Interesting paragraph from the book I'm reading. Really sets up where Caesars is now.
http://amzn.to/1qlL9kW
"Loveman started making cuts and other pre-emptive moves to stabilize the business. The numbers were daunting. In Nevada, casinos lost $ 15 billion in the four years after 2008 before federal income taxes. 2 In 2008, Harrah’s lost $ 5.2 billion. Those guests who continued to come noticed the cutbacks. In a 2009 company survey, customers said they had the impression that the recession had hurt Harrah’s more than it had hit their own pocketbooks. They did not want to come as often, not so much because of their tighter belts but because of the difficulties experienced by the casino chain. “We had cut labor, they didn’t think the property was clean, we had cut marketing offers, maybe some of their favorite employees weren’t there,” said David Norton, the executive who had worked for years to attract steadily spending regulars who had not traditionally been considered VIPs."