A’s: Pretty pictures and B.S.; Glebocki’s back

Onward goes the fan dance that is the Oakland Athletics‘ long-running tease of the Las Vegas Strip. After spending months tantalizing Clark County officials with promises of a new stadium design, A’s brass finally dropped a veil in the form of a set of project renderings for a gull-winged ballpark that looks suspiciously like the Sydney Opera House. More of that anon. What’s of more interest to us is the sleight of hand being performed by A’s owner John Fisher to make this change be mistaken for progress. It’s becoming questionable whether Fisher has two nickels to rub together, as he’s been elaborately silent on whether he can pick up the $1.5 billion tab for the vanity park. A credible financing package would be more impressive than all the renderings in the world but we’re no closer to that. It gets worse …

Today, Global Gaming Business reported that “the team has reportedly asked [site owners Bally’s Corp. and Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc.] to release their own ideas as far as new developments on the site first, in order to give a clearer picture of what the entire area might look like upon completion.” Oh, that’s a neat trick, Fisher. GLPI, after all, is taking its cues from Bally’s. And Bally’s ideas are … nonexistent. As Bally’s execs confessed in London, “alternative redevelopment plans are being considered in view of the current balance-sheet constraints.” In plain English, Bally’s has neither the money to redevelop the space (which is contingent upon how big the stadium is) nor a plan for doing so. As if that weren’t clear enough, Bally’s prexy George Papanier told Wall Street “The A’s are still finalizing their plans and we’re just evaluating our options.” Or, as CFO Marcus Glover put it to Nevada regulators, “The stadium has to be the first domino to fall in terms of how they’re thinking about that from a vision standpoint.” You first, Bally’s. No, you first, A’s. No, you first, GLPI …

So by punting the ball to Bally’s, Fisher gets himself off the hook. The closest the chintzy team owner has come to offering concrete stadium financing has been to float the possibility of selling minority stakes in the wretched A’s, thereby offloading the construction cost onto third parties (as well as Silver State taxpayers, who are already on the hook). Even the Nevada Independent is growing skeptical. (When you’ve lost Howard Stutz, you’ve definitely lost the plot.) It really doesn’t matter what the stadium will look like or whether or not the roof would be retractable (it won’t, for reasons known mainly to Fisher himself). It’s just an elaborate diversion to keep our attention focused on anything except Fisher’s penury. Even normally harebrained Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim wasn’t taking Fisher’s heavy-handed hint to make the first move: “This is a once-in-a-generation project, and we are thrilled for the opportunity to develop a comprehensive site plan at this iconic location. We look forward to sharing more on our plan in due course.”

Hell, in their last earnings call, Bally’s execs hinted at liquidating their Tropicana Las Vegas stake altogether, presumably in order to help underwrite the increasingly shaky Bally’s Chicago megaresort. Once they shutter the venerable resort on April 2 (thanks a lot, guys) Bally’s presence becomes vaporware, as all they own are the operations of the Trop, nothing tangible. So they’re not even that much of a player anymore. Heck, they can’t even pick up the tab for demolition. That’s on GLPI’s dime. We used to think this ballpark project would actually get done. Now it’s looking like MLB’s version of a failsino. There doesn’t appear to be much chance it gets built and certainly not without the general public getting stuck with the cost.

Does anyone remember casino boss Terry Glebocki? She was the CEO who reversed the fortunes of Revel/Ocean Casino Resort. She was run out of Atlantic City 17 months ago by the Illitch Family and replaced with macho blowhard Bill Callahan. The latter’s signal accomplishment was to predict that he’d make Ocean the number-one casino on the Boardwalk. Fast-forward a year and a half, and Ocean remains firmly entrenched in third place. Yup, Borgata must still be cowering in fear. Not. We haven’t forgotten—and neither has our East Coast bureau. It spotted a news item that Glebocki has resurfaced as president of Delaware Park Casino & Racing. First, why did it take this long for someone to snap Glebocki’s talents up and why is she relegated to a backwater like Delaware Park? The stale boys’ club that is Atlantic City casino management could still use her brainpower.

