From CNN.........Vegas could be Super Bowl loser

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Despite more visitors than Houston and expected $70 million in bets, Vegas could lose this weekend.
January 27, 2004: 3:34 PM EST
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money Senior Writer



NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Super Bowl weekend will bring more visitors to Las Vegas than to Houston, where the football championship is being played.

But the estimated 275,000 visitors filling Las Vegas hotel and motel rooms won't necessarily be as big an economic boon for Sin City's casino and tourism industry as Houston's 250,000 expected visitors will be for that city.

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That's because Houston will see about twice its normal number of tourists this weekend, while the weekend will be close to normal in Vegas. The estimated 91.7 percent occupancy rate in Vegas this weekend is actually a touch less than the 93 percent the city averaged over the last year.

Many of the visitors are obviously coming to place Super Bowl bets at the casinos, since Nevada is the only state with legal gambling on athletic events. Estimates are that $70 million was wagered in the city on last year's game. This weekend also brings the National Automobile Association convention's estimated 30,000 visitors.

But the Super Bowl will make this weekend the single busiest day for the Las Vegas sports book -- the name for the city's sports betting operations -- although the first weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament produces more betting overall with 48 games to wager on.

But the sports book is the least profitable segment of the casino industry.


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Sports book operations earn from 2.9 cents to 4 cents per dollar wagered, compared to 8 cents per dollar wagered on slot machines, said legalized gaming expert Eugene Christiansen of Christiansen Capital Advisors. He said the sports book probably is comparable to the casino's coffee shop in terms of profit per square foot.

"That doesn't mean it's bad business -- if you look at the big (casinos), there's an awful lot of money spent on things that don't generate money at all," said Christiansen. "The large Nevada properties want to be all things to all people and provide this service to their gamblers."

The sports book is certain to make money when the same number of people bet on each team in the game. But the book is also at greater risk of losing money on the Super Bowl or other sports events than the casino is on games of pure chance.

Casinos won't give details of losses, but Scott Ghertner, director of sports and public relations for MGM Mirage, concedes that two years ago when the underdog New England Patriots won the game, "I can tell you that most of the sports books throughout town had a tough day.LINK
 

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The only way the Vegas books lose is if the Pats win by 7. Whats wrong with a 3.5 to 4 percent hold on 70 million?

Good article Dante.

wil.
 

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This is such baloney. Room rates are doubled this weekend, table limits are as high as you will ever see in town. Rooms are filled with high rollers and people that come to bet on the game, you don't get an element of tourists just looking to see the sites when the rooms are hard to get and the rates on those available is sky high. True the sports component, while probably the best day of the year, won't make a big drop in the bucket, but gambling over the weekend will be huge. Even places like Atlantic City make a big thing out of Superbowl and then can't even take wagers. Try getting a room in AC this weekend and you will see that Superbowl is the king of getting the gamblers out and the prices up.
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by WildBill:
This is such baloney. Room rates are doubled this weekend, table limits are as high as you will ever see in town. Rooms are filled with high rollers and people that come to bet on the game, you don't get an element of tourists just looking to see the sites when the rooms are hard to get and the rates on those available is sky high. True the sports component, while probably the best day of the year, won't make a big drop in the bucket, but gambling over the weekend will be huge. Even places like Atlantic City make a big thing out of Superbowl and then can't even take wagers. Try getting a room in AC this weekend and you will see that Superbowl is the king of getting the gamblers out and the prices up.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I read this article several hours ago and had some of the same thoughts. How can Vegas be a Super Bowl loser? Not really sure what the author was trying to prove.
 

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I got the impression he (author) was comparing the two cities, and how well they would do financially this coming weekend. Houston Vs. Las Vegas, and Houston somehow wins.

wil.
 

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The people that write these articles do almost zero research on them so what if the books lose to the game the casino will make up for it many times over in the rest of the casinos
 

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WildBill- Baloney is one word I would use. I can think of a few others. Las Vegas will be packed this weekend with actual gamblers and spenders. Super Bowl weekend is huge for the tables and slots unlike a big convention where the tightwads bring a clean shirt and a $20 bill and don't change either one. New Years brings a lot of people here but they mostly drink. What makes Super Bowl weekend so big here is that the casinos bring in their best customers and throw lavish Super Bowl parties for them and they will pound away at the tables, slot and poker machines.

