Swot of Circus Circus

Strengths

* Circus is one of the major players in the Las Vegas, Laughlin, and Reno markets in terms of square footage of casino space and number of hotel rooms.

* Each Circus location has a distinctive personality. Circus Circus has the theme of a circus, Luxor's theme is an Egyptian Pyramid, and Excalibur's theme is Medieval.

* Excalibur is one of the first sights travelers see as they exit interstate highway 15.

* Circus' combined hotel room occupancy rates have remained above 90% due, in part, to low room rates ($45 to $69 at Circus Circus Las Vegas) and popular buffets. "Circus buffet is the busiest buffet in the world" (http://www.scripophily.net/cicieninne19.html) it was renovated in 1998 and since then it has served over 8,000 customers per day.

* Circus has an aggressive growth strategy and a corporate structure designed to enhance that growth. Also it has a strong cash position; and was able to build Excalibur with internal generated funds.

Weakness

* Circus has heavily invested in renovating the casinos.

* Drop in earnings because of disruption of services due to renovations of existing facilities.

* Three properties were purchased in 1995 and located in Jean and Henderson, Nevada but each one has limited hotel space (1116 rooms' total) and depends heavily on 1-15 traffic. The Railroad Pass is considered a local casino and is dependent on Henderson residents as its market.

* Tunica Mississippi property was opened in 1994 on 24 acres of land. In 1997, operating income declined by more than 50% due to the increase in competition and lack of hotel rooms. Since it didn't have enough rooms, Circus decided to add 1,200 rooms which cost $119.8 million.

Opportunities

* Improve existing facilities: Circus Circus in Reno had an addition of Skyway Tower which offers 1605 hotel rooms, 60,600 square feet of casino, buffet that can seat 700 people. It has become one of the leaders in the Reno market. Circus anticipates that recent remodeling, at a cost of $25.6 million, will increase this property's revenue-generating potential.

* Circus owns a contiguous mile of the southern end of Las Vegas strip that it calls the Masterplan Mile which