Last month saw a slight decline in Atlantic City casino revenues, down 2% to $246.5 million. Before we break out the crying towels, note that this is 10% better than the casinos were doing at the same point in 2019. Meanwhile, Internet gambling (+21%) and sports betting (+13%) marched upward. Only two casinos, however, were revenue-positive. Ocean Casino Resort leapt a whopping 29% to $39.5 million and Hard Rock Atlantic City gained 7% to gross $47 million. Borgata retained its top spot with $54 million but plunged 13%, a worrisome number. Despite a much-vaunted spate of renovations, the Caesars Entertainment threesome is settling into second-class status, perhaps the consequence of trying to hang onto too much gambling inventory. The trio was all bunched closely together, led by Harrah’s Resort‘s $22 million (-4%), followed by Caesars Atlantic City (-4.5%) and Tropicana Atlantic City (-8%), both around $21.5 million.
At -6% the Golden Nugget ceded the least ground among the grind joints but was stuck in last place all the same ($12.5 million). Bally’s Atlantic City ($13 million) tumbled 17% and Resorts Atlantic City shed 10.5% for $15 million. Internet casinos brought in $164 million. DraftKings dominated with $63.5 million, followed by BetMGM ($41.5 million), FanDuel ($18 million) and Caesars ($12 million). Sports betting operators scored $111 million despite low hold, as handle shot up 51% to $1.3 billion. (So much for the deleterious effects of competition from New York State.) DraftKings was tops again with $48 million. Then came FanDuel ($30.5 million), BetMGM ($11.5 million) and Caesars Sportsbook ($2 million).
Revenue slippage also took place further to the north in Massachusetts. There, casinos bled 4% to an aggregate gross of $90 million, still 12.5% better than September 2019. Thanks to an 8% declivity in table win, Encore Boston Harbor was down 3% to a still-massive $60 million. MGM Springfield was a very distant second with $17.5 million, plummeting 15% and erasing many recent gains as the bottom dropped out of table winnings (a scant $1 million). Plainridge Park beat the trend, jumping 8% to $13 million, fueled entirely by slot play. Sports betting produced $51 million in winnings on $512.5 handle. 56% of the revenue went to the homeboys at DraftKings, 28% to FanDuel. Barstool Sports engendered $1 million, causing one to wonder if it was worth the agita of getting into the Bay State.
As we type this, a casino strike in Detroit is fewer than 90 minutes away. Collective bargaining talks involve an odd trio operators: MGM Resorts International, which is surely vamping for time, lest it set a precedent for its Culinary Union negotiations in Las Vegas; Penn Entertainment, which doesn’t have much of a track record of dealing with unions; the Illitch family, which recently gave a big raise to casino workers in Atlantic City. So far the menage a trois has been presenting a silent, united front on labor negotiations, while the United Auto Workers and Unite-Here, plus affiliated unions, haven’t been shy about dickering via the media. But 160 hours of face-to-face talks have come to naught.
The casinos don’t have a strong bargaining position. They’ve grossed over $1.25 billion since the ravages of Covid-19 but paid $34 million less in wages. Unionized jobs are also down by 1,500. It’s a measure of Detroit discontent that 99% of workers represented voted to strike, as opposed to 95% in Las Vegas. As we said, if the casinos aren’t talking, the unions sure are and they’re mightily offended (as well they should be) that the casinos are demanding that workers pay more for health benefits. “Significant” wage increases for employees are another bone of contention.
If workers walk out (3,700 strong), that’d be a walloping cash-flow and revenue hit for the three casinos. MGM Grand Detroit would likely shed $52 million in revenue in a 30-day strike, MotorCity would be bled to the tune of $32 million and Hollywood Greektown would suffer a $19.5 million stab wound. Would it come to that? If there’s a strike it will probably be short. Carl Icahn tried to operate a scab casino (Trump Taj Mahal) in Atlantic City and lived to regret it. Casino employees sacrificed wage increases in 2021 and 2022, a received a sub-inflation 1.5% last April. Big Gaming should do right by them.
Back to Atlantic City for a minute. Our man on the East Coast paid a return a visit to Bally’s Atlantic City, fueled by comps and possibly by latent masochism. Perhaps the recent elevator scuffle he witnessed also made an impression on management: “They are electronic ‘swipe’ rather than ‘insert’. Both our keys didn’t work, so the bellman who brought our luggage went downstairs and got us a new key. Next surprise, Bally’s in-room Internet did not work all weekend. This was the first casino we visited that did not have working Internet. When I asked at the front desk, the employee said ‘it was a Comcast problem.’Tthen I asked her ‘Did Bally’s pay the bill?’ Two employees laughed. The photo shows Bally’s high-limit slot room on Sunday. It had six customers when I was there. The only good news was that we managed to miss Gigi Allessio‘s World Tour.” Slight consolation, that.