{"id":24334,"date":"2025-10-31T17:40:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/24334\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T17:40:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:40:19","slug":"vici-defends-mgms-new-york-city-withdrawal-cdc-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/24334\/","title":{"rendered":"Vici defends MGM\u2019s New York City withdrawal \u2014 CDC Gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

In their third-quarter earnings call, executives of Vici Properties were at pains to defend tenant MGM Resorts International\u2019s pullout from contention for a Class III casino in New York City. Their remarks were made as part of an October 31 discussion with Wall Street analysts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly didn\u2019t take us by surprise,\u201d Vici CEO Ed Pitoniak said of the MGM withdrawal, which nonetheless shocked many in the industry and the New York area. He called the Gotham casino-selection process \u201can evolving situation\u201d and described MGM\u2019s retreat as \u201ca very sound non-allocation decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Without a Manhattan-based casino, Pitoniak elaborated, it was unclear whether the Big Apple could ever evolve into a national, let alone international, casino destination. Instead, he said, three regional casinos bunched together would be unlikely to support the tax and investment structure New York has imposed.<\/p>\n

That said, Pitoniak revealed that Vici was in dialogue with other New York City casino applicants \u201cand could certainly be of service to them with capital\u201d if the fundamentals of their projects are sound. Even so, the result would have to be \u201cthe most profitable regional casino in America,\u201d more so than MGM National Harbor or Encore Boston Harbor.<\/p>\n

A question about Live! Virginia in Petersburg representing a competitive threat to MGM National Harbor sparked executive mirth. \u201cThe distance may seem like an hour,\u201d joked CFO David Kieske, \u201cbut if you\u2019ve ever been in D.C., the traffic makes it longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waxing seriously, he said demographic and geographical variations are in play between the two casinos. \u201cThe customer base is a little different,\u201d Kieske said of Petersburg.<\/p>\n

Markets that Vici unequivocally coveted are downtown Las Vegas and vicinity. \u201cWe love the regulations and the support from the state of Nevada,\u201d said Kieske. \u201cThere\u2019s some great operators in that space,\u201d particularly Station Casinos and Golden Entertainment.<\/p>\n

Gaming, Kieske added, \u201cis still the top of the pyramid for us,\u201d despite Vici\u2019s diversification into other experiential-real-estate fields, including university athletic facilities, a topic that dominated much of the hour-long conversation.<\/p>\n

Pitoniak pointed to Vici\u2019s third-quarter earnings growth. \u201cI want to emphasize that our model is capable of performing even in times of uncertainty.\u201d He noted that the real estate investment trust was coming off \u201ca rough week for REITs and especially for a gaming REIT,\u201d as weak Las Vegas results have pummeled gambling stocks.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On an MGM tangent, Vici execs addressed the sale of Northfield Park\u2019s operating company to Canadian private equity firm Clairvest, which Vici had handled. Kieske described Clairvest as \u201ca top-performing private-equity fund out of Toronto\u201d and one well-recognized in the gaming sector.<\/p>\n

Queried as to whether the Northfield Park flip was a one-off deal, Kieske responded that he hoped for more opportunities with Clairvest. \u201cWe\u2019ve really enjoyed getting to know them. We hope to grow that portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to believe in the durability of the sector,\u201d Kieske continued, regardless of recent headwinds. \u201cAt Vici, we take the long view. We\u2019re still big believers in Las Vegas.\u201d He cited the ongoing strong performance of the Venetian and Palazzo. He said that 2026\u00a0 is \u201con track to be a great year for The Venetian\u2019s group business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conventions, Kieske said, are an underappreciated market segment, noting that Vici owns six million square feet of convention space in Sin City. But \u201cWe don\u2019t aim to grow for growth\u2019s sake.\u201d<\/p>\n

While noncommittal on Vici\u2019s option to buy the Caesars Forum convention center on the Las Vegas Strip, Kieske said, \u201cThe world is so short-term, ADD-focused, there are times you don\u2019t step back and focus on what a great destination Las Vegas is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pitoniak took up the theme, saying that outside Vegas, convention centers are badly underinvested. As an example, he cited New York\u2019s Javits Center and the related Wynn Resorts casino project. \u201cBut as well all know, that project ain\u2019t happening,\u201d reinforcing the Javits Center\u2019s isolation. He contrasted that to Las Vegas\u2019s constant reinvestment in its convention centers.<\/p>\n

Turning to the tribal-casino sphere, COO John Payne characterized Vici\u2019s construction loan to the North Fork Rancheria as conventional, saying Vici had many other tribal relationships. \u201cWe do have dialogues with other struts, but ultimately, it would be a credit investment. We\u2019ll look for ways to deploy smart capital with good tribes as the opportunities arise.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In their third-quarter earnings call, executives of Vici Properties were at pains to defend tenant MGM Resorts International\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56,3068],"class_list":["post-24334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-vici-properties"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}