Strip still booming, locals flat; Gambling with democracy

Nevada scored yet another $1 billion-plus month in September, up 8% from 2021. As you might expect, the Las Vegas Strip drove the big gain, booking $693 million in win, up 8%. Strip slot revenue was $409.5 million, a 17.5% vault in coin-in. Table games not called ‘baccarat’ saw 10.5% more wagering and the whales appear to have returned to the baccarat table, where betting volume was 34.5% larger. Luck wasn’t with the house, which saw 3% less baccarat win.

This more than compensated for a Las Vegas locals market that has leveled off from last year. Downtown was more like its old self, gaining 1.5% to reach $74 million while Laughlin hopped 5% to $39 million. Boulder Strip casinos took a hit, down 8.5% to $74.5 million. This negated most gains in the rest of the locals picture. North Las Vegas was up 5% to $23.5 million, proving out Station Casinos‘ contention that demolishing two casinos wouldn’t hurt the region. Miscellaneous Clark County climbed 4% to $142 million.

Utah drive-in business was kind, with Mesquite up 5% to $14 million and Wendover bouncing 10.5% to $22.5 million. (As Wendover goes, so goes Nevada.) Reno outperformed the state, up 9% to $68 million while volatile Lake Tahoe enjoyed a bonny month, up 394% (that’s no typo) to $28 million. Remember, last year’s wildfires all but eradicated gambling revenue on Tahoe’s shores. Finally, the first month of Legends Bay Casino propelled Sparks upward 19% to $18 million. Call it ‘economic stimulus.’

“Existing Kalshi contracts this week allowed investors to bet on a moon landing happening by Jan. 1, 2025, for 11 cents on the dollar, a hurricane hitting Miami this year for 6 cents, and monkeypox being named a pandemic this year for 3 cents, among other things.” So reads the Wall Street Journal of these vulture capitalists. People shouldn’t be allowed to profit off human misery … nor trade derivatives on the outcome of elections. Kalshi is predicting it will go live Friday with what is in essence betting on the U.S. midterm elections, “pending regulatory approval.” Let’s hope the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ashcans this dreadful idea, which is tantamount to meddling in the electoral process by offering financial incentives to voters.

Kalshi isn’t some fly-by-night operation. It’s bankrolled by Sequoia Capital and GOP megadonor Charles Schwab, who is undoubtedly trying to cash in on an anticipated ‘red wave.’ According to the WSJ, Schwab and his cohort say “the proposed contracts would be safer for users than foreign venues for election betting,[*] and that they would produce useful information for political scientists. Others point out that betting on elections is illegal in many states, worry about giving citizens a financial incentive to cast their votes for certain candidates and warn that political insiders could use the contracts to profit on nonpublic information.”

*—true that

The deciding issue will be whether or not Kalshi’s proposed electoral scheme would be against public interest, in which case the CFTC would be bound to quash it. Earlier this year it 86’d PredictIt, an election-betting firm, for not keeping its word to the commission. We don’t know whether or not cynicism is in the public interest but it’s certainly what drives Kalshi. As one Brazilian backer wrote, “Elections have consequences, and these consequences directly create risk that can be hedged, and are factored into pricing commodities, financial assets, and services.” Heaven forbid that the public good should get in the way of turning a quick buck.

Jottings: Facing a surprisingly stiff challenge from Lee Zeldin (R) and strong opposition to a Manhattan casino, New York State Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) bucked public sentiment and supported the idea during a recent debate. Missing a chance to snare votes, Zeldin waffled on the issue … That didn’t take long: Apple has paused its new ad placements on the iPhone after users found themselves bombarded with gambling blat from William Hill and others less reputable. The backlash was strong and instantaneous … Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (D) must have a political death wish. He’s surreptitiously retained outside counsel in order to try and extort more money from the Sooner State’s casino-enabled tribes, even though his strategy to force them into new, less-advantageous compacts has flopped in court. The news came as a rude October surprise to the Lege, which holds the power of the purse in state-tribal litigation … Funders of the oft-promised, $4.9 billion All-Net Arena & Resort are feeling their oats. Passing over the opportunity to bankroll a unicorn petting zoo, they’re promising to resurrect the Moulin Rouge. That’s a big promise for an area that has little to offer the public beyond the dilapidated offices of Dr. Miriam Adelson‘s Las Vegas Review-Journal.