Harrahs Tunica Closing

[olds442jetaway]

I just read the article in USA today about the Harrah's Tunica closing. The revenue drop off sounds very familiar to what is happening in Ct. percentage wise anyway. Of course the casinos blame almost everything on competition, but when we as patrons see how some of the casinos are run or not run in some cases, it really makes you wonder about poor management not just competition. I see so much money wasted on nonsense, stupid promotions that few people understand, and wasteful spending at Ct. casinos. As I and others have posted who have decades of experience in business, customer service, and troubleshooting, everything seems to fall back on a couple of old sayings.....don't raise prices while cutting quality and service and ...Keep it simple stupid. When these places are the only game in town, it is easy to make everything work or run, but other times like now, you really have to know what you are doing and have the right people in place to carry things through and survive.

[ko king]

I am wondering if the flood in Tunica a couple of years ago had anything to do with the decision to close Harrah's and their inability to sell it to anyone else. From what I remember they were hit the hardest. The main hotel and casino as well as the Veranda and Terrace hotels sustained quite a bit of damage if I recall correctly. Don't know about the convention center.

Since it is almost impossible to permanently get rid of mold, that might have been the camel that broke the straws back and explain why nobody was interested in buying the property. The whole area is probably located in a flood plain but the immediate area around Harrah's Tunica must be a couple of feet lower than the rest of the casinos there. Don't know the dollar amount of the damage or if CET was insured. Even if they were, no doubt, if they can still get insurance, I am sure it has gone up substantially.
Harrah's got the worst of the flood, I remember looking at pictures and saying "I didn't know it was this bad". At this time there's no doubt Harrah's would be a tough to sell, the casino crowd in this area is pretty spread out now and it would take some work to get players back, Harrah's never acted like they really gave a crap but in the right hands I think it could be a real crowd pleaser. Something I didn't think of was that when the floods hit it kinda forced people to try other places to play and many of them obviously prefered other locations. I just got thru reading an article on Southland Gaming that was talking about them expanding again to handle the increase in customers, they definatly have plenty of vp to choose from, nothing great when it comes to paytables though. I know people like to talk about how bad the economy is and it may be that way in some areas but that's just not the case here. There's still plenty of players around you just have to earn them, years ago we never bothered with other casinos, it was always Harrah's for all of us but a few years back it just got down right bad there and we started going to other places. Truth be known we would much rather play at Harrah's all the time but we were just getting better results elsewhere.
 
On a side note they sent me another 4-day trip to Laughlin, I won't be taking them up on it though. If I'm going to remain a Seven Star player with Ceasars the Roadhouse and Horseshoe going to have to get a lot better, otherwaise Southland going to pick up even more business from me.

[DKStoner]

I went to Harrahs (Tunica) last summer. First & probably last time I will ever go there.

We parked on the casino side (large vehicle pkg) and our comp room was on the other, so constantly waiting for the shuttle. It smelled and the a/c didn't work, the temp was close to 100 and we were drenched till we got to the casino.

I didn't see any great paying DDB or TDB, can't remember what I played...spent $800, but hit a RF!

The only thing I enjoyed was the Paula Deen buffet.

[BillyJoe]

I just returned from Tunica. Here is what I was told about the closing of Harrahs.

Harrahs Tunica was what they were calling a "legacy" property in Tunica. It was established by Harrahs Entertainment prior to the CET merging. The gaming license that was issued by Mississippi included everything that was associated with Harrahs. That means the golf course, shooting club, spa, pool and RV park, plus the hotel, could not be broken apart from the casino. The lease on the property is unfavorable for CET, plus that property has unions for it's workers. Add that all up, and CET dumped it when no buyer materialized. Rumor is that there are several interested parties, but nothing committed as of yet.

The loss of the hotel space at the Harrahs property will put quite a strain on Horseshoe and Roadhouse. The small and medium players with room offers in Tunica may find 'no room at the inn' when they try and redeem them.

As a side note, a Native American tribe purchased The Fitz property in Tunica.

[ko king]

I just returned from Tunica. Here is what I was told about the closing of Harrahs.

Harrahs Tunica was what they were calling a "legacy" property in Tunica. It was established by Harrahs Entertainment prior to the CET merging. The gaming license that was issued by Mississippi included everything that was associated with Harrahs. That means the golf course, shooting club, spa, pool and RV park, plus the hotel, could not be broken apart from the casino. The lease on the property is unfavorable for CET, plus that property has unions for it's workers. Add that all up, and CET dumped it when no buyer materialized. Rumor is that there are several interested parties, but nothing committed as of yet.

The loss of the hotel space at the Harrahs property will put quite a strain on Horseshoe and Roadhouse. The small and medium players with room offers in Tunica may find 'no room at the inn' when they try and redeem them.

