Strip Catches a Cold

Yesterday, Caesars Entertainment CEO Tom Reeg continued to insist that Everything Is Fine, despite serious indicators to the contrary. March was supposed to be the month in which gambling grosses ‘normalized.’ In Sin City they did nothing of the sort. Statewide, they were only 1% off last year’s pace, which can probably be shrugged away. But on the Las Vegas Strip they sagged 5%. Given the comebacks manifested by Downtown and the Boulder Strip, we would suggest that A) maybe things aren’t so fine on the Strip as Reeg imagines and B) consumers are looking for bargains elsewhere.

Strip casinos grossed $681.5 million, which isn’t chump change but not was supposed to happen according to Wall Street‘s script. (Sort of like the recession that was predicted for 2022 … and 2023 … and 2024 … and finally seems to be showing up this year.) Some of that can be chalked up to international tourism that is cratering. The Las Vegas Review-Journal didn’t deign to report data from Mexico, but those from Canada are hardly sanguine-making. And when the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority says it hasn’t seen numbers like this since Covid-19 hit, Big Gaming might want to worry. Supporting our bargain-friendly scenario, vehicular traffic was up 2% at a time when air traffic fell 4%. Yes, room rates were up to a budget-unfriendly $183/night … but at the price of 2.5% lower occupancy.

Small wonder that Downtown saw an increase in action, jumping 11.5% to $85 million. The Durango Resort effect wore off, with miscellaneous Clark County down 2.5%, but Boulder Strip casinos recovered their mojo, leaping 10% to $86 million. Laughlin ($50 million) was up a point, as was Mesquite ($19 million), while North Las Vegas gained 3% to $26.5 million, in a market unimpeded by the losses of Texas Station and Fiesta Rancho. Economic barometer Wendover was flat at $25 while Lake Tahoe seeped 7% to an anemic $14.5 million. Reno, however, galloped 11% ahead to $57.5 million. But Sparks failed to spark, down 2% to $15 million.

Getting back to the Strip, evidently chasing a (perceived) bargain, gamblers put their money in the slots, up 4.5% to $419.5 million, on 1% high coin-in. Table win withered 7% to $189 million, despite 3% higher wagering, as the house played unluckily. That was also the case in baccarat, where players cleaned out the house to the tune of a 34% plunge, on 9.5% smaller betting.

Despite getting their asses kicked in baccarat, Strip execs put on a smiley face. Jefferies Equity Research analyst Kai Erman reported that Caesars says it is seeing record levels of room bookings into 2026. Then again, it’s easy to book a room, harder to pay for it when you show up—and we seriously doubt those $183/night rates can be sustained if occupancy levels are to be kept high. (Remember, these are the guys who brought us Formula One Weekend.) But if the Strip doesn’t want to deal, there are plenty of other casinos in the Las Vegas Valley that will be happy to do so.

Also having a down month was the Bay State. Casinos in Massachusetts dove 5.5% in March, grossing $105 million. However, it was entirely the (un)doing of Encore Boston Harbor, whose 10.5% plunge pulled the average into the red. Encore grossed $63 million, continuing a bad quarter for the high-end casino. By contrast, hard-luck story MGM Springfield rose 1% to $25.5 million, and slots-only Plainridge Park hopped 7% to $16.5 million. Sports betting saw action, with win up 13% to $54 million, on handle that was 18% bigger ($772.5 million), meaning a lackluster hold of 7%. DraftKings enjoyed 54.5% of the win (Massachusetts doesn’t bust out dollar amounts), FanDuel 26.5% and BetMGM 8%. ESPN Bet and Caesars Sportsbook evenly divided the remaining 6.5%.

Go figure. Leave it to Louisiana to be up while everyone else is down. Then again, the Pelican State has had such a rough go of it lately that it’s earned a day or two in the sun. Gambling grosses were 10% higher last month, reaching $242 million. Most of the increased win—60% of it—was driven by market-enlarging Louisiana Live (above), in Bossier City. It raked in $12 million, as the competition took it on the chin. Hardest-hit was Louisiana Downs, reeling -23% to $3.5 million. Margaritaville got slugged -13% to $16 million, although it still clung to first place. Horseshoe Bossier City fared by far the best, flat at $11.5 million. Bally’s Shreveport hung in there as well, down 3.5% to $10 million. Strugglers included Boomtown Bossier ($4.5 million, -10.5%) and Sam’s Town ($3.5 million, -12%).

