Curiously underreported by the mainstream media (as in, not at all) is a lightening of the ship at Penn Entertainment. The story was broken by Legal Sports Report, which gleaned the news from some evidently unhappy postings at LinkedIn. The sackings come in Penn’s digital division, home to theScore, Hollywood Casino and—most pertinently—embattled ESPN Bet.
Continue reading Panic at Penn; A tribal triumph
Contrary to this morning’s gloom-and-doom headlines, casinos in Atlantic City did just fine last month. Big Gaming is probably spinning the numbers as bad ones in order to evade A) smoking bans and B) higher taxes. Gambling revenue was $244 million, 1% above last year and 3.5% higher than pre-pandemic 2019. The downside is that the upside was driven by but four casinos out of nine. Bally’s Atlantic City charged out of last place with a 9% surge to $13.5 million. Borgata hopped 6% to $64 million (no surprise there) and Hard Rock Atlantic City rose 12% to $48.5 million. Tail-end Charlie Golden Nugget even managed a 6% jump to $12.5 million.
Continue reading Panty raid in Atlantic City; Acres’ angst
Above is what we’re reliably informed is the best reason to visit the lounge at Bally’s Atlantic City—and it’s a pretty good one. It’s an unfettered view of the Atlantic Ocean. Being a beachgazer is probably one of the better ways to amuse oneself in Atlantic City. Gosh knows, help is needed. Outdoor events have been dropping like flies. (The better to keep prospective gamblers indoors?) The biggest domino to fall was the annual air show. Reports our Boardwalk correspondent, “The stated reason is that one of the ‘prime’ acts withdrew. The surprise was that the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds were never in this years show schedule.” A surprise indeed. What gives, USAF?
Continue reading Tales from the shore; Midsummer slump
A Faustian pact has been struck by Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim. In order to gain the cash necessary to build his $1.8 billion obsession, Bally’s Chicago, Kim has had to sell practically everything of value that Bally’s has. On paper, he gains a flagship megaresort. However, he loses assets against which he could leverage projects in Las Vegas and New York City. Maybe there’s a disguised blessing. Perhaps Kim, whose Standard General hedge fund is the largest BALY shareholder, will finally be forced to focus on one big thing at a time.
Continue reading Not-so-magnificent obsession; Sands slips
Gambling revenues held the line in Missouri last month, flat with last year. The $155 million tally was also 8% better than in June of 2019. At $25 million, Ameristar St. Charles continued to dominate, up 4.5%. River City edged sister property Hollywood St. Louis $21 million to $20.5 million. River City was up 4%, Hollywood 1.5%. Horseshoe St. Louis, despite its downtown presence during the height of baseball season, plunged 17% to $11 million.
Continue reading Missouri, Motown & cretins
Casinos in the Land of Lincoln had something to celebrate last month, as they actually improved same-store results by 3%, although they still lagged 3% behind 2019 figures. (Blame it on the thermonuclear proliferation of slot routes). The overall haul was $138 million. The bulk of this was logged in the northern tier of the state, where Bally’s Casino (above) in Chicago pulled in $10.5 million, about par for its course. Despite being down a point, Rivers Des Plaines grossed $44 million and is staving off new competition rather impressively. Speaking of which, The Temporary at American Place vaulted 33% to $9 million.
Continue reading Short takes: Illinois, Maryland and sleaze
Bally’s Corp. is usually a subject of fun in these pages, so let’s flip the script and congratulate the company on the 45th anniversary of Bally’s Atlantic City. Above you see the buses full of gamblers pulling up at what used to be Park Place Casino and has been through more incarnations subsequently than you can shake a stick at. In Monopoly, Park Place will set you back $350 and is one of the blue-chip properties in the game. In recent years, Bally’s picked up the erstwhile Park Place Casino from Caesars Entertainment for what seemed like only $350 and if it was ever a premium spot on the Boardwalk those days are long gone.
Continue reading Bally’s 45th; Buckeye State bonanza
Hope may spring eternal for Bally’s Corp. in Virginia. The enterprising Virginia Mercury has been like a bloodhound on the tainted casino-award process for Petersburg and has dug up fresh dirt. We’ve already detailed the shakedown of Petersburg by state Sen. Lashrecse Aird (D). She made it pretty clear that, for reasons unknown, she wanted the casino concession awarded to Bally’s before any allocation was made by the Lege. Petersburg civic leaders, it is now known, caved to Aird’s extortionate demand. A damning letter penned by City Manager March Altman, but never sent to Bally’s, states that it had been tabbed as the preferred casino operator.
Continue reading Small-time crooks
It was a bouncy May for casinos both on the Las Vegas Strip and locally. The former was up 3.5%, reaching gambling revenue of $742.5 million. Locals casinos hopped 5% for a haul of $277.5 million. The Strip win was particularly impressive given that baccarat was down 6.5% to $122 million. The problem wasn’t hold percentage so much as a 2% dip in action. But other table games leapt 13% to $217.5 million on wagering that was 11% higher. Strip slots saw 6.5% more coin-in, to tally $403 million (+2.5%). Locals slots were up 3% to $229.5 million on 4.5% more action. Locals table win was $48 million, a 17% gain spurred by 16.5% higher wagering.
Continue reading Merry May for Strip, locals; Boardwalk blotter
Have you heard about the big election-betting scandal? No, not here, you silly! In Great Britain, where the story’s been gathering more legs than a centipede. It seems that someone at 10 Downing Street shared the date (in advance of its announcement) of the July parliamentary election. And shared it rather indiscreetly. At first one, then two and now four (and counting) Conservative Party officials have been caught with their hands in the insider-tip jar.
Continue reading Mad dogs and betting Englishmen