Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak is relaxing curbs on shows, allowing performers to stay six feet from guests while wearing a mask, or 12 feet without masks. By March 15, most businesses will be allowed to operate at 50% of capacity, with gatherings of up to 250 people also permitted.
That’s a step toward a return of the meetings and conventions business, which welcomed 6.65 million guests in 2019 and was in expansion mode when the pandemic struck. Caesars opened a new $375 million convention center the same week that Las Vegas shut down last March, and the local tourist authority just finished a $989 million addition to its facility.
In the mall adjacent to the Venetian, Buddy V’s Ristorante is back open seven days week, recalling most of its staff for brunch and lunch, according to Elizabeth Blau, co-owner. She’s also re-engaged her social-media team to lure back guests. But what’s really missing are the weekday conventioneers who regularly order the $45 extra-large veal chop or the warm Nutella cake with salted caramel ice cream. Business tumbled 75% during the pandemic.
“It was utterly traumatic,” Blau said.
Gambling revenue shows that other parts of the city, including downtown and the suburbs, are faring better than the Strip, helped by a younger, local demographic that continues to come out and play.
Excluding four closed properties, Red Rock Resorts Inc., an operator of casinos popular with Las Vegas residents, had its most profitable quarter ever in the city, thanks in part to savings associated with fewer amenities, like buffets.
The reality is that even before Covid-19, Las Vegas tourism had hit a plateau of roughly 42 million visitors annually. Gambling has proliferated across the U.S., and more states are authorizing the expansion of traditional casinos, betting shops in stadiums and online gambling.
As it always has, Las Vegas has been looking to reinvent itself. In recent years, the city has attracted two professional sports teams to the new T-Mobile Arena and Allegiant Stadium, both within walking distance from the Strip. Media companies and casino operators have opened TV studios to broadcast from the city, including ESPN, which airs shows from its perch at Caesars’ Linq Hotel. Their target: sports gamblers.
John Payne, president of Vici Properties, the real estate investment trust that put $4 billion into the Venetian deal, said people once thought that the growth of ESPN would kill attendance at live sporting events. Now he figures the growth of sports gambling will bring more people to the betting capital.
Years ago, Payne told Sands executives that if they ever wanted to sell, he’d be interested. This week, Vici’s offering of $2 billion in shares to help pay for the deal was oversubscribed.
“People were more than excited about this,” he said. “It’s such an irreplaceable iconic asset.”
But Payne did negotiate one Covid-related backstop. If for some reason Apollo, which will operate the Venetian, can’t make its $250 million annual rent payment to Vici over the next three years, Sands will make up the difference.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.