Harrah's Name Change ; Wynn Macau Opening Video

Comments

September 11, 2006 1:40 PM Posted by Brian Fey

Oh My God! That is unreal! That is also one lucky SOB, who got to go and tape this for us! I highly appriciate whoever did this, taking the time so that we could enjoy the celebration! That is truly amazing!

September 11, 2006 5:38 PM Posted by charlie

a little caddyshack music mixed in..."Birdie"

September 11, 2006 5:39 PM Posted by John

That video is incredible. I think its great, that, for one, you can tell the ground shots were taken during the VIP party (you can see Steve and Elaine, mainly Steve, dancing with the music). These fountains, are so much nicer than their older Bellagio counterpart, Steve has really hit another "front-feature" highmark, by adding the pyrotechnic effects, and the color effects.

About Harrah's- It doesn't surprised me that they are considering a name change. Harrah's, first of all, isn't recognized world wide, and it doesn't evoke any thoughts of luxury, CAESARS does. Albeit, it doesnt' have the same feel as Wynn, or even, MGM Mirage; but Caesars is a much more luxurious corporate name than Harrah's. Also, I think I read on this weeks Strip Tease, in the LV Business Press, that the new Horseshoe will be built much the way that Paris was (it will rely on its sister property, in many ways, to keep costs down). I think this will be interesting, considering that Paris isn't prepared to lose Bally's infrastructure, and it doesn't have the land to build the needed facilities. About the Horsehoe, though, I'm still wondering if Harrah's is going to be marketing it as Mid-range, Mid-Luxury, or, which is a longshot, Luxury? It'll be interesting to see, for one, what sort of timeline Harrah's for the property, since it looks like contractors, and construction workers are in short supply. Well, it will definitely be interesting to see if this is Harrah's big strip project, or if they'll be announcing more in the coming days, weeks, or months. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

September 11, 2006 7:09 PM Posted by TC

I want to see where Prince ends up, I can't see him performing anywhere below the standards of the colesseum....Also the Wynn signature firework moment is pretty sweet.

September 11, 2006 8:32 PM Posted by mike_ch

Uh, was that music handpicked by the person who put together the video or was it part of the show? Because on one hand that guy seemed to be bobbing along with the music in that fountain segment, but the fireworks sequence leaves me wondering what's up with Wynn and all the Walt Disney music lately.

September 11, 2006 8:36 PM Posted by mike_ch

And by the way, those fountains are nice, but colors are something that the Waltzing Waters people have been doing for a while now, and the fire effects didn't look much different than what the Mirage volcano has had for, what, eight years now?

Let's be honest about scale for a moment here, even if it diverts the usual Steve Wynn lovefest.

September 12, 2006 2:34 AM Posted by Quest

What are the songs used in the vdo, I really liked it! Anyway, the opening show is top notch for Macau since, this kind of show i guess, might have not appeared in Macau before.

September 13, 2006 11:19 AM Posted by Nathan

Speaking of Wynn Macau, I am doing a speech for my public speaking class on gambling in China. I wanted to focus on how Macau is now the Las Vegas of the Orient and what the differences are between gamblers here and in China. I'd appreciate any resources you could send my way. My e-mail is nathanboone@mac.com. Thank you!

September 15, 2006 1:30 AM Posted by bert

Just reported by the Macau Daily, Wynn Macau received a record number of visitors in its first week of opening so far!

See full story here http://macaudailyblog.com/2006/09/15/wynn-macau-already-on-a-roll/

September 18, 2006 5:55 AM Posted by charlie

I don't why Harrah's would want to change their name to Caesars; if for any reason, Caesars may be jinxed or just bad luck.

I associate HET with low risk & good return. I associate Caesars with chaos.

International money managers are wise enough to know about Harrahs. So they average guy in Spain or Korea hasn't heard of Harrahs, but knows Caesars, who really cares. I just don't see how this affects their access to capital or their valuation.

One moment your Caesars, the next you have Sheldon making a play for your company.

September 19, 2006 6:58 AM Posted by jb

Macao's casino taxes see year-on-year rise in first 8 months

The government of the Macao Special Administrative Region has collected 12.47 billion patacas (1.5 billion U.S. dollars) in direct gaming taxes in the first eight months of the year, a year-on-year rise of 14.4 percent.

The statistics issued Tuesday by the Finance Services Bureau ( FSB) showed that the gaming taxes accounted for 73 percent of the government total revenue in the period.

Macao's direct gaming taxes reached a record 16.56 billion patacas (2.07 billion U.S. dollars) in 2005, a year-on-year rise of 12 percent, according to official statistics issued earlier this year.

Macao's 22 casinos pay 35 percent of their gross receipts as direct tax to the government.

The region, with a population of over 500,000, has a 150-year history of gaming industry.

Source: People's Daily

http://english.people.com.cn/200609/19/eng20060919_304231.html