THE TROPICANA LAS VEGAS TO BE PLACED BACK ON THE MARKET - AN INTERESTING PROSPECT

Implications: Why should we care if the Tropicana Las Vegas is sold again? The general public could care less, however, it would be a very severe blow to Columbia Sussex image to again have to sell a property for the poor management choices of Bill Yung - the top man behind it's rapid demise. Their Atlantic City property is now in the hand of a appointed Receiver. It's bankruptcy, Chapter 11, to save the day -Maybe, Maybe not........

Analysis: The people with large sums of cash invested with Columbia Sussex can only hope for a sale of the Las Vegas Tropicana property. This seems like The Never Ending Story - just when you think that the hiring of Scott Butera to be the #1 fix it person - the company feels that Chapter 11 is the way to go. The fact of the matter is,  it's the only way to help restructure debt and keep the hounds from the front door. If you take a look at Columbia Sussex, they have a pretty good base of solid Brand names in their inventory of non gaming properties. They have about 70 properties with brands such as Hilton, Sheraton, Doubletree, Marriott and others. They are mostly in small market thus able to survive on less service than is needed to run a casino in today's market. It seems to been to much of a hard lesson for Mr. Yung to comprehend. He has managed to manage his gaming entity into a disaster.

I suggested in a recent article that the hiring of Scott Butera was an excellent choice to help get this drowning gaming company back on it's feet. Scott still must answer to Yung, so in essence, it may be a case of the same old story.  If Scott is not permitted to do his own thing without the blessing of Yung can there be a future for Tropicana Entertainment?  To this point it seems they could do no right in this very difficult business. It may be hard for Bill Yung to swallow his pride and let those who know run his casino business, because he has been clueless to this point.

The original purchase from Aztar of over $2 Billion for this Tropicana property had the industry abuzz. When numbers reached that point, everyone else interested ran for the hills - was it worth the price? I am not so sure - Bill Yung thought so. The bottom line is, can Scott Butera work his magic again and set a brighter future for this company? We look forward to his efforts and hope for the best for this old line hotel and casino called The Tropicana. It was the star of the strip for many years. It certainly has a place in the future of the Las Vegas Strip, if given the chance. I hope they have seen the light - it"s time.............