Las Vegas Advisor – Page 22 – Las Vegas Advisor

Posted on April 21, 2023 by David Mckee — 6 Comments

Mob merriment; Golden Nugget woes

What the hell were you thinking, Bally’s Corp.? The company’s struggling Atlantic City casino recently hosted a meet-and-greet featuring mobster Gianni Russo. Our Boardwalk correspondent, who was there, says Russo is “a lifelong member of the Mafia, who was in The Godfather. [He played Talia Shire‘s doomed husband.] It was both a strange and very interesting presentation. He told his story along with screens showing many photos of people he interacted with, with film clips (my favorite was Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra singing a song together), newspaper headlines, and also sang a few songs! The promotions said there would be gifts; they had five violin-shaped liquor bottles, and each invited guest received a signed copy of his book . No other gifts. They had an open bar and some desserts.”

Posted on April 20, 2023September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — Leave a comment

Sands hailed; A’s to Vegas; Coney casino razzed; Mega-Jottings

First-quarter numbers for Las Vegas Sands were “nicely ahead” per J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, who said Sands’ Macao casinos were firing on all cylinders (mass-market play, VIP action, slots, retail and lodging). He expected Macanese cash flow of $304 million and got $385 million, far more than the rest of Wall Street was awaiting. “There is still ample room for further recovery,” Greff wrote, noting that Sands had achieved the near-unthinkable with only 69% of hotel rooms (due to a labor crisis), 25% of normal ferry capacity, low passenger loads—39% of capacity—at Macao’s dinky airport, and “less robust visitation” from Hong Kong (74% of peak performance) and Guangdong Province (55%). Retail sales of $109 million were particularly impressive, as they hit 95% of pre-Covid altitude. Beyond that, Chinese mainland visitation is very low: 27%. Still, he expects “a rising tide to lift all Macau boats.” As for Sands itself, its labor crunch is expected to ease by summer, so neither Greff nor management is worried.

Posted on April 7, 2023September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 2 Comments

Storm in Atlantic City; Big trouble for sports betting

All was not sunny at Borgata last weekend. Our Atlantic City correspondent writes, “When we were driving back to Borgata, heavy rain started. As we pulled into MGM valet intake the wind was getting stronger. The luggage carts were starting to roll around, so the valet people took quick action and knocked the luggage carts over into the nearby grassy area to keep them from hitting parked cars. The wind got extremely strong, and started to make the parked cars rock back and forth, including ours, and we even felt some ‘lift.’

Posted on March 15, 2023September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 1 Comment

Massachusetts soars; The Strip meets The Street

Gambling win in Massachusetts shot up 14.5% in February, reaching $98 million. Market leader, of course, was Encore Boston Harbor with $63 million (+14.5%). MGM Springfield leapt 17% to $23 million and Plainridge Park climbed 10% to $12 million. Wynn Resorts, Penn Entertainment and MGM Resorts International were among the companies represented at the J.P. Morgan Gaming & Lodging Forum and you can read our takes on most of them at CDC Gaming Reports. As for the others …

Posted on March 1, 2023September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 1 Comment

Atlantic City in winter; Ohio rebounds; Lightfoot booted

Given a slow news day, let’s finally catch up with our East Coast bureau and see what’s been happening on the Boardwalk. First off, demerits to Ocean Casino Resort for contributing in its own small way to climate change by having three open-air, gas-fired flame pits blasting forth during a light snowfall. Nearby, at the Showboat, it appears that Bart Blatstein needs to put a bit of stick about, as construction of his (much-needed) water park presently looks unlikely to finish by Memorial Day, when you expect him to want to be good and ready.

Posted on February 7, 2023 by David Mckee — Leave a comment

Maryland, Illinois leap; Mega-Jottings

So where’s that recession? January revenues from Maryland casinos are in and the $167 million gross is a 9% improvement on 2022. None of the six gambling halls were revenue-negative. MGM National Harbor led the pack with $72 million, an 8% gain, while Maryland Live was up 6.5% to $58 million. Horseshoe Baltimore jumped 9% to $17.5 million and Ocean Downs catapulted 41% to $7 million. Hollywood Perryville also grossed $7 million, up 6.5% and Rocky Gap Resort grew 17% to $5 million, to round out an impressive month.

