Murren Leaving MGM

I’m sure your and others local market Indian casinos are very pleased with the course Vegas is heading. More business for them.

Reno ended up in a similar boat. Alienated tourists and locals alike. People stopped going and started going to their locals. As a result Reno is now one of the most gambling friendly cities in the country with fair payouts and cheap food.

Make no mistake Vegas will continue to bilk the customer until the well runs dry. These companies don’t care, if business dries up they will just declare BK and get a golden parachute.

We represent an extremely tiny minority of people who go to Vegas these days. Most tourists are from other countries now and not the US. They rarely gamble. I’ve said this countless times to friends but Vegas as we know it is simply not sustainable without gaming. The two major players in the Vegas Market have already sold the majority of their portfolios. MGM sold almost all
Of their properties and are leasing them. CET has been sold to elderado.


People can eat and go to shows in their hometown. Not to mention food and lodging carry huge overhead unlike gaming.

This is why Vegas is trying to diversify with sports teams and other attractions. They see the writing on the wall. Seriously why fly for hours to play tight machines, pay insane fees and get nickel and dimed at every corner? You literally have no chance of coming home with more money than you came with. This wasn’t the case in the 70’s,80’s,90’s. Their visitors aren’t gambling. Why? Because when they did they lost in a matter of seconds. Not worth it.

 

A lot of people hate Murren for what he did to Vegas, but he also ruined gambling in the mid atlantic. When they built MGM National Harbor they pressured Maryland lawmakers to change the law to allow 6:5 blackjack. Now 6:5 has spread to every casino including Hollywood casino in Charlestown WV which is the definition of a locals casino. Now there is a triple 0 roulette table at MGM National Harbor and it will be packed full at a $25 minimum. You are lucky to find a 6:5 CSM table for less than $25 on a Tuesday night now a days. All this for what is supposed to be a "locals" casino. I guess I owe it to him for forcing me to play poker instead of bleeding money in the blackjack pit.

 

I went to NH twice and that was enough for me. At least at Charlestown you can get free drinks on the floor, unlike NH where you have to pay $5 for a beer. Also, the restaurant/bar venues at NH are a joke. Murren screwed that one up bigly.

 

But, the problem is, people are still playing the games with higher table limits, and worse rules. The tables are packed. Why would they change anything if people do not vote with their feet. The reason - most people are not savvy gamblers

 

I think its more that they realized if we only offer bad rules on games, gamblers will have to choose between not gambling or playing with our bad rules. They have found that the amount of people that will suck it up and play on the bad tables out number the people that will just not gamble. If I have the itch to play blackjack now a days I would either have to play at a $50 minimum to play 3:2, drive to Atlantic City or just suck it up and play 6:5 15 mins away from my house. Its similar for people staying on the strip. Even if they know 6:5 is worse than 3:2, are they really going to call a cab and go downtown to find a 3:2 game or will they just suck it up and play 6:5? 94% of the hands play exactly the same and you can still say you are playing blackjack at the Bellagio.


It may take years of screwing gamblers for the effects to hurt their bottom line. They are bleeding their customers dry and eventually people will get tired of losing most of the time they drive to the casino. I think it may honestly take another recession for these gaming companies to advertise good rules again to get people in the door.

 

For the major resort/gaming company executives/BOD it's all about beating the analysts estimates and pleasing their shareholders. They will do anything and everything to meet their goals, keep their positions, reap their bonuses and increase their salaries. They look at numbers and not at their customers. We are just a means to the end.

 

Bar tender robot getting promotion to .....

 

Another problem they have is seeding the younger generation. How do they do this when their machines are set so tight? These kids try out gambling for the first time and lose all their money in seconds.

I know one of my very first experiences gambling I hit a $3000 jackpot. GL with that happening today

 

Seems like this topic, generally, comes up every six months or so. As always, look at the statistics. 2019, Vegas gambling revenue increased over 2018. In fact, gambling revenue has increased each of the last ten years and eighteen of the past nineteen. So its just not accurate to say that most tourists do not gamble

 

Casinos are still packed. People like to gamble.

 

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/analyst-murrens-departure-from-mgm-brings-to-question-companys-strategic-direction

This is interesting, and concerning. One of the board members is a close ally of Carl Ichan, which will not bode well if Ichan exerts any influence in to the search for a replacement.

 

Last time we went the Bellagio was packed wall to wall with people.

Slot chairs sat empty. Maybe 20 people playing.

 

I get this, but the tax rates are so high and the number of licenses are so low in some of these new states that the real reason the games are so lousy is due to lawmakers. You can't expect Nevada holds in markets where gaming taxes are closer to 40% than 6%, and you can't expect decent competition via game quality when you only have 1-2 players.

 

And... his exit “package” is $32 million!!!

https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/jim-murren-to-receive-32m-exit-package-from-mgm-1958062/

 

That’s a lot of resort and parking fees.

32 million for basically destroying a company. Aria city center flop that cost the company billions, for which they will never recover. The Implementation of fees that alienated its core customer base.

Sure MGM’s properties have a lot of foot traffic, but that’s all it is foot traffic. These people are spending very little if any money on property.

 

This may be true on the weekend but in my last half dozen trips I have noticed less and less people gambling during the week. I see them all at the shops and restaurants out front of the casinos rather than inside them. Used to be in a bank of 4 machines at least 2 would have someone at it. Now in a bank of 4 I might see one person in the row with many having none at all.

 

Again, not exactly accurate. CityCenter work began five years before Murren became CEO. It was completed, though, during his tenure. And while it took CityCenter and Aria did not perform great out of the box, its generally considered a success these days and not a flop

 

Great leaders make tough decisions!!!

From a business standpoint....he did his job very well....

 

He did some good, some bad...But he weathered the storm of the financial crisis...MGM was on the verge of going belly up along with City Center / Aria. MGM was at around $1 if you remember, still kicking myself for that and LVS. What a run its been, and keeping the company afloat!

 

It still pisses me off that I can’t see MGM’s menu pricing from their website. It was removed on his watch and the only reason for doing so was to allow for surge pricing.