| Public | |
| Industry | Gaming |
|---|---|
| Successor | Golden Entertainment |
| Founded | December 29, 2003; 16 years ago |
| Defunct | October 2, 2017; 2 years ago |
| Headquarters | , United States |
| 4 | |
Area served | Global |
| Products | Casinos, Resorts |
- American Casino Guide Coupon Book
- American Casino Guide Book
- American Casino Guide Coupon Changes
- American Casino Guide
- American Guide To Casino Gambling
American Casino & Entertainment Properties (ACEP) owned and operated 4 casinos. It was purchased by Golden Entertainment in October 2017 for $850 million.[1] ACEP was a casino holding company headquartered at the Stratosphere Las Vegas.[2][3] ACEP was a wholly owned subsidiary of American Real Estate Partners before it was sold to Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, an investment arm of Goldman Sachs, in February 2008.[4][5] The company owned the following 4 casinos: Aquarius Casino Resort, Arizona Charlie's Decatur, Arizona Charlie's Boulder and Stratosphere Las Vegas. Golden Entertainment acquired ACEP from Whitehall.
History[edit]
Dec 12, 2018 The American Casino Guide is a book full of coupons that can save casino and restaurant guests hundreds of dollars that has been published for close to three decades. In change for 2019, the American Casino Guide has recently been released two choices available: the full size 2019 American Casino Guide and a new smaller version. The American Casino Guide Today posted a listing of the coupons that will be in the 2014 book. Seems like pretty much the same coupons that we seen in last years book. Still worth the small investment.
American Casino Guide Coupon Book
Shortly after opening, the Stratosphere Las Vegas on April 30, 1996, the Stratosphere Corporation was forced to file for bankruptcy. After acquiring a majority of the bonds, ACEP gained control of the casino. Carl Icahn acquired the four properties for $300 million.[6]
On November 29, 2005, Harrah's Entertainment announced plans to sell the Flamingo Laughlin casino to ACEP. The sale closed on May 19, 2006, and the Flamingo Laughlin was renamed the Aquarius Casino Resort in October 2006.[7]
On April 23, 2007, it was announced that ACEP was being sold for $1.3 billion to Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, an investment fund managed by Goldman Sachs. The sale closed on February 21, 2008. Although revenue for 2008 had only slipped by 4.47% from 2007, the interest costs of acquisition had turned ACEP into a money losing operation. ACEP registered its first positive net income since 2007 of $7.0 million in 2014 and $12.1 million in 2015.[8][9]
In 2007, Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds, who owned 40% of the Las Vegas Hilton and was a passive investor in other casino properties, made an offer of $1.3 billion for the four properties. The appraisal assigned a value of $718 million to the land under the four properties. The buildings were worth $366 million. The land valuation seemed to be almost entirely based on the undeveloped 17 acres (69,000 m2) of land near the Stratosphere.
On February 21, 2008, the ownership of ACEP changed hands from the previous owner, Carl Icahn, to Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds. The new owners retired the $255 million senior notes held by the former owner and replaced them with $1.1 billion in new notes held by Goldman Sachs Term Loans. The interest on these loans far exceeded the net income of the company in 2007. The income of the company had to grow to cover this new financing.
In 2008, ACEP completed $54.0 million in renovations at the Aquarius Casino Resort.[10]
By the 4th quarter of 2008, the company's revenue began plummeting precipitously. The cost of the acquisition was so considerable that the company was operating at a net loss. In March 2009, the company announced that it would begin layoffs.[11]
In May 2009, Whitehall was in discussions to restructure the debt with its lender, Goldman Sachs, due to concerns that the company could default if gaming and visitor numbers continued to decline. Whitehall, which is an affiliate of Goldman, was finalizing terms of an agreement that would see Goldman forgive $593 million of the $1.1 billion debt load. Whitehall would also be released from an additional $200 million in additional debt. In exchange for the debt relief, a mortgage unit of Goldman would gain a 22 percent interest in the company.[5]
In 2009, net revenue fell to $356 million, its lowest since 2005. The company restructured its debt in the last quarter and laid off 600 employees.[12]
In 2011, ACEP completed $20 million in renovations at the Stratosphere, updating its rooms and casino floor and promoted the changes within new marketing campaign. The Stratosphere also added a lounge called Sky Lounge 107 the 108th floor. In addition to the renovations, Stratosphere added a new thrill ride, the Sky Jump.[13]
By 2015, net revenues had increased to $373 million.
In June 2017, Whitehall agreed to sell ACEP to Golden Entertainment for $850 million.[14]
On October 2, 2017, Golden Entertainment closed on its $850 million purchase of the four casinos owned by ACEP.[1]
Properties[edit]
- Stratosphere Las Vegas — Las Vegas
- Arizona Charlie's Boulder — Las Vegas
- Arizona Charlie's Decatur — Las Vegas
- Aquarius Casino Resort — Laughlin, Nevada
References[edit]
- ^ abhttps://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/golden-closes-on-850m-deal-for-stratosphere-3-other-casinos/
- ^'American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC'. Bloomberg L.P.
