It had to happen sometime. But it’s strange that Las Vegas Strip gambling revenues would lose momentum in a month (May) in which visitation to Sin City rose 1.5% from last year. 3.5 million people hit town, sending hotel occupancies to 84.5%, diluted somewhat by a 2% increase in hotel rooms since 2019. May was also good for conventions, which shot up 16%, bringing Las Vegas 453,900 conventioneers. 8% more people arrived or departed via plane while 2.5% more visited by car. And yet there was less gambling lucre for The Man when it was all said and done. Curious.
Strip revenues trended 2% downward, to $716 million, slightly worse than Wall Street was expecting. Slot revenue was flat on a miniscule increase in coin-in, while table game wagering took an 11% dive. Non-baccarat games slipped 8% on significantly lower (-17%) play and baccarat was a wash, with both wagering and winnings flat from last year. Downtown was robust, up 6.5% to $74 million, benefiting in part from a4% resurgence in locals play. North Las Vegas was an exception, down 5% to $24 million. The Boulder Strip crept up 1.5% to $90 million while the balance of Clark County leapt 6.5% to $150 million. Mesquite dipped 2% to $15 million and Laughlin was flat for $47 million. Reno recouped 5% to $66 million, Sparks jumped 9% to $15 million and Wendover sounded a concerning note, stumbling 8% to $21.5 million.
The week also saw a stunning coup for the Culinary Union, which extracted not only a pledge of neutrality vis-a-vis union organizing from management of Venelazzo. It also got permission to unionize via card check, a much easier process than a secret-ballot election. Thanks to Sheldon Adelson, The Venetian and Palazzo employees have had it pretty good. Whether the Culinary’s blandishments will be enough to entice them to join remains to be seen but the union is surely going to have to mount its most persuasive campaign to date.
Nor is this only a preliminary victory for the Culinary, as three other unions (including the Teamsters) have received like nods. Kudos to Apollo Management for taking the high road on this. It could have gotten into a nasty unionization fight (coughStation Casinoscough) but is to be commended for putting this in the hands of employees. That scraping sound you hear is Adelson rolling over in his grave.
Don’t panic yet. Internet gambling in New Jersey is in very little danger of being curtailed. There has been much pearl-clutching amongst the industry this week after the Garden State Lege entertained a proposal to cut the 10-year terms of licenses to two years. That obviously wasn’t going to pass but it sure got the Interweb into a tizzy. Following what is described as “an outcry” from the casino lobby—as though anything less would have been shocking—lawmakers tweaked the proposal to allow five-year renewals instead. It’s Trenton‘s way of letting Atlantic City know who’s boss (unless smoking is the issue, in which case it’s Dance, legislative monkey, dance).
Industry lobbyists grudgingly indicated they’d go along with the five-year compromise, for reasons of “security in its operating ability.” One holdout was Resorts Atlantic City President Mark Giannantonio. The longtime industry barnacle groused, “The reauthorization of the Internet gaming bill for 10 years is vital to the continued success of the gaming industry in New Jersey and the programs that are supported by the taxes collected.” He evidently did not explain why. Now, the two-year idea was preposterous and nobody will admit to knowing how it got into committee. But a 10-year sinecure, while nice in theory, doesn’t permit Trenton to keep pace with the relatively speedy evolution of Internet gambling. The players come, go and consolidate so rapidly that five years does seem a more realistic term.
Perhaps DraftKings‘ real objective in bidding for PointsBet is to bleed Fanatics dry. The latter has been compelled to outbid Jason Robins‘ company, throwing $225 million into the pot, a 50% increase on Fanatics’ original offer. Plus, the upstart company would have to pay NBC $250 million to take over the PointsBet sponsorship. So it won’t come cheap for Fanatics. DraftKings has plenty of cash on hand at the moment, so it can play this game all day. But there’s a great deal more in it for Fanatics, specifically accelerated introduction to states where PointsBet is currently eking out a living.
As for the PointsBet board, it behooves them to keep driving up the price, especially for shareholders who vote on the matter late today. For instance, although PointsBet deemed DraftKings’ $195 million offer one that Robins was “unable to finalize,” it used that $195 million as the new floor for negotiations, thereby having and eating several cakes at once. Nice job, PointsBet.
Don’t bet on football. And whatever you do, don’t bet on your own team. That’s the message the NFL is sending to players today loud and clear. Indianapolis Colts special-teamer Isaiah Rodgers Sr. is getting hit with an indefinite suspension for wagering on Colts games, in punishments that are being levied today. The reason for the severity of Rodgers’ punishment should be obvious, but other players are being clotheslined by the league, mainly for cluelessness regarding its sports-betting rules, which some teams (although not the New England Patriots) have done a piss-poor job of promulgating. The bottom line is that “I didn’t know it was against the rules” isn’t going to cut it with Roger Goodell.
Rodgers is out of a job now, as is the Colts’ Rashod Berry, who also bet on NFL games. Free agent defensive tackle Demetrius Taylor is going to find it hard to catch on with a new team, seeing as the league has indefinitely benched him too. Seeing some clemency was the Tennessee Titans‘ Nicholas Petit-Frere, who evidently saw no problem in making bets while at the team’s training facility. His benching? Six games. The NFL’s gambling rules are also sixfold and not difficult to remember … unless you happen to be a player, it seems.
Given the sorry state of player compliance, it’s hard to work up sympathy for the point of view that the NFL is the villain of piece. For instance, Conor Orr argues that, shit, players were gonna bet on the games anyway so why not look in the other direction? That’s a morally bankrupt contention that doesn’t even deserve a response.
We’re still trying to get back to the office. Our flight out of Green Bay this morning got scrubbed, forcing us to stay in town an extra night and meaning that tomorrow’s S&G will be written from an airport lounge somewhere—we don’t know exactly. But we should be back in regular business on Monday … knock wood.
David, you neglected Lake Tahoe’s revenue numbers. I believe they were up 11 percent to 19 million. Thanks.