Dream comes true; Recovery stays strong; DraftKings’ clock cleaned

If they can scrape together $500 million (which shouldn’t be a problem in this investment climate), developers David Daneshforooz and Bill Shopoff have the Clark County Commission‘s blessing to move forward with the Dream casino-hotel. Despite a raft of security concerns that the Las Vegas Review-Journal summarized as “potential illegal drone flying, laser lights, shooting attacks and even bombs hidden in garbage trucks,” commissioners approved it 6-1. The project will have 527 hotel rooms but at present seems to lack a target audience, with Shopoff rather wishfully stating Dream “will find our following” among Las Vegas tourists put off by multi-thousand-room resorts. Dream will be good news for the Pinball Hall of Fame, which will be its next-door neighbor and might be close enough to Allegiant Stadium to give Raider Nation a place to crash.

Shopoff and Daneshforooz will spend an extra $10 million to allay the worries of the TSA and a coalition of major airlines, none of whom is clearly on board with the new, improved Dream. The proposed security wall with McCarran International Airport will be reinforced and the hotel tower itself will be moved further away from the airport and closer to Las Vegas Boulevard. A security checkpoint and other deterrents will be added. There won’t be any guest-room balconies anymore, the pool will be ringed with a high fence and the parking garage will be fully enclosed. Oh, and if you break a window, security will automatically be alerted. It may be Fort Dream, but it’s also several reassuring steps in the right direction.

Despite some incremental decreases from August, gaming’s recovery continued to wax powerfully in September. Maryland casinos grossed $165.5 million, a 16% leap over 2019. “Results for the month indicate sustained demand strength, and notably, no impact from the delta variant,” reported JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. As expected, MGM National Harbor was the leader with $69.5 million, up an impressive 20.5%. It controlled 42% of market share compared to Maryland Live‘s 34%. The latter won $56.5 million, up 18.5%, but Horseshoe Baltimore appears to have peaked. It declined 5.5% to $17.5 million. (Ownership hopes a sports book and brew pub will help turn things around.) Hollywood Perryville leapt 25% to $7.5 million while Ocean Downs jumped 21% to $9 million. Even Rocky Gap Resort was up by double digits, plus 12% to $5.5 million. West Virginia was comparatively lackluster, slipping 7% from 2019, led by tables (-15%) followed by slots (-5%). Hollywood Charles Town Races saw table win plunge 24% while slots slumped 7%.

Ohio was even more impressive than Maryland, soaring 19.5% for a $185.5 million haul. MGM Northfield Park continued to defy conventional industry wisdom that says table games are a must-have, leading the state with $23 million (+18%). The remainder of the top five finishers were conventional casinos, such as suddenly overachieving Jack Cleveland ($21 million, +23.5%), followed by Hollywood Columbus and Hard Rock Cincinnati, dead even at $19.5 million each, a 7% uptick for Columbus but a 23% return from Hades for Hard Rock. Hollywood Toledo rounded out the top five with $18 million, up 9%. Next to MGM, best of the racinos was Scioto Downs, racing 20% ahead of the pack to $18 million. Also in the running were Miami Valley Gaming ($17.5 million, +26.5%) and Jack Thistledown ($15.5 million, +33%). Further back were Hollywood Mahoning Valley ($13 million, +23%), Hollywood Dayton ($12 million, +27%) and Belterra Park, as ever bringing up the rear with $8 million, an 11.5% gain.

In Illinois casinos sagged 5% to $106 million but actually did better than in August in terms of win per day, so we’ll call it a victory. The state could use a few. Even a mask mandate didn’t seem to materially dampen the overall results. Broken down by casino, the picture wasn’t so rosy. Only two casinos were revenue-positive from 2019. Rivers Casino Des Plaines boomed 16% to $43 million and Grand Victoria gained 4.5% to $13 million. For everybody else it was a tale of misfortune and woe. Hollywood Aurora held its ground relatively well, down 6% to $8.5 million but the news gets worse from there. Empress Joliet plunged 21.5% to $7.5 million and Harrah’s Joliet was off 15.5% to $12 million. Par-A-Dice fell 20.5% to $5 million, Bally’s Quad Cities (which just went to round-the-clock operations) plummeted 31.5% to $4 million, Harrah’s Metropolis slid 19% to $5 million, DraftKings Casino Queen dove 31.5% to $4 million and Argosy Belle rounded out the state with $3 million, -19.5%.

