The Borg Have Been Assimilated

The Past

Harrah's Entertainment acquired Caesars Palace in 2005 and shortly thereafter went on an east strip buying frenzy that included Bourbon Street, the Imperial Palace, the Barbary Coast, and Planet Hollywood. I believe I may have been the first, but not the last, to dub Harrah's as "The Borg." Assimilation was inevitable, and resistance was indeed futile.

I wasn't too pleased with Harrah's acquisition addiction, for a number of solid reasons. When an overarching entity buys up properties containing sports books, all of the books under that particular umbrella become, in effect, one large-volume book. They usually have a single linked bookkeeping system for all of the properties, and each property has identical lines and all of the same futures odds. For a professional gambler, this is not a good thing. Gamblers prefer a range of lines. The wider the range, the better.

The Harrah's takeover of Caesars Palace's sports book shook me to my history-appreciating core. The Caesars sports book, along with the Stardust sports book, were the two iconic football locales during the 70's, 80's and early 90's. I spent my Saturdays at the Stardust and most Sundays at Caesars. These two places, along with the Mirage (1989 opening) and Binion's downtown did the highest volume of action with the highest limits. Harrah's takeover threatened the Caesars cachet. The Caesars Palace sports book was, after all, a famous sports betting destination. It was hallowed wagering ground. The Caesars book had 20 huge helmet chairs at the front of the seating area. Every Sunday, those chairs were filled with a veritable who's who of heavy hitters. In 2005, Harrah's, with its mathematically challenged Branson-esque clientele and tight-fisted comp policies, invaded Caesars high class kitsch. Nothing good could come of it.

My fears turned out to be justified. Harrah's co-opted the Caesars name. Despite a massive linked sports betting pool for the Harrah's properties, the wagering limits actually went down. Comps were cut, and niggardly nabobs of negativity ruled the day.


The Present

Fast forward to 2019, and we have big news. The evil Borg have themselves been assimilated. El Dorado Resorts has announced that it's made the deal to acquire what today is called Caesars Entertainment. The Borg failure doesn't surprise me. During the last 15 years, Harrah's/CET has downgraded video poker, reduced blackjack payouts, and capped sports book bets in a paranoid attempt to reduce expenses. Yet the company designed and built competing multi-million dollar nightclubs within stone's throws of each other. Plus (for some God forsaken reason) a giant Ferris wheel. Not much they've done has made sense, so here we are.


The Future

Do I think that the assimilation of the Borg is a good thing? Well, not really. From a sports gambling perspective, once again this means a likely reduction in range of numbers. From a general gambling and comps perspective, it's quite likely that El Dorado Resorts will not be one iota of an improvement over Harrah's/CET.

The July 2019 Las Vegas Advisor featured an ominous quote from the Wall Street Journal, "Part of El Dorado's success is its management's ability to slim down on unnecessary guest inducements, such as free drinks and hotel stays. Caesars has done better in this regard, too, cutting its perks about in half to roughly 14% of revenue since 2016. But El Dorado is better; its similar metric is around 10%." My reaction to the phrase "unnecessary guest inducements" was almost identical to the Las Vegas Advisor. The LVA author simply said, "Uh oh." I blurted out a Scooby Do, "Ruh Row." It sounds as if those Total Rewards slot club addicts may get slapped around pretty good. The Borg have been assimilated, and something worse than the Borg figures to replace them. It's the circle of life.

I'll close with some practical advice for those Harrah's/CET slot club members, who will be told repeatedly in the months ahead that their Reward Credits are safe and sound and that their comps will be better than ever once El Dorado officially takes the reins.

Back in 2005, I had a race/sports comp account at Caesars Palace. In advance of the Harrah's takeover, I asked seven or eight times what would happen to my accrued comps and the comp rate. The answers I received from all Caesars personnel were the same. Regardless of whether I asked ticket writers or assistant sports book managers, I was told that my comps were quite safe, and that the comp rate would actually improve when Harrah's took over. Being familiar with casinos, and also being a cynic, I didn't believe those answers. I quickly used all but $80 or so of my comp account.

The takeover day came, and not only were comp rates for sports bettors reduced, but comps that had already been banked were massively cut. Some players took hits of literally thousands of dollars in comps. Obviously, I wasn't shocked. I later learned that, depending on your status, some of the bigger players were able to negotiate to regain a portion of their gutted comps. The bulk of the smaller players, however, were left high and dry with no recourse. The fine print in players club rules gives the house carte blanche, and certainly gives a new owner mega carte blanche.

My recommendation for Total Rewards members is therefore "Player Beware." If you couldn't trust the Borg in 2005, why trust whatever assimilated them in 2019?


Bob Dietz -- July 3, 2019