Category: Casino News

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Voyage to Vegas, Part Two

Today we conclude our review of Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli‘s recent field trip to Las Vegas. We resume with Station Casinos, which seems to be accelerating its development timetable. Once it gets Durango Station up and running, it will proceed with both Inspirada and Skye Canyon, both of which are currently in the design phase. They enjoy favorable demographics, with Skye Canyon having been named one of the top 10 master-planned residential communities in the country. No word on what Station plans for the 100-acre Wild Wild West site, although Santarelli said the land gives the company “valuable optionality as the Strip continues to expand.” (Is that code for ‘flip’? It would be out of character for Station.)

Durango seems to be moving toward an early 2024 opening, although the timeline is kind of hazy, but it’s on budget and will be in an area that has 50 adults per gaming position, double the number surrounding Red Rock Resort—a Strip-caliber property stranded out in the ‘burbs. Household income in the Durango Station area is also only 8% below that in Summerlin, yet another positive harbinger. Santarelli doesn’t expect staffing of the new casino to be “problematic,” for several reasons, including Station’s status as a preferred employer in town. The company told him it is fully staffed at present and “Management noted that it has adapted a more disciplined approach to cost control via hourly wage management, given wage inflation.”

Continue reading Voyage to Vegas, Part Two
Posted on by — 3 Comments

Voyage to Vegas, Part One

Not us. We’re in Vermont, vacationing. But Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli trekked to Sin City and met with representatives of eight companies. We’ll start with MGM Resorts International, which waxed pretty darn upbeat. In Las Vegas, MGM’s strength lies in its higher-end properties (The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Aria, Bellagio and to some extent MGM Grand). Also, the Vegas event calendar is looking good through the rest of the year and into next. Integration of the Cosmo is going “better than expected,” in part because exiting managers have been “seamlessly” replaced by career MGM execs. Also, Cosmo slot play is better than MGM anticipated and the property’s alliance with Marriott is proving an asset, one that “in our view, makes sense to potentially expand further, given the benefits relative to a traditional OTA channel.”

Another encouraging development is that not only is international travel increasing but stay habits are changing, with more customers staying over Sunday nights. While remote-meeting trends are impinging somewhat on the convention business, group biz is picking up steam. Staffing levels were described as “appropriate.” We’ll see what the Culinary Union has to say about that next year.

Continue reading Voyage to Vegas, Part One
Posted on by — 2 Comments

Weekend edition

Internet gambling produced more than Detroit‘s casinos did for Michigan last month, $131 million to $104.5 million. Unsurprisingly, BetMGM was dominant with $49 million. Thence came DraftKings ($26.5 million) and FanDuel ($19 million). Smaller fry included BetRivers ($9 million), Caesars Entertainment ($6 million), and WynnBet and Barstool Sports at $4 million apiece. Sports betting was not nearly so lucrative, with $24 million realized on $218 million in handle. A third of that went right back out in the form of promotions, with Barstool engaging in significantly less promo activity than its rivals, per Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden‘s rationale for buying Barstool in the first place. As for revenue, FanDuel (32% of market share) outdueled DraftKings (21%), while BetMGM was close behind at 21%. Caesars and Barstool each accreted 7%.

Continue reading Weekend edition
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Atlantic City still surging; Aces win it all for Las Vegas

Casino executives in Atlantic City may continue to plead poverty but the numbers tell a different story. Last month’s tally was $274 million, up 4.5% from last year. Slot revenue was $204 million, up 3% on looser hold and 3.5% more coin-in. Table games brought in $68 million, an 8.5% jump on 8% greater wagering. Borgata vaulted 38% to $72 million, most closely followed by Hard Rock Atlantic City, flat at $46 million. Then came Ocean Casino Resort‘s $36.5 million, a 10% hop. All three Caesars Entertainment properties lost market share. Caesars Atlantic City fell 13% to $22 million, Harrah’s Resort was down 10.5% to $25 million and Tropicana Atlantic City slipped 10.5% to a group-best $26 million. If you rolled all three together they’d just barely be making more money than Borgata alone. Which is kind of sobering. Bally’s Atlantic City clawed 2% higher to $16 million, Resorts Atlantic City was flat at $18.5 million and Golden Nugget slid 18.5% to $13 million.

Continue reading Atlantic City still surging; Aces win it all for Las Vegas
Posted on by — 6 Comments

Atlantic City sexism and other capers; Falling Star

While we have no definitive idea whether Ocean Casino Resort CEO Bill Callahan is a male chauvinist pig, he certainly presents a convincing set of credentials in a Global Gaming Business puff piece. Never mind the efforts of predecessor Terry Glebocki (above, hounded out by the Illitch family), when it comes to Ocean’s reinvention from joke to overachiever, Callahan says he did it all himself, derogating previous administrations several times over in an ode to his own perspicacity. We’re sure that, by this point, Callahan has made some changes—like the new sports book—that are redounding to the good. But to take credit for everything … that requires a fair amount of gall.

Continue reading Atlantic City sexism and other capers; Falling Star
Posted on by — Leave a comment

George of Georges; Bally’s crumbling; Indiana dips

Before we go any further, bravo, bravo, arcibravo to Hard Rock International to laying some serious bread on its salaried workers. As of now, the base salary for non-tipped employees at Hard Rock casinos goes from $18/hour to $21. Hard Rock didn’t have to do it, it just did, which makes it all the more laudable. True, as some are suggesting, there’s some enlightened self-interest involved: Why work for the competition if you can go to Hard Rock and make significantly more? But that doesn’t diminish Hard Rock’s generosity, summed up by CEO Jim Allen as follows: “We looked at all the starting salaries of all our line employees, certainly recognizing the economic conditions that have been going on … We’re trying to find the highest quality employees, thanking them for their efforts and recognizing that with compensation.”

