… but don’t you worry. Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg has assured us that everything is fine in Las Vegas, if not better than ever. After all, it’s ‘only’ suffered one full year of revenue decline. January’s numbers lapped the beginning of The Great Downturn. This period of languishing happens to coincide precisely with the United States government’s declaration of verbal war on Sin City’s two biggest international feeder markets: Canada and Mexico. Funny that. Let’s look at the latest numbers.
Look out below, because here comes the Las Vegas Strip, plunging 11% to $747.5 million. Amidst this craptasm, slot revenue was actually up 2.5% on 7% more coin-in. But non-baccarat table games were down 4% despite 4.5% higher wagering. And baccarat was a donnybrook, with the house seeing 13.5% bigger play—but 44.5% less win. Oops. There goes that first quarter.
The only locals-first jurisdiction to see an improvement was North Las Vegas, up 5% to $25 million. Downtown absorbed a 5% blow at $79.5 million and the Boulder Strip slumped 7% to $81 million. Even miscellaneous Clark County, which includes powerhouse Durango Resort, was down 3% to $165.5 million. Laughlin dipped 3% to $41 million but Utah-facing Mesquite had a bonny month, jumping 14% to $20 million. The other Mormon magnet, Wendover, did even better, leaping 15% to $26 million. California-facing markets weren’t hurting much up north. Reno gained 3% to $69 million and Sparks hopped 10.5% to $15 million. Even unreliable Lake Tahoe had a good month, up 10% to $24.5 million. So think twice before you badmouth Californians!
Snow Job or Blow Job? You have to hand it to senior Nevada Gaming Control Board member George Assad. Nobody can publicly fellate a casino executive like old George. He got out his kneepads for senior management of Genting Group, undoubtedly awed by so much Greatness Unbending. As we obliquely ridiculed it on KNPR‘s State of Nevada this week, the hearing was a farce. Here is a company (Genting), whose Las Vegas trophy property was caught red-handed laundering money on behalf of known criminals. Not only was it unrepentant, it had to pay a $10.5 million fine, which it justified as the cost of remaining competitive. You would think Genting execs would face a chilly reception in Nevada. You would think wrong.
Some of Assad’s remarks, as taken down by Buck Wargo of CDC Gaming, are so jaw-droppingly servile that they deserve to be reproduced unabridged. “You are on the right path and the numbers will be there. You just need to be patient. You have the right team in place. You’re on your way to success. I have no doubt.” Are you a regulator or a cheerleader, George? (We all know the answer to that.)
Claiming to have been “completely shocked” (uh huh) by the money-laundering caper, Genting CEO Kong Han Tan plead that they were simply “too far away” in little old Malaysia to keep tabs on the Las Vegas Strip. So much for today’s global village, where Singapore is just a Zoom call distant. Tan’s statements were an all-but-explicit admission that Genting turned felonious Scott Sibella loose on the Strip and hey, whatever happened, happened. Using Jim Murren (a former Sibella overlord) as the new broom wasn’t a completely clean sweep either, as Murren is alleged to have turned a blind eye to Sibellian money laundering when he MGM Resorts International‘s viceroy.
As for Resorts World Las Vegas‘ miniscule (read: near-nonexistent) return on investment, Tan chalked that up to mere “growing pains” and said, “We were the new kids in town, didn’t know people and things didn’t pan out well.” Yeah, that’s probably what London Clubs said when the new Aladdin went spectacularly south. Is ignorance a defense for ineptitude? Only at the Control Board, it seems. At least the NGCB and Nevada Gaming Commission got something right by licensing former Silver State governor Brian Sandoval and ex-regulator A.G. Burnett to serve on the Resorts World LV board. They’re used to cleaning up messes.
Call Him Crazy. Has Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim lost his fucking mind? Evidently so. The overextended gambling mogul says he will “definitely” bid on a megaresort in Japan, given the opportunity. Let’s recap, shall we? The only Nipponese megaresort in train, MGM Osaka, is going to cost a whopping $30 billion. Where does Soo expect to find that kind of scratch? Under his sofa cushions? Better start digging, Soo baby.
Never mind that Bally’s Bronx is going to cost $4 billion and is not yet fully funded. To finish Bally’s Chicago, Kim had to hit up Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. when no bank would lend him the $1.7 billion he needed. And $2 billion (if lucky) Bally’s Las Vegas? That’s gone down the nearest memory hole. Kim got Australia‘s Star Entertainment only because it was insolvent and dirt cheap. And, having some mad money on his hands, Kim went haring off in pursuit of Sam’s Town Shreveport. Hey Soo, don’t you already have a casino in Shreveport? Never mind. Making sense is not Job One at Bally’s, which is doubling down on a tertiary U.S. market, in imitable Bally’s style.
Displaying a breathtaking grasp of the obvious, Kim told Japanese media, “Japan has a large population and is an extremely attractive market.” No shit, Soo. And you have a large delusion of grandeur and an extremely unattractive balance sheet. Planning to turn a profit at Bally’s anytime soon? Don’t bother asking: Bally’s no longer is on speaking terms with Wall Street, doing all its talking through press releases.
Earnings Season At A Glance: If you’re averaging $1 billion a quarter in revenue, you’re entitled to be sanguine, we guess. Vici Properties COO John Payne had a different spin on the year-long downturn in Las Vegas, calling it a “normalization,” presumably after the heated post-Covid years. Still, those Caesars Entertainment master leases are hanging fire and that was BEFORE Tom Reeg started playing footsie with Tilman Fertitta about lumbering the Roman Empire with even more debt … Light & Wonder took its fourth-quarter lumps by settling with Aristocrat Leisure over the Dragon Train fiasco. But the slot maker is upbeat about the future—provided it doesn’t screw the pooch again … Speaking of Bally’s Corp. (if we must), its landlord at least is getting rich off it. We’re glad somebody is. And although Vici Properties may be having a change of heart on New York City, rival Gaming & Leisure Properties is stealing a march on them … Lastly, Churchill Downs would probably disapprove of calling ‘historical horse racing’ terminals ‘slot machines,’ but they essentially are. And those slot parlors in Kentucky are nothing if not casinos in everything but name—and they had a good month, unlike Las Vegas. Speaking of HHR, a bipartisan coalition wants to bring it to Maryland. The casinos seem to be thinking through where they stand on this (although they’d get dealt in). At any rate, they’re not talking.