April, T.S. Eliot told us, is the cruelest month … particularly if you’re trying to make sense of the swings and roundabouts of gaming revenue. For instance, we have contradictory reports from Missouri and Indiana. Let’s start with the good news. In Missouri (as last week’s Illinois numbers hinted), casino revenue rose a hefty 8.5%, achieving $169 million. That was done off only 1.5% greater visitation, so whoever went to play was spending large.
However, the good tidings were generally confined to the big cities. Only two outstate casinos were revenue-positive and that was mainly new Century Caruthersville. It jumped 19% to $5 million. By contrast—especially to the jolly rhetoric of Century Casinos‘ brass—Century Cape Girardeau plunged 11% to $5.5 million. Isle of Capri Boonville was up 7% to $8 million, St. Jo Frontier was flat at $4 million and table-deprived Mark Twain Casino dipped 3.5% to $3 million.
Ameristar St. Charles leapt 8.5% to $26 million, serenely leading the Show-Me State. Neighbor Hollywood St. Louis jumped 10% to $21.5 million but couldn’t leapfrog Ameristar. Neither could River City ($22.5 million, +6%) nor Horseshoe St. Louis ($13 million, +8%). Hollywood is now routinely lagging River City, suggesting a change in the pecking order is imminent.
In Kansas City, something serious got into Harrah’s North Kansas City (probably some lavish promotions). How else to explain the abrupt, 47% catapult to $19 million and first place in the market? This and similar moonshots by Caesars Entertainment properties in Louisiana hint at something massive afoot in the promo realm. Large-scale and sudden customer movement like that simply doesn’t happen without significant stimulus or (not applicable in this case) new product. Anyway, Ameristar Kansas City had to settle for second-place status in K.C. ($17 million, +4.5%), though its performance was nothing of which to be ashamed. The same for Bally’s Kansas City, flat at $11 million. The only loser was Argosy Riverside, down 4% to $13.5 million.
It was quite a different story in Indiana, where $197.5 million represented a 5% drop at the wickets. It was undoubtedly even worse on a same-store basis, but we no longer have Joseph Greff on hand to make those comparisons. (He was last seen searching for a sinecure on some corporate board, although the Nevada Gaming Control Board could sorely use his experience and expertise.) Anyway … even Hard Rock Northern Indiana was ailing, down 5% to $35.5 million and surely taking its lumps from Wind Creek Southland. For Horseshoe Hammond just to be off 4.5% to $21 million is what they call a moral victory. Perhaps that massive riverboat is finally scraping bottom and due for revenue stability. Ameristar East Chicago was less fortunate, dropping 7.5% to $13.5 million. Michigan-facing Blue Chip rounded out the northern tier by dipping 4% to $10 million.
In a bit of misdirection worthy of Brer Rabbit, the brain trust of Full House Resorts is eyeing the downtown Indianapolis market. They’re hoping Caesars Entertainment will freak out and have them bounced to Fort Wayne—the real prize for Dan Lee & Co. Caesars’ Indianapolis outposts were among the rare beneficiaries of April action. Horseshoe Indianapolis cantered +3% to $28 million and newer Harrah’s Hoosier Park galloped +7.5% to $21 million. Elsewhere in the state, Belterra Resort slumped 7.5% to $6 million and French Lick Resort took a 14% licking to fall to $5.5 million. Bally’s Evansville (pictured) hopped 5% to $14.5 million—probably the best-performing asset in the Bally’s Corp. “empire”—and little Rising Star ceded 3.5% to $3.5 million. Caesars Southern Indiana felt the effects of high waters and low worker morale with a 37% plummet to $12 million, Hollywood Lawrenceburg picked up 3% to $12 million and Terre Haute Casino marked its first anniversary by slipping 4% to $12 million.
Sports betting saw mediocre 8% hold for a $40 million gross off $437 million of handle. FanDuel fell 9.5% to slip behind rising DraftKings, $14 million to $14.5 million. Live by the parlay, die by the parlay. Fanatics and ESPN Bet combined for $4 million, while BetMGM did $3.5 million and Caesars Sportsbook made $1 million. Bet365 and BetRivers combined for $3 million, whilst BallyBet couldn’t even scare up chump change.
Speaking of Bally’s … Its leadership hid from Wall Street for the second straight quarter, issuing a carefully edited press release in lieu of taking tough questions. No profit or loss figure was posted, a dead giveaway of red ink. Way down in the print was the disclosure that Bally’s welshing on much of its lavish commitment to buying Star Entertainment. The extent of Bally’s involvement has wizened by a third, down to AU$200 million, which gives Soo Kim only 38% of Star. Now Bally’s can but “take a significant equity stake in Star and influence its future,” as opposed to steering it. Which may be a good thing.
Also, some jiggery-pokery was done with the ROI on North American online operations. Cash flow from that division is now split between “North American Interactive” and “Corporate,” thereby stashing over $9.5 million of $12 million in negative ROI under the “Corporate” rubric. Given BallyBet‘s failure to make inroads in the North American market, we’re hardly surprised. Look up “shameless” in the dictionary and damned if you won’t find Soo Kim’s picture.