Category: Casino News

In hopes of having online sports betting operational in time for the Super Bowl, Empire State gaming regulators announced their picks for the state’s nine OSB license applications late yesterday. Winners were BetMGM (just as Bill Hornbuckle predicted), DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook, Bally’s, Resorts World, PointsBet, WynnBet and Rush Street Interactive. Each will have to partner with a brick-and-mortar casino and pay 51% of gross gaming revenue in taxes, plus $25 million upfront, making the real winner New York State. Forbes calculates it will see a $493 million windfall by 2025. Losers were led by Barstool Sports, which missed the brass ring, a bitter pill for Penn National Gaming to swallow. Could Barstool’s brash image have been a problem? Others out in the cold are bet365 (which rashly tweeted “I will own New York”), theScore, Fanatics and FoxBet.

At a time when the north Las Vegas Strip is finally heating up, MGM Resorts International has chosen this moment to put The Mirage on the market. Although it’s 32 years old (224 in dog years), The Mirage should fetch an attractive price—albeit short of the 14X cash flow that Jim Murren used to shop it around at, back in the Great Recession. Best case scenario, MGM disposes of a geographically isolated asset at a handsome markup (look what happened with The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas). It’s a seller’s market and MGM chose its moment wisely. The only drawback for a potential buyer is that only the operational half of The Mirage is for sale, not the underlying real estate. You’d have to settle for being a Vici Properties tenant.

On the upside, you get a lot of real estate to play with: 77 acres, much of it underdeveloped, according to CEO Bill Hornbuckle. He was in altruistic mood, saying “I’m excited for somebody to come in and make it their marquee property.” As for his own company, “we have enough of Las Vegas … We think there is an opportune time, and we think this might be it to sell an asset in Las Vegas. So it, for us, became the obvious one.” No potential buyer or buyers were tipped, although Hornbuckle’s remarks implied he’s looking for someone without a Strip presence. We’re loath to prognosticate. It would be sentimentally pleasing to see Boyd Gaming back on the Strip but …

Or is it three? In the end, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) drew one heavyweight contender for the Windy City casino and a pair of middleweights. Two of the applicants made parlay bids, so the city could crow that it had “five” bidders for the high-tax concession. But despite Lightfoot’s stated aspiration of a Vegas-quality casino, none of the finalists has a Las Vegas return address. Obviously experiencing remorse for having sold its majority stake in Rivers Casino Des Plaines, politically connected Rush Street Gaming is back with two proposals: Rivers Chicago at McCormick and Rivers 78 Gaming. Also dibbing two sites was Bally’s Corp., while the lone heavyweight, Hard Rock International, would manage HR Chicago. None of the no-name bidders turned in paperwork, when it once looked as though they would be all Lightfoot had left.

The billion-dollar resort has yet to be sited, which will be an important factor in the selection processs. The winner also gets slot routes at the city’s two major airports. The casino will need to be a success right out of the chute, given its $160 million-$200 million annual tax liability. Two of the contenders, Rush Street and Bally, are eyeing McCormick Place, which would provide synergy with conventions and expos. Rush Street’s fallback position is a former railroad yard (blah!) in south Chicago, while Bally’s also covets the former Chicago Tribune printing plant. “It would become our flagship.” Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim said of Chi-town casino. On the other side of the coin is non-bidder Bill Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts International, who maintains, “It’s a struggle how it all adds up.”

Stimulus cash may be petering out somewhat and international tourism has yet to open the floodgates, so September found Nevada on something of a cusp between the supercharged recovery of the summer and the hoped-for travel rebound in 4Q21. Still, Las Vegas Strip revenues were up 10% to $640.5 million and locals-driven receipts were 13% above 2019 levels. Statewide, gambling win tallied 9% higher than two years ago, hitting the wonted $1.1 billion level. As Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli puts it, “the accounting calendar was clean in September of 2021,” meaning there was no held-over slot revenue from August. With numbers like these it’s little wonder that gaming executives are waxing optimistic for the long haul. Strip slot players lost $355 million, 16% more on 16% higher coin-in and flat hold. Baccarat wagering was down only 5% but luck wasn’t with the house, as win fell 24% despite higher-than-normal hold. Non-baccarat table games fared much better, up 20% on 12% more wagering. If it weren’t for baccarat, Strip revenues would have been 18% above 2019’s apogee.

September gaming revenues in Louisiana were expected to be diminished by Hurricane Ida and they certainly were, down 23% on a same-store basis. New Orleans had the worst time of it (-48%), Baton Rouge the easiest (-5%). All comparisons are to 2019 numbers. In the Crescent City, Harrah’s New Orleans had a terrible month, grossing only $8 million (-66%) and almost as low as second-place Boomtown New Orleans (just under $8 million, -22%). Fair Grounds racino barely registered with $2 million (-47%), falling behind Amelia Belle ($3 million, -25.5%), while Boyd Gaming‘s other area property, Treasure Chest, grossed $6 million, down 39%. Lake Charles casinos didn’t suffer so spectacularly but they weren’t turning cartwheels either. L’Auberge du Lac took top honors for the month, off only—and amazingly—5% with a gross of $26.5 million, comfortably ahead of Golden Nugget‘s $22.5 million (-23.5%). Dover Downs brought in $12 million, a 21% decline.