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Posted At : August 25, 2008 03:31 PM | Posted By : D McKee
Related Categories:
Penn National,Regulation,Harrah's,Atlantic City,Illinois
Chalk up another triumph for the blunder-prone administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. If, by the time he finally leaves office, Illinois still has a casino industry, he'll have to shake his fist and snarl, "Curses! Foiled again!"
Simply put, Illinois' casinos are choking on the state's smoking ban. There's no other explanation for seven straight months of double-digit revenue decline, of which July's 20% drop was the second-worst. When your best month (February) is "only" -13% in year-over-year comparisons, you've got a problem, to put it mildly.
For reasons not immediately apparent, the privately held Casino Queen in East St. Louis had a banner month, if by "banner" you mean down less than half a percentage point in July and 4% for 2008. (In this context, it was cause for rejoicing.)
But, as the saying goes, you should see the other fellas. Just up the river a piece, Penn National's Alton Belle, formerly one of the stars of the Argosy Gaming firmament, is having a sucktastic year, bringing in the second-lowest revenues in the state and down 29% in July. Most other boats in the Land of Lincoln fared only somewhat better.
Another privately held riverboat, Casino Rock Island, has been able to stem the bleeding to single-digit numbers the last three months. This is doubly impressive because even the smallest revenue fluctuation looks far worse, percentagewise, when measured against such a tiny revenue base (less than $3 million in July), and because it's in the Quad Cities market, highly vulnerable to competition from Iowa.
There hasn't been much good news beyond that. Both the Joliet and Aurora markets have been hammered pretty hard, and Harrah's Entertainment lost the most market share of any company in July. Along recent weakness by Harrah's in Louisiana and Missouri, that's got to be a mite worrisome for the Vegas properties, at the top of the Harrah's food chain.
Atlantic City, take note! Starting Oct. 15, you could be the next Illinois.
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