Category: Casino News

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Ohio dips; Bally’s unplugged; Macao booms

Here’s one for those of you who believe gambling is facing a recession: Revenue in Ohio fell 2% last month (yes, it took the Buckeye State until February to report December’s numbers). The haul was $193 million, which was still 14% better than the end of 2019, if that’s any consolation. MGM Northfield Park maintained its market-leading status with $24 million, up 5.5%. But there was a surprise challenger: Jack Cleveland, close behind with $23.5 million, an 8.5% gain. Other racinos that were revenue-positive (like MGM Northfield) were Scioto Downs, up 2% to $19.5 million and doughty Hollywood Mahoning Valley, up 3% to $13 million. Miami Valley Gaming was flat at $19 million.

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Sands impresses; Trump’s new Mob pal; Boardwalk blotter; Mega-Jottings

Wall Street was in a sunny mood this week after Las Vegas Sands‘ 4Q22 earnings presentation. As Credit Suisse analyst Ben Chaiken summarized, “two large takeaways in our view were strength in Singapore and what we felt was a positive tone from [management] concerning the trajectory of Macau, due to pent-up demand potential.” Normally we bristle at the overused phrase “pent-up demand” but early indicators from Red China are that gamblers are champing at the bit to get into Macao.

Cash flow at Marina Bay Sands was well ahead of The Street’s expectation, hitting $386 million at gambling monies reached an all-time high. Chaiken said Macanese trends have “accelerated” heading into Chinese New Year—in which visitation is at 40% of 2019 numbers—and that Sands is on course to post positive ROI again. But, wrote Chaiken, “the Singapore rebound (faster than we expected) could provide insight into what a Macau recovery could look like,” especially when achieved with air travel into Singapore that is still constrained at two-thirds of pre-Covid levels.

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Bluhm blows smoke; Detroit declines; Bally’s sheds jobs

No, that isn’t a new big-box retail outlet (which its entrance rather resembles) but Rivers Portsmouth, the first permanent casino to open in Virginia. On hand were Allen Iverson, a marching band, a gaggle of local politicians … and the noxious odor of tobacco smoke. Comments harvested by Americans for Nonsmokers Rights included such gems as “This is just not OK” and “I will never come here again.” That’s not what Rush Street Gaming execs want to hear, less stil, “I think it’s backwards, archaic, disgusting and I won’t come here ever again.” Opined player Beth Grimes, “I hadn’t even sat down yet to play a game. I’m leaving. I’ve been in this building 30 minutes walking around, and all of a sudden, as more people have come in and sat down, they’re smoking, smoking, smoking.” Also irked was Norfolk resident David Spry: “I finally quit and I’m not going to be putting myself into a position where I’m going to get second-hand smoke.” Nor should he.

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The popularity of parlays

Being busy on other fronts today (tune or surf in at 9 a.m. PST to KNPR‘s State of Nevada, we’re turning S&G over for the day to Samuel of Sports Smart Betting. If you like his work, you may see it here on a recurring basis. After all, sports betting is dominating the gambling conversation today. For his initial topic, Sam explains the …

Reasons why parlay bets are so popular

1. Parlay bets can offer higher payouts: These types of bets typically have higher payouts than single bets because of the multiplicative effect of more selection in a single bet slip. This can be attractive to bettors looking for a chance to win big even if they take several times more risks.

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Caesars surprises Wall Street; Rincon defects; Bluhm to NYC?

Since the Roman Empire is not given to pre-announcing earnings (it leaves that to MGM Resorts International), its tribunes must have had some pretty good end-of-year numbers to trot out, which they did this morning. The headline, at least as far as J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff was concerned was that the results were pretty much as expected and Caesars Entertainment is reducing its digital losses. That’s all favorable news for investors, so let’s read on, shall we? The Las Vegas Strip continued to boom but, due to “harsh December weather” (tell us about it), regional revenues were a trifle squishy, negatively impacting cash flow by as much as $15 million. Caesars Sportsbook would have posted positive ROI—were it not for a $30 million bad beat delivered by John “Mattress Mack” McIngvale. Win some, lose some.

