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It’s race week in Las Vegas! The Las Vegas Grand Prix F1 race will take to the streets beginning Thursday.
The week of F1 events will conclude with the actual race on Saturday at 10 p.m. local time. Sorry, east coast, that’s 1 a.m. your time.
It took quite a while for Las Vegas and F1 to prepare the city for the race. Last year, F1 purchased 39 acres of land just off the Vegas Strip.
This land will be the paddock area for the race on Harmon. This part of the circuit is glowing with beauty and has some of the greatest eye candy in the background.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas has been preparing the roads for the 20-car F1 race on the Vegas Strip and surrounding area for much of the year. Even though Las Vegas expects to make big bucks on the race, there are plenty of locals dealing with headaches as race day approaches. F1 had to apologize for the disruptions.
Traffic has been a pain for anyone visiting the Vegas Strip and surrounding areas. This week might be the biggest pain for those who work in the casinos.
Casinos ready for the F1 race in Las Vegas this weekend
There appear to be ample Las Vegas Grand Prix tickets still available with prices dropping on the secondary market, according to Insider. The same can’t be said for all of the hotel rooms in Las Vegas.
As a sport and experience, F1 races aren’t for everyone. Fans of F1 tend to be affluent.
For goodness sake, the private jet gates are already full. This is why Caesars made a $5 million package available for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Some casinos reduced their sky-high prices for hotel rooms. It’s not a surprise that visitors dropping $2,000 for Las Vegas Grand Prix tickets don’t want to stay in hotel rooms that often retail for under $50.
Other Las Vegas casinos like MGM Resorts and Wynn are quite happy with the expected turnout for the race. Bellagio hotel rooms are nearly sold out for race day.
Time will tell if the Las Vegas Grand Prix is a good fit for a city that drew almost 39 million visitors last year.
During recent third-quarter earnings calls, the CEOs of the largest casino operators in Las Vegas shed some light on their Las Vegas Grand Prix expectations.
Wynn Resorts is the epitome of Las Vegas casino luxury
The Las Vegas Grand Prix is meeting expectations for Wynn Resorts. Executives shared some specifics during its most recent earnings call.
During Wynn Resorts’ Q3 earnings call CEO Craig Billings said:
“We knew that it was our customer base that would be at that event from the beginning. We have more front money and credit lined up for this event than any event in the history of Wynn Las Vegas, and we’ve had some doozies before. So, this is shaping up to be a great event for us.”
The Chief Operating Officer of North America at Wynn Resorts, Brian Gullbrants added: “I’d say F1’s really come in and nicely right now for all areas of our business.
We should exceed actually our all-time hotel revenue as well, our hotel revenue record by about 50% for the three-day period.
And as Craig mentioned, the gaming revenue and credits looking quite promising, some of the best we’ve ever seen.So, I think we’re looking forward to an exciting and exceptional race week here at Wynn.”
Wynn is the epitome of luxury in Las Vegas. The property is made for events like the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
The only golf course that’s on the same land as a casino, Wynn Golf Club, is hosting the Netflix Cup prior to race activities beginning. The golf event will include four F1 drivers and PGA golfers teaming up for the first live-streaming Netflix sporting event.
MGM Resorts is all in on F1
The company has been all in on the Las Vegas Grand Prix since day one. Hotel room prices at MGM Resorts Las Vegas properties were averaging nearly $3,000 when the race was first announced.
During its Q3 2023 earnings call MGM Resorts CEO Bill Hornbuckle shared up-to-date prices on its hotel rooms during race week saying:
“Our average rate is over $900 for the company. We’re going to do over $60 million in incremental hotel revenue for the weekend.”
He also projected gaming revenue will be “50% above 50% above any other event we’ve had in terms of theoretical win.”
MGM Resorts sold out its Bellagio Fountain Club. According to Forbes, tickets for the special event space in front of the Bellagio cost $11,247 per person.
The company also sold “over 10,000 (grandstand) tickets” for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Hornbuckle summed up the Las Vegas Grand Prix from MGM’s point of view saying:
“There’s been nothing quite like it and to have it placed in the weekend that it is is, we think, going to be an incredible opportunity for the company and ultimately for the city long term. It has not been without its challenges. Believe me, I’m a local, I get the traffic.”
Caesars is prepared to meet expectations
Caesars is more of a mass-market domestic casino operator and doesn’t offer the same luxury accommodations as Wynn or even MGM Resorts. However, the company has been steadfast that it will see an increase in revenue because of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
CEO Tom Reeg didn’t share many specifics about how Caesars will benefit from the F1 race. During the most recent Caesars Q3 2023 earnings call, he reiterated the initial projections:
“We also have, obviously, F1 coming to Vegas, feel very, very good and no change in what we’re expecting in terms of lift in the quarter in the neighborhood of 5%, which is what I told you a year ago, we’d expect to deliver that.”
Unlike MGM Resorts, Caesars did not block the view of its flagship Las Vegas casino. Instead of focusing on Caesars Palace, the company has parties at Paris Las Vegas and is sponsoring a section of the grandstands off the Vegas Strip.