No question the action is good in the sportsbook because this weekend is a very rare time you can actually gamble in a sportsbook. As you talked about, the room rates are doubled and the hotels will still be full. This is one of the most profitable weekends of the year for Las Vegas.
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by wilheim:
I got the impression he (author) was comparing the two cities, and how well they would do financially this coming weekend. Houston Vs. Las Vegas, and Houston somehow wins.

wil.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Compared to a "normal" weekend, Houston will do better than Vegas. Vegas is always busy on the weekends, whereas Houston isn't. I understand that. But so what? Compared to Houston, EVERY city in the world is a Super Bowl loser. Don't need an article to figure that out.

But gambling has become extremely popular in the last 1-2 years, so I guess they've gotta write lots of articles about the Super Bowl and gambling. Even if the articles are mostly fluff.
 

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They don't mention how much the host city has to spend either to get the game. The extra security costs and in this case the cost to the city of building a stadium should be factored in because they surely wouldn't have played it at the old Astrodome. Vegas will be just on ordinary weekend costs, maybe a few extra staff to handle the crowds but nothing that serious.

San Diego figured out the numbers awhile back. They only had to spend about $80 million on upgrading their stadium and it got them two recent Superbowls. The first one in 1998 led to direct city costs of almost $13 million, but based on economic modeling they figured their benefit was probably in the $30-35 million range. The numbers will say things like "$80 million in economic benefit" but that overlooks the fact that the city would have had some visitation without the game and also that generated revenues don't mean generated taxes. Superbowls in general are good to have, but if you have to build a stadium to get them you probably going to lose in the long run.
 

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CNN should be embarrassed. that is the most ignorant story i have ever read. Vegas will make millions and millions and millions on just the props on Sunday. What a joke.
 

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I drive a mile and a half to work Monday through Friday and it is normally very easy for me. Going home on Friday evenings can be a pain in the butt (comparatively) sometimes.

There is a very clear difference between the weekends and weekdays here. Monday through Thursday, it's easy to get around and do what you want to do. Friday through Sunday are awful and I try not to drive around too much.

This week has already been miserable. I thought to myself, why are there so many cars driving around? This is ridiculous! Then I realized it's Super Bowl week... It is clear that this town is going to be PACKED.
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

The sports book is certain to make money when the same number of people bet on each team in the game. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

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Bet the books will be glad to know that when I lay down my $10 on the opposite side of Billy Walters that they are then "certain to make money".
icon_rolleyes.gif
 

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It is going to be very packed.When the El Cortez can 200 dollars for a room you get a clue how it is going to be.
 

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Nicky- Is that $200 for the room at the Alcatraz for one night or the entire week? LOL.
 

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It was in a thread a couple days ago I forget which one but someone was looking for rooms and they listed like 4 places that still had rooms and I could be wrong but I thought it said it was nearly 200 a night.
 

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Wildbill, excellent points!

Normally I get suspicious when I see an article that is so far from the truth. What propaganda objective does this serve!? Or are they really THAT incompetent? This one is a mystery to me.
 

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Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest day of the year for the casinos, gambling wise. It has far surpassed New Year's money wise.

The first weekend of March Madness is the only thing comparable, but Saturday and Sunday will be the two biggest days of the year.
 

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by NICKYTHEFISH:
It is going to be very packed.When the El Cortez can 200 dollars for a room you get a clue how it is going to be.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

EXACTLY..I man that place is DUMP-O-RAMA
ralph.gif
 

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Of course the host city sees the biggest boost because it gets "twice its normal number of tourists this weekend", but everyone's a winner on Super Bowl Sunday...from TV networks, to advertisers, to bar owners from coast to coast, to pizza delivery companies, beer and liquor companies, snack chip makers, chicken farmers, etc. etc. etc.

And to call Vegas a loser in all of this is ridiculous. Even if the casinos lose on the game, they would make up for it in all other areas as mentioned above (table games, slots, higher room rates, dinners, shows, etc.) and certainly in return business from people that have a great time. This is as much as marketing weekend as a gambling weekend. Of the people visiting the respective cities this weekend, there will tens of thousands who make a return trip to Vegas before a much smaller number decide it's worth it to make a return trip to Houston (probably the next time it hosts the SB).
 

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