Category: Casino News

Virginia has now had two full months of sports betting and February handle was an impressive $266 million—not quite the explosion that Michigan was but still noteworthy as the second-biggest debut in U.S. history. Reacted PlayUSA analyst Dustin Gouker, “The nation’s major operators have the resources to engage bettors in new markets in ways that were impossible in the early days of legalization, which benefits later-comers like Virginia. Ultimately, that will mean a market that goes through fewer growing pains than some of the earlier adopters.” Compared to other states, Super Bowl handle wasn’t bad: $19.5 million. Revenue was $12 million but books went overboard with promotional credits, ending up with a $3 million loss. The tax haul was a scant $300,593. FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM and BetRivers were all on the field, joined just before the Super Bowl by William Hill. This month brought the entry of WynnBet, which should reap some of the rewards of March Madness … to a degree. Virginia law forbids betting on in-state teams, which could mute interest in the NCAA tournament.

Don’t like the misshapen circles which now represent Caesars Entertainment? Well, get used to them, especially if you’re a New Orleans Saints fan. The casino giant is dickering with the Mercedes-Benz Superdome for naming rights, although Saints and New Orleans Pelicans Senior Vice President of Communications Greg Bensel grumps that “there is not a signed deal with any company at this time. We continue to have conversations with numerous interested companies.” Yes, but how many of them are as heavily invested in the New Orleans area as Caesars? Its Kate Whiteley demurred that “we have nothing to share beyond our current, valuable relationship with the teams.” There’s also the question of throwing tens of millions (at least $60 million) at naming rights at a time when Caesars casinos are snowballing a reputation as outdated, unkempt properties … something that company itself has obliquely acknowledged. (Former CEO Gary Loveman ran the company into the ground and successor Mark Frissora was mainly tasked with rearranging debt, er, deck chairs on this particular Titanic.)

At present, Harrah’s New Orleans is the subject of a $400 million renovation and expansion, which will culminate in its renaming as Caesars New Orleans. One thing that we like about CEO Tom Reeg is that, unlike Loveman, he’s not shy about deploying the prestigious Caesars brand name, previously reserved for really important destinations like … Windsor, Ontario. The Superdome would be the fourth, casino-affiliated stadium in major league sports, joining Gila River Arena (hockey’s Arizona Coyotes), Mohegan Sun Arena (home of the WNBA‘s Connecticut Sun) and Hard Rock Stadium, venue of the Miami Dolphins. The makeshift home of the Las Vegas Aces—Mandalay Bay Event Center—doesn’t count. While it might not be the highest and best use of CZR bucks, we see no reason not to have a Caesars Superdome, do you?

Things simply have to get better on the Las Vegas Strip. Not even a Feb. 15 capacity increase saved some casinos from perdition. Let’s hope February represented a bottoming-out of gaming revenues, as tourists starting flocking back this month. Strip gaming win was down a precipitous 41.5% to $348.5 million, led by slot winnings that were 34% down (to $189 million) on 27% less coin-in. Baccarat continues to be a black hole into which casinos plunged 58% on 58.5% less wagering. Players dropped 36% less on the green felt at non-baccarat table games but revenues suffered 43%, as punters bet less and won more. The Strip’s woes can be explained by a 54% falloff in visitation. 1.6 million arriving and departed airline passengers represented a 58% decline, including a measly 8,033 international travelers. Conversely, auto traffic was actually up at the California border by 1.5%. Hotel occupancy was a woeful 42%, depressing revenue per available room by 65% and room rates 26.5% (to $104/night). With no measurable convention business, midweek occupancy was 32% compared to 63% on weekends.

Las Vegas locals casinos were the bright spot, flat at $186 million, quite an accomplishment in a depleted Silver State economy. (Fortunately, employment numbers have been trending positively.) Tighter slots meant only 1% less win despite 6% lower coin-in. Perhaps the infusion of Circa eased Downtown‘s pain. It was only off 7% ($51.5 million), while North Las Vegas slipped 12% ($19 million), the Boulder Strip dipped 2% ($64 million) and Laughlin tumbled 31% ($33 million). Miscellaneous Clark County casinos were up 3.5% ($103 million) and Mesquite climbed 5% ($13 million). Upstate, Reno slid 14% to $50 million but Lake Tahoe leapt 16% to $20.5 million. Utahns shunned Wendover, down 9.5% to $17.5 million.

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas owner Blackstone Group threw a lifeline to troubled Crown Resorts, in the form of a $6.2 billion buyout offer. The rope comes with a substantial string attached—Australian regulators must preserve the (sleazy) Crown casino licenses. Without them, Crown isn’t worth that much, it seems. Heck, it’s not worth that much now: Blackstone’s offer was for $9.15/share, which is 20% higher from the pittance where Crown is trading. The company has already lost its Sydney license, and its ones in Melbourne and Perth are under investigation. Blackstone is quite the high roller at the moment, having just plunked down $6 billion for Extended Stay America (in tandem with Starwood Capital Group). In the meantime, Blackstone may not find it so easy to just demand three Australian casino licenses, given the depths of the problems at Crown, which has been found to have facilitated money laundering, among other sins.

Casino revenue headed 32% south in Atlantic City last month, to $148 million. Those were augmented with $46 million in sports-betting dollars and $94 million from Internet gambling (+80%), so that probably counts as a silver lining to a dark cloud. This Friday’s increase of capacity limits from 35% to 50% is expected to boost casino revenues. February slot winnings were -31.5% and table win -34%. Borgata had a terrible month at the slots, -45%, while its table-game winnings were 36% downward. Quarter-to-date, Borgata is tracking over twice as badly as JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff projected. The Caesars Entertainment threesome fared even worse, down 40%, pretty evenly divided between slots and tables. Harrah’s Resort performed most weakly, falling 43% to $15 million, while Caesars Atlantic City was -37% to $13 million and Tropicana Atlantic City tumbled 38.5% to a Caesars-best $16 million.