Category: Casino News

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Fearless Oscar Forecast

It’s that time again, dear readers. With a lot of help from veteran oddsmaker Johnny Avello of DraftKings, here are some thoughts on what’s going to go down on Sunday night. First off, we’re picking a mild upset, on the strength of Sinners‘ (+500) surprise Best Ensemble win at the SAG Awards. We think it rides that momentum, great box office and a record number of Oscar nominations to Best Picture status. Yes, One Battle After Another (-500) has led from wire to wire, but it’s a hard film to warm up to (although incredibly pertinent) and frontrunners have a tendency to fade in the home stretch. Our metaphorical money is on Ryan Coogler‘s Dixie vampire opus. Besides, it’s been a few years since the Motion Picture Academy embraced a blockbuster. We think it’s going to happen this weekend. Should win: Sinners. Will win: Sinners.

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Gambling Hits Rock Bottom

There is no ethical or moral sinkhole so deep that prediction markets cannot find an even lower abyss to plumb. They may, however, have reached their nadir this week. Polymarket started taking bets on—we kid you not—whether nuclear war would break out over the Middle East. We weren’t there to see it but we’re pretty damn sure that, when Jesus Christ was being crucified on Golgotha, Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan (above) was among those gleefully shooting dice for His clothing.

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Texas-Sized Defeat

Nobody can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like Dr. Miriam Adelson. The ancient meddler and majority owner of Las Vegas Sands saw another slate Sands-proxy candidates go down to defeat last night in the Lone Star State’s primary. Texas voters applied a 10-gallon boot to Adelson’s carpetbagging posterior, in yet another rejection of her ham-fisted agenda. It takes a special kind of reverse political acumen to take a state where a majority of the electorate favors casinos and sports betting, and then turn them into a vociferous bunch of NIMBYs. But Miriam has done it again.

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Strip Plummets, Locals Too

… but don’t you worry. Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg has assured us that everything is fine in Las Vegas, if not better than ever. After all, it’s ‘only’ suffered one full year of revenue decline. January’s numbers lapped the beginning of The Great Downturn. This period of languishing happens to coincide precisely with the United States government’s declaration of verbal war on Sin City’s two biggest international feeder markets: Canada and Mexico. Funny that. Let’s look at the latest numbers.

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Caesars: And if you believe that …

Earlier this week, Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg pissed on your head and told you it was raining. “There’s really no crisis happening in Vegas,” Reeg sniffed.  “This is normal economic-cycle activity. The city’s and all of our properties are doing quite well.” In case you’re wondering, “normal” activity looks like 4.5% less revenue for all of 2025. If visitation was to Las Vegas down again in January (the numbers aren’t out yet), it will mark a full year of decline. We’d call that a crisis. And, with international visitation to the United States off by 11 million people, it might be time for Reeg’s overpaid sphincter to start puckering.

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Chilly Scenes of Winter

Garden State gamblers defied terrible weather to patronize Atlantic City casinos, where receipts were up 1.5% (helped by an extra weekend day last month). Tables were a bit slow, down 3%, but slots were up 3.5%. Borgata was tops with $56.5 million despite a 6% slump. Hard Rock Atlantic City leapt 21% to $46 million, while Ocean Casino Resort was relatively becalmed at $35.5 million (1%). The grind joints were bunched closely together, barely led by Resorts Atlantic City with $11 million or 2% higher. Bally’s Atlantic City crawled out of last place ($10 million, 3.5%) and incrementally past Golden Nugget ($10 million, -4%). The Caesars Entertainment trifecta was led by Harrah’s Resort ($16.5 million, -2.5%), followed by Caesars Atlantic City ($14.5 million, 8%), while players fled Tropicana Atlantic City ($13 million, -14%).

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Station: Better than Ever?

In spite of construction disruption that should have dampened revenues, Station Casinos beat Wall Street expectations for 4Q25. Cash flow of $213 million came in 4% above Wall Street’s consensus projection. Not to be outdone, revenues of $512 million were also ahead of forecasts. Investors were further pleased with $48 million in share repurchases and a $1/share special dividend. For one, Barry Jonas of Truist Securities was moved to boost his price target from $75/share to $80.

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Hither, Thither & Yon

January was super-cold in Illinois … except at the casinos. They leapt 13.5% on a same-store basis (i.e., excluding Fairmont Park). An extra weekend day helped—but still! New Hollywood Joliet is fending off management’s fears of an early slowdown, growing 1% from December and 60% from the old place last year at this time. It grossed $11 million. If only it didn’t look from the outside like a strip mall …

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Boyd: Weathering the Storm

Despite bad weather, the fourth quarter for Boyd Gaming was steady as she goes. Wall Street expected $334 million in cash flow and Boyd delivered $337 million, along with $1 billion in revenue. That was achieved even with soft business in the Midwest and South, as well as in the drive-in business in Las Vegas. Locals play in Sin City remains solid, which was a saving grace. Destination customers just weren’t coming, which hurt business at The Orleans, for one. To console investors, $185 million in stock was bought back, and projects in Virginia, Illinois and suburban Vegas remain in train through 2028.

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MGM: Shoot the Messenger

Don’t you just hate it when reality refuses to conform to Big Gaming’s preferred narrative? MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle sure does. That would explain the hissy fit he threw last weekend. Faced with a Las Vegas that was 9% down in visitation in December and off 6% in gambling grosses, Hornbuckle stuck with the ‘Happy days are here again’ mantra.

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