Posted on January 31, 2023 by David Mckee — 3 Comments

Nevada closes 2022 roaring; Lombardo’s big blunder

Gambling grosses for last month have been tallied and it’s an understatement to say they’re boffo. Nevada casinos raked in $1.3 billion, a 14% leap over 2021. You can see why we think that—as it pertains to gaming—a recession is “the most overhyped narrative of the last year.” It simply refuses to manifest itself. That’s especially true of the Las Vegas Strip, which vaulted 25% to $814 million. Downtown took it on the kisser, down 7% to $69 million. Hopefully, new product at the Fremont Hotel can help reverse that before it becomes a trend. The Boulder Strip also had a rough month, slipping 8% to $64 million.

However, long-anemic North Las Vegas was up 5% to $25 million and miscellaneous Clark County was flat at $137 million. Laughlin hopped 8% to $32 million, while Utah-facing Mesquite and Wendover were bonny, jumping 11.5% and 20%, respectively ($16 million and $22 million). Snowbirds avoided Lake Tahoe, which tumbled 16% to $15.5 million whilst Reno was up 6% to $59 million. A lot of mixed signals, yes, but more pluses than minuses.

Posted on January 30, 2023 by David Mckee — 1 Comment

Case Bets

What do you do when there’s no really big story of the day? Bust out an order of Case Bets, what else. Let the fun begin …

Rivers Portsmouth has already had a come-to-Jesus moment after its pro-smoking stance revolted patrons. (One activist likened the existence of a smoking section in the casino to a “peeing section” in a public pool.) Well sorta. Rush Street Gaming‘s rather lame excuse was to erect signage designating where smoking can and cannot be practiced … as though the smoke itself will obey the signs. And guests continue to complain. The pervasive smoke has contributed heavily to Rivers’ dismal 3.2 rating on Google. “I won’t be back because my post-COVID asthma and congenital heart condition cannot be around smoking,” grumbled one customer.

Posted on January 5, 2023September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 1 Comment

NFL bettors sacked; Strip resort folds; Caesars plan panned

Life at S&G HQ is seriously clouded by the critical illness of a beloved fur baby. Nevertheless, we shall endeavor to gather our thoughts, starting with the consequences for bettors of the life-threatening Damar Hamlin injury on Monday Night Football. Those who placed their wagers on the Buffalo Bills/Cincinnati Bengals tilt via WynnBet have had their action refunded swiftly. Not so lucky are Circa punters, as Derek Stevens is hanging onto the money until or unless the NFL reschedules the game within eight days of the Hamlin tragedy. Other slackers include DraftKings, which is keeping bettors in on call waiting, piously claiming its thoughts were with the Hamlin family instead. PointsBet and Caesars Sportsbook also took the ‘thoughts and prayers’ line, diving under the table alongside Circa and DraftKings. Since the game wasn’t replayed by yesterday, BetRivers patrons got their money back, though.

Posted on November 21, 2022September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 7 Comments

Atlantic City slumps; Adele hell

Dateline: O’Hare International Airport, land of crappy wi-fi.

We’re not back at the office yet but there’s so much news it just can’t wait. Let’s start in Atlantic City, where casino revenues slumped 7% to $220.5 million last month. Everybody was revenue-negative with two happy exceptions, Borgata (+1%) and Hard Rock Atlantic City (+4%). The latter’s Joe Lupo definitely has some secret sauce for attracting players. Borgata raked in $62.5 million to Hard Rock’s $39 million. Ocean Casino Resort had an abnormally poor month, down 6% to $28 million. Even so, Ocean still outperformed all of the Caesars Entertainment properties, with Caesars Atlantic City tumbling 17% to $17.5 million and Harrah’s Resort also falling 17% to $20 million. Tropicana Atlantic City slid 18% to $17.5 million. Golden Nugget ($12 million, -16%) and Resorts Atlantic City ($13 million, -11.5%) duked it out for last place but were aced by Bally’s Atlantic City ($11 million, -13.5%), which means we look forward to hearing the Bally’s Corp. braintrust spin that on their next earnings call.

Category: Las Vegas Advisor