GOLDEN NUGGET PICKED UP BY LANDRY’S RESTAURANT CHAIN

The Golden Nugget Resort in downtown Las Vegas.

Texas based Landry’s Restaurants, Inc. closed the deal Tuesday for the purchase of the Golden Nugget properties in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada. The reported purchase price of $325 million was paid to the Poster Finacial Group, Golden Nugget owners of record for the last two years. The Nevada Gaming Commission approved the sale after less than an hour of questioning Laundry’s Chairman, Tilman Fertitta.

During the Commission meeting, Tilman outlined the company’s plan to revitalize downtown Las Vegas by adding a high rise hotel tower to the existing 1900 room hotel, an oft heard promise from previous visionaries. He also said the casino will be remodeled and enlarged, the entertainment will be expanded to include more offerings and the number of restaurants would be increased. I don’t find the addition of more restaurants much of a surprise; I’m thinking they will add something along the lines of steak and seafood, maybe.

I see this as a good move for downtown. Maybe the restaurant chain can pull off a little miracle and reinvent downtown Las Vegas. They certainly have the deep pockets to undertake a project of this magnitude. To breathe life back into downtown will require a great deal more than a tall stack of hotel rooms, some more slot machines and food joints. The Landry’s Restaurant people have taken on a daunting challenge; but, they are probably up to the task. Some of the commission members appeared to agree that the optimistic plan was doable. Probably because of Landry’s Chairman, Tilman Fertitta.

Does the Tilman Fertitta’s name ring a bell with you? No?…Well, he’s that “Fertitta,” he’s a cousin to the Las Vegas Fertitta family, owners of Station Casinos; so Tilman comes into the deal with considerable Las Vegas knowledge at his disposal. He knows enough arithmetic of casino ownership that he said one successful casino operation requires 40 successful restaurants to produce the same profit.

Fertitta said the Laughlin Golden Nugget on the Colorado River in Southern Nevada will get an additional hotel tower, an increase in casino floor space and overall remodel of the property. The plan calls for dramatic improvements in the downtown Las Vegas Golden Nugget to be completed in 2006. The new Golden Nugget owners plan to market their casino properties through their database of more than fifty million restaurant customers. Fertitta said the company has a perfect track record of growing every business they have purchased.

The daily operation of the two properties will continue under the existing management teams. The Landry people coming to downtown Las Vegas can be a good thing, a very good thing.

 

The second largest poker tournament ever staged in Las Vegas, a $250,000 Freeroll, with more than 2,700 players was held recently at Fertitta family owned Texas Station Casino in North Las Vegas.