Category: Casino News

So long, Tropicana Las Vegas. Say hello, National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer. And let’s not forget lacrosse and badminton. Since there is no stadium deal for which the Nevada Lege will not bend over and grab its ankles, it appears to be a lead-pipe cinch the public subsidies to attract the worst team in MLB to Sin City are all but signed, sealed and delivered. Already the Nevada Independent, abandoning its vaunted independence, is shaking the pom-poms for bringing the Oakland Athletics to the soon-to-be-former site of the venerable Trop. And where one stadium deal is, albeit not as rich as that gifted to the Las Vegas Raiders, others will follow as night segues day.

Last week, Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli hit town and gave a rundown of the major players in Sin City. His overall theses can be found at CDC Gaming Reports. Basically, it boiled down to Macao great, Las Vegas Strip excellent, Las Vegas locals very good and regional casinos a bit iffy. But he also looked at a number of operators in granular detail and that is what occupies us today.

Boyd Gaming expects little or no impact from the debut of Durango Resort. If there is any, it will be felt at Suncoast. The expected result was described as “competitive strategy changes,” as Boyd is confident of keeping its Suncoast customers. On the plus side, growth in the Las Vegas Valley is likely to redound to the benefit of Aliante Casino. Rival Station Casinos read the tea leaves right on this one—but 15 years prematurely. In light of Boyd’s heavy exposure—seven casinos—to the Gulf Coast, management allowed that they are “actively dissecting” the underperformance of Mississippi and Louisiana. For one thing, unrated play (which is soft) is higher in this region. Also, the relative poverty of these two states means that they’re where macroeconomic challenges will be felt first. In the Midwest, Blue Chip and Kansas Star have shaken off the impact of ‘historical horse racing’ machines. Belterra Resort, not so much. Boyd seems likelier to be a buyer than a seller these days, particularly if something digital complements its online assets.

Casino winnings in Atlantic City dipped a bit last month, down 1.5% to $231.5 million. Slot revenues led the way, down 3% on flat coin-in. Table games actually did better, up 3% despite flat wagering but A.C. is a slot player’s town. Only less weekend day this year didn’t help, either. Only two casinos were revenue-positive in April: The Golden Nugget courted enough low rollers to gain 6.5% to $13 million, while Ocean Casino Resort surged 30% to reach $34 million, hard on the trail of Hard Rock Atlantic City ($39 million, -4.5%). New-look Borgata sputtered somewhat, down 6% to $58 million, still good enough to kick everyone else’s patootie. Last place went to Resorts Atlantic City, tumbling 13% to $12.5 million. Golden Nugget’s uptick wasn’t enough to overtake Bally’s Atlantic City ($14 million), in spite of the latter’s 4% setback. That leaves the Caesars Entertainment threesome, with Caesars Atlantic City (-3%) and Tropicana Atlantic City (-13%) all knotted up at $19.5 million. No surprise, Harrah’s Resort did best with $21.5 million, although it dipped 6%.

In its frenetic effort to gain market share in the U.S., Fanatics has cut a deal with outgoing PointsBet. For the relatively cheap price of $150 million, it is buying the American (but not Canadian) operations of PointsBet, which tells you something about how badly PointsBet wants to get out of the Land of the Free. Fanatics beat Penn Entertainment and Bally’s Corp. to the punch, although it’s not clear what Bally’s inchoate sports-betting operation would have gained from yet another acquisition. PointsBet’s reason for quitting the scene is quite simple: It just doesn’t have the moolah to stay the course to profitability, so it’s getting out while it’s behind. Among those taking a bat on their PointsBet investment will be NBC Universal, which backed a loser. If the PointsBet gaming licenses currently valid devolve to Fanatics, the latter will have made a head start toward getting into 12 states by late August. Fanatics claims it has a 10-year business plan but OSB moves fast. It’s already five years old in this country and the market share has ossified around four or five operators.

As much as we sensed it was coming and were resigned to it, it’s sad to know that the Tropicana Las Vegas has been marked for imminent death. The Las Vegas Strip dowager is showing her years, admittedly, but she’s the last remaining vestige of classic Vegas, especially after Sam Nazarian disemboweled the Sahara and the Riviera went the way of all flesh. Just when Station Casinos thought it was going to see a big real estate payday, it was double-crossed by the Oakland Athletics. Turns out the A’s had been playing footsie with Bally’s Corp., which did a great job of pretending nothing was transpiring at the Trop. Under the new deal, which was sniffed out by Howard Stutz, the A’s would build a nine-acre $1.4 billion stadium atop the ex-Trop, with Bally’s holding onto 25 acres for future redevelopment.