In New Orleans, the story continues to be Treasure Chest, vaulting 86% to $14.5 million. A facelift isn’t hurting Caesars New Orleans either, as it leapt 35.5% to a market-first $30 million. By comparison, Boomtown New Orleans dipped but a point to $11 million and Fair Grounds racino actually gained 4% for $4 million. Upriver, L’Auberge Baton Rouge was up for the first time in a long while, bouncing 6% to $17 million. Relative newbie Queen Casino jumped 15% to $10 million. Even faded Belle of Baton Rouge saw higher business for the first time in an epoch: up 12% to $800K. In Lake Charles everybody was down save for underachiever Horseshoe Lake Charles, up 9% to $9 million. (Hmmmm … what promotions could Caesars Entertainment be running in Louisiana?) L’Auberge du Lac took an -8% lump, still good for $28.5 million. Golden Nugget Lake Charles was a couple of decimal points above $28.5 million, despite a 3% dip, and Delta Downs was flat at $16 million. Two Boyd Gaming outlposts went different ways: Amelia Belle sank 7% to $3 million and Evangeline Downs rose 4% to $7 million.

What a difference 100 days can make. In the case of Dr. Miriam Adelson, it’s a matter of going from victory-lapper to laughingstock. It’s not just the small matter of trading away Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks for virtually nothing in return, a trade already being talked of as the worst in NBA history. The doofus who pulled the trigger on that, Patrick Dumont, is now CEO-in-waiting at Las Vegas Sands. He’s also Mrs. Adelson’s son-in-law, which explains a lot. (Nepotism runs deep in Big Gaming.)

There’s also the small matter of the Widow Adelson’s abortive New York City caper, which is estimated to cost Sands a cool $400 million. As someone in Big Gaming told Vanity Fair, “Not a fucking chance that Kathy Hochul lets a casino owned by Miriam Adelson into Nassau County, in the state of New York.” It didn’t exactly help that standard-bearer Bruce Blakeman is a political lightning rod. Not even the invocation of former Empire State senator Hillary Clinton on Sands’ Instagram feed did the trick. Nor did Sands condescend to address the future of the Nassau Coliseum itself, never mind how it was going funnel 20,000 promised daily customers without benefit of public transit—a sine qua non in the New York area. (Take it from us, as the Big Apple used to be by far our favorite tourism destination.)

Perhaps the coup de grace was delivered in Albany this week, as Steve Cohen‘s Citi Field casino proposal won a major rezoning victory. Cohen can now be confidently declared one of the three frontrunners for a Gotham Class III license, alongside MGM Empire City and Resorts World New York City. By contrast, Wynn Resorts‘ big push on the West Side is being redesigned yet again, in an effort to please unhappy neighbors. Cohen is also tight with Gov. Hochul (D) who, deny it though she may, has a thumb on the scales of the casino-selection process.

Evidently unsated with skulduggery, Dr. Adelson is now lumbering into a trio of Irving, Texas, city council races, to the tune of $94.5K. Sands evidently promised to stay on the sidelines but, in politics, tends to operate with all the charm and finesse of a Mafia enforcer. With typical Sands subtlety, it is spending more than twice as much as the opposing candidates combined. Given Sands’ historical fondness for ham-handed tactics and corny theatrics, this could easily backfire, as it often did in Las Vegas. We’ll know when voters go to the ballot box on Saturday. At this point, Sands’ apparent retreat from Irving earlier this month is now revealed as a feint, possibly lulling its local opponents into a false sense of security.

On the radio. Tomorrow we’ll be doing a guest-analyst stint on KNPR‘s State of Nevada. We don’t know the specific topics as yet but you can tune in for the fun at 9 a.m. Pacific time.