SIN CITY OR KIDDYLAND? DRAW YOUR OWN CONCLUSION

As we sit poised for another major casino hotel opening, this one - PARIS - with 3 thousand rooms with the Eifel Tower (which the other day turned the lights on upon the tower and it is very impressive. They've done an incredible job re-creating the tower, including a restaurant overlooking the entire strip north and south in smoked glass on the 15th floor and will be a big draw) along with the Arch de Triumph as an entrance, this place will fit right in. Across from the Bellagio is a boone for anyone in the Flamingo- LV BLVD area including TreasureIsland, Venetian, Mirage, Flamingo, Caesars Palace, Ballys, Bellagio and now the Paris. As it draws and keeps people in that section of the strip as opposed to the Tropicana-Las Vegas Blvd area with NYNY, MGM, Luxor, Tropicana, Excalibur, Monte Carlo and their anchor Mandalay Bay. These two areas make more money than most countries.

The fact that the Flamingo area includes the highest end retail shopping including the Fashion Show Mall, the shops at Venetian, Caesar's Forum Shops, The Bellagio Shops and now the Paris stores and the soon to come Aladdin, included in the Flamingo area, which will include more high end retail stores than any of the other shopping areas except the Fashion show. This shopping area will have more high end stores than anywhere in the world. This will not be anyplace for the squeamish of spenders, or the anal retentive wallet holder. Now throw in the restaurants, also the largest concentration of high end gourmet restaurants in the world and we're talking about weeks of working for most people just to go to dinner with a guest, hope your car loan's paid up and you did buy a round trip ticket didn't you?

The Venetian alone has 15 restaurants and they're all ala carte, no buffets and the burger in the coffee shop's almost 9 bucks!! Fries are extra! Now try to find a cheap restaurant from the Mirage to Mandalay Bay, we're talking some creative financing if you're a family. Now throw in the show prices, all of them at the fifty to one hundred dollar range, now remember all the bitching that everyone did when they said we were turning Vegas into a kiddyland for families and kids, we were supposedly going for the $20 bettor, the hot dog and shrimp cocktail eaters, the candy and ice cream crowd instead of the drinking and gambling crowd, so what did we get? A big street made to fit thousands of people who can walk around with the kids trying to find something they can afford to do with the kids, but only a few people who can afford to do the stuff that's on the street.Well, they have the show at Treasure Island, that's good for 10 minutes, the dolphins & the mini-zoo at the Mirage for 30 minutes, some small decent arcades and the Wet and Wild waterpark and the always reliable, always free circus acts at Circus Circus and their Adventureland Canyon which is a cool place for kids and adults with an excuse to act like kids. There are a few McDonalds, Fatburger and In & Out,and the rest of the time they can stand around, so all that amounts to is about a days entertainment for the kids. If you have young kids that can't be left alone, forget any gambling or drinking, the kids can't be anywhere near the tables or machines. The Gaming Commission is cracking down on the casinos, the rest of the time you can walk up and down the strip watching the other people walking with the kids looking for something to do with them that won't cost a second mortgage, the few cheap casinos and the 3-for-$15 t-shirt places are few and far between.

So they walk from one hotel to the other taking their pictures in front of the monuments.(what we need here is a hotel as a small replica of Las Vegas, mini pyramid, Brooklyn bridge, Stratosphere tower and than we could blow up the downtown area every half-hour (except no one would care).

So what's going on here is this town is not just owned by the casinos and hotels, most of the new high end restaurants are not owned by the hotels, nor are all the high end shops, they're all owned by the individual stores, so these casinos have to perform or sell to someone who will. If the Venetian goes under (they're being sued for $150 million) it will be sold and re-formed, you can't close the casino and leave the stores open. So at these prices, the owners can't afford to worry much about the $20 players and the buffet crowd. The table limits are creeping up to $10 and you'll have to go downtown to play $2 blackjack and cheap food.

The car rental industry came out with a report they're renting more cars than ever and people putting on more mileage in general, which means they're doing more traveling out of town to see the sights and less time in the casinos since it's so much cheaper especially if you have kids. Neonopolis is coming to the downtown area soon and if anyone can explain what that is, call me. (The only thing that will save downtown is a major league stadium and team)The north end of the strip is about done, the Sahara is half torn down, planning on rebuilding in the next year, but they're also pushing their dollar blackjack tables, so that spells trouble. Circus Circus is still busy around the buffet area, but the casino is quiet, the Stardust still has the biggest sportsbook action in town, but you could walk naked through the casino at six o'clock and except for a few snickers, no one would notice. The Riviera is always in trouble,and the Desert Inn has spent millions to be the classiest of the casinos in town, but they couldn't pay the rent and when the property came up for sale along with Caesar's Palace, they didn't want to buy the DI. So what we have is allot of hurting properties and the rest pricing themselves out of the middle market where all the families are, so don't let anyone tell you this is a kids town, they can't afford that the biggest take in town is baccarat, not a family game, nor are the big craps or bj bettors big family people. These are the only people getting real comps.

The only place the casinos can comp is on rooms and casino run restaurants, unless you're a big player where they'll fork over a comp for a major show or restaurant..The strip is in the midst of a Pacific Rim media charge, every major casino has spent millions and have special departments dedicated to the sole purpose of shmoozing rich Asians who love to play big money baccarat and they don't bring the wife or kids. One player, one room, one dinner and one ticket. We're talking about Japan, Hong Kong, or Singapore, not Texas or North Carolina, or Tennesee. If you look at the bottom line, paying the price for all the cement and glass and neon and felt, bells and whistles is very expensive, they've spent millions on theaters and the shows (the insurance company made Danny Gans sell his Harley when he signed with the Rio,and the Mirage is even more protective paying for full time bodyguards for Sigfried and Roy and full time valets to fetch anything they need so they don't have to go out in public and expose themselves to any risk or injury or accidents. They'll do the same for Gans when he starts there. Tommy Tune's legs are insured for millions (although his face ain't worth a dime) and as the conventions increase, the families will be scrambling for rooms at decent prices as well as decent priced entertainment (and gambling).

So if you're headed to Disneyland with the family, stop at Vegas (I NEED YOUR MONEY OK?) rent a van, pile in the family and take a left and go down three hundred miles. If you're stopping in Vegas, take out a second mortgage, or consider selling one of the kids.