- ^Knightly, Arnold M. (April 24, 2007). 'Icahn Sells Southern Nevada casinos'. Las Vegas Review-Journal.
- ^Knightly, Arnold (January 10, 2008). 'Stratosphere step closer to changing ownership'. Las Vegas Review Journal.
- ^ abKnightly, Arnold (May 14, 2009). 'Stratosphere parent company posts $1.6 million net loss'. Las Vegas Review Journal.
- ^'Icahn Boosts Federal-Mogul Stake to 75%'. The New York Times. March 3, 2008.
- ^BONNAR, STACEY (May 20, 2006). 'New owners take over at Flamingo'. Mohave Valley Daily News.
- ^'American Real Estate Partners, L.P. Agrees To Sell Its Nevada Gaming Operations to Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds for $1.3 Billion' (Press release). PR Newswire. April 23, 2007.
- ^'Icahn to sell casinos for $1.3 billion'. Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. April 24, 2007.
- ^American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC 2012 Form 10-K Annual Report
- ^Finnegan, Amanda (4 March 2009). 'Stratosphere to lay off workers, halt pay increases'. Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 17 September 2011.
- ^Knightly, Arnold (22 March 2010). 'Stratosphere owner cuts losses by 30 percent'. Las Vegas Review Journal.
- ^O’Reiley, Tim (January 14, 2011). 'Stratosphere owners tout $20 million makeover'. Las Vegas Review Journal.
- ^Velotta, Richard N. (June 12, 2017). 'Owner of PT's Pubs to buy Stratosphere, 3 other Nevada casinos'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
External links[edit]
Introduction to American Casino Guide 2019
The American Casino Guide 2019 by Steve Bourie began in 1992 as a simple newsletter but has since grown into a powerful gambling resource. This latest edition has gambling articles, descriptions for U.S. states having gambling, and many, many coupons.
Full Disclosure: The above book link earns a commission at no cost to you.
Here, I am offering the first of my reviews on slots-related books and other resources. I am starting my series of reviews with this book because of the respect I hold for it. I’ve purchased the next edition of this annual book each year for several years now.
In fact, this annual publication is one of my Top 7 Online Resources for slots enthusiasts. But, why? Let’s find out!
This article has the following sections:
- Introduction to American Casino Guide 2019
- Part One: 17 Articles on Gambling
- Part Two: Gambling in 41 States
- Part Three: 182 Coupons Mostly for Las Vegas
- It’s More than Just a Book
- Summary of American Casino Guide 2019
Keep Reading … or Listen Instead!
Subscribe to the Professor Slots podcast at Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | iHeart Radio | Spotify | Stitcher | Pandora | Tune-In | SoundCloud | RadioPublic | Android | RSS and wherever else you find podcasts!
Part One: 17 Articles on Gambling
Steve Bourie both writes and edits the American Casino Guide 2019. In this latest edition, his second editor is his son, Matt Bourie. Contributing writers continue to be the usual crew for more, or less, than 10 years.
The first part of this edition includes 17 articles on various gambling topics written by Steve Bourie and the contributing writers. Unfortunately, they haven’t changed much, if at all, over the years.
This lack of updates must hurt year-to-year sales. Many authors offer “sneak peaks” via Amazon’s Look Inside feature. I couldn’t help noticing this feature was turned off for this book. Perhaps it’s to protect the coupons. But, it also hides how much this part of the book remains unchanged.
American Casino Guide Book
Not all articles are the same. Many of these are the same from the 2008 edition, which I happen to own for research purposes. The first 5 articles and last 4 articles are relatively unchanged since the 2015 edition. Of the remaining 8 articles, about 5 are roughly the same.
The articles in the 2018 edition are the most different from the last 4 editions, as best I can tell. I have the 2008, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019 editions only. The 2018 edition has articles on sports betting, video poker progressives, and how casinos operate.
The 2019 edition drops each of those articles in favor of bringing back updated articles on resort fees in Las Vegas and a second article on blackjack.
There is one completely new article on the unrealistic expectations of players of various casino games, It claims to discuss types of faulty logic when playing these games. It is an interesting read but, in my opinion, too many times it portrays opinion as fact.
Still, this article on gambling fallacies is correct in many ways. In academics, it is well known that statistics of past events have no actual meaning on any future events. That we try to do so, called extrapolating, is our human attempt to apply past results to the future.
Yes, certainly, misconceptions and incorrect beliefs exist with regards to gambling. For example, (sorry folks) saying the word “seven” before rolling dice at a craps table doesn’t affect the outcome of the roll. It’ll often change the mood at a table, though.
Given my focus on slot machine casino gambling, perhaps I’m being too harsh when I say the slots information in this article is less than clear.
For example, “…there are exceptions that smart players should know about.” What exceptions are those? Why and how do they exist? It also mentions randomness from chips within slot machines. The oldest casinos will still be doing that for a while longer, I suppose.
