Category: Casino News

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?

Casino receipts in the state of Maryland slipped somewhat last month, tallying $158 million. That’s 3.5% down from 2022, but 12% better than 2019. Poor table win (-9%) drove the bulk of the decline. The weakest performance was that of Horseshoe Baltimore, which plunged 10.5% to $14.5 million, its second-feeblest turnout in two years. No surprise, MGM National Harbor led all comers with $66.5 million, despite a 7% dropoff. The other revenue-losing casino was Rocky Gap Resort, down 6.5% to $4.5 million. Hollywood Perryville was flat at just under $7 million, while Ocean Downs gained 7% to reach $7 million and Maryland Live was up 1.5% to $57 million, a titanic number in almost any state that doesn’t have National Harbor in it.

All too predictably, lawmakers in New Jersey slunk away from their previous commitment to close the smoking loophole that solely benefits Atlantic City casinos. State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D) claimed to be one vote short of advancing the bill out of committee. Colleague Fred Madden (D) took the coward’s way out, saying he was open to a bullshit “compromise” advanced by the Casino Association of New Jersey, no friend of the working stiff. The CANJ alternative would amend the bill currently before solons to allow an 18-month continuation of wide-open smoking. During that period of sanctioned secondhand smoke, operators would have the option of enhancing their HVAC systems (an ineffecutal remedy) and creating enclosed smoking areas—with games and sponsored by tobacco companies. Hack casino executive and CANJ boss Mark Giannantonio‘s group claims—not very credibly—that no employee would be compelled to work in a smoking area. And if everyone refuses? What then? Those questions went begging.