A new top-10 from a USA Today-owned website has some glaring omissions.
Rankings and top-10 lists not based on hard numbers exist to create controversy and conversation. You can't argue with fan-voted lists -- they may be absurd, but people are allowed to have dumb opinions. Experts, however, should do better, but some websites exist to court outrage by making top-ten lists that have very little grounding in reality.
Now, 10Best, a website operated by Gannett's (GCI) - Get Gannett Co. Inc. Report USA Today has released a list of the top 10 Best Casino Hotel properties in the United States. The list was created not by any sort of public vote or even a well-defined criteria. Instead, it "was determined by a combination of editors at the news organization, along with input from 'relevant contributors' and 10Best staff."
Basically, it's a list based on no actual data designed to court controversy and troll both readers and the top-tier casino hotels left off the list. And, while there are a few properties on the list that stand alongside Las Vegas' best offerings, you can't make a list of top casino hotels that includes no representation from Las Vegas.
First, it's hard to take any list of top hotel casinos that ranks Connecticut's Mohegan Sun over the far superior Foxwoods. Second, it's simply impossible to find a list of top hotel casinos credible in any way when it has no representation from Las Vegas.
That has not always been the case with the annual 10Best list, Casino.org reported.
"In previous years, several Strip casinos were ranked among the top 10, including The Venetian/Palazzo, Wynn Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, and Bellagio. But as the list has shuffled over the past half-decade, Mohegan Sun has maintained its position on top," the website reported.
The top-10 list contains no properties located in Las Vegas.
It's fairly absurd that Caesars Entertainment (CZR) - Get Caesars Entertainment Inc. Report Caesar's Palace, MGM Resorts International's (MGM) - Get MGM Resorts International Report Cosmopolitan and Mandalay Bay, Resorts World Las Vegas, the Venetian, and Bellagio did no make this list representing the Las Vegas Strip. It's perhaps equally ridiculous that Circa, a top-tier Fremont St. casino hotel did not make the list.
There's nothing wrong with Mohegan Sun, aside from its confusing casino floor layout, The property has a nice lineup of restaurants, but it's an inferior property compared to Foxwoods, which has become a true Las Vegas alternative mixed with a family destination (there's literally an outlet mall, go-karting, Top Golf, bowling, and a virtual reality experience on property).
Aside from the odd ordering choice of its Connecticut resort casinos, this list would be fine if it was the 10 best casino hotels outside of Las Vegas. Omitting Las Vegas entirely was either a horrendous mistake or an attempt to troll Sin City and create outrage.
You can't make a list of the top hotel casinos in the U.S. and omit the Las Vegas Strip. Well, you can, as 10Best clearly did, but with no actual data behind these choices, the goal was clearly to be provocative over actually creating a credible ranking.