January was super-cold in Illinois … except at the casinos. They leapt 13.5% on a same-store basis (i.e., excluding Fairmont Park). An extra weekend day helped—but still! New Hollywood Joliet is fending off management’s fears of an early slowdown, growing 1% from December and 60% from the old place last year at this time. It grossed $11 million. If only it didn’t look from the outside like a strip mall …
Chicagoland was dominated, as ever, by Rivers Des Plaines, up 8.5% to $42 million. Downtown, Bally’s Casino jumped 14% to $10.5 million. Wind Creek Southland, however, vaulted 45% to $19 million. The only revenue-negative casino in the greater Chicago area was Harrah’s Joliet, absorbing a -5.5% blow ($8 million) from its new rival. Aging Hollywood Aurora, on its last legs, still managed to gain 4% to $8 million, while venerable Grand Victoria hopped 11% to $11.5 million. Hard Rock Rockford slowed to 2.5% growth ($11 million) and The Temporary at American Place accelerated 7.5% to $10 million. Fairmont Park improved to $2 million.
Downstate, only Argosy Belle ceded ground, -2% to $2.5 million. Harrah’s Metropolis ($4 million) was flat. DraftKings Casino Queen was up 10% to $7 million, Par-A-Dice also climbed 10% to $5 million and Bally’s Quad Cities jumped 11% to $4 million. Golden Nugget Danville leapt 18.5% to $3 million and Walker’s Bluff Casino rounded out the Land of Lincoln with $3 million for a 14% spike.
Across the Big Muddy, casinos were almost as hot in Missouri, up 13%. Slot play ascended 14% and tables sped up 6.5%. Boyd Gaming retained supremacy in both major metro markets, especially Ameristar St. Charles, hauling in $24.5 million for a 9.5% gain. Nearby Hollywood St. Louis was up 11.5% to $21 million and sister property River City did even better with $21.5 million (13%). Horseshoe St. Louis jumped 19% but remained a distant fourth with $12.5 million. To the west, Ameristar Kansas City was up 12% to $16 million, hotly pursued by Harrah’s North Kansas City ($15 million, 21.5%), Argosy Riverside ($14 million, 11.5%) and Bally’s Kansas City ($10 million, 6%).
Outstate, Isle of Capri Boonville surged 22% to $7 million. After seemingly unstoppable growth, Century Caruthersville was flat at $4 million, while Century Cape Girardeau was up 8.5% to $5.5 million. Slots-only Mark Twain Casino erupted 26% for $3 million and St. Jo Frontier leapt 22% to $4 million.
Winter giveth, winter taketh away. That was certainly the case in Maryland, where casino takings slumped 2.5%. Slots were off 3.5% and table winnings plunged 15%. Despite being first with $62 million, MGM National Harbor took the hardest blow, down 8.5%. Maryland Live, meanwhile, was up 2% to $56.5 million. Horseshoe Baltimore reverted to its losing ways, down 8% to a subpar $12.5 million, while Hollywood Perryville was up 4% to $7 million and Ocean Downs galloped 13% to $6.5 million. And Rocky Gap Resort is firmly on the comeback trail with a 19.5% to $4 million, so kudos to Century Casinos for the turnaround.
CHEERS & JEERS …
Cheers to California, which is finally lowering the boom on its card rooms. In flagrant defiance of state law, they have been running banked games, which should be exclusively the province of tribal casinos. You can play blackjack and other house games at the card rooms, which use a transparent workaround whereby third-party “player-dealers” act as the bank. Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Bureau of Gambling Control are to be commended for moving to shut down this sham. (Card rooms have until May 31 to comply.) Of course the card rooms are shrieking that they’re going to lose 40% of their revenue and that they’ll sue the state. But crime shouldn’t pay.
Jeers to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs (D), who is looking to jack up taxes on sports betting in the state. She wants to sock the top tier of operators with a 45% rate, if they gross over $75 million a month. That means you, FanDuel and DraftKings. Everyone else would still (phew!) be taxed at 10%. Hobbs is hoping to raise $146 million next year by dint of this ploy. We object to be both the steepness of the proposed levy and the wide gap it creates between the haves and have-nots. Even the rich can be discriminated against, it seems. Hobbs will raise far more if “revenue” is construed to mean handle. (It shouldn’t but it might be.) If that’s the case, everyone is at hazard and books will probably retaliate with user fees, as they’ve done in Illinois. There, a handle tax has proven self-defeating. Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) got greedy and wound up screwing the pooch. As we’ve often observed, greed and short-sightedness are opposite sides of the same coin.
Cheers to the University of Tennessee for canning a student broadcaster who was caught betting on Kalshi. The guy was too cute by half, thinking he could circumvent the betting prohibition in his job remit by using a prediction market to make wagers. Not so fast, said the school. At least someone is calling this spade (i.e., Kalshi) a spade. The incident had the welcome knock-on effect of prompting the speedy withdrawal of an odious product called “Kalshi U” … as though we need further corruption in college sports right now.
Jeers to Boyd Gaming for tearing down the casino formerly known as Eastside Cannery. It was a beautiful building, inside and out, and casinos about which one can say that are at a premium. Boyd now has one less show pony—and no one to blame but itself. Nobody forced them to buy out Cannery Casino Resorts. Any child could have told them that a second casino within easy walking distance of Sam’s Town created a business redundancy for Boyd. When the Great Lockdown of 2020 occurred, Boyd seized the excuse to close E-Can … for good. It’s sat idle ever since, a towering monument to corporate hubris. Now Las Vegas will just have one more vacant lot, and one less place for fire crews and police to conduct drills. Cue the tumbleweeds.
Gridiron Grumbles: Kudos to the Las Vegas Raiders for luring Klint Kubiak away from the Seattle Seahawks to become the Silver & Black’s new head coach. Now let’s hope owner Mark Davis has the patience to give Kubiak at least three years to turn things around—although Davis changes coaches the way we change shirts. Also, if Ed Graney says it’s time to trade Maxx Crosby and rebuild around youth, you can take it to the bank. A player as durable and dedicated as Crosby would command a high value on the open market, and the Raiders could surely get some high draft picks in return. It’s worth trying.
Condolences to Las Vegas sports books, as the Super Bowl was a dead game. They won less than $10 million for a paltry 7.5% hold. The $134 million handle was the worst in 10 years. The books could take some consolation from last-minute money wagered heavily on the New England Patriots. Those seven-figure bets will probably buy some crying towels for the bookies. Better luck next year, guys.