Category: Casino News

Gaming pundits are finally getting off their hobbyhorse that the industry was due for a recession ANY DAY NOW! Yup. Recession. Any. Day. Now. <crickets> You feel sometimes like they’re rooting for bad economic news. They’ll certainly be at pains to explain Ohio‘s record November. The Buckeye State’s casinos and racinos grossed $186 million, 1% up over 2022 and 15% higher than in 2019. As usual, MGM Northfield Park was the leader with $23.5 million (+3%). Also up 3% were Jack Cleveland and Hollywood Columbus, in a statistical tie around $21.5 million apiece. Hard Rock Cincinnati was up 2% to $20 million and Hollywood Toledo gained 1% to $17.5 million. The latter, despite having table games, was outdone by slots-only Miami Valley Gaming ($19 million, +4%), while Scioto Downs faded 7% to a still-impressive $17 million. Jack Thistledown was up 3% to $14.5 million, Belterra Park slipped 3% to $6.5 million, Hollywood Dayton hopped 4% to $12 million, while Hollywood Mahoning Valley was flat at $12.5 million. Not a bad month at all, particularly for Penn Entertainment in a November that also …

Had the pre-race hype not been so inebriated, the Las Vegas Grand Prix would be counted an unqualified financial success. On the Las Vegas Strip (in what is traditionally the slowest month of the year), it spurred a 22.5% leap in winnings, to $821 million—still short of the high-water $835 million recorded last July. (Thanks to Howard Stutz for the historical context.) Very impressive … but we were told to expect ‘record gaming revenues!’ thanks to F-U, er F1. What’s Jeremy Aguero‘s spin going to be? Perhaps next November will be better: Dramatically scaled-back prices for hotel rooms and race tickets will leave customers with more money in their pockets for gambling.

Analysts from that curious subculture known as Wall Street descended upon Durango Resort for its opening and liked what they saw. J.P. Morgan‘s Joseph Greff pronounced himself “impressed,” in views that will be synopsized later today in CDC Gaming Reports. He wasn’t alone. Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, like Greff, started with the property’s aesthetics, “right on par with Red Rock, a premier LV locals destination resort.” He observed that foot traffic was steady all day long (although he was there on a Monday) and that Station Casinos expects Durango to be profitable from the get-go. Station execs said they were “pleasantly surprised” by the younger player cohort, with the 25-35 demographic seen in force both on the casino floor and in the restaurants.

Take a good look at that guy. Most likely you’ll find him hiding under a table. He’s state Sen. Vincent J. Polistina (D), champion of carcinogens in the New Jersey Lege. If you still find yourself breathing secondhand smoke in Atlantic City casinos, you’ll have Polistina to thank. After paying extensive lip service to a total smoking ban, Polistina finked out at the last minute, refusing to cast a crucial committee vote that would have advanced the fatwa to the floor of the Lege. Bastard.

Spinning as hard as they can, opinion makers in Las Vegas have been trying to paint the Las Vegas Grand Prix as a roaring success. Well, if they can cherry-pick anecdotal information to make their point, we can respond with some numbers. For instance, Caesars Entertainment had predicted a 5% boost in its annual cash flow from Formula One Weekend. But, according to Truist Securities analyst (and F1 booster) Barry Jonas, that’s not the case. He informed investors today that Caesars “consequently fell a little shy of its expected +5% or +$25M incremental Y/Y EBITDA lift.” It suffered from the fact that “properties away from the track and less high-end did not fully benefit.” Quelle suprise. We coulda told Tom Reeg that was gonna happen. Jonas predicted, without explaining, that future iterations of F1-in-Vegas would “have wider appeal.” We’d love to know how. And does “wider” include the put-upon Las Vegas community?