{"id":7885,"date":"2014-08-22T18:23:56","date_gmt":"2014-08-22T18:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/08\/22\/with-its-small-casino-floor-is-sls-offering-a-look-at-the-future-of-las-vegas\/"},"modified":"2014-08-22T18:23:56","modified_gmt":"2014-08-22T18:23:56","slug":"with-its-small-casino-floor-is-sls-offering-a-look-at-the-future-of-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/2014\/08\/22\/with-its-small-casino-floor-is-sls-offering-a-look-at-the-future-of-las-vegas\/","title":{"rendered":"With its small casino floor, is SLS offering a look at the future of Las Vegas?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\tWhen SLS Las Vegas opens its doors to the public at midnight, gamblers will step into a casino that\u2019s much more intimate than the oceans of slot machines and table games that dominated major Strip resorts in years past.<\/p>\n

\tThe amount of gaming space at SLS is relatively small — about 60,000 square feet, making it closer in size to the boutique Cromwell than, say, the Bellagio. The old Sahara, which was gutted to become SLS, had a casino that was about 80,000 square feet large, and there are several Las Vegas resorts with casinos of 120,000 square feet and larger.<\/p>\n

\tWhich raises a question: Will casino size be a liability for the SLS in the hypercompetitive environment of Las Vegas gaming?<\/p>\n

\tMore slots and games means more opportunity to haul in gaming revenue, but operators of the SLS aren\u2019t worried about the casino\u2019s size. They say the resort will be fine thanks to a design that makes the most of the space, combined with changes in consumer behavior that have made gaming less critical for the financial health of Las Vegas resorts.<\/p>\n

\tBeyond the modest casino area, the layout of SLS was conceived to provide a seamless transition between gaming and nongaming spaces, even overlapping the two at some points.<\/p>\n

\tSahara History<\/p>\n

\tLouis Prima, wife Keely Smith and Sam Butera at the Sahara in Las Vegas on March 10, 1956. Launch slideshow \u00bb
\n\tShops and restaurants open up to the meandering casino floor. There are table games inside a nightclub and in a high-end restaurant\u2019s lounge area. The William Hill sports book is connected to a burger joint and a beer garden.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWe\u2019ve learned over time that you can\u2019t just force people into a casino and expect that that\u2019s where people are going to discover gaming,\u201d said SLS President Robert Oseland, who gained extensive experience as a gaming and resort executive under Steve Wynn. \u201cWe\u2019ve also created experiences where there\u2019s natural traffic, and so in addition to the main casino floor we\u2019ve decentralized some of our gaming experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tSLS\u2019s strategic commingling of gaming and other activities is indicative of broader tectonic shifts within the gaming industry. Resorts are focusing more on nongaming attractions because a lot of consumers are doing the same.<\/p>\n

\tVirtual Tour of SLS http:\/\/www.vegasinc.com\/news\/2014\/aug\/22\/its-small-casino-floor-sls-offering-look-future-ve\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\tSahara’s Last 24 Hours of Sahara Virtual Tour http:\/\/www.vegasinc.com\/news\/2014\/aug\/22\/its-small-casino-floor-sls-offering-look-future-ve\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\tSunday, May 15, 2011 at 8:02 p.m. – The Sahara marquee is seen as the sun sets on the last evening that the casino is open. Launch slideshow \u00bb
\n\tIt\u2019s worked out well \u2014 analysts say that the Strip is doing better than other U.S. gaming hubs partly because it attracts visitors to dine, dance, shop and catch a show, too.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThat whole millennial group, they\u2019re not particularly interested in sitting in front of a slot machine all day long with a cigarette hanging out of their mouth,\u201d said John Restrepo, principal of Las Vegas-based RCG Economics. \u201c(Gaming) will always be part of the mix, but there are other reasons why people are coming to Las Vegas now, and SLS is just responding to the changing purchasing patterns of those consumers and what they view as the kind of experience they want to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBut the operators of SLS Las Vegas have done more than change the layout of the casino floor.<\/p>\n

\tWhen the commercial real estate group CBRE sold the Sahara in 2007 \u2014 four years before it closed \u2014 the property offered nearly 1,070 slot and video poker machines and 56 table games. SLS has trimmed that slot count in favor of table games, offering 800 slot machines and more than 70 table games.<\/p>\n

\tUNLV professor Tony Lucas, author of multiple books about casino management, said it\u2019s a mistake to underestimate the value of slot machines. He said slots are generally more profitable than table games \u2014 or even restaurants and nightclubs, in many cases.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIf your hotel isn\u2019t doing well and your slots aren\u2019t doing well, you\u2019re not going to make it,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my opinion, the Sahara\u2019s number of slots was too low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLucas emphasized that he\u2019s not hoping for SLS to fail \u2014 he said he \u201cabsolutely, 100 percent\u201d wants it to succeed. And an extremely popular nightclub would be a big moneymaker, he said.<\/p>\n

\tTo that end, the SLS team brings valuable nightlife and hospitality experience to the table.<\/p>\n

\tSam Nazarian, who bought the property in 2007 and has led the effort to transform it into SLS Las Vegas, is a Los Angeles nightclub tycoon. In addition, his company SBE already operates SLS hotels in Beverly Hills and South Beach, Fla.<\/p>\n

\tSLS also isn\u2019t the only resort that\u2019s felt the need to focus more on table games. The Cosmopolitan had 77 table games when it opened in 2011. Now, it has 126 and will soon raise that even higher to 132, according to CEO John Unwin.<\/p>\n

\tAt the same time, Unwin said the Cosmopolitan opened with about 1,500 slot machines but has lowered that number to about 1,350 machines.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThat just reflects what\u2019s happening in the market,\u201d he said. \u201cThere was tremendous demand for more tables.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Replies:<\/h3>\n

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