ChiCom Gamblers Bringing New Life to Las Vegas

In addition to buying Obama's debt the Chinese are also propping up Las Vegas:

The Las Vegas casino industry seems to have some fight left in it. Following a seemingly endless run of negative months, gambling revenues on the Vegas Strip jumped 33% in February to $568 million from $427.4 million a year ago, according to Nevada's Gaming Control Board.

Casino operators like Sheldon Adelson, Steve Wynn and Jim Murren have their Chinese patrons to thank for the most recent, highly dramatic turn of good fortune. Due, in part, to boom times on the Mainland, Chinese customers flew to Vegas to celebrate their New Year in mid-February and proceeded to gamble it up.

The Chinese New Year is a boon for casino business every year [in 2009, it hit in January], says Rich Moriarty, an analyst with Union Gaming Group in Las Vegas. However, this year's influx of Chinese gamblers came as a pleasant surprise for casino operators: "International inbound volume and luck for the casinos contributed to the month-over-month growth," he says.

Casino wins at the game of baccarat -- a game that is hugely popular in China -- are largely credited with February's revenue increase. "Bacc volume has been as good as we've seen it," says Moriarty. And the winning streak may continue. "The revenue side of gaming is very good. It is offsetting the problems with room rates." Room rates, he explains, have fallen due to a lack of convention business in Vegas and probably won't move higher until the end of the year.

From the consumer's standpoint room rates have never been better in Las Vegas. I've gotten discount offers from places that never used to give good discounts, like the MGM Grand for $49 a night.  In 2003 I took my family to the Mandalay Bay and got a rate of $79 a night, which was pretty darn good.  I just got an email from them with a rate of $69, the lowest I think I've ever seen there.  They're clearly still hurting in terms of occupancy rates, especially in all those rooms that aren't occupied by the high rollers.  And with a couple thousand new rooms opening at City Center in the last few months things aren't getting better for the hotel industry.

It'll probably turn around again - after all there aren't very many people that have gone broke running a casino.