The Perlowski Files

A Sad Commentary

The following article was posted by Jim on the The Chip Board on April 18th, 2020

There must be something wrong with me. Let’s see as of April 18, 2020 there have been 3,626 cases of Corona Virus State wide. Unfortunately we have lost 151 individuals. Now let’s see how this computes. Our State population is approximately 3.1 million people. Our population in Las Vegas is approximately 2.7 million.

Our Governor has brought the hotel and casino business to a close. He has also closed many businesses not considered essential. If we ignore the statewide population and only deal with the population of Las Vegas we have 3,626 cases divided by 2.7 million. That gives us a percentage of .0013429 chance of getting the virus. If one might get the virus his/her chance of dying is 151 divided by 3,626 which is .0416436. Eliminate the individuals with preexisting conditions like Diabetes, Cancer, Lung conditions et al.

Notice I did not even eliminate the old duffers like me, the percentage falls to less than .02. That means 2 out of 100 will die. If we eliminate the old people we probably are under .01. I can’t find any numbers or facts pertaining to this final percentage. Based upon actual facts the Governor wants to keep a billion dollar industry closed into May because .02 per cent of the State of Nevada’s population might die if they catch the virus. No wonder Carolyn Goodman our Mayor says “this is insane”. I agree with Carolyn Goodman this is insane.

Currently food is being distributed at Cimarron high school here in Las Vegas. The food is being handed out to people in cars that are in a line waiting their turn for the food; a form of soup kitchen, in my opinion, demeaning to proud Nevadans who are willing and able to go back to work. You want to talk about sad, this is sad! Since the start of this year there have been approximately 46 deaths from the flu in Nevada and in years previous there were thousands who died and no one blinked. We had flu shots who many took and many did not.

I am not one who agrees with what the casino industry has done to our State but let’s be realistic, it’s all we have. If the Governor doesn’t let the casino industry start up back to business the harm may be irreparable. These highly leveraged businesses will not be able to pay the interest, let alone the other expenses to keep operating.

We have allowed consolidation and eliminated basic competition within the industry. The politicians have allowed an Oligopoly to develop among the giants and now it looks like it may collapse. What shroud business decisions. Let’s see how much we can take from the tourist and local alike. We will charge for parking, charge them resort fees, if they buy a drink of house wine at the bar we will charge them $25.00. Comps, forget it. We will put lights on their machine to let the cocktail waitress know when they are eligible for a free drink. I could go on but it will change nothing. It does however affect customer loyalty.

Customers may not come back so quickly. Many will go to local riverboats and Indian casinos, where they can see free lounge shows. Enjoy inexpensive dinners and play $5.00 blackjack as well as see named entertainment at a reasonable price.

I say to you in the casino industry, reevaluate how you treat your customers. Go back to a little old time Las Vegas. Get rid of the bean counter mentality and try to develop a loyal customer base that may come back and enjoy what you have to offer. If you fail to do this, in my opinion, you will not be around long enough to make a difference.