Continue reading George of Georges; Bally’s crumbling; Indiana dips
Posted on by — 3 Comments

Horseshoe boosts St. Louis; U.K. gaming reform slowed

Gambling continues to prosper in Missouri, where August receipts ($161 million) were 5.5% above last year’s. Visitation was actually down 5% but per-player spending rose 11%, inflation be damned. Ameristar St. Charles was out front with $26.5 million, leaping 9%. River City was next at $21 million, up 8%, while Penn Entertainment‘s nearby sister property Hollywood St. Louis jumped 10% to $19 million. Freshly rebranded Horseshoe St. Louis showed signs of a turnaround, up 6% to $14 million. Over in Kansas City, there’s a continued tailwind behind reinvented Bally’s Kansas City, up 9% to $10 million, even if it was in fourth place. Market leaders were Ameristar Kansas City ($16.5 million, +1%), Harrah’s North Kansas City ($15 million, +14%) and Argosy Riverside ($15 million, flat). Outstate, Century Casinos had adverse months in Caruthersville ($3.5 million, -9%) and Cape Girardeau ($5.5 million, -7%), while Isle of Capri Boonville climbed 5% to $7.5 million.

Continue reading Horseshoe boosts St. Louis; U.K. gaming reform slowed
Posted on by — 4 Comments

Gaming levels off at high altitude; More Chicago shenanigans

Casino receipts are in for a quartet of states and they tell a similar tale: That gamblers are reining in their 2022 spending … but are still wagering (and losing) way more than three years ago. Hardly a picture of an ailing economy, at least as it pertains to gaming. The outlier was Illinois, flat with 2019 ($117 million) but up 9% from last year. Customers attended much more (10%) and spent slightly less (-1%). Traditional market leader Rivers Casino Des Plaines booked $48 million, a 17% surge, while rebranding continues to benefit Bally’s Quad Cities, vaulting 26% to $4.5 million. Hard Rock Rockford also came in at $4.5 million, while Par-A-Dice climbed 3.5% to $5 million.

Continue reading Gaming levels off at high altitude; More Chicago shenanigans
Posted on by — 1 Comment

Justice for German; MGM gets some Wall Street love

Clark County Administrator Robert Telles (D) is in custody for the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German in what has all the appearance of a revenge killing. Good work by Las Vegas Metro, despite a set of conflicting statements that the German assassination was “an isolated incident” and the act of someone casing the neighborhood for crimes of opportunity. (Like killing crusading reporters, we guess.) The alleged perp was stupid enough to drive to and from the crime scene in a GMC Yukon Denali tricked out with chrome handles and a sunroof, not your average perp. Ditto the strange disguise affected, which had Metro briefly baffled as to whether the suspect was a he or a she. Perhaps the sight of Telles washing town the Denali hours after the crime was what did him in. (Or maybe it was wearing a white hazmat suit to clean his garage. Nothing strange about that, eh?)

Just prior to being apprehended by Metro, Telles sustained what is described as a self-inflicted wound (mens rea?) and was carried from his SWAT-breached home on a stretcher. A Denali matching crime-scene footage was towed from his driveway. The timing of the crime was opportune and incriminating: According to the Los Angeles Times, “German was working on a new story about Telles the week he was stabbed to death.” Previously, German had covered Telles for “allegations of bullying, favoritism and an inappropriate relationship between Telles and a subordinate. Telles had publicly accused German of being a ‘bully’ and running a ‘smear’ campaign against him,” in the great tradition of Nevada elected officials. (Telles remains in office until December 31.)

Continue reading Justice for German; MGM gets some Wall Street love
Posted on by — Leave a comment

Crimes and misdemeanors

Whoever killed reporter Jeff German may not be too terribly smart. Las Vegas Metro released photos of its prime suspect, dressed in “a bright orange reflective long-sleeve shirt, a pair of jeans and a straw hat that covered much of his face. He was also seen carrying a dark gym bag over his shoulder.” The hat covers so much of the face that one can’t even be sure it was a he. If this person was trying to be conspicuous, they succeeded. Metro’s working theory is that “the alleged killer was surveying the area to commit other crimes before German’s homicide Friday.” Wouldn’t it be bitterly ironic if the Las Vegas reporter with the most enemies in town died at the hands of some random, panicked prowler with bad fashion sense?

Is Wynncore still a haven for Steve Wynn minions doing the master’s bidding? That’s the allegation of a new lawsuit, which accuses Wynn Resorts of retaliating against a massage therapist and creating a hostile work environment to this day. Her crime? Being Steve Wynn’s “on-call sexual servant.” According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Brenna Schrader “was subjected to rape and sexual assaults beginning in 2012 until 2018 by either Mr. Wynn or a VIP guest and was required to remain on call for Mr. Wynn’s sexual satisfaction. This left Plaintiff unable to defend herself or escape and, in many instances, exhibiting symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.” Whether you sympathize with that argument or not, there can be no doubt that Steve Wynn’s sultan-like behavior typified the worst aspects of Sin City, aided and abetted by former Las Vegas Review-Journal leadership, which swept the story under the rug way back in 1998.

Continue reading Crimes and misdemeanors