Author: David Mckee

Fewer 2024 political developments would be more unwelcome than a rerun of California‘s 2024’ sports betting debacle. Big Gaming is wisely sitting this election cycle but enterpreneur Kasey Thompson is rushing in where angels fear to tread. His ballot initiative would sanctify tribal-only sports betting, albeit via the dubious gambit of baptizing illegal, offshore sports books as legitimized, onshore providers and wedding them with tribes. Full disclosure: I edited Thompson’s All In magazine back in the day.

That whining sound you here is Atlantic City casino executives for whom hundreds of millions in revenue is never enough. They’ve been complaining that gambling winnings aren’t what they were at brick-and-mortar casinos before the Covid-19 pandemic … even as online-casino takings hit a record level. These guys wanted Internet casinos, they built them and now they’re put out that it’s impossible to grow online and terrestrial win simultaneously. Hey, consumers only have so much with which to gamble, so maybe Big Gaming should count its money and keep quiet. Nobody’s buying them crying towels.

It’s here … and it’s an eyesore. Fontainebleau Las Vegas opens tonight, after 18 years in the making and untold billions in costs, plus more revolving owners than you could shake a stick at (if you’re into shaking sticks). The cost for Las Vegas‘ newest, fugliest resort is $3.7 billion. We don’t believe it. Resorts World Las Vegas cost $4.3 billion, Aria $4 billion and F-blue is bigger than either of them. Also, costs were running away when Jeffrey Soffer first pulled the plug on F-blue in 2009. Since that time, Carl Icahn stripped it for parts and Lord only knows how much Soffer has simply written off the balance sheet. We wish it every success, so long as we’re not obligated to praise its clunky architecture or accept at face value its preposterous budgetary figure. Enjoy the opening, dear readers, and report back to us if you have any Kate Beckinsale sightings.

Given the high hopes that preceded it, Bally’s Casino in downtown Chicago is no better than a succes d’estime. Whereas then-mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) had penciled in $12 million in 2023 tax revenues, Bally’s Medinah Temple crib is on pace to realize just over half that, having passed along just $5 million through November. Betting the Windy City’s fortunes on an urban casino was always a risky wager and it seems to be crapping out. Revenues at the temporary casino last month were $7.5 million, flat with October. On the upside, admissions to the casino rose to 86K (a 4% sequential increase), as players left $88 a head behind them. That puts Bally’s in the number-two spot in the state.

Corruption seems to be endemic to politics in Chicago and it’s caught up with the deal that juiced Bally’s Corp. into a Windy City casino. Nothing about the arrangement passed the smell test save that Bally’s had the most plausible of three (unappealing) proposals for a Chicago megaresort. After setting up a selection process, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) unilaterally short-circuited it by choosing Bally’s hors concours, without apparent consideration of long-shot bids by Rush Street Gaming and Hard Rock International. The deciding factor was a legitimized form of bribery, Bally’s promise of at least $40 million in upfront money in return for getting the nod. Neither of the other contestants was so crass. If they were it might have worked out in their favor. And Bally’s got steered at the last minute to the temporary-casino site of Medinah Temple, which oh-so-coincidentally happened to be owned by a major Lightfoot backer. Nothing to see, right?