Have you heard about the big election-betting scandal? No, not here, you silly! In Great Britain, where the story’s been gathering more legs than a centipede. It seems that someone at 10 Downing Street shared the date (in advance of its announcement) of the July parliamentary election. And shared it rather indiscreetly. At first one, then two and now four (and counting) Conservative Party officials have been caught with their hands in the insider-tip jar.
What they did was place wagers on whether or not an election would be held in July. Since they already knew the answer, the bets were hardly on the square. One might even call them fraudulent. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, desperate to change the subject, keeps trying to stay ahead of the fast-spreading scandal, to no avail. One of Sunak’s bodyguards has even been arrested for placing inside wagers, as the taint infects the Metropolitan Police Department too. Yes, the Peelers were in on it as well. It’s getting so you can’t trust a bobby.
As we all know, the ship of state is the only ship that leaks from the top down and Sunak has vociferously denied any wrongdoing on his part. But somebody at Number 10 was a Chatty Cathy and there are at least 40 suspects, according to George Osborne, former Conservative chancellor. After attempting to go the Nixonian, stonewall approach, yesterday the Tories opted for a quasi-Nixonian modified, limited hangout, throwing two candidates under the bus. Not that Sunak can afford to lose even a single seat this election cycle. (The Tories are expected to lose, bigly.)
The first domino to fall was MP Craig Williams “who reportedly placed a £100 bet on a July polling day three days before the date was named.” According to the BBC, who ought to know, “If someone uses confidential information to gain an unfair advantage when betting, this could be a criminal offence under section 42 of the Gambling Act.” One of the likeliest suspects of having leaked the date, Chief Data Officer Nick Mason, has taken leave from his post, pending an investigation. And the Beeb hints darkly at more names to come.
One Conservative parliamentary candidate with a genius for understatement calls the whole thing “deeply unhelpful.” Ya think? Sunak needs this like he needs a hole in the head, especially when facing an electorate suffering from 14 years’ worth of accumulated Tory fatigue. But the cream of the jest is that this is the high and mighty Conservative Party we’re talking about.
These folks were so het up about the immorality and indecency of the gambling business that they commissioned the infamous and long-delayed White Paper on reforming the gaming industry in the United Kingdom. Aforesaid document made some commonsense recommendations, such as increasing the number of slot machines per casino (currently capped at an absurdly low threshold), but one had the sense of a governmental mountain laboring to produce a regulatory mouse. And if the Labour Party (which has a smaller gambling scandal of its own) sweeps the Tories from power, the White Paper goes into the waste paper basket and they start all over again. What fun!
So the bluenoses of the Conservative Party have been exposed as a bunch of degenerate gamblers. Serves them right. And if they prevail over these self-inflicted wounds in next month’s plebiscite it will be on the order of a bloody miracle. Bet on it.
Casinos in the beleaguered state of Louisiana hit bottom last month, flat with May 2023. But that wasn’t even a dead-cat bounce, as they were down 5% from 2019. The gross was $203.5 million. Horseshoe Lake Charles is in freefall, down 20% to $7.5 million. We sure hope Caesars Entertainment made a decent ROI on the briefly popular place. Delta Downs inched up a point to $14.5 million, L’Auberge du Lac was flat at $27 million and Golden Nugget hopped 4% to $29.5 million and statewide supremacy. In New Orleans there seems to be a bit of an identity crisis disrupting Harrah’s New Orleans. The soon-to-be-Caesars dipped 8% last month, grossing $20 million. Boomtown New Orleans was next with $11.5 million (+10%), Treasure Chest, in the last month of its old iteration, did $7 million (flat). Fair Grounds racino was up 3.5% to $3.5 million and Amelia Belle rose 11% to $3 million. Outlying Evangeline Downs was up to 6% to $6.5 million, largely rounding a good month for Boyd Gaming in the Pelican State. Speaking of which, given the enormous amount of market overlap between Boyd’s five casinos and Penn Entertainment‘s five, virtually all of them duplicative, we struggle to see a rationale for Boyd buying out Penn down in Dixie.
In Baton Rouge, winnings continued to skyrocket (+76.5%) at Queen Casino, which grossed $8.5 million. Compare that to the pitiful $600K generated by decrepit Belle of Baton Rouge (-46%). L’Auberge Baton Rouge slid 9% to $14.5 million. In the Shreveport/Bossier City area, Margaritaville gained 6.5% to stay on top ($17 million), vainly pursued by Horseshoe Bossier City, which faded 18.5% to $10.5 million. By contrast, Bally’s Shreveport was flat but still managed $9 million. Boomtown Bossier slipped 3.5% to $4.5 million, besting Sam’s Town Shreveport ($4 million, +12%) but not by much. Louisiana Downs continued to defy conventional wisdom, its $4 million an 18% leap, proving that there’s life after Caesars Entertainment.
Jottings: Per the Chinese government’s mandate for revenue diversification in Macao, a big bet is being placed on health tourism at MGM Cotai. The latter is promising “a one-stop services combining wellness and medical offerings including medical hydrotherapy, diet therapy, leisure and health management, medical tourism, and health assessment,” along with a new hotel tower … when not busy in Macao, MGM China overlord Pansy Ho has been bigfooting Thailand. Although MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle has expressed interest in Thailand, it’s not clear whether or not the autonomous Ms. Ho visited Bangkok at his behest … One Covid-19 casualty is making a comeback: the poker room at Hollywood Penn National in Pennsylvania. Parent company Penn Entertainment is also incepting poker at Hollywood Morgantown … The New York State Lege wants casinos and its wants them now. Under a bill passed last session, applications would be due in August. About damn time, we say, although Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) may disagree … Casino chips will soon be a thing of the past at Boomtown Biloxi. It’s introducing electronic table games from Interblock. At least dealers will still be employed …
Not surprisingly, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Station Casinos wasn’t bargaining in good faith with the Culinary Union, in Red Rock Resort talks that stretch back to 2019. In typical Station behavior, the company threatened employees “that selecting the Union could only lead to years of fruitless bargaining without any improvement to working conditions.” Of course Station will appeal this all the way to the highest court in the land, if possible, in another exercise in creative dawdling … The federal government continues to maintain that Steve Wynn was acting as an agent of China when he attempted to get a fugitive extradited, to almost certain death. But an appeals court disagreed and tossed the case … August 6 marks the opening of WarHorse Omaha, a $250 million Nebraska racino. It will debut with 800 slot machines and 20 table games … BetMGM is getting in on the live-dealer-streaming action. It will relay games from Bellagio and MGM Grand via technology provided by Playtech … If gambling is approved in the United Arab Emirates, then Wynn Al-Marjan could generate $1.4 billion in annual gambling revenue. So says CBRE, in a research note that puts quite a burden of expectations on the pioneering property … Australians can no longer use credit cards or cryptocurrency to gamble online. Sounds like a sensible change to us …Offshore gambling provider Bovada is on the run. It’s been chased out of Michigan, now Connecticut is taking aim and New Jersey is expected to be not far behind. It’s a good start … We’re five days from the expiry of the Seneca Nation‘s compact with New York State and everything is up in the air. In its finite wisdom, the Lege adjourned without taking action.