Virgin to Take Back Casino Operations from Mohegan Tribe

13 Comments

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  Rick James Brown May 12, 2024

  But they got the AVN porn convention back next January, so there’s that. 🤪

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  Michael Bluejay May 10, 2024

  According to the sign, the average wager to earn free drinks is "0.20¢", which is 1/5th of 1¢, or $0.002. And here I thought the lowest slot denomination was 1¢. Let me at them sub-penny slots! Also, Pecan Paulie for mayor of the new Virgin casino.

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  Pecan Paulie May 8, 2024

  Mohegan never had a shot from the jump. The horrific business model at the Virgin had them completely hamstrung. The Mohegan hosts and managers did not have the same tools at their disposal that every other casino in the city had - namely hotel rooms and restaurants under their control. Mohegan simply could not be competitive when they had to pay full retail to get comps for hotel rooms, meals, and other amenities for players. Yes, there were some agreements in place to mitigate expenses, but nothing like you would have at a Caesars or MGM owned property. Hilton had no interest in lowering rates and stuffing rooms during non-peak times to drive gaming, and that becomes a problem for an off the strip property that needs high occupancy to induce play. There are scores of problems within that building, and to lay them at the feet of Mohegan is misplacing the blame. Virgin has shown no ability to evolve from a broken business model. They tore down the vastly popular Center Bar from the Hard Rock days. They built a featured bar that has no table top gaming. Mohegan was unable to play popular, lively music because Virgin controls the sound throughout the building and has continued to force feed their "brand" of music, which is drab, dreary obscure alt rock. Mohegan tried to celebrate some of their winning players on social media and that was met with resistance from Virgin because these players didn't have the "look" that Virgin is trying to promote. Guess what? 99% of the people that walk into that building don't look like the hipsters in the Virgin commercials. That's where the problem lies. There is no identity in that building. Does that property want to be a young, hip, stylish place or are they gunning for a locals market? Mohegan needed to cater to a Station Casinos type locals market to be successful, but Virgin wanted the young and beautiful. It was an ongoing conflict, and the core reason the property is failing. Virgin could be fixed, but not until they adapt their business model. They can take over the gaming, but nothing will change until they understand that building. Much like SLS was never going to be a successful yuppie hipster joint in Naked City, the Virgin can't be upscale on Paradise and Harmon. You just can't. The riff raff is everywhere. There are empty retail outlets up and down that building. The north side of the property is a ghost town. Bring in fast food restaurants and low end retailers for cheap leases just to get activity in the building. Bring in bingo, poker, and a cafe that doesn't charge $26 for a cheeseburger. You have an empty showroom in the basement just sitting there looking for a tenant. A Stoney's type country bar would kill in that spot. How many high end restaurants are going to close before someone says we need to re-think what we are doing here? It's a great property with loads of wonderful people inside the building looking for guests to wow. Now the onus falls on Virgin to figure it out, because their scapegoat is being escorted out like a drunk harassing a cocktail waitress. Cliff is a sharp guy, though, so here is his chance to prove it. He has a big mess that his predecessor left for him. Time will tell if he can get it sorted out.

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  Pete R May 8, 2024

  Doesn't matter, people are getting wise about never winning on slot/video machines. People love to gamble but, even an idiot knows not to keep putting your hand in a fire. greedy casinos put the odds at almost never for a real jackpot and this is why the casino floor is empty. was never like that in the old days. slots payed out and players lost tons but the difference is they had fun doing it cause at least you could catch a bone once in awhile. good luck managing Virgin back to a packed gaming floor.

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  Michael Bluejay May 10, 2024

  Pete R, you're right that interest in slots is waning, and that's been going on for decades. The number of slots peaked in 1999, and has gone down every year since then (through at least 2018, I haven't checked whether the new casinos slightly reversed the downward trend). Casinos don't set jackpots to hit infrequently. They can't. Jackpot frequency is determined by the manufacturer. Now, casinos can buy tighter slots vs. looser slots, but a looser slot almost always means fewer *small* pays, not fewer big pays. (I know because I've done the programming on slot machines, including one last week.) I think casinos are short-sighted in buying machines that are too tight. They think they make more money that way, but I think they make less: Playing tight slots is such a painful experience that no one wants to play. If the machines were 99%, or even 99.5%, slots would be so popular that the casinos would be raking in the money, and players would actually have a good time.

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  Joeblow May 7, 2024

  I like to stay at the Virgin and do so often. They rooms are nice and the pool is great. The casino floor is ALWAYS empty. I think they need to decide who their target customer is. Also the dining venues are awful. Thankfully White Castle is across the street. I hope they fix it.

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  Michael Bluejay May 7, 2024

  I've never understood the relationship between Mohegan and Virgin. Possibilities include: (1) Mohegan owned the casino (keeping any profits), and neither Mohegan nor Virgin owed each other anything. (2) Mohegan owned the casino (entitled to profits), and paid Virgin either a monthly rent, or a share of any profits. (3) Virgin hired Mohegan to run the casino, paying Mohegan a fee for their effort in running the operation, with Virgin being entitled to the casino profits. There are probably other possible relationships. Scott, do you have any idea what kind of relationship Mohegan and Virgin had? I asked Gaming a long time ago who the actual owner of the casino was, but I don't think I ever got a straight answer.

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  Scott Roeben May 8, 2024

  Mohegan basically leased the casino operations, now, they're being brought in-house.

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  Sam 253 May 8, 2024

  Formula1 came to town, all hotel owners inflated hotel & food prices skyhigh, and We will never be back. Did it to yourselves

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  Pecan Paulie May 10, 2024

  @michael bluejay. Mohegan is a tenant at the property and leases space the same as Dunkin' Donuts. They are a stand alone company which pays rent to JCH Hospitality, DBA as Virgin Las Vegas. They are the sole tenant within the property that has a gaming license which is why you see no gaming anywhere but within the casino area. There are some shared resources in the building such as JCH provides security and HR and Mohegan provides surveillance; however all the major entities operate separate from one another. Mohegan runs the casino, Hilton (formerly) ran the hotel and food & beverage, AEG runs the theater and entertainment, and JCH acts as landlord overseeing it all

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  Scott Roeben May 10, 2024

  Right, except for the sportsbook, also a stand-alone tenant with gaming.

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  Pecan Paulie May 12, 2024

  @scottroeben Not exactly. This would have been true initially, because BetFred was supposed to be a stand alone tenant but they never were able to solve their licensing issues within Nevada. Backing up a bit, BetFred has subleased space from Mohegan since day one. They have no association with JC Hospitality, only Mohegan. While their opening date dragged on and on, it never really mattered to us because they paid rent the entire time. Mohegan was receiving the same monthly amount whether or not BetFred wrote a single ticket. After a LONG period of time, it became too uncomfortable and a blemish on the property to have a closed sports book, so Mohegan stepped in and took over operations of the sports book. While it retained the name BetFred and was managed by BetFred, hourly team members are Mohegan employees and all accounting and banking goes through Mohegan. It's a partnership between the companies, and fairly common on the Las Vegas strip

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  Scott Roeben May 13, 2024

  Aha, I didn't realize that's what had moved it forward. So, they're out when Mohegan goes, then. I need to follow up on that, appreciate the information.

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