Gaughan’s loyal regional customer base, consisting of Las Vegas locals and drive-in traffic from California, have continued to patronize South Point since the property reopened on June 4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“We do a lot of business in the local market, and the people here have been taking care of me,” the South Point boss said. “We’re not making a whole lot of money, but we’re not losing any.”<\/p>\n
Fitch added last week in its US gaming industry guidance that regional casinos — which rely more heavily on local customers — will rebound to pre-coronavirus revenue numbers long before the Las Vegas Strip. “The Las Vegas Strip will experience the slowest recovery relative to other major gaming markets,” the ratings house declared.<\/p>\n
In 2018, citing tax reform legislation approved by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump, Gaughan announced that he was passing on his tax savings to his South Point workers. The casino owner doubled annual bonuses for each of his 2,300 full-time workers.<\/p>\n
\nWe had a big year and I\u2019m going to save some money with The Donald,” Gaughan explained at the time. “I got a little bit of a tax break. It\u2019s about a million dollars.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Gaughan is supporting Trump’s 2020 reelection bid. US Federal Election Commission records show that Gaughan has contributed $100,000 this year to the president’s campaign. He also gave the Republican National Committee nearly $100,000.<\/strong><\/p>\nIn April, Gaughan furloughed his South Point casino workers, telling them that they would receive more money in state and federal unemployment assistance than what they typically earn at the casino.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Point casino resort owner Michael Gaughan doesn’t believe Las Vegas will return to its pre-COVID-19 normalcy until 2022. Gaughan says he can’t imagine things being any direr for Southern Nevada. But the businessman hopes that the worst is behind the gaming industry. I’ve been here [Las Vegas] since 1952, and this is probably the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":152435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
South Point Owner Michael Gaughan Predicts 2022 Las Vegas Recovery<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n