Gambling continues to prosper in Missouri, where August receipts ($161 million) were 5.5% above last year’s. Visitation was actually down 5% but per-player spending rose 11%, inflation be damned. Ameristar St. Charles was out front with $26.5 million, leaping 9%. River City was next at $21 million, up 8%, while Penn Entertainment‘s nearby sister property Hollywood St. Louis jumped 10% to $19 million. Freshly rebranded Horseshoe St. Louis showed signs of a turnaround, up 6% to $14 million. Over in Kansas City, there’s a continued tailwind behind reinvented Bally’s Kansas City, up 9% to $10 million, even if it was in fourth place. Market leaders were Ameristar Kansas City ($16.5 million, +1%), Harrah’s North Kansas City ($15 million, +14%) and Argosy Riverside ($15 million, flat). Outstate, Century Casinos had adverse months in Caruthersville ($3.5 million, -9%) and Cape Girardeau ($5.5 million, -7%), while Isle of Capri Boonville climbed 5% to $7.5 million.
In a slow month (August), New York State sports books grossed $99.5 million. We don’t know how much went back out in promos after the state took its 51% cut, leaving operators with $49 million. Predictably, FanDuel was out front with $47 million, whereupon came DraftKings‘ $26 million and Caesars Sportsbook‘s $13 million. Despite its dominance, FanDuel lost market share to DraftKings, good news that CEO Jason Robins sure could use.
Jottings: While the House of Windsor rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic, new British Prime Minister Liz Truss may take a go-slow approach to gaming-industry reform, which would displease the brick-and-mortar component (which was looking forward to the relaxation of certain curbs, such as on slot machines) but not its online constituency. Boding less well for gaming is the fact that the reform portfolio passes into the hands of Michelle Donelan, an industry detractor … Pagcor is dragging its heels on divesting of its Philippines casinos, begging for additional “time to study” the move. The agency also regulates the entire casino industry in the archipelago, a conflict of interest with which it has been wholly comfortable … The Los Angeles Times editorial board has come out against both Proposition 26 and Proposition 27, further contributing to the seemingly inevitable doom of sports betting in California … Derek Stevens continues to add casinos to the Circa Sports umbrella, seemingly content to be a medium-size player. However, one analyst cautions that Circa’s technology “simply isn’t competitive with the top or even middle tiers of apps. [That’s] a major issue.” … Slow news day today. Sorry about that.
Quote of the Day: “We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at the stars.”—playwright Oscar Wilde.
I didn’t know Oscar Wilde was ever in New Jersey before.
I have no idea why the California Native American tribes are not touting the addition of craps and roulette in their Prop 26 ads, every tv commercial they run is about how Prop 27 is not going to solve homelessness… I think the tribes would consider a loss for Prop 27 as a win no matter what, even if they don’t win either, to the tribes this is all about the monopoly they enjoy, and want to keep intact. I would like to make an occasional sports bet, I am not a stupid person, I am not a party to the ongoing disputes in the gambling world. For these reasons I lean towards Prop 27, but instead of marketing this towards folks like me, Prop 27 chooses to make this about homelessness, which is unsolvable…
Credit Albert Pujols and the STL Cardinals for signs of life at the Lumere/Horseshoe. Absolutely nothing has changed since the rebranding. Food service is still limited to a snack bar for burgers and a Mortons. After the World Series it will be a dead zone.