On August 14, sports betting legends Billy Baxter, Jack Franzi, Jackie Gaughan, Bob Martin, Roxy Roxborough, Scotty Schettler, Jimmy Vaccaro, Billy Walters, Charles McNeil, and Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal were inducted into the Sports Gambling Hall of Fame at Circa.
Located in an enclave inside one of the world’s two largest sports books, the HoF honors bookmakers and bettors who have notably transformed the sports betting industry.
Continue reading Sports Gambling Hall of Fame Launched at Circa
Just opened in late July, Exxcite: The Show is a late-night burlesque-style revue that features six female dancers and a singer. It’s produced and choreographed by Jennifer Romas, well known in Vegas for her topless show Sexxy, which played for years at the Westgate Cabaret, then for a while as Sexxy After Dark at Larry Flynt’s Hustler Club. This new show is staged in the 300-seat Duomo Theater at the Rio.
Continue reading Exxcite: The Show — Does!
La Popular is a one brand from Grupo Carolo, among Mexico’s most recognized and extensive restaurant groups. The original restaurant is a favorite in Mexico City; the first U.S. venue opened in Roseville, California, in 2022. Since then, two more have opened in California, one in Austin, Texas, and most recently at the Palms.
Spiegelworld is a good name for the Las Vegas-based live-entertainment production company: It’s definitely a world unto itself.
Producers of Absinthe at Caesars Palace, OPM at the Cosmopolitan, and Atomic Saloon Show at Palazzo, Spiegelworld also owns the entire town Nipton, California, 60 miles from Vegas, which it’s in the process of turning into a “circus settlement.” In addition, Spiegelworld operates Superfrico, the “psychedelic Italian” restaurant at Cosmo, and recently-ish opened No Pants at Caesars Palace.
Continue reading No Pants by — Who Else? — SpiegelworldWe arrived on a Friday night right at 6 p.m., thinking we might have to wait in line for 20 to 30 minutes to get into the only downtown buffet, which serves dinner Fri. and Sat. nights only. Au contraire! We didn’t have to wait even 20 seconds. We just walked right up to the cashier, paid, and had plate in hand within a minute.
Continue reading Main Street Station Dinner Buffet — Where Is Everyone?
Gaming industry bears are going to latch onto a 4% drop in Maryland gambling earnings as evidence of an impending recession. Thankfully, J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff puts it in context by pointing out that the $174 million haul is 17% higher than July 2019, itself a high-water mark at the time. The Free State moves closer to a duopoly, with MGM National Harbor (41%) and Maryland Live (36%) capturing more than three-fourths of all business. That left woebegone Horseshoe Baltimore, the casino that Caesars Entertainment forgot, with just $16 million, 13% below last year and 17% down from 2019. MGM, meanwhile, raked in $72 million, a 6.5% slippage, while Maryland Live booked 63%, up 2%.
Continue reading Maryland down, Illinois up; NFL hypocrisy; Bally’s biz
“If you were surprised you haven’t been paying attention.” So wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli of yesterday’s Station Casinos earnings release. He added, “it should come as no surprise that RRR reported results that were softer than our forecasts,” which were in themselves pessimistic. Station execs pointed to tough 2022 comparisons, especially in April, as well as their sports books getting cleaned out by Las Vegas Golden Knights bettors. Almost a million dollars of incremental utility costs also accounted for the miss and the latter factor should be considerably worse next quarter. Summarized Santarelli, “if you paid attention to [Boyd Gaming], you got almost exactly what you would have expected from RRR this evening.”
Continue reading Wall Street: Station soft; DraftKings impresses, Bally’s doesn’t
J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff was pretty blunt about MGM Resorts International‘s mixed bag of 2Q23 numbers. “Carried by Macau,” he headlined his report, adding that the Las Vegas Strip was in line with expectations but regional casinos came up short. Of $3.9 billion in net revenue, $2.1 billion came from Sin City but the biggest noise was heard out of Macao, where revenues shot up from $143 million last year to $741 million this year. The Las Vegas numbers were but a $9.5 million improvement on 2Q22 while regional casinos slipped 3.5% to $926 million. Inside the Vegas result were some interesting stats: MGM appears to making its nut off hotel occupancies (96%), where revenues nudged 2% higher while casino haul was 4% down. Slot coin-in rose 13%, barely outpacing house win that was up 12%. Table wagering was up 4% but win only 2% higher.
Continue reading Bears and bulls at MGM; Uwazurike spells “idiot”
While not as bad as Deutsche Bank expected (-8%), June revenues on the Las Vegas Strip of $727 million were a disappointment, down 1%. And May’s brief flurry of hope from Las Vegas locals players faded fast as their losses tumbled 10% to $229 million.The problem on the Strip can be summed up in one word: baccarat. The house got clobbered as winnings plunged 29% on 3% larger wagering. By contrast, all other table games were up 9% despite 14% thinner betting. Slot play was up 12.5%, translating to 4% more win for the house.
Continue reading Strip flattens, locals fade; Analysts mixed on Boyd
Fontainebleau owner Jeffrey Soffer and top exec Brett Mufson are certain to be approved after their audition for the Nevada Gaming Control Board. And why not? Aside from an ancient tax issue involving the Town Square mall, there’s nothing untoward about Soffer’s application. (Trivia question: Upon what casino’s gravesite was Town Square built?) The only beef we have is the NGCB’s habit of waiting until the last possible minute to approve such applications. If something truly noisome turned up it would be too late to address it properly. The Control Board essentially takes itself hostage to the unstoppable momentum generated by large casino projects. As for the total budget for 16-year construction folie de grandeur that is F-blue, nobody’s talking. We have to defer to Citizen Kane‘s stentorian newsreel description of Charles Foster Kane‘s Xanadu: “Cost? NO MAN CAN SAY!” However, we strongly suspect that F-blue will outstrip Resorts World Las Vegas as the costliest megaresort in Las Vegas history, were the tab to be honestly accounted.
Continue reading F-blue, Rio approved; Indiana down again; Biden smoked