Las Vegas NowCasino Owner Sees Hope Despite Brutal Numbers

Casino Owner Sees Hope Despite Brutal Numbers

LAS VEGAS, Nv. -- Casinos on the Las Vegas Strip are suffering despite signs of economic recovery in other industries. Three major casino companies reported big declines in their third quarter earnings.

Wynn Resorts saw a $51 million decline in its net income from the second quarter. Boyd Gaming reported a loss of $6.5 million and Harrah's Entertainment saw third quarter losses of $1.6 billion. Most of that is attributed to a drop in the value of the company's assets.

All of this has some wondering if the news will push the Las Vegas unemployment rate higher. The declines show fewer people are coming to Las Vegas and spending less.

Of the companies reporting today, Wynn reported big losses in Las Vegas but those were offset by VIP gaming wins in Macau. Still, every casino on this street is suffering.

Everywhere you turn, the resort industry is offering deals to attract tourists. It's a sign that we are still in a deep recession and no one is immune.

"We are off about 25-percent from what we used to do. We of course don't have much debt so we are in good shape there," said Treasure Island owner Phil Ruffin.

Ruffin took the Treasure Island last April. He basically bought the casino using nothing but cash. Ruffin may be in the best position to handle the recession, but his resort budget is still taking a huge hit. "We are going to do very little hiring. We are going to try to ride this thing out. I don't see any big uptick in 10'," he said.

One thing Ruffin does see is more visitors to Las Vegas spending more in 2011.

Local economist John Restrepo is a little more optimistic. For him, new jobs late next year will indicate an end to the economic crisis. "Until we see six months of steady job growth, we don't see the start of that process until the end of 2010," he said.

Continued drops in earnings tell Restrepo and other economists to expect more job losses before the end of this year.

Ruffin says casinos must offer new venues and events to keep guests interested. "We are doing a fight. We are starting to bring in some headliners. Brought in Bill Cosby, Leann Rimes and Carlos Mencia. These are good for the property," he said.

This month, Steve Wynn announced new headliner Garth Brooks. His resort received 141,000 calls for tickets so far.

"Don't give up hope. We are going to be fine. We are going to be fine. CityCenter is going to help," said Ruffin.

But CityCenter might be a double-edged sword. Ruffin says the project will steal guests from other casinos, which no property needs in a bad economy. But he also thinks CityCenter will attract new visitors, which is good for long-term growth.