May 13, 2011, 12:01 a.m. EDT
Las Vegas looks a lot like the new Detroit
Commentary: Two one-industry towns where hard times hit
By Howard Gold
LAS VEGAS (MarketWatch) — It was big news five years ago when Macau, the gambling mecca near Hong Kong, surpassed the Las Vegas Strip in gambling revenues.
It’s no longer even close: Macau’s gambling revenues were four times those of the Strip in 2010.
Iconic casino operators like Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts now get the lion’s share of their revenue and operating income from Macau and Asia.
Macau’s gains have come in the years since Las Vegas’s housing and building boom turned to dust.
Home prices here have fallen 58.1% from their 2006 highs, the most in the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price index. They’ve even lost 12.6% from the nationwide recession low in April 2009 — again the worst performance of the cities in the index.
Article continues: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/las-vegas-looks-a-lot-like-the-new-detroit-2011-05-13?dist=afterbell
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