From: mhall@netcom.com (Michael Hall)
Subject: Re: news about the Rio
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 20:39:06 GMT

TRADER@cup.portal.com (Paul Vincent McGinnis) writes:

>Has the Rio got anything going for it gambling-wise ? I've never been inside
>the place. Besides the Brazilian style T&A they show in their ads, what's
>the big attraction ? 

The Rio's cocktail waitresses have achieved legendary status on rec.gambling.
Actually, I think I might cast my vote for the Imperial Palace cocktail
waitresses, who have also been lauded on rec.gambling, but I think some
more sampling is needed for me to be sure :-)

Rio has single deck blackjack with H17, D10/11 (Northern Nevada rules),
with the standard one deck shuffle machines (just used to reduce the
shuffle time to zero) and maybe peek devices.  They also have double
deck and shoes with better rules.  In general it's a nice-looking
fairly medium-large casino.  It suffers a bit by its off-strip location,
getting a lot of locals instead of the creme de la creme tourists.

>Just curious - does anyone else think Vegas is getting overdeveloped? Maybe
>I've just felt the urge one too many times to mow down tourists with the
>rental car because hordes of them walk all over the middle of the street...

The MGM casino being built seems to dwarf Excalibur(!)  Mirage's Pirate place
is going up quickly and seems to be fairly large.  And of course the pyramid
will be huge too.  You're probably asking from an investment point of view.
I'd say the new megacasinos are destined to do well, on the basis of the track
records of Mirage, Caesars, and Excalibur.  The MGM casino slash theme park
should give families the first really great place to go in Vegas, and it
should substantially increase the number of visitors to Vegas each year;
I think MGM will make billions off the place eventually.

Meanwhile, the effect on other casinos will be varied.  Many of the small
casinos will be hurt by the glut in rooms and glitz of the big casinos.
The "old" megacasinos (Mirage, Caesars, Excalibur) will probably still
make megabucks, but possibly just slightly less megabucks.  Caesars will
probably be impacted the least, Excalibur the most.  Hell, there is
already a glut in rooms now.  But some of the small casinos near the
new megacasinos will benefit from crossover traffic.  For example,
I expect Sands will do much better once Mirage's pirate place is open,
as Sands has the only single deck game within easy walking distance, and
I doubt if Treasure Island will offer single deck.  Now would be an
excellent time to buy Sands stock, as everyone *thinks* they are going
to go broke soon so the price should be low.

In contrast to Sands benefiting, downtown casinos will continue to
decay but at an increased rate.  Yep, that Four Queens stock is
probably doomed.  But Glitter Gultch is such a hallmark of Vegas
that Steve Wynn may figure out some way to keep the lights on; hopefully,
he'll come up with something better than turning downtown Vegas
into downtown Venice with canals and whatnot.  I still think downtown is
doomed; with gambling popping up all over the country, Vegas tourists
want megaresorts for family vacations and/or high rolling action, not
piddly casinos with low betting minimums like the ones they can find at their
neighborhood Indian reservation.

IMHO.

-- 
Michael Hall   \ 
personal account\ Big Brother is watching.
mhall@netcom.com \
Newsgroups: rec.gambling