Regulators in Massachusetts struck an unsatisfactory compromise with Penn Entertainment. The latter’s Plainridge Parkwas granted a sports book license, conditional upon a suitability investigation of Barstool Sports founder—and the new face of Penn—Dave Portnoy. “We are very comfortable with there being an investigation,” Penn CEO Jay Snowden told regulators, somehow managing to keep a straight face. Snowden probably left his Barstool T-shirt, which he wears around the office (it’s a fact), in the dungeon where he plays submissive to Portnoy’s dominatrix. Why the Massachusetts Gaming Commission should need to probe into Portnoy is a mystery to us. His unsuitability is out in the open for everyone to see. How is it that Steve Wynn could not get a Bay State gaming license but Portnoy might? We sense a double standard at work. A license, once issued to Penn, will be very hard to claw back.
Heaven be praised for the coming of 2023, not because 2022 was bad (quite the contrary) but because Wall Street is addicted to measuring this year against 2019, not 2021 … which can be quite crazy-making. By that yardstick, Pennsylvania casinos would appear to be staggering, -15%. But when measured against last year, they’re languishing only mildly, down 3% last month. Newcomers tended to grow (more of that later) and incumbents lost market share. Even after a 6% slippage, Parx Casino impressed with $46 million and Wind Creek Bethlehem notched $40.5 million, -2.5%. The cutthroat Philadelphia market is owned by Parx while the best of the rest was Philadelphia Live with $19 million, up a resurgent 19% and a few hundred thousand clams in front of Rivers Philadelphia, which is 7% off last year’s pace. Harrah’s Philadelphia plunged 16% to $12 million and little Valley Forge Resort tumbled 16.5% to $9.5 million.
November was a metaphorically warm month for Atlantic City, whose casino revenues grew 4% from last year, reaching $214.5 million. Spoiler alert, Borgata was way out front with $55 million, leaping 14%. Hard Rock Atlantic City dimmed 5% to a still-impressive $35.5 million and Ocean Casino Resort (pictured) jumped 9% to get uncomfortably close to second place at $31 million. Harrah’s Resort faded 6% but still led the Caesars Entertainment threesome with $21 million. Caesars Atlantic City banked $19 million, a 16.5% surge, while Tropicana Atlantic City climbed 2% to a hair over $19 million. Among the have-nots, Resorts Atlantic City fared best, climbing 3% to $12.5 million. Golden Nugget ceded 5% to hit $11 million and Bally’s Atlantic City sank 10% to land in last place with a symmetrical $10 million. Yup, those Chicago revenue projections sure look on the money. (Not.)
Both Caesars Entertainment and Penn Entertainment lost traction yesterday on Wall Street after Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley downgraded the casino giants. His primary concern was a potential downturn in gaming, due to larger macroeconomic issues, that has yet to manifest itself. Kelly reset his price target for CZR to $55 and PENN to $40. Presently, Caesars is trading at $48.30/share and Penn is languishing at $32.94. Noting that casinos were the largest “over-earners” compared to the pre-Covid economy, Kelley fretted that “unlike other areas in consumer discretionary [spending], estimates have not yet come down, leaving potential risk should the consumer soften.” Given the extensive regional exposure of both companies, should non-Las Vegas casinos weaken first (as history suggests they will), Penn and Caesars would have their butts hanging out in the breeze.
November was good for casinos in Massachusetts, up 6% from last year to a gross of $93 million. Encore Boston Harbor led the way with $59.5 million, an 8% gain. MGM Springfield chipped in $22 million, up 2% despite an 18% plunge in table winnings. A 9% jump in slot win saved the day. Plainridge Park was nice and steady, up 4% from both last year and 2019 for $11.5 million in the kitty. Wynn Resorts got another piece of good news when WynnBet became the first mobile sports-betting provider to be licensed in the Bay State. Wynn has clearly learned how to do business in Massachusetts, where regulation is taken seriously (unlike Nevada, where regulators bend over and grab their ankles). The Steve Wynn imbroglio was definitely a teaching moment and Wynn Resorts benefited from it. By contrast, MGM’s sports-betting push got pushed back by a vaporous business plan and Plainridge Park’s has a serious problem that can summarized in two simple words: Dave Portnoy. Until and unless Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden overcomes his codependent-abusive relationship with Portnoy, expect regulatory grief to continue.
Casinos in Indiana kept pace with 2021 last month, grossing $196 million. No prizes for guessing who was tops—Hard Rock Northern Indiana with $35.5 million, a 14% leap from the previous November. Horseshoe Hammond fell 16% but hung in there impressively with $26 million, while Ameristar East Chicago slid 14% to $15 million. Michigan-facing Blue Chip dipped 7% to $10 million. Horseshoe Indianapolis performed by far the better of the state’s two racinos, banking $28 million on a 17% surge, far outpacing Harrah’s Hoosier Park‘s $18.5 million, a 7% fade. In the southern tier, tribal Caesars Southern Indiana was up 8% to $19.5 million, not having missed a step since changing hands. Bally’s Evansville climbed 11% to $14 million and French Lick Resort was up 5% to $6 million. Less fortunate were Hollywood Lawrenceburg, down 10% to $13 million, and Belterra Resort, off 3% to $7 million.
