Wynn closed today at $55.28 ($55.33 after hours).

Boyd closed at $6.18 ($6.25 after hours).

Both have been on the rise since the start of this new year.

Anyone think it will head back down again?

Will,
My 2 cents on the issue is, it will dip back down, probably not quite as low as it was, but we are not out of the woods yet!!! At best any recovery at all, is at least 5 to 6 months out, maybe way longer! It doesn't seem like investors need much reason to pull back on anything.

Somewhere there is a formula that none of us have. That is the actual break even factor for the hotels.

In the good ole days of 5,6, or 7 ago, the rooms were full and the tables were full. Not only did the resorts make money, they made A LOT of money. So much so, they could expand, create unimaginable sights, build high end suites, gaming areas, and restaurants, and still buy other profitable casinos.

Granted the money isn't flowing in like it once did. OTOH, what would it take for Caesars Palace to support the bills of Caesars Palace, or Sam"s Town to pay the Sam's Town bills, or Wynn income to exceed Wynn expenses?

I think that the individual hotels can support themselves much better than the conglomerates can support their top heavy management. And I hope this leads to massive sell off, more competition, and casinos working hard to get the consumer in their doors. If the focus changed to customer service instead of wow factor, I think that things would improve faster.

Well stated, JMT, but once again I must respectfully disagree.

I still don't have the figures to support my contentions but I do think that the hotels are taking a big loss in this present economic situation.

Sometimes it's just not good for business to admit that business is not good.

OK, so now I gotta get that report I recently received that just might support my ill conceived assumptions.

Stand by to stand by......

Today - Wynn stock after hours $36.20. Even after I lost my $5 in some butterfly designed slot machine. One ever happened to those one-armed bandits? Now we're playing with butterflys!

Boyd closed at $4.43. Now that definitely is a penny stock.

Update: The following shows the highs and lows (lows as of January 15, 2009) of various LV Casino stocks.....

Doesn't it seem like the present is the time to buy!!??

Las Vegas Sands $144.56 / $ 6.14
Boyd Gaming $ 48.52 / $ 4.43
Wynn Resorts $164.96 / $ 36.13
MGM Mirage $ 99.75 / $ 9.90

Doing some research in an attempt to answer that.

Is now the time to buy LV casino stocks?

Here are a couple of experts' opinions on the subject matter. (The interpretations of the experts' opinions are my own so please feel free to rebel or offer contrary opinions of your own.

Fact #1: Both the Wynn and the Venetian have big investments in Macau which initially helped to offset some of the financial difficulties that they were both experiencing in Las Vegas.

Their success in Macau is of extreme importance to both these gambling companies.

BUT ... due to the fact that China's citizens have lost way too much money in Macau, the Chinese government has initiated travel restrictions which now only allow China's citizens to travel to Macau a maximum of once every three months resulting in a 10% drop in gaming revenues for the third quarter of 2008.

Fact #2: Competition via new casinos that will be built on a group of beautiful islands of Penghu, which lies in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and the east coast of China. And new casino development in Singapore.

This casino expansion throughout the Orient can be compared to the the rise of the Indian casinos in California which are taking the business away from the Reno and Lake Tahoe casinos.

"Build it and they will come!" still holds true a bit, but the one who builds it closer will steal their gambling dollars!.

Casino stocks are presently cheap because their profits are disappearing.

Americans and Asians have dramatically cut back on their gambling forays and until that changes the value of these stocks will still stay low.

think of it this way will-you have 499 million to build a new casino that will cost 500 million.you go to the bank to borrow 1 million and offer them 50% of the project if they give you the million.they say no thanks we don't want to lose a million bucks!buy costco,walmart,procter and gamble,ford.M2C

Wynn was down to $32.66 early this morning but shortly after 11 AM it rose to $35.88 and I have absolutely no idea why it increased by $3.22 over that short period of time other than a lot of people did a lot of buying.

Is anyone here aware that the Encore has a Sky Casino on its 63rd floor consisting of five high roller, gaming salons?

I'd go up and check it out but I'd need to have at least $300,000 to gamble with.

Word is out that it's been very busy since it opened.

RECENT REPORT FROM THE LV JOURNAL - Profits for Nevada casinos fell 69 percent in the last fiscal year that ended June 30, according to a report from the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Wynn is cutting salaries of salaried employees, cutting hours of hourly employees, cutting out bonuses, and cutting out 401k matching.

Fertittas are suggesting bankruptcy for Station Casinos is they can get a little help from bond holders.

Thanks, again, JMT.

Boyd Stock

Last Wednesday's low ... $3.87
Closed on Friday .. $4.90

Wynn Stock

Last Wednesday's low ... 25.15
Closed on Friday ... 29.67

Looks like some casino buyers did darn well for a change!

Heading to LV today on a business trip and hope to follow through shortly with my personal but unprofessional observations about the current economic situation in that part of the desert.