USA NEWS: LUCKY DRAGON NOT SO LUCKY & VEGAS REVIVES OLD CAMPAIGN

The year-old Lucky Dragon Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas shut down its gaming and restaurant operations last week, saying the off-Strip Asian-themed property was “beginning the process of reorganisation.”

The move comes just weeks before the Chinese New Year celebration brings thousands of Asian visitors to Las Vegas. The Lucky Dragon opened with great fanfare in December 2016, but the crowds never materialised.

By March 2017, the casino was forced to close its food court, rendering around 100 employees unemployed. Chinese gamblers also slammed the casino’s “comparatively stingy gaming and comp policy.” The theme of the casino also didn’t win the favour of its non-Asian clientele. In December, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the property was financial trouble and the casino had cut back on staffing.

The latest move to close all gaming venues and restaurants has resulted in the layoff of a still undetermined number of employees. In a statement posted to its Twitter account, Lucky Dragon operators called the closures “temporary” but were keeping the hotel and gift shop operations open.

It’s a far cry from the story it was pushing just 9 months ago in April 2017 – see article below.

Sources: CalvynAyre, cdcgaimgreports, Las Vegas Review

 

LAS VEGAS REVIVES “WHAT HAPPENS HERE, STAYS HERE” CAMPAIGN

Three months after a mass shooting that killed dozens of concert-goers on the Las Vegas strip, the gambling mecca has revived a lighthearted advertising campaign that once again paints the Nevada city as a place of reckless abandon and celebration.

Following the Oct. 1 shooting, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority halted all campaigns that relied on the long-held motto “What happens here, stays here.” It was replaced with the hashtag #Vegasstrong, and a message of unity and recovery.

Ten days after the shooting, the visitor’s authority released a new ad on national television and social media sites, featuring photos and Twitter posts from Vegas fans expressing support and vowing to come back following the tragedy. In one ad, tennis star Andre Agassi, a native of Las Vegas, talked about the first responders who helped during the shooting.

Gambling revenue and visitor numbers declined following the mass shooting.

The tourism board said last week that it was returning to the campaign slogan that it first launched in 2002. “Our visitors are saying they want their Las Vegas back,” said Cathy Tull, senior vice president of marketing for the visitor’s authority.

The agency’s newest ad, launched last Tuesday and depicts a man who travels from the past to visit Las Vegas in 2018, where he dances, drinks and celebrates before he is transported back to the past.

Nearly 43 million people visited southern Nevada in 2016, generating $35.5 billion in spending, according to an economic analysis drafted for the visitor’s authority by Applied Analysis.

 

Source: LA Times, Las Vegas Review