So as not to end on a downbeat note, let’s take a look at a few of the marquee properties in Iowa. Revenue statewide was up 16% to $140 million. Ameristar Council Bluffs hopped 17% to $14.5 million but Prairie Meadows racino led the state with $18 million, up 7.5% from 2019. Horseshoe Casino also did very well, up 13% to $16.5 million. Harrah’s Council Bluffs, however, posted an aberrant 7% decline to $6 million. Caesars Entertainment did better at Isle Waterloo, leaping 21% to $8 million and at Isle Bettendorf ($6 million, +17%). Boyd Gaming also posted gains, with Diamond Jo Worth reporting $8.5 million (+18%) and Diamond Jo Dubuque $6.5 million (+7%).

But the big headline out of Iowa was a record month of sports betting. Football fever drove $210.5 million in handle, prompting us to say: Go Hawkeyes! (We’re displaced Iowans.) Explained PlayUSA analyst Russ Mitchell, “By any measure, September was a remarkable month. And the future looks just as bright as the Hawkeyes remain among the nation’s best, teams of regional interest litter baseball’s postseason, and bettors become increasingly comfortable with online betting.” Punters were certainly lifted from their August doldrums and well outstripped the $161.5 million they wagered last March. Revenue was considerably less impressive–just $6 million, thanks to huge promotional outlays (a subject of much brow-furrowing at Global Gaming Expo). Ameristar was tops for retail handle with $6 million, while Caesars Sportsbook won the month with $66.5 million in online handle … or would have won the month had luck been with the Roman Empire. Net revenues were a laughably puny $749. Even worse was DraftKings, which managed to convert $65 million in handle into a $2 million loss. Maybe FanDuel CEO Amy Howe is right that we’re in an unsustainable business climate—at least in Iowa.

On a very different note (or is it?), economic diversification of a sort is being proposed for Atlantic City. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority is belatedly moving forward with a long-mooted (three years) ShopRite, to be built on land leased for $1 a year (“less than a bag of potato chips” observes our A.C. correspondent acidly). It’s somewhat of a charitable endeavor, as it’s projected to lose $100K a year. There will also be a heavy police presence both within the store and in the parking lot. Oh, and it’s not being built on a public bus route, so good luck getting there. The problems don’t end with transit. Not only is the project already $1 million over budget but it’s being sited on top of a sewer line, so that will have to be moved. (We’re sure there’s a metaphor in that somewhere.) Since the CRDA will own the physical structure, in addition to the land lease, it says it’s hunky-dory if ShopRite bails, somebody else will be found. Uh, if you say so.

San Manuel Band of Mission Indians CEO Laurens Vosloo was on hand to present Three Square Food Bank with $100,000, money that indicates the San Manuel are serious about being part of the Las Vegas community. As an official statement read, the tribe is planning to “introduce San Manuel’s philanthropic values to Las Vegas.” Said values will be appreciated. “Food insecurity remains above pre-pandemic levels—nearly 364,000 Southern Nevadans, or one in six, don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” said Three Square President Brian Burton. “This incredible support from the San Manuel … is life-changing for our many neighbors in need.” Incidentally, the San Manuel scored a coup by plucking veteran PR pro Celena Haas away from Caesars Entertainment and installing her as their corporate voice, enhancing their (not inconsiderable) credibility.

Jottings: The Neon Museum has gone bilingual, offering tours in Spanish. It’s only logical given the prevalence of Español in Las Vegas as well as the preponderance of tourism from Latin America. The Neon Boneyard also gained a global asset: The big round marquee that used to herald the Planet Hollywood restaurant in the Forum Shops. The six-ton sign is 25 feet in diameter … Catawba Two Kings Casino doesn’t look like much but business seems to be gangbusters. It’s adding 500 slot machines, doubling its inventory … Not vaccinated? Then forget about getting a job in the hospitality industry. States with high vaccination rates are seeing job growth in hospitality triple that of states still in the Dark Ages … Durango Station is now just “Durango.” That was one of the disclosures made when the two-tower hotel-casino was approved by the Clark County Commission. It may have been 21 years in the making but Durango sounds like it will be worth the wait … Corporate tax cuts in Brazil would come out of the hide of a putative casino industry, proponents say. They project $9.5 billion a year in gaming taxes, money that still might not palliate the churchy set that props up President Jair Bolsonaro. We’re still downbeat on the prospects for legalized gambling in the land of the samba.