Category: Casino News

Las Vegas, you’ve got a problem on your hands. During May, casino revenues across the rest of the United States went up, sometimes dramatically. What did the Las Vegas Strip do? It declined 4%. And Las Vegas locals’ business was flat with 2024. Maybe consumers have gotten fed up with being dinged $26 for a tiny bottle of water. Or maybe—and more likely—the consumer is “one with no visibility into the future and thus preference for smaller/experiential purchases over large outlays/vacations.” That’s the assessment of new J.P. Morgan gaming analyst Daniel Politzer and it’s spot-on. Given that there was an extra weekend day in May this year, gaming overlords are probably thanking their lucky stars things didn’t turn out worse.

As you read this, Rhode Island‘s legislature is on track to pass a smoking “ban” in casinos with so many loopholes as to be totally meaningless. Politicians will undoubtedly congratulate themselves on having taken a stand for public health but that’s just so much bullshit.

Although the name Jimmy Slonina probably won’t sound familiar, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him when you visited Las Vegas. He’s a veteran of long-running Le Reve at Wynncore and of Vegas Nocturne at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. He’s also had credits in Absinthe, O and Zarkana. Currently, he’s a lead performer in Mystere at Treasure Island. Except for a few nights last week when he was an involuntary guest of Las Vegas’ finest.

PSST! Don’t tell Soo Kim but sugar daddy Gaming & Leisure Properties is making plans for a post-Bally’s Corp. era. Nor are they being secretive about it, spilling the beans to the invaluable Barry Jonas of Truist Securities. It had nothing to report on troubled Bally’s Chicago “though we think the development remains behind schedule. We also believe some of GLPI’s stock underperformance relates to BALY credit concerns,” which are very real. It’s what happens when you budget money you don’t have (and can’t borrow), expecting GLPI CEO Peter Carlino to pick up all the tabs.

Poor Soo Kim. The Bally’s Corp. chairman is finding rough sledding in the Bronx, where his quest for a megaresort is colliding with political reality. Fortunately for him, Kim has gotten the ear of the media, which has been regurgitating uncritically his claim that his project is languishing because of a trail of gold-plated breadcrumbs that lead all the way to the White House. In case you missed it, the fine print on Kim’s $60 million purchase of the former Trump Links in the borough included the codicil that—should a casino be approved on the site—it would be retroactively revalued at $175 million. (Bet you wish you could get that sort of sweetheart deal when you sell your house.)