MGM Resorts shrinking and growing at the same time?

http://vegasinc.com/business/2015/aug/10/big-changes-ahead-MGM-Resorts/?_ga=1.50422889.1961939325.1439216694

Correction:

"As it has shifted attention to these projects, MGM has sold — or begun to sell — its interest in four smaller casinos in Nevada. "

They are not selling any properties outright beside Circus Circus in Reno.

They may sell Mirage as well, and that's probably where the rumor started.

For me, this is more reason that I'm glad I switched to CET this year.

 

I think in corporate speak he is basically admitting that their may have been talks.
Obviously nothing can be said while any potential deal is in the works, and It wouldn't be the first time a potential sales talk was squashed, only to have a deal close weeks later.

I think its pretty realistic to think that MGM has had some discussions with potential buyers, but has been unable to reach terms for Mirage. A sale of Mirage is still not out of the question.

I find the second half of the article far more interesting, which is Murren basically admiting the Monte Carlo is undervalued. I definitely think that place has suffered from a brand identity. Given the location
MGM has potential to raise the value of that place four fold.

 

It's true that MC is undervalued. The surprise is that they haven't been more agrressive before now in addressing it. Some of what they are talking about probably should have been done closer to the opening of City Center or as part of the fire rehab.

 

^^ Agreed. Better late than never I guess but the MC has been overlooked by MGM for a long time. It will be interesting to see what they do with it.

 

I don't follow you? How does MGM selling, for example, a truck stop property in rural Nevada make you glad you switched your play to CET?

 

Also agreed. Should be interesting and I expect for the better. For me, the IP was a dump. I still don't like the rooms at the Linq, but at least I can now walk thru the casino without feeling like I need a shower afterward. And the linq promenade is cool. If the new Park by MGM is similar, I think that will be a good upgrade to the MC area

 

That's tough to say.

Citycenter already got caught with terrible timing, committed to the project and then trying to get it done in the midst of a very difficult time to borrow, and opened (as a luxury resort) when Vegas was still in a swoon and unable to command the rates they wanted.

Finding the money for a complete MC rebrand at the same time would have been tricky, would have diluted the impact of CityCenter opening, and could have been wasted once they had to move things for the arena.

So while I agree with the fuzzy notion that the MC brand has never really connected or 'worked', fixing it now in line with the area build makes far more sense than doing it as part of city center, Sort of like doing the Linq along with the High Roller. You create the new brand at the same time you create an attraction that will be driving attention and business towards that brand.

 

How does this make any sense? They sell 2 dump properties in Reno, one property in Henderson that has zero name recognition, and I doubt anyone even knew that MGM owned, and they sell a property that is isolated between Stateline and the Strip that gets zero traffic as cars / potential customers are either stopping at Stateline, or bypassing the Gold Strike and coming all the way into the Strip area.

How does this have any affect that you changed your play to CET? Were you a frequent customer at any of these locations that MGM sold?
You were so attached to any of these properties that were sold that it forced you to become a customer of CET properties?

 

I agree with this

 

Glad I am not the only one that had this reaction. I thought maybe I misunderstood something in the article

 

OK, there are more reasons than that for my decision to switch from MGM to CET.

I read this as they will be eliminating some lower end propertied in Las Vegas in order to build outside of Las Vegas.

I am a slot player. mLife de-incentivizes slot players to play outside of Las Vegas by lower TC/$

It was just a contributing factor. It appears that hey are focusing on their higher end properties, which are "typically" out of reach for me. I struggle to get decent comps at MGM Grand, even though I am Platinum mLife and I average 20-30K TC per day.

CET is taking far better care of me than mLife ever did. the only reason I played at Mirage was because of the Silver Strike machine, and the only reason I played at Bellagio was because of the myVegas LP bonus at Christmas.

Sorry, my explanation wasn't really clear.

 

That makes sense.

But be careful about starting misleading rumors, as the article says nothing about closing the lower end MGM properties. In fact, the only thing the article says at all about a lower end property is that MGM is trying to increase the value of Monte Carlo, not eliminate it

 

I got that from the article:

"As it has shifted attention to these projects, MGM has sold — or begun to sell — its interest in four smaller casinos in Nevada. "

I guess they're not selling the properties, just controlling interest in the properties.

I will modiiy my statement as such.

 

Got it. But MGM owns Nevada properties other than in Vegas. And they are even identified elsewhere in the same article. It just seemed odd that you posted an article about the sale of smaller non-Vegas casinos influencing your decision to move your Vegas play to different properties. That's all

 

I personally would be more concerned with MGM is they continued to have anything to do with those 4 properties which reek (literally).
A revamped MC is going to generate more future profit than Gold Strike or Silver Legacy ever will.