Although the name Jimmy Slonina probably won’t sound familiar, there’s a good chance you’ve seen him when you visited Las Vegas. He’s a veteran of long-running Le Reve at Wynncore and of Vegas Nocturne at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. He’s also had credits in Absinthe, O and Zarkana. Currently, he’s a lead performer in Mystere at Treasure Island. Except for a few nights last week when he was an involuntary guest of Las Vegas’ finest.
Slonina is also a Downtown business owner and a family fan. A veritable pillar of the community. So what was he doing in the hoosegow for 17 inexcusable hours? That’s a question for Las Vegas Metro, which swept the Cirque star up in a reckless dragnet. Metro was reacting—many would say overreacting—to a recent anti-ICE protest in the Downtown area. Slonina had stepped out of the Cheapshot disco and was nearing the front door of his loft with his keys in his hand when Metro goons grabbed him and (reportedly) several other innocent bystanders as part of a banzai charge that netted 101 arrests.
It’s a sad day when you come to Vegas and have to risk being grabbed off the streets indiscriminately in a manner we associate with banana republics. It’s wretched PR and absolutely terrible advertising for Sin City. To add insult to injury, Slonina has been charged with unlawful assembly and failure to disperse. Considering that he was trying to “disperse” into his own front door, Metro’s got some fucking nerve to charge him. An apology and dismissal of the charges is in order, lest malicious prosecution compound unlawful detention.
Fortunately, Slonina had an entire network of people in the Vegas arts community who rallied to his defense after he was disappeared into a holding tank. (Others were not so fortunate.) John Katsilometes stepped up when his colleagues at the Las Vegas Review-Journal were falling down on the job. Casino.org also carried coverage of Metro’s misdeed. Regardless of where you stand on the protests, Metro deserves the black eye it’s getting for this, evidently not having evolved since its ‘shoot first, ask questions never’ policies of 25 years ago. Nor should Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley (D) be exempt from condemnation, since the buck for this police-state misconduct stops rightly on her desk. What can we say? Elect clowns, expect a circus.
May in the Midwest. It’s shaping up to be a very good May for casinos in the heartland, which we’re sure they’d welcome after several months of softness. In Indiana, gambling inched up 3.5%, to $222.5 million. For one thing, Horseshoe Hammond was actually up for a change (+9.5%) to $24 million, having evidently bottomed out. Not so fortunate was nearby Ameristar East Chicago, which plunged 14% to $12.5 million. Hard Rock Northern Indiana edged up 1.5% to a dominant $40 million. Terre Haute Casino‘s trajectory flattened at $12.5 million, Belterra Resort ceded 1% to $7.5 million and French Lick Resort swooned -10% to $6.5 million.
Otherwise it was smooth sailing. Horseshoe Indianapolis leapt 12.5% to $31 million and Harrah’s Hoosier Park galloped +9.5% to $22.5 million. Blue Chip chipped in an extra 3.5% to hit $11 million, Bally’s Evansville was up 2% to $15 million, Rising Star rose 3.5% to $4 million, Hollywood Lawrenceburg was up 2% to $13 million and Caesars Southern Indiana surmounted recent adversity to grow 5% to $23 million. Sports betting jumped 12% to $44 million in win on $433 million (+20%). FanDuel edged DraftKings, $15.5 million to $14 million. ESPN Bet‘s $4 million bested BetMGM‘s $3 million and BetRivers/Bet365‘s $2.5 million. Caesars Sportsbook had to content itself with $1 million.
Next door, in Illinois, winnings jumped 9% (22.5% on an unadjusted basis) to $176.5 million, mainly on the strength of new product at Wind Creek Southland and Fairmount Park. The latter debuted with $1 million whilst the former grossed a boffo $18.5 million. First place went—need you ask?—to Rivers Des Plaines, shaking off new competition with a 1.5% boost to $45.5 million. Bally’s Casino grossed a respectable $12 million (+4%) but slipped behind Grand Victoria ($12.5 million, 3%) and Hard Rock Rockford ($13 million, +101.5%). The Temporary at American Place surged 13% to $10 million, Hollywood Aurora leapt 12% to $9.5 million and Hollywood Joliet was flat at $7.5 million. Is Caesars Entertainment running a leper colony at Harrah’s Joliet? It was the only revenue-negative casino in Chicagoland, down 3% to $10 million. Downstate, Par-A-Dice was up 2% to $5.5 million, Bally’s Quad Cities leapt 17.5% to $6 million and Harrah’s Metropolis jumped 9% to $5.5 million. Among newbies, Walker’s Bluff Casino was up 25.5% to $3 million and Golden Nugget Danville vaulted 31% to $3.5 million. Argosy Alton flexed 8.5% to $3 million and DraftKings Casino Queen slid 8% to $8 million.
The hit parade continued across the river in Missouri, where casinos $177.5 million (+9%). Horseshoe St. Charles led with $27.5 million, up 8.5%, which meant Hollywood St. Louis ($23.5 million) couldn’t catch it despite a 10% surge. River City ($24 million, 12%) continued its newfound preeminence over Hollywood, while Horseshoe St. Louis leapt 19% to $14.5 million. A 5% hop and $18 million were good enough for Ameristar Kanas City (above) to lead its market, narrowly staving off a robust challenge from Harrah’s North Kansas City ($17 million, 21.5%). Bally’s Kansas City ceded a point to $12 million and Argosy Riverside slipped 4.5% to $14 million. Outstate, the removal of table games still hadn’t repaired the fortunes of Mark Twain Casino, down 7.5% to $3 million. Century Casinos continued to prosper in both Caruthersville ($5.5 million, 33%) and Cape Girardeau ($6 million, 4.5%). Isle of Capri Boonville jumped 10% to $8 million and St. Jo Frontier gained 2.5% to $4 million.