As a side note, a Native American tribe purchased The Fitz property in Tunica.

I didn't even know that Fitz had been bought out but seeing that it was by a Native American tribe I might start playing there a little more because if I'm not mistaken that's who used to own The Grand before Harrah's bought them out and I really loved The Grand.

[Vman96]

Yeah, Tunica is hurting bad if Fitz gets sold off for a paltry $62M.

http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news ... llion.html

[zwaszz]

Gambling in the USA will always have the ebb and flow of places coming and going.  This is no different than any other business venture.  Even Walmart has closed doors.  This is a business decision.   While we (husband and I) do not possess a wealth of experience, we feel that Las Vegas will always offer the best opportunity for gambling in the USA.  Other venues, new ideas, new locations--yes, they will come and go, through the years.  We're in Reno this year, and we can see the vibe in good places, Eldorado, Silver Legacy, Grand Sierra, a few others, maybe.  But, really, even here I'd have them on a "Watch List".   We were in Las Vegas last week.  Buffalo Bill's is nearing it's makeover completion, (thank God)  and the vibe on the overall is COMMITMENT.  We've been other places in this World.  We're not boasting, just saying, the place here is Las Vegas.  The USA economy, it seems, will never foster another mecca such as Las Vegas for alot of years, if ever.  The "teardown" of the economy, the last time, and the military spending has left our venture capital weak. Macau is a beautiful place to visit.  But, if you gamble video poker?  Don't waste your time.  You'll be fully disappointed.  The time may come, but it hasn't as yet.  Anyone care to add to our commentary?      

[chattycattty]

Gambling in the USA will always have the ebb and flow of places coming and going.  This is no different than any other business venture.  Even Walmart has closed doors.  This is a business decision.   While we (husband and I) do not possess a wealth of experience, we feel that Las Vegas will always offer the best opportunity for gambling in the USA.  Other venues, new ideas, new locations--yes, they will come and go, through the years.  We're in Reno this year, and we can see the vibe in good places, Eldorado, Silver Legacy, Grand Sierra, a few others, maybe.  But, really, even here I'd have them on a "Watch List".   We were in Las Vegas last week.  Buffalo Bill's is nearing it's makeover completion, (thank God)  and the vibe on the overall is COMMITMENT.  We've been other places in this World.  We're not boasting, just saying, the place here is Las Vegas.  The USA economy, it seems, will never foster another mecca such as Las Vegas for alot of years, if ever.  The "teardown" of the economy, the last time, and the military spending has left our venture capital weak. Macau is a beautiful place to visit.  But, if you gamble video poker?  Don't waste your time.  You'll be fully disappointed.  The time may come, but it hasn't as yet.  Anyone care to add to our commentary?      

We were there last week as well. We got married in Vegas in 1988 and have seen a lot of changes since then. In the last year, besides Vegas, we have visited Tunica, New Orleans, Reno, Tahoe, Atlantic City, Laughlin, Windsor, Canada and Bossier City. What does Vegas have that others don't?

It's not the gambling. I can find better VP opportunities elsewhere. Its not the food. I can find better food elsewhere both in quality and in value. In part it may be entertainment but I have seen some incredible entertainment at other places this past year just as good as they have in Vegas.

I do not care for the porn slappers or the panhandlers or the heavy traffic but we are still guilty of making at least one trip to Vegas every year. Maybe it is the aura or the vibe as you refer to it that keep people coming back. If you ask 100 people where they want to gamble 90% of them will probably pick Vegas as their first choice.

I think one the biggest reasons people are still flocking to Vegas is that they have an incredible airport. It is a place you can get to from all over the world easily and affordably and in many cases with a nonstop flight. Contrast that with Tunica or Atlantic City for example. Unless you go there on a junket flight, you have to fly into an airport an hour or more away and you do not have nearly as many flight choices as you do going to Vegas.

For me, I still prefer going to Tahoe or New Orleans over Vegas, but I can understand why people love going to Vegas.

[zwaszz]

The BEST GAMBLING OPPORTUNITIES ARE IN LAS VEGAS, IN THE USA.   PERIOD.  END OF STORY.  YOU HAVE TO BE THERE, OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.  YOU CAN'T JUST 'VISIT'.  HOW ABOUT IT?  LET'S HEAR IT.  REFUTE THIS PERSON.  THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT WITH IT. 

[chattycattty]

I have been to Vegas at least 50 times over the last almost 30 years. Sometimes I win sometimes I lose. If you use strategy and discipline and pay attention to what you are doing you can win anywhere.

If Vegas is your happy place then good for you. If I could only choose one place to go per year, hands down it would be Lake Tahoe.