Super-spreader event at Caesars nixed; Mega-jottings

Caesars Entertainment must have decided it was poor optics to be hosting a convention of anti-vaxxers at brand-new Caesars Forum as Coronavirus cases spike. Or maybe it blanched at the potential deep-cleaning costs after the event. Either way, QAnon-espousing “Patriot Double Down” will have to find somewhere else if it wants to play Vegas this October. (Have they called the Fertitta Brothers?) Event organizers must be scrambling for a new venue to infect, er, book. The Associated Press reported that it was presently unclear if the show “would be moved, postponed or canceled. Event officials did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages.” But with a top ticket of $3,000, we don’t expect Double Down to just fold its hand. There’s money to be made! Given QAnon followers’ eschatology, we’re frankly surprised they’d choose Sin City for their “Great Awakening” but so be it. (Good luck getting them to comply with mask mandates.) We’re talking about a city where Las Vegas Raiders fans would rather forfeit their tickets than get vaccinated. Nor does it seem like one can hold a public meeting in Clark County without being inundated with screaming anti-vaxxers. Las Vegas has so many already it scarcely needs to import more. Meanwhile, the number of Sin City vaccination mandates continues to grow, a laudable trend.

Ocean Casino Resort is suing Philadelphia Live for allegedly infringing upon its “Go for the win!” ad campaign, on which a couple of million dollars has been spent. Live’s version is “Let’s go for the win!” It was even cheeky enough to put it on an electronic billboard hard by Ocean. The latter says it doesn’t want people confusedly thinking the two rival properties are related. (Bad for Ocean, good for Live, our East Coast bureau would say.) Ocean wants the Cordish Gaming ad campaign rescinded and all marketing materials destroyed. The lawsuit may look like hairsplitting but upon such fine legal distinctions does our justice system rest. Speaking of our Atlantic City correspondent, he visited Ocean recently, broke even and reports that the casino has installed glass shields along the escalators “to keep people from riding the handrail and falling off a very long drop.”

In other Boardwalk news, casinos posted improved operating profits for the second quarter of this year (cost-cutting probably helped in no small measure). No surprise, Borgata was #1 with $40 million, followed by Tropicana Atlantic City ($28 million), Hard Rock Atlantic City ($26 million), Harrah’s Resort ($25 million), Caesars Atlantic City ($18.5 million) and Ocean ($17 million). Along for the ride were Golden Nugget ($11 million) and Resorts Atlantic City ($7 million). Only Bally’s, under its eponymous new ownership—which fully acknowledges the difficulties they’re up against—posted a loss, $3.5 million. Operating profits fell for Caesars Interactive ($4.5 million, -43%), Golden Nugget Online ($8 million, -11%) and Resorts Digital ($3.5 million, -38%). Hopefully the loss of online play means punters are matriculating back at the brick-and-mortar casinos again.

Online sports betting is now available in the great state of Wyoming. It went live yesterday, with BetMGM and DraftKings the first penetrators of the virgin market. This theoretically gives Wyoming the jump on Arizona and South Dakota, both of which have promised to offer sports wagering by the start of NFL season on Sept. 9 but have yet to deliver. Other states such as Louisiana, Connecticut (whose regulations were only just voted out of legislative committee) and Florida are unlikely or impossible to make the deadline. Wyoming will be OSB-only, a scheme that looked D.O.A. in the Lege until the latter had a come-to-Jesus moment and decided letting citizens have a flutter wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Although at least five “skins” are permitted by law, only two have made it through the regulatory process so far, with BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt pronouncing himself “ecstatic” to be one of the first. For its part, DraftKings is “thrilled” and celebrated by offering a variety of prop bets.

The Wyoming climate is pretty business friendly. It costs $100,000 to have a license for five years and $50K for every operational year afterward, plus 10% taxation. Heck, you can even wager on amateur sports. Don’t expect it to be a limited market for long: Already FanDuel, Barstool Sports, PointsBet and others are signaling interest. The only real downside is that tiny (60,000 inhabitants) has no professional sports teams. Get used to betting on the Denver Broncos, folks. Sorry about that.

Rather than be a george toward local charities, Sahara Las Vegas is playing the stiff, putting the onus on customers to make a difference. It’s launching a “Change for Charities” campaign in which players forfeit the change on their slot tickets and Sahara forwards the money to Las Vegas Rescue Mission, Epicurean Charitable Foundation, Opportunity Village, and Boys & Girls Club of Southern Nevada. They’re all worthy recipients but this move seems to be more about Sahara avoiding the coinage and hassle of making change rather than about achieving social change. The burden is on players to do it. Seems to us that one should have a choice of which charities they choose to support and that if owner Alex Meruelo is really interested in supporting the community, donations should come from the Sahara coffers themselves. In other Sahara news, it’s ready to open Magic Mike Live, the Channing Tatum brainstorm that has already been a hit at the Hippodrome Casino in London. We hear it’s especially popular with the ladies.

Jottings: A Las Vegas resident enjoying a staycation at Wynncore tweeted that “the place is a ghost town. Was told occupancy is just below 40%. Staff/service is wonderful and accommodating, great mask compliance all around but it’s a super sleepy atmosphere.” Are we nearing a Great Slowdown? … Despite some residents’ worries about higher traffic, Durango Station continues to advance. Last night the Spring Valley Town Advisory Board gave it the thumbs-up. Nice to see Station Casinos staying on-task … Ka finally has a reopening date and it’s November 24. The company is rumored to be conjuring up a new show for New York-New York called Mad Apple … Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas sale rumors are circulating again. Tilman Fertitta is tipped as one possible buyer, Penn National Gaming another but Penn CEO Jay Snowden, freshly shot of the Tropicana Las Vegas, does a convincing job of sounding disinterested in the Las Vegas Strip (but over the moon about M Resort, happy to report) … Parx Casino is on track (pun unintended) to be the deadliest horseracing venue in the U.S.—again. Animal rights activists partially blame performance-enhancing drugs but also the way horses are currently bred for speed, with thin, fragile legs … Add Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort to the properties offering pay bumps for vaccinated employees. The minimum wage goes up to $16/hour ($8.50 for tipped employees) with salaried workers get a 3% boost. Another Arkansas casino, Saracen Resort, is dangling extra vacation days and weekly $1K drawings for those who get the vaccine …

Don’t get too excited about single-event sports betting being legal in Canada. It’s up to individual provinces whether or not to pull the trigger on wagering … Caesars Virginia in Danville is now going to “be north of $500 million” but it’s not a case of budget creep: The hotel will be expanded from 300 to 500 rooms and the project will incorporate the city’s iconic “three sisters” smokestacks into its design. Starbucks will now also be part of the red-brick-themed resort. We applaud Caesars for investing more heavily in Danville … On another front of the Roman Empire, Caesars unveiled its design for a two-story sports book next to Chase Field in Phoenix. The book will be open year-round, regardless of whether or not anything is happening at the stadium … The owners of our favorite Nevada casino, Cactus Jacks, have broken ground on another Carson City property, to be called Lucky Strike Casino. It should open next summer if all goes according to plan … Want to get stoned at a casino? You’ll soon be able to at Foxwoods Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee is close behind (maybe that’s why its room rates are so high). Both dispensaries will be off-site but nobody seems to be saying you can’t light up your loco weed on-property.