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‘Fight’ club; New Horseshoe powers Louisiana

Having experienced buyer’s remorse on DFS site Monkey Knife Fight, and now trying to re-sell it, Bally’s Corp. finds itself with a ton of Monkey Knife Fight-branded merchandise that it must unload. After all, if it finds a pigeon, er, purchaser for the DFS brand, all rights will revert to said pigeon, leaving Bally’s with a bunch of junk it can’t move. Hence the scene above in the Bally’s Atlantic City gift shop. You can practically hear the sales pitch: “Prices like these? I must be crazy! Sale ends Sunday (maybe)!” Seriously, the acquisition of Monkey Knife Fight was symptomatic of Bally’s swing-at-everything business strategy. It probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

Then again, Bally’s was late to the DFS party and the purchase always seemed to us like an afterthought. Now the company is hurting in the digital sphere, having expanded too much too soon, and Monkey Knife Fight is being flung overboard to trim the ship. Good luck finding takers. Maybe Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim can drop by Bally’sAtlantic City (the casino that quality forgot) and pick up sportswear that reads, “I bought Monkey Knife Fight and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”

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Pennsylvania soft; Gray Lady panics; Smooth criminal

Gambling revenues in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania slipped just a bit last month, as 2022 continued to go out mostly quietly. The $298 million haul was 1% off December 2021’s pace. While there was some softening of the market, we attribute that to continued saturation, as more mini-casinos continue to come on line. The biggest winner was Parx Casino with $48.5 million, but it was 5.5% down, which we chalk up to its (utterly praiseworthy) smoking ban. Close behind was Wind Creek Bethlehem, reporting $42 million and up 3%. Rivers Pittsburgh was third with $31.5 million, a 2% gain. Its immediate rivals also fared well, with Meadows Hollywood flat at $14 million and Pittsburgh Live hopping 5% to $10 million.

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Solid finish in Atlantic City; Tough love elsewhere

Casinos closed out 2022 up 2% in December in Atlantic City. Before any gaming bosses start wringing their hands over higher costs, let it be known that this is 3% better than December 2019, before the latest collective-bargaining agreement. The monthly gross was $215.5 million. For the entire year, it was an apex in Boardwalk history, thanks to i-gaming and sports-betting contributions. This did not pass unnoticed by Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. “Imagine how much more revenue the casinos would have generated if the awful stench of dangerous secondhand smoke didn’t keep a meaningful number of guests from walking through their doors,” acidly remarked ANR President Cynthia Hallett. She added, “In-person visitation has recovered to pre-pandemic levels. So what’s the excuse now for the casinos? This revenue report should give legislators yet another green light to advance bipartisan bills that more than half of all senators and assembly members are co-sponsoring to close the casino smoking loophole.”

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Massachusetts jumps; Bally’s sags; Century flees

Defying a larger trend, Massachusetts closed out 2022 with strength, its casino revenues up 8% to $103 million. The big dog, Encore Boston Harbor, leapt 10% to a boffo $68.5 million, beating Wall Street expectations. MGM Springfield‘s gain was more modest, 1% that pushed it to $22.5 million for the month. Plainridge Park jumped 11.5% and grossed $12 million, continuing to manifest a recovery against the inroads made by nearby Encore.

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The tax that ate Las Vegas; Dr. King misremembered

A horrible idea for the taxpayer, the economy and for gaming in particular has been resurrected in Congress. Yes, it’s the “national sales tax,” which would lay a double-digit impost on all goods and services, and which only could be rebated to us if we fill out onerous, monthly paperwork—much more burdensome than dealing with the IRS once a year. As formerly championed by disgraced ex-lawmaker Steve King, the root of the bill is the “strong father” model of government, in which the sales tax would be intended to A) make people resent government itself and B) curb consumer spending. An especially odious carve-out in the 2004 iteration of the bill—and this bears close watching—is that all businesses would qualify for tax refunds … except casinos and gambling-related businesses, which would get nothing. It’s a dagger aimed straight at the heart of the Big, Bad Casinos.

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