We’ve been a busy bee of late. You can read our interview with Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment‘s Pacific viceroy, Bobby Soper, see our preview of Resorts World Las Vegas or look back on 2020, the year that wasn’t in gaming. Enjoy.
Ohio casinos are continuing their record pace, racing 22% ahead of June 2019. While play slackened a bit compared to May, casinos and racinos still grossed $197 million. Everyone was revenue-positive and Hollywood Columbus led the pack, winning $23 million and up 19%. Just shy of $23 million and climbing 30% was Jack Cleveland. Hollywood Toledo grossed $19 million, up 15%, and slumbering Hard Rock Cincinnati came to life with $19 million and a 17% boost. Just a hundred grand behind Hollywood Columbus was MGM Northfield Park, 11% up in a rare month out of first position. Scioto Downs leapt 26% to $19.5 million and Miami Valley Gaming hopped 22% to $18 million but the most dramatic gain was at Jack Thistledown, vaulting 46% to $17.5 million. Hollywood Dayton climbed 31% to $13 million, Hollywood Mahoning Valley was up 22% to $13.5 million and Belterra Park brought up the rear, gaining 8% to finish at $8 million.
Illinois also reported today and casino revenues were actually -5% statewide, for a pathetic $105 million gross. Slot-route figures are not available yet but they are certain to dwarf casino revenues. Two casinos were revenue-positive: Rivers Des Plaines was up 9% for a state-leading $41 million and Argosy Belle, incapacitated two years ago (and closed a year ago), rocketed from almost nothing to $3 million, a 314% gain according to JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. As for the rest, there were disappointments and outright tales of woe. In the first category we put Harrah’s Joliet ($12.5 million, -5%), Hollywood Aurora ($8.5 million, -7.5%), Grand Victoria ($13 million, -5%), Par-A-Dice ($5.5 million, -8%) and—a borderline case—Harrah’s Metropolis, down 13.5% to $5.5 million. The woeful were Empress Joliet ($7 million, -28.5%), DraftKings Casino Queen ($5 million, -37%) and Jumer’s Casino Rock Island, down 34% to $4 million in its last pre-Bally’s month. Change can’t come too quickly at that establishment.
The campaign tactics of Florida Education Campaign—a creature of FanDuel and DraftKings—are striking some as beyond the pale. More dollars for education is almost always popular at the ballot box and FEC is shamelessly using children in its ads to make its case. Even SportsHandle.com said the pitch “distastefully co-opts children and is a bit disingenuous.” It furthermore points out that, in jurisdictions where sports betting is legal (i.e., not Florida), “there is nearly always language forbidding the use of minors in sportsbook advertising.” Boasted FEC spokeswoman Christina Johnson, “As in any digital campaign, we will be featuring a variety of photos, including students, parents, teachers, and others who will benefit from the hundreds of millions of dollars generated to supplement Florida’s public education system.” Have you no shame, woman? (Evidently not.)
Even the sports-betting kingpins may have realized they’ve gone a bit too far. Some of the more inflammatory imagery has been scrubbed from the FEC Web site—although we have made them available for your edification. While Johnson admits that “Our amendment simply mandates that [taxes] go to the Trust Fund,” the campaign’s Twitter feed shouts, “We’re collecting petitions to place an amendment on the 2022 ballot to bring more sports betting to Florida and bring more funding to our schools!” Rejoins Epic Risk Management‘s Brianne Doura-Schawohl, “Gambling expansion should ask voters to make determinations based on the merit of it, not solely for how revenue will be used … what I’ve seen so far for this campaign, with young students and something as fundamental as education, strikes me as distasteful.”
The Orlando Sentinel, admittedly no friend of gambling, weighed in with “please, for the love of all that is holy, don’t vote for this because you think it will do anything to help public education. It’s hard to even type those two oxymoronic words without laughing. Florida runs America’s third largest lottery and yet ranks 44th in education funding, spending less money per pupil than states with no lottery at all.” SportsHandle‘s Brett Smiley furthermore points out the crushing irony of the situation: The Seminole Tribe was a primary backer of Amendment 3, which puts all expansions of gambling in the hands of the electorate. It is now opposing DraftKings and FanDuel’s attempt to do precisely that.
The two DFS titans will be winners if their initiative qualifies and passes. So would BetMGM and William Hill. On the cusp are Barstool Sportsbook, WynnBET, PointsBet and BetRivers, due to clever ballot language that limits sports betting to operators who are in 10 other states already. Very slick, Florida Education Campaign.
A friend of S&G writes, “Only the star criminals come to Vegas.” This is in reference to the collar of Californian John Anthony Carrillo, who came to Las Vegas last month with a gun, 27.5 grams of meth and a dream of going on a crime spree. He started humbly, with a robbery of a convenience store, then shot a player at a slot route in the head, robbed and shot a man, stole his car, robbed a gas station, shot yet another man while he was lighting Carrillo’s cigarette (for Homicide #3) and was probably on the verge of robbing a drug store when he was apprehended by Las Vegas Metro. Being afflicted with carelessness as well as cold-bloodedness, Carrillo had a left a trail of clues in his wake, including his vaccination card. He has been charged with open murder with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, assault, robbery, grand larceny, burglary with a deadly weapon, discharging a gun in a prohibited area and kidnapping. Of course it could all be a great big coincidence … but we sort of doubt it.
Jottings: In what seems like record time, Z Capital Partners has consummated the marriage of Affinity Gaming and the parent company of the Daily Racing Form. The duo will collaborate on new Affinity Interactive, which claims to have a presence in 36 states … 17-year Borgata veteran Michael Woodside has been engaged by Hard Rock Atlantic City as its vice president of entertainment and marketing. It’s another feather in Joe Lupo‘s cap … Just as we predicted, Foxwoods Resort Casino has selected DraftKings as its sports-betting and i-gaming partner. Wouldn’t it be ironic if BetMGM were jobbed in by the state’s OTBs to run their sports wagering? … The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas says it is upgrading its technology to guard against ransomware and other cyberattacks. The main problem is finding qualified staff, a worrisome fact … Philadelphia Live is putting a hurt on Harrah’s Philadelphia (above). The latter sought (and obtained) permission to remove 563 underperforming slots, citing increased competition as the cause. It will now have 1,700 devices, the exiled ones averaging a near-senile 10 years old and most in the smoking area. The casino has seen no significant capex in two years or more … Bad news for Washington, D.C., sports-betting provider Intralot. It has fallen short of spending quotas. Gee, what could go wrong with a no-bid contract?
I’ll always remember the above Harrah’s by its real name ‘Harrahs Chester Downs”, but could I now say “down and out”