Gambling revenue from Nevada locals players dipped 2% last month. Now, before anyone shrieks “Recession!” or looks for the sky to fall, be it noted that we’re still streets ahead of 2019, which was the go-go ‘new normal.’ If, as Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli predicts, Las Vegas Strip revenues drop over the summer, that will be cause for a reappraisal. For now it’s blue skies for the Strip, which was up 5% from April of last year. Strip casinos grossed $625 million, driven in part by 8% greater slot win (on a commensurately larger amount of coin-in) and 4% more table game revenue, despite slightly lower wagering. Baccarat cleaned out the house again, with win falling 11% in spite of 12% more diñero wagered. Downtown enjoyed an even better April up 10.5% to $74.5 million, so bully for Glitter Gulch. With a newly revamped Plaza Hotel joining newish Circa and the renovated Fremont Hotel, reinvesting in Downtown continues to pay dividends for owners.
The only locals jurisdiction that was really off was miscellaneous Clark County, down 6% to $131 million. North Las Vegas was flat at $24.5 million and the Boulder Strip jumped 6% to $76.5 million. Laughlin was up 2% to $47 million and Mesquite was flat at $16.5 million. Reliable economic barometer Wendover was down 3% to $22.5 million. Hmmm. Better keep an eye on that. Reno gained a percentage point to $63 million, Sparks leapt 11% to $15 million but Lake Tahoe plunged 26% to $13.5 million. That’s not a market for the faint of heart, as far as operators are concerned.
Get used to saying “the Catholic archdiocese of Las Vegas.” That’s Sin City’s newest honorific, a signal honor for a city whose ratio of residents to eateries is 666:1. Reno was elevated to a Suffragan Diocese, by the way. Pope Francis—the first real pope since John XXIII—named George Leo Thomas archbishop of Las Vegas, a move that is due if not overdue. If mother church is looking for sinners to convert, where better than the Strip? Archbishop Thomas will minister to some 620,000 catholics, including the Las Vegas Valley‘s significant but largely unsung Filipino-American community. The archbishop will mind his flock from Guardian Angel Cathedral, right along the Strip. And to think that Steve Wynn wanted to tear it down.
Speaking of preaching, American Gaming Association prexy Bill Miller was in Singapore this week for Global Gaming Expo Asia. He trotted out his sermon on the dangers of illegal gambling, seeking international cooperation toward stamping out this scourge of casino executives. Miller told conventioneers that “issues that hurt one of us, hurt all of us and the issues that help one of us, help all of us as well.” Miller argued that unregulated gambling sites are a multilateral threat and that which saps one country, saps all. But is it “our industry’s greatest threat”? Some would contend that Big Gaming has been its own worst enemy, especially in recent overreaches. If the AGA’s figure of $511 billion spent on unregulated gambling is correct, that’s 511,000,000,000 reasons Miller’s constituents would like to see the hammer dropped.
Some companies give a damn about diversity in their C-suites. One such is Scientific Games. Kudos to it for tapping Christine Wechsler as its new lead lobbyist. She comes to Scientific by way of both private practice and the Pennsylvania governor’s office. It sounds like the lottery maker has selected well.
I don’t understand what you mean by “Pope Francis—the first real pope since John XXIII”. As far as I know, Paul VI, John Paul parts I and II, and Benedict were all duly elected by the College of Cardinals, for better or worse (definitely worse in the case of Benedict).