Comments on the bankruptcy announcement

Just wanted to see what everyones opinion on the filing today for Chapter 11 by the parent company means?

I love this place and its old time feel and hope they can work through the current financial issues.

Quote: tennesseegambler

Just wanted to see what everyones opinion on the filing today for Chapter 11 by the parent company means?

I love this place and its old time feel and hope they can work through the current financial issues.

Probably very little regarding the players. Riviera still has an operational income. It will be more of a backroom operation. The casinos companies are rarely better off by shutting off any source of income.

Increasingly the hotels are shutting down, leaving the more profitable casino with minimal bar and food service to keep on operating.

The only reply I can make is to suggest a quick look at the A Tale Of Two Casinos thread in which I quoted a Las Vegas gambler as having received "one whole freakin' dollar" in Free Play from the Riviera while having received Fifty dollars in Free Play from The Sahara.

Casinos that live in the past will wind up being pawns in a reorganization scheme.

I am now one step closer to my free dinner from DJTeddyBear. Remember the discussion (link) about the first "north Strip" casino to close their doors? I bet a dinner that the Riviera would close before Circus Circus.

Of course bankruptcy is not the same thing as closing the doors, but it improves my odds significantly. Seriously, there is too much room inventory north of the Wynn and south of downtown. I think somebody has to close for the benefit of the survivors.

The city-wide occupancy rate is down as much as 10% from the pre-recession numbers. Plus that is at greatly reduced Average Daily Room rates. If it wasn't political suicide they should offer a tax incentive to close some of the casinos operating on life support.

But I imagine even the Riviera still has a thousand people working for them. No politician would suggest such a thing.

2010
Jan -71.1% -$99.75
Feb -79.7% -$97.21
Mar -82.4% -$93.23
Apr -84.0% -$96.87
May -82.6% -$98.87


2007
85.4% 90.3% 93.9% 93.8% 92.1% 91.9% 92.0% 91.2% 91.3% 92.3% 86.9% 83.2%
$134.37 $135.67 $136.15 $146.53 $143.01 $135.12 $117.76 $126.38 $142.47 $135.00 $118.45 $112.36

Quote: Wizard

I am now one step closer to my free dinner from DJTeddyBear.

Sigh. Where the hell is that Bronx Cheer emoticon?!?!?

---

By the way, you're getting that free meal when I come in September, even if they're both still open! Like I said in the Coffee threads, I'm shooting for sometime after 2:00ish on Sunday 9/19, or any time on Monday 9/20. Because of the help he's given me with my own Patent application, I hope to be able to buy a meal for PaiGowDan at the same time (Dan, you in?)

Dinner or lunch. Or even breakfast if that's your preference. Just remember that I'm no Rockefeller.


And anybody else that's in town is invited, although you'll have to foot your own bill.

Thanks in advance. I'll be around.

Quote: Wizard

I am now one step closer to my free dinner from DJTeddyBear. Remember the discussion (link) about the first "north Strip" casino to close their doors? I bet a dinner that the Riviera would close before Circus Circus.

Of course bankruptcy is not the same thing as closing the doors, but it improves my odds significantly. Seriously, there is too much room inventory north of the Wynn and south of downtown. I think somebody has to close for the benefit of the survivors.

I don't remember...does being bought and bulldozed count? Because that's the only way I see either property ever shutting their doors, and therefore the bet would never be resolved.

In some ways a BK could make it less likely that Riv would shut down. The question if they'll be able to reorganize and/or re-capitalize. It certainly does the bondholders no good whatsoever to shut down the entire property and get nothing out of it. If all else fails, the bondholders could take it over, close the hotel, and keep operating the casino. But even that's a stretch.

Since I had agreed to buy the Wiz a meal regardless of the bet outcome, I kinda lost interest in the actual bet details. Check the link the Wiz provided.

I'm fairly certain we did NOT say that the building had to be leveled. Or even that the doors had to close. Just that the casino cease operation. The restaurants / retail / hotel status was irrelevant (although I admit, I have no idea why anyone would keep anything else open if the casino shuts down.)

And I'm sure that, if the bet were live, when the casino closes, we would have had a waiting period to see if it was temporary or not...

We stated to get bogged down with all the 'what if' scenarios that I said "Screw it. I'll just buy you the dang meal..."

Gaming Control Board tentatively OKs financier's purchase of Riviera

The bankruptcy reorganization removed $262.1 million in debt. The new capital structure includes loans of $50 million and $20 million and a $10 million working capital agreement. Barry Sternlicht will control 79 percent of the Riviera while longtime Riviera investor Derek Stevens, who owns 50 percent of the Golden Gate, will own the other 21 percent.


Kristofer’s Steak House at the Riviera.


Very few casinos seem to actually die forever in Vegas unless they are replaced with another casino.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

S
Just remember that I'm no Rockefeller.

The original old man Rockefeller was a bear to dine with. He rarely ate out, and when he did, he scrutinized the check in every detail to make sure they weren't overcharging him. This was when he was the richest man in the world. It was the principal of the thing, he said. He never smoked or drank or cheated on his wife. He sat in the front row of his Baptist church every Sunday. In business, he was ruthless to a fault. In private, nobody has given away more money than John D Rockefeller. He died at 99 years of age. Only the good die young, people said of him.