So I’ve been on my travels in the last couple of months, passing through a ton of casinos in the US, Africa and Europe.
It all started at the end of March with a trip to the Eastern seaboard of the US. I only managed a couple of casinos on that swing – 1 in Baltimore and 1 in Washington.
The Horseshoe casino in Baltimore was … underwhelming. I guess I wasn’t seeing it at its best, the nearby baseball stadium had just kicked out 45,000 people and given the home team had won their home opener, many of the fans were … well … in high spirits. From the rave in the car park – which was pretty confusing – to the carnage at the bars, I wouldn’t be in a rush to go back there any time soon.
MGM’s site in Washington National Harbour was altogether different. We know the guys at MGM pretty well so I got the full tour, including behind the scenes, and it’s quite a property. It’s huge, and very shiny, and one thing that struck me was that they built the staff areas to be a similar standard to the public areas, it was spectacular.
Next trip was to South Africa in mid-April. This was a consultancy job so had me in 6 casinos. They were all impressive, but I’d say Grandwest in Capetown and Montecasino in Johannesburg were the most amazing. Grandwest has a stately grandeur, while Montecasino is Italian themed and mighty impressive. Also impressive was the quality of dealers in all the South African properties we visited – streets ahead of Vegas for speed and precision, and something I made a careful note of, for when we are asked to find roulette dealers in particular. More news on that hopefully soon.
Next stops were Chicago and Las Vegas. There’s a casino right in the centre of Chicago, owned by Bally’s, and it’s a nice compact site. I have to say the level of business there was astonishingly high, the place must be making fortunes.
Vegas was Vegas, as usual on the main Strip at night, the table minimums were laughably high – they really are squeezing players there, and have done for many years. It’s still great fun, though, and going downtown where everything’s a little cheaper and grimier is always fun. As usual we finished up at Red Rock Resort for the last couple of days – a much more serene experience!
Finally, Steven and I headed to Slovenia for the Casino Operations Summit. Hotel Perla was the venue, something like my fifth time on properly, and it really is a pearl. The slots there were kind to GRS at the ideal time – just before our airport taxi arrived – so we’ve both got a wad of Euros to spend on our next adventure!