Nobody can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like Dr. Miriam Adelson. The ancient meddler and majority owner of Las Vegas Sands saw another slate Sands-proxy candidates go down to defeat last night in the Lone Star State’s primary. Texas voters applied a 10-gallon boot to Adelson’s carpetbagging posterior, in yet another rejection of her ham-fisted agenda. It takes a special kind of reverse political acumen to take a state where a majority of the electorate favors casinos and sports betting, and then turn them into a vociferous bunch of NIMBYs. But Miriam has done it again.
To her credit, Adelson picked a couple of winners this time. State Rep. Angelia Orr (R) won her primary fight, as did Democratic senate hopeful James Talarico. Sure, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was renominated, but that was as safe a bet as Adelson could have placed. However, she went 0-4 against Abbott in her attempts to unseat Abbott-backed incumbents, including Rep. Terri Leo Wilson (R), who crushed Sands pet Nathan Watkins. Should Texas have casinos? Yes. Sports betting? Absolutely! But Adelson’s clumsy string-pulling (to say nothing of her ruination of the Dallas Mavericks) does the cause no favors.
For one thing, it’s lured a deep-pocketed opponent in far-right Tim Dunn, who’s only to happy to chip in his billions against Adelson’s. Other Sands-friendly candidates suffering the Adelson Kiss of Death were Stan Kitzman (R), Cecil Bell Jr. (R) and Kyle Morris (R). No word yet on Willie Ng (R) but surrogates Ken King (R) and Jay Hardaway (R) defied the Adelson Curse and won their races. The casino mogul has also, finally begun to reach out beyond the country-club crowd for a change, making donations to the Mexican-American and Black legislative caucuses. She may yet build a pro-casino coalition. But the pro-gambling cause could clearly use a different, less-toxic poster girl.
Next door, casinos in Louisiana were up 5% in January … not counting Louisiana Live, in Bossier City, which pushed the statewide tally +10.5%. Nor did it hurt that $140 million Bally’s Baton Rouge debuted in December, finally putting antediluvian Belle of Baton Rouge out of her misery. The new Bally’s Corp. casino catapulted revenue 768% skyward, pulling in $4.5 million. The company’s Queen Casino was dimmed only slightly, down 3% to $7.5 million. And rival L’Auberge Baton Rouge was flat at $13 million. Congratulations to Bally’s on having evidently expanded the Baton Rouge market instead of cannibalizing it.
Everybody was up in Texas-facing Lake Charles, led in January by L’Auberge du Lac, jumping 12% to $26 million. Golden Nugget Lake Charles made $25.5 million for a 4.5% gain, Delta Downs did $13.5 million, leaping 17.5%, and Horseshoe Lake Charles nudged 3% to $8 million. New Orleans saw some wild swings. Fair Grounds racino experienced an exodus of revenue, -29% to $2 million. Boomtown New Orleans faded 7% to $8.5 million. Caesars New Orleans jumped 16% to $21 million, while Treasure Chest was up 15% to $13.5 million. Nearby Amelia Belle vaulted 21.5% to $3 million.
That leaves Shreveport and Bossier City, where Bally’s is doubling down by purchasing Sam’s Town. Why, one is hard-pressed to say, as Sam’s Town grossed only $2.5 million (-5%), whereas Bally’s Shreveport collapsed 23% to $7 million. Boomtown Bossier took a 20% tumble to $2.5 million and Louisiana Downs was down 9% to $2.5 million. Traditional leader Margaritaville slid 15% to $12 million, almost losing supremacy to Horseshoe Bossier City ($10.5 million), up 5.5%, with Louisiana Live hot on its heels with $10 million. Outlying Evangeline Downs slipped 2% to $5.5 million.