Gaming revenue in Indiana cooled somewhat last month, as casinos banked $207.5 million, a 3% drop from last year, albeit still 16% higher than 2019. (No elaborate 2019 comparisons will be drawn because that year saw two Majestic Star boats in operations and no Hard Rock, so it’s apples and oranges.) No fiscal worries for Hard Rock Northern Indiana, way out in front with $36 million, a 12% leap. Closest competitor Horseshoe Hammond ceded 8% to finish with a still-robust $29 million, while Ameristar East Chicago tumbled 23.5% to $16 million. Blue Chip rounded out the northern tier with $11 million, a 12% drop. Horseshoe Indianapolis had an excellent month, up 2.5% to $28 million, while Harrah’s Hoosier Downs slipped 7% to $20 million.
Best of the rest was tribal Caesars Southern Indiana with $21 million, down 2%. Hollywood Lawrenceburg grossed $14 million, sliding 6%, and Belterra Resort dove 9.5% to $7.5 million. Bally’s Evansville jumped 13% to $15 million and French Lick Resort was down 4% to $6.5 million, leaving only little Rising Star, plunging 15% to $3.5 million. Sports betting saw revenues of $47 million on handle of $446 million. J.P. Morgan analyst Joseph Greff estimates that FanDuel got the plurality of the revenue ($18 million) despite finishing second in handle, followed by DraftKings at $12.5 million. Then came BetMGM, way back at $4.5 million, accompanied by Caesars Sportsbook ($4 million) and Barstool Sports, slightly under $1 million.
Hardly to be outdone, New York State sports books grossed $146 million in October, on handle of over $1.5 billion. After Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) took her cut, books were left with $71.5 million. Is that a good return on investment? You be the judge. Although FanDuel and DraftKings were closely locked in a battle for handle supremacy, FanDuel was easily the revenue winner, taking home $76 million to DraftKings’ $41 million, with the latter also losing market share. Caesars was a respectable third with $15 million.
Caesars Entertainment‘s pitch to build a casino in Times Square has drawn a powerful adversary—the Shubert Organization, the number-0ne presence in the theatre district. Shubert veep Julio Peterson called the prospect “disruptive to theatergoers and we don’t think it’s the best thing for our district.” Peterson doesn’t mind the idea of casino, just NIMBY. Still, the Shuberts may have a tough row to hoe. Caesars’ is the only project with momentum. Wynn Resorts has gone suddenly squishy on its Manhattan development and Las Vegas Sands is taking forever to get its act together on a resort near Citi Field. Still theoretically in the picture is Hard Rock International, with Bally’s Corp. fading from view. Caesars is aiming to change its image to one of exclusivity, with a “boutique” casino, high-end dining and a pricey hotel. Presumably it wants to stave off the mental picture of the theatre district being flooded with gamblers with yard-long margaritas slung ’round their necks.
Jottings: Stick a fork in the Las Vegas Raiders. They’re done after losing to the crummy Indianapolis Colts. The Silver & Black is so bad it made interception-prone New Orleans Saints quarterback Andy Dalton look like the second coming of Norm Van Brocklin. Given all the preseason hoopla (and the creampuff schedule handed them by the NFL), this year’s Raiders are the Great White Hype … Station Casinos announced a special $1/share dividend today, drawing a rave review from Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli. “We view the $108.1 mm return of capital as further evidence of the confidence around the health of the balance sheet and the current operations, as well as the confidence in the development pipeline,” he wrote … Having bombed at the ballot box, California sports betting now goes to the Lege. But the latter is likelier to be caught up in a wrangle over whether or not to end the moratorium on expansion of card rooms, which tribes oppose bitterly … Outgoing Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) has thrown a body block on the idea of penurious Bally’s Corp. getting corporate welfare to build a stadium for the Oakland Athletics. Bally’s has always made it clear it will need some kind of outside financing to do the deed … North Dakota‘s Native American tribes are going to need a new strategy for getting Internet gambling and sports betting, other than just asking Gov. Doug Burgum for it. Burgum isn’t budging …We may finally see release of the much-ballyhooed White Paper on United Kingdom casinos by year’s end. Then again, pigs might fly.
Programming note: Pressing family business is taking us away to Chicago, starting Wednesday, with S&G regular coverage resuming the Tuesday after next, although there may be sporadic dispatches in between.