Rumor: Cosmopolitan Sold To Scientologist

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas At Night — Cosmopolitan At Night

Just before kickoff of the Ravens at Broncos game last night I read a handful of tweets asking if the rumor that the Cosmopolitan was sold were true. I couldn’t find out any information about this rumored sale from my regular sources for until I read this tweet from Howard Stutz from the Las Vegas Review Journal where the Cosmopolitan was denying that they were sold.

In an email, @Cosmopolitan_LV tells @sierotyfeatures that blog reports of a sale for $3.3B to James Packer “are false.” #lvrj

— Howard Stutz (@howardstutz) September 6, 2013

Okay, so Cosmo is speaking up about this rumor but I still had no idea where it started. The rumor wasn’t started by Robin Leach so maybe it came from somewhere credible. I’m not sure that the rumor is credible but I did find out where the rumor about Cosmopolitan being sold was started.

KingOfNightclubs.com is first to report that the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas has been sold according to our sources. Rumor has it that deal is signed and their official announcement will come soon.

Allegedly James Packer, son of the Late Kerry Packer, An Australian media mogul, also owns Crown LTD, with casinos in Australia and Macau, just purchased The Cosmopolitan. The purchase of The Cosmopolitan comes with an approximate $3 billion dollar price tag.

Although NOT yet announced, sources confirmed that as soon as this deal became official, the first thing to go was the old casino reservation and computer system. A new system has already been installed and they have already moved the casino host desk to the front of the high roller gaming lounge to keep the casino hosts on the floor and out of the back of the gaming lounge.

Also, the VP of casino marketing in charge of all the hosts did NOT renew his contract which expired in August. More info to come.

This is not a news site but Joe Vargas is well-connected in Las Vegas so there’s potential that the rumor about Cosmopolitan being sold is true. The rumored buyer, James Packer, is an Australian businessman who was born into wealth. According to his wikipedia entry he’s a scientologist who knows Tom Cruise and has dabbled in the casino business before (Read the complete wiki for more info).

I don’t frequent the Cosmo as much as I used but I really like it and like what they bring to the Vegas Strip. The way the Vegas Strip works today it doesn’t seem like an independent owner is the right move for the existence of the hotel in the future.

If this rumor about James Packer buying Cosmopolitan is true expect I fully expect him to sell it off to a more viable casino operator in the future.

This is all just rumor and speculation but it’s fun.

PS: I don’t care that James Packer is a scientologist, it just makes for a fun headline.