smaller casinos still survive, mostly in Atlantic City and on the riverboats. So the basic answer is "between 4 and 6 at any given time for the really big ones."
(Most Indian casinos are actually contracted from one of the big players.)

[cz_unit]

Hm. I thought Balley's and Wynn were also major players on the Vegas strip.

CZ

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Balley's is, but i think Wynn is mostly off-strip, owning a string of 'local' casinos.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Bailey's is one of the second-tier operators. I think Wynn got eaten.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Really? People keep talking like the Wynn on the strip is Steve Wynn's baby, and it's NOT very old.

[tisiphone.livejournal.com]

Hmm, possibly it is still viable, then. (I haven't been keeping track recently.)

[starphire.livejournal.com]

That's absolutely correct. Wynn sold out ownership of his other big Vegas casinos to fund Wynn, and it is entirely HIS baby, his dream - the biggest, most expensive casino in history (at least as of last year, when it opened).
Did you get to see the Lake of Dreams? It's a 4 acre manmade lake adjoined by an artificial mountain. With over 4,000 Color Kinetics lights underwater, it's the largest most expensive LED light installation in the world.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

Bally's/Caesar's definitely isn't second-tier. Before the recent merger, the Caesar's group owned Bally's, Caesar's, the Flamingo, and Paris. Bally's and the Flamingo were a bit tired, but Paris is new and fairly shiny, and Caesar's palace may also be long in the tooth but they do a lot to keep things very, very posh. They've recently merged with Harrah's, though (Harrah's, Rio, and a huge number of second-string shitholes that they've been buying up left and right), and they're the largest player in the game now.

I'm really curious to know what they're going to do with all the mid-strip properties they've been buying up; it feels like something interesting is going on.