Gamblers in Illinois had a hankering for casinos last month—new casinos, that is. Perhaps they had cabin fever after being cooped up at home by wicked January weather. Casino revenues surged 20% … but remained flat when measured on a same-store basis. After a few months of slumping, Rivers Des Plaines was up 1.5% to $43.5 million, dwarfing the competition. The property may lack “curb appeal,” as Full House Resorts CEO Dan Lee claims, but players couldn’t care less. Bally’s Casino in downtown Chicago hit $10 million for the month, while Lee’s The Temporary at American Place rocketed 205.5% to $9 million. The other notable surge was Hard Rock Rockford‘s 20.5% jump to $6 million. Two other new properties contributed lesser amounts: Golden Nugget Danville ($4 million) and Walker’s Bluff Casino ($3 million).

Elsewhere in Chicagoland, older properties showed distinct signs of stagnation, whether they be Harrah’s Joliet ($10.5 million, flat), Hollywood Joliet ($7.5 million, -2%), Hollywood Aurora ($8 million, flat) or Grand Victoria Elgin ($12 million, -2.5%). Even so, it’s patently obvious that the real money is in the suburbs and Bally’s Corp. is going to have a hard time bucking that tide. It may have the Loop to itself but it’s #4 in the state. Its Quad Cities casino did well, up 2.5% to $5 million. Bally’s arguably overpaid for that casino but it’s a steady performer. Further to the south, Harrah’s Metropolis got walloped -13% for $5 million. Argosy Alton dipped 3.5% to $3 million, DraftKings Casino Queen was down a like amount to $7 million and Par-A-Dice gained a point to $5 million.

Maryland fared slightly better, seeing gambling win inch back up 1.5% in February to $159 million. Most improved was Maryland Live, up 6.5% to $59 million, chasing MGM National Harbor and its $67 million (+2%). Also revenue-positive was Hollywood Perryville, up 1.5% to $7.5 million. Horseshoe Baltimore continues to be the weak underbelly of the Roman Empire, falling 18% to $15 million. Ocean Downs dropped 7% to $6.5 million and Century Casinos is reeling at Rocky Gap Resort, which plunged 18.5% to $4 million. Golden Entertainment, come back!

Legislators continue to screw the pooch down in Alabama, which would be the worst state in the country if it weren’t for Mississippi … and even that state has much more enlightened gambling policies than does Alabama. Per our fears, the state Senate has castrated the House’s omnibus gambling bill. Out went casinos and sports betting. In stays a lottery. Which makes absolutely zero sense if the prevailing fear is of compulsive gambling, as lotteries are as addictive as you can get. Also, to increase its chances of defeat by the electorate, a special plebiscite on the lottery would be held on Sept. 10 … not as part of the November election. Amazingly, it was a gaming proponent, state Sen. Greg Albritton (R, the guy with the square head above) who put forward this abortion (or would it be IVF?), claiming it was the best possible compromise. It would be a huge step backwards for the already-regressive state, as all existing gambling legalizations would be repealed except for—surprise!—those benefiting the horsey set. Parimutuel and bingo revenues would be taxed as much as 32%.

About the only good thing in the Albritton bill is that it authorizes compact negotiations with the Class II-enabled Poarch Band of Creek Indians, assuming that Gov. Kay Ivey (R) is tractable, and not too busy devising cruel and inhuman forms of torture. But the proposal would dedicate a mere 1% of taxes realized to helping disordered gamblers, thereby pushing them under the bus. We presume this reflects the disgraceful U.S. mentality that addiction is a sign of moral weakness and has to be punished accordingly. Logic is definitely not at work, because a Legislative Services Agency study found that a lottery would realize just $379 million in revenue compared to $492 million from casinos (plus $41 million from sports betting). We realize that politics is the art of the possible but in Bible Belt backwaters it’s more like the art of the cretinous.

Quote of the Day: “For decades, or even centuries, tribes have been America’s third-world local embarrassments.  Nobody really cared about enforcing orders from state family courts against tribal members living on reservations, when the unemployment rates were 80%.”—I. Nelson Rose on a tribal victory in California.