Part Two: Gambling in 41 States
American Casino Guide Coupon Changes
American Casino Guide 2019 has a middle section on 41 U.S. states. At 241 pages, it constitutes just slightly half of the entire 500-page book. Included are all states with some form of gambling.
American Casino Guide
Each state article has:
- Map of the state with:
- State highways
- Major towns and other landmarks like rivers and lakes
- Numbered casinos
- Brief paragraphs on:
- Types of gambling offered
- Legal gambling age
- Payout return percentages, theoretical or actual, if available
- Alphabetical listing of all casinos by
- Commercial
- Tribal
- Pari-mutuel facilities
Each casino entry includes the type of gambling offered as well as address and phone number along with the website. Amenities at the casino such as the number and cost of rooms, restaurant, and buffets are typical.
I was recently listening to episode #99 from Cousin Vito’s Casino Podcast, where Vito was interviewing Steve Bourie. There, in part, Mr. Bourie mentioned that most of the information found in this section of his book was easy to find using Google Search.
I hadn’t really looked at his book that way before, but it’s true. Well, it’s certainly true for this half of the book.
It is important to remember, however, how valuable this resource was when it first came out 26 years ago. What internet search tools did we have back then, Netscape? Oh, excuse me! The Internet was the world-wide-web back then, too. Fun times, fun times.
But, I think Mr. Bourie just might be wrong. I think it is valuable or, rather, can go back to being as valuable as it ever was. More on this idea later.
Part Three: 182 Coupons Mostly for Las Vegas
Wow, the coupons! This is the value of the book. It is where you can get your money back from purchasing the book. That is if you visit Las Vegas. Back in 1992, Nevada was the center of gambling in the U.S. Now, not so much.
American Casino Guide 2019 has 182 coupons. Of these, 150 coupons are for Las Vegas, Nevada. Another 8 coupons are for other Nevada cities.
Nine other coupons are for car rentals and upgrades as well as other services applicable, according to the fine print on the back of each, anywhere in the U.S.
The remaining 15 coupons are specific to a few casinos in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
As I’ve never used a coupon from any edition of the American Casino Guide, so I hadn’t noticed this before. To use any of these coupons you’ll need to cut out a Discount Card from the center of the coupon pages.
This American Casino Guide 2019 Edition Discount Card is around page 385. It’s quite easy to find, as it is on extra thick and glossy card stock. Simply sign the back, it says, and you’re good to use any of the coupons in the book.
It’s another reason, I guess, why Mr. Bourie doesn’t offer Amazon’s Look Inside feature I’d mentioned earlier.
It’s More than Just a Book
But the American Casino Guide 2019 is more than just a book. It’s also
American Guide To Casino Gambling
- Website
- YouTube Channel
- Smart Device App for iOS and Android
- Newsletter
Since 1992, Mr. Bourie really has grown his American Casino Guide business. His website is
Then there is the smartphone App. I’d downloaded the app some time ago and have poked around in it for a while. It appears to have much the same information as the website with one exception. Everywhere on the App, it provides links to their YouTube videos.
Last but not least, there is the American Casino Guide YouTube Channel. It has just under 75,000 subscribers and 136 videos. It looks like Steve and his son Matt put out a new video on YouTube every month or so.
Some of their videos are very interesting. I did notice something odd about last month, however. Last month they did something unusual for them: Steve and his son Matt interviewed someone else.
This video was called How to Win at Slots – Interview With a Professional Slot Machine Player. What I found interesting, besides what their guest was saying about winning at slots, was two-fold.
First, Steve and Matt Bourie looked REALLY uncomfortable during the interview. From the look on their faces, and the way they asked questions, it was obvious they didn’t believe much of anything their guest was saying.
That was the first thing I found interesting. The second thing I found interesting was the statistics on the video. After just over a month, it currently has 51,228 views, 595 Likes, 103 Unlikes, and 210 comments.
Understand that, normally, they might get 8k to 20k views after 2 months. One random video uploaded over 4 years ago had 53k views, 168 Likes, 10 Unlikes, and 37 comments. That’s fascinating!
Summary of American Casino Guide 2019
American Casino Guide 2019 is one of my favorite resources for slot machine casino gambling. In this review, I went over each of the three sections of the book including brief articles, Google-like results for each state having gambling, and lots and lots of coupons.
Frankly, this gambling resource is one of the best available. However, it’s quite apparent it isn’t necessary if you have an edition from another year. To confirm this, just check out its Amazon reviews. The exception is if you want the coupons for Las Vegas. With those, you’d get back more than you spent on the book.
With all that, I could wish it were better. We could all wish it were better, I think. For example, why aren’t some of the best articles from the website used in the book? It’s already been around since 1992. Hopefully, it’ll keep growing like it always has.
Related Articles from Professor Slots
Other Articles from Professor Slots
- Previous: Learn How to Play Slot Machines – A Primer for Beginner Slots Players
- Next: Professor Slots 2019 – What to Expect in the Coming Year
Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC