As luck would have it, we were in Chicago last week. That’s when, in a stunning display of spinelessness, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) opted to neither sign nor veto the city budget. He dove under the desk. In that act of moral cowardice, Johnson tacitly assented to one move that screws over Bally’s Chicago and another that sticks it to legal OSB operators.
Continue reading Bally’s Gets Screwed
Over the weekend, a rather bizarre story appeared in Sin City’s whipped cur of a newspaper, the servile Las Vegas Review-Journal, play toy of Dr. Miriam Adelson. Since Jonathan Halkyard has been functioning as CFO of MGM Resorts International since 2020, one might assume he’d been licensed for that position in Nevada. Well, you know what happens when we assume. Seems that only now is the sleepy Nevada Gaming Commission getting around to vetting the man who’s been #2 at MGM for five effing years now. Halkyard is squeaky clean but this is a prime example of how rotten apples like Scott Sibella can have time to taint the barrel whilst Silver State regulators catch up on their naps.
Continue reading No Time Like the Present
Atlantic City, you must be so proud. Mayor Marty Small (D), recently re-elected, beat the rap on felony charges this week. The indictment against Mrs. Small is expected to be dropped. Too bad. Small had a big chance of joining the not-so-illustrious list of A.C. mayors who have gone to the slammer. Meanwhile, Boardwalk power brokers are spin-doctoring like mad that November’s casino grosses weren’t so bad (for most of the gambling houses) and that Atlantic City is still relevant in light of three oncoming New York City megaresorts. The argument is that NYC can’t duplicate what the Boardwalk has to offer. What would that be? Cigarette smoke?
Continue reading Boardwalk Follies
It was the best of times … for Borgata, Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort. It was the worst of times for everyone else. Borgata takings rocketed 25% to $72 million, outpacing everyone else. Hard Rock Atlantic City was up 2% to $45 million and Ocean Casino leapt 14.5% to $39 million. The only other casino to hold its own was Harrah’s Resort, flat at $18.5 million. Caesars Atlantic City plunged 24% to $12.5 million and Tropicana Atlantic City fell 4.5% to $16 million. In other words, it took Caesars Entertainment three casinos to make slightly more than Hard Rock did.
Continue reading A Tale of Two Atlantic Citys
We’ve been giving this story a wide berth but … someone perspicacious in the White House press corps noticed the yawning chasm between the symbolism of Donald Trump making a stump speech at Mount Airy Resort and the fact of his having signed into law an onerous tax increase on gamblers. The latter was part of a budget enacted in haste, to be repented at leasure. (To be crystal clear, the gambling-tax hike was the evil handiwork of GOP Sen. Mike Crapo.) As might be expected, Fox Business tried to spin the presidential response as a major policy shift. The truth is more mundane.
Continue reading Much Ado About Nothing
Casinos in Illinois nudged up a point last month, garnering $155 million. Take away underachieving Fairmount Park ($1.5 million) and they were flat with November 2024. Newfangled Hollywood Joliet continued to tear up the marketplace, vaulting 51% to $11 million. Three casinos in Chicagoland were reeling—and we’re not referring to their slot machines. Market leader Rivers Des Plaines got walloped 13.5%, spiraling down to $37.5 million. Bally’s Casino downtown didn’t have a chance to gloat, also getting clocked 13.5% to $8.5 million. Even so, Bally’s Corp. and Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. remain (delusionally?) convinced that $2 billion Bally’s Chicago will be a barnburner.
Continue reading In the Bleak Midwinter
“Casino security” is a bad joke or, at best, a contradiction in terms. The Paul Blarts who patrol casino floors aren’t there to protect you: Their remit is to keep the sacrosanct slot machines safe. God forbid you should need help in a perilous casino situation because you ain’t getting any. Not from Big Gaming. Case in point, the gay-bashing incident at MGM Grand Detroit last summer, where security guards stood idly by as casino patrons were assaulted. Maybe it’s not “aiding and abetting” but it sure looks like “depraved indifference.” Thank goodness nobody got shot.
Continue reading It’s About Time!
All three New York City casino proposals were tapped in the penultimate round of selection for Empire State benediction. That means Genting Group, Bally’s Corp. and Hard Rock International each grasped the brass ring. Now comes the hard part: Finding financing. We’re talking about an aggregate $18 billion in casino capitalization—not money that’s going to be found under Steve Cohen‘s couch cushions. Oh, and there’s one major hiccup for Genting.
Continue reading NYC: Everybody Wins?
Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers. We, of course, are primarily thankful for you. And Big Gaming is thankful too … not for us but for baccarat, which saved its bacon last month on the Las Vegas Strip. Visitation sank 4.5% but Strip casino revenue jumped 8%, driven in large part by a 69% catapult in baccarat winnings. (Things might have been worse still had convention attendance not spiked 8%, even though room rates still sagged 6%.) The house cleaned up at high-roller-friendly baccarat and at the tables in general (vaulting 25%) but not at the slots, which slipped 2% despite 3% higher coin-in. Table wagering was up 5% and baccarat players bet 9% bigger. Bottom line, fewer people may be coming to Sin City but the ones who do are betting more—and losing it, too.
Continue reading Strip Gets Rescued
Was the circus in town last week? Because the Nevada Gaming Commission sure put on a clown show. They handed out a nominal, $7.8 million fine to Caesars Entertainment for flouting anti-money laundering laws. The Roman Empire looked the other way for at least five years while illegal bookie Mathew Bowyer (author of the Shohei Ohtani scandal) gambled at Caesars’ casinos. Amazingly, no one seems to have laughed when Caesars CEO Tom Reeg said, “We never sacrifice compliance for revenue,” even though he clearly did. Reeg followed that howler up with, “There is no customer that’s worth illegitimate profits.” Well, there was at least one.
Continue reading Vegas Regulators Expose Themselves