Time to blow raspberries to the House Rules Committee. While permitting literally a thousand other amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, it struck down Rep. Dina Titus‘ FAIR Bet Act, which would have redressed Congress’ imposition of new taxes on gambling losses. It was supposedly not germane to national defense, despite the fact that the Pentagon purveys a large fleet of slot machines, for the purpose of clawing back what little money it pays our servicemen and -women, to the tune of $100 million a year. Hypocrisy much?
Speaking of hypocrisy, the NDAA was garlanded with other amendments of more-dubious relevance. The prize has to go to the Rules Committee’s approval of an amendment on critical race theory. What in the Sam Hill does THAT have to do with national preparedness? Logic takes a back seat on Capitol Hill when there are cheap ideological points to be scored. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know who the congressional malefactors on this latest vote were, or we’d gladly name names. We’re shameless that way.
Before leaving the subject of politics, Alabama is experiencing some long-overdue karma. Having failed singularly to adopt a coherent, let alone enlightened state policy towards legalized gambling, Dixie bluenoses are about to reap what their prudishness has sown. Namely, the unregulated specter of prediction markets running rampant through the state’s cyberspace, offering unsupervised sports betting. It’s a bipartisan nightmare for pro- and anti-gambling forces alike.
Alabama Political Reporter rightly rips state government a new one for its “idiotic approach to the regulation and taxation gambling—or, to be more accurate, the absence of both.” Writer Josh Moon isn’t fooled by event-contract sophistry, calling prediction markets “essentially legalized sports betting with the blessing of federal regulations.” (He also provides a handy primer on how it works.) Adding to the karmic whammy for rightward-leaning Alabama is the fact that the White House has a heavy, interest-conflicted thumb on the scales of prediction-market regulation. The dozy Commodity Futures Trading Commission, should it ever wake up, will know better than to go against The Man.
As Moon concludes, “our legislative ineptitude has left us staring at full blown, legal sports wagering spreading unregulated to every smart phone walking the streets—and none of that will be taxed either.” Preach it, brother.
A hit, a palpable hit. That’d be new Hollywood Joliet, which in a partial, initial month drew more revenue than its predecessor had it five years. Illinois may be saturated with casinos but there’s an obvious and unquenchable appetite for new products. Hollywood Joliet contributed to an 11% (apples-to-apples) spike in gambling revenue, to $174 million in August. The new Penn Entertainment property vaulted 46.5% to $11 million, landing a tenth of a point behind two-year-old Bally’s Casino in downtown Chicago (above, 5%). It also took some of the sheen (-3.5%) off perpetual champ Rivers Des Plaines ($42 million). The newcomer left Harrah’s Joliet becalmed at $11 million (0%), while having no effect on venerable sibling Hollywood Aurora ($9.5 million, +5%). Grand Victoria also rose ($12.5 million, 5.5%), as did The Temporary at American Place, up an impressive 18.5% to $11 million. And Hard Rock Rockford was a law unto itself, catapulting 129.5% to a third-place $13 million, behind Wind Creek Southland‘s impressive $17 million. So the rising tide in Joliet lifted almost all boats. Slot machines at Fairmount Park, however, aren’t making much a dent, garnering a bare $1.5 million.
Only Rivers Des Plaines was revenue-negative, statewide. Nobody knows where Par-A-Dice (below) is going to relocate in the greater Peoria metroplex but players don’t care. It jumped 9.5% to $5.5 million. Bally’s Quad Cities was up 7% ($6 million), Harrah’s Metropolis leapt 15% ($5.5 million), Walker’s Bluff Casino hopped 11.5% ($3.5 million) and Golden Nugget Danville jumped 19% ($3.5 million). In the St. Louis area, DraftKings Casino Queen was flat at $7 million and Argosy Belle was up 8.5% to $3 million.
Casino winnings hopped 8.5% last month in Missouri, where the state grossed $177.5 million. In the two major metro areas, only Bally’s Kansas City suffered a reversal, slipping 5% to $11 million. It ceded ground to Ameristar Kansas City ($18 million, flat), Harrah’s North Kansas City ($16 million, 17%) and Argosy Riverside ($15 million, 6%). Both the Kansas City numbers and those from St. Louis point to some serious promotional activity by Caesars Entertainment. Its Horseshoe St. Louis shot up 32% to $15 million. Even so, it was looking up at Ameristar St. Charles ($27 million, 7%), Hollywood St. Louis ($23.5 million, 3.5%) and River City ($24 million, 11%), the latter continuing to turn the tables on its Hollywood-branded sibling. Outstate, Century Caruthersville zoomed 37% to $5.5 million whilst Century Cape Girardeau was flat at $6 million. Mark Twain Casino finally snapped out of a table-less swoon, up 11% to $3 million, as St. Jo Frontier did $4 million (-2%). Isle of Capri Boonville leapt 15.5% to $8.5 million, again suggesting heavy promo action by Caesars.
Not such good news hailed from Maryland, where casinos dipped 2% in August and job losses within the federal government may finally be making themselves felt at MGM National Harbor. It slid 6.5% to $70 million, as Maryland Live nudged up 2% to $63 million. Horseshoe Baltimore continues to get its act together, rising 4.5% to $15 million. Ocean Downs was up 3.5% to $10 million and Hollywood Perryville slid 13% to $6.5 million. The comeback of Rocky Gap Resort stuttered, as it lost 1% to $5 million.
Diamonds Are Forever … and so is 1970-vintage Las Vegas in the James Bond classic, which we rewatched last night. As a time capsule of Sin City 55 years ago it is flawless, capturing Circus Circus in its glory years, for one. It also stands the test of time better than Austin Powers, International Man of Mystery, which features casinos that are virtually all gone, save for Imperial Palace, which has been transmogrified into The Linq. Oh yes, and Diamonds Are Forever has both Jill St. John and a Shirley Bassey title track. Advantage, Connery.
Speaking of which … LaLa Land Records has been putting out limited editions of all the 007 scores, including John Barry‘s unmatched music for 11 of them. We’ve already purchased Goldfinger and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Thunderball (which features one of Bond’s most memorable baccarat wins) will be in our eager hands shortly. Nab them while you can.
And in the hopes of fulfilling the NDAA bill, the vote was 9 to 4 for the NDAA bill as it stands, with enough pork and beans crap to fill more pockets. I do not know if the Senate will pass it in the form as it stands now. The senate may want to put the fair act into it, among other things. We will see. My gambling days will be over 12/31/25 if the rules do not change, and its looking like it will not, at least before the new year. Lots of pro gamblers will stop, if they have the will power to do so.