Vegas Biggest Bet

MGM Mirage Goes "All In" with High-End Hotels



There's no doubt it's big. The neighborhood has its own fire station.

There's no doubt it employs a lot of people. But not all of them came off the unemployment roles. Many were transfered from within MGM's already massive holdings, or hired away from competitors who are not at all inclined to hire replacements yet... Or maybe not at all. And most of the new jobs are closer to $6 per hour than six figures a year... No accident that CNN's report features a greeter & a busboy.

There's lots of doubt about the project's overall impact... Because it was designed in an era of a very long winning streak, when eveything new seemed to grow the entire market. And builders who caught the fever raised the stakes, betting it always would.

But in an era of long-lasting recession, newer shinier properties tend to canibalize older ones. What passed for cutting edge in the days of the "Rat Pack," was a step up from downtown saloons with cowboy themes... This past week one of that generation's best, the Sahara, closed two of three hotel towers, and Binion's, the former downtown home of the World Series of Poker, closed all its hotel rooms and a coffee shop that figured into decades of local legend.

And like the game, the number of chips on the table didn't change... It's just that fewer players held them as the blinds got bigger.