Opinion: Caesars headed for the deep end
By Eli Segall, Las Vegas Sun
When drowning in debt, most people know they shouldn’t splurge on a new mansion, buy a high-end sports car or drool over a 150-foot yacht.
Caesars Entertainment Corp. didn’t learn that lesson.
The Las Vegas casino giant, weighed down by almost $24 billion in IOUs stemming from a 2008 buyout, is pushing ahead with major projects in the United States and Asia, despite soured finances and bondholders’ default claims.
Caesars is the parent company of Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys in Stateline.
The company plans to open the $442 million Horseshoe Casino Baltimore next month with partner Rock Gaming. In New York, executives submitted plans for an $880 million, 115-acre resort about 50 miles north of New York City. CEO Gary Loveman said Caesars wants to raise — and will have no trouble doing it — at least $5 billion to build a resort in Japan, where casino owners are salivating over the potential of legalized casino gaming. And in March, South Korea gave Caesars and its partners the green light to build a resort that reportedly will cost up to $2.2 billion.