The newest take from Wall Street on all the planned Strip construction is not if, but when. There's a new wave of resorts coming for sure, but analysts argue that the volume of projects has stretched development time out to 30 months to 36 months. With only the Palazzo at The Venetian under way, announced projects won't open until late 2009 or in 2010. As some hotel-casinos close, operators should be sitting pretty for the next several years, at least in terms of the room rates they can charge. But then, let the games begin. Competition will be hot, hot, hot, like never before.

Fear not. Insiders say demand remains strong for high-quality hotel-condominium developments with strong brand identification, despite the cancellation of several high-rise projects. The winners would include Cosmopolitan, Hard Rock Hotel, MGM Grand Residences, the Palms, Trump and W. Still, the pace of sales has dropped fast in the past year, which should affect the timing of future supply. And it's likely more projects will get shelved so that only one-third of the proposed high-rise units, or about 11,000, will get off the drawing boards by 2010.

Harrah's Entertainment's Valentine's Day gift to loyal customers was a switch in comp systems and players club, which casino hosts say still have "kinks" to be worked out. The hosts are telling high roller guests it is so far unclear how comped trips or other freebies will be affected by other changes that are in the works. Many players, however, say the new comp program will tilt toward "lower value" players and against higher limit players, fitting with Harrah's strategy of favoring more predictable slot players over less predictable table players.

It's not surprising that old-time high rollers at Caesars Palace are complaining, less than a year after the venerable Strip icon was taken over by Harrah's Entertainment. The new poker room takes space away from high-stakes table games and attracts the riffraff, they say. Harrah's also is squeezing more and more slot machines into the same floor space. That may be fine for slot players. But high rollers say the layout is a pain for players just trying to enjoy the casino.

Since Harrah's took over Caesars there have also been changes in the high-limit slot areas. It seems that $5 machines have been removed, including the bank of $5 Wheel of Fortune machines that used to be in the Palace Casino at Caesars. Harrah's has also removed other slot machines from Caesars Palace that were licensed and part of wide area jackpots run by International Game Technology. This was supposedly done so Harrah's could keep all of the profits and not have to share income from the machines with IGT.

Gaming Wire Editor Rod Smith can be reached by e-mail at rsmith@reviewjournal.com or by phone at 477-3893.