These are simple steps to implement and will be steps in the right direction.

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.

@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

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

@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

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.

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.

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.