November was good for casinos in Ohio and Illinois, both of which posted strong numbers, modestly ahead of last year but—in Ohio’s case—still high heavens above 2019. Fresh off its October dethroning of MGM Northfield Park, rival Hollywood Columbus slipped back into second place with $21 million (+3.5%). MGM’s $23 million, an 8% surge, was again good enough for top honors. Third was Jack Cleveland (pictured), flat and incrementally below $21 million. Other strong achievers were Miami Valley Gaming, up 9% to $18.5 million and Scioto Downs, up 5.5% to $18 million. Hard Rock Cincinnati ceded 2.5%, although it grossed $19.5 million just the same. Hollywood Toledo gained 3% to finish at $17.5 million. The weakest performer was Belterra Park, falling 11% to $7 million. Jack Thistledown was flat at $14 million, Hollywood Dayton gained a point to $11 million and Hollywood Mahoning Valley leapt 8.5% to $12.5 million. All in all, a sweet month for Penn Entertainment.
Yesterday’s Hard Rock International road show before the ostensibly investigative Nevada Gaming Control Board played out pretty much as expected. Hard Rock CEO Jim Alleneffectively ran out the clock by dwelling on how Hard Rock would make over The Mirage when its purchase closes, which is now a fait accompli. Not one question was asked about Hard Rock’s 10-day defiance of Judge Dabney Friedrich‘s order to shut down its sports betting servers in Florida—and what this means about Hard Rock’s attitude toward regulations going forward. Nor did anyone raise the messy topic of a Seminole Tribe lottery that was mounted the incentivize Covid-19 vaccinations. (The Seminoles own Hard Rock, ICYMI.) The lottery was supposedly won by Chairman Marcellus Osceola‘s bastard son, sparking a petition drive to recall Osceola, who negotiated the compact with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) that granted Hard Rock sports betting in the Sunshine State. (Say what you like about DeSantis, he treated the Seminoles as equal partners, a hint other state governors should take.)
Casino revenues in Maryland continue to trend just a bit favorably, with a 2% increase in November—mostly on the back of one casino—reaching $163.5 million overall. Cordish Cos.’ Maryland Live ceded 2% for a $57 million tally. MGM National Harbor hopped 5.5% to achieve $71.5 million and even Horseshoe Baltimore had a good month, gaining 4% to hit $16 million. Ocean Downs was flat at $6.5 million, Rocky Gap Resort was down 1% to $5 million and Hollywood Perryville slipped 3.5% to $7 million. When consumer dollars are constricting, brand names prevail, obviously.
It looked as though sports-betting license approvals were going to go swimmingly in Massachusetts … until Barstool Sports came through the door. Its marketing push toward Generation Z was a particular subject of contention. “You’re gonna have a Barstool’s-branded sports bar on the premises, according to the proposition that you guys are putting forward,” bristled Massachusetts Gaming Commission member Eileen O’Brien. ” I’m concerned about some of the historical marketing associated with Barstool.” Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein said that Penn Entertainment‘s non-Barstool approach to the problem-gambling issue was “excellent.” She turned to the elephant in the room, cretinous Dave Portnoy, by saying, “So now we have an obligation to reconcile what is very available publicly as to Barstool and really the significant personality attached to Barstool and what we’re gonna do about it as we think about this application.”
Making good on a promise and a plan, Station Casinosoffloaded 21 acres next to Durango Station (ab0ve) last week for $24 million. Not a bad score. The buyer is Ovation Development Corp., which will help seed Durango’s customer base by building residential properties on the adjoinging site, just as Station hoped. Ovation, an offshoot of the Molasky family of companies, is also building senior-friendly housing right behind Sunset Station. In the now-distant past, Station would try to shop vast tracts of land at one great gulp but didn’t find takers. Its new, more-selective, bite-size strategy is working, as seen at Wildfire Fremont, Durango and Sunset. Next up, Cactus Lane, where Station has much more land than it needs, having doubled down on its real estate position there recently. We still think it’s quixotic to go up against South Point but it will be very interesting to watch.
Having sacked and pillaged Caesars Entertainmentinfamously, Apollo Management told Nevada regulators it had learned its lesson and would be a better steward of Venelazzo. Has the Apollo leopard really changed its spots? Seems not. We haven’t heard anything untoward coming out of Sheldon Adelson‘s old place (yet) but Apollo’s attempt to merge the Kroger and Albertsons supermarket chains is turning out to be classic private equity rapine. You think grocery prices are bad now? Wait til this deal goes through. It hasn’t even closed yet and Apollo is strip-mining both companies. Albertsons announced a $4 billion “special dividend” on Nov. 7—a sum 57 times larger than the regular quarterly dividend, depleting the chain’s $2.5 billion cash on hand and saddling it with $1.5 billion in additional debt. Moody’s Investor Service accordingly downgraded Albertsons credit rating. There goes one-third of Albertsons’ market cap—along with the ability to “meaningfully compete” with Kroger and others.
