For the past year, the bow planes of the U.S.S. Las Vegas Strip have been locked in “dive.” Well, Big Gaming may have finally scraped bottom and started back upward. February saw less than a 1% uptick in Las Vegas Strip winnings, but an uptick all the same. Strip casinos grossed $696 million, while it was Downtown‘s turn for malaise, down 4% to $70 million … despite the valiant efforts of Derek Stevens, who brought 15,000 Canadians back into the fold with his creative “At Par” promotion.
On the other hand, Arizona denizens and others seem to have bypassed Laughlin and headed to Sin City instead. The border town plunged 9% to $38.5 million. Utah-based gamblers were more clement: Mesquite bounced 5% to $17 million and Wendover nudged 2% to $22 million. Elswhere in the Las Vegas area, North Las Vegas was up 5% to $24 million, the Boulder Strip rose 3.5% to $77 million and miscellaneous Clark County casinos were up 3% to $148 million. Reno surged 7.5% to $70.5 million and Lake Tahoe was up 1.5% to $18 million, while Sparks sparked 9% to $14.5 million.
Were it not for baccarat, the month might have been a debacle for the Strip. Non-baccarat table win plunged 12.5% to $193.5 million. Not only did baccarat players wager 17% more, they got cleaned out to the tune of 37% surge in losses. Luck was with the Joe Average players, who beat the house at all other games, in spite of wagering 2% more. Slot play was up 6% but the house came out flat with $383 million. With the exceptions noted above, locals play was plenty solid. Slots won 3.5% more on 2% higher coin-in and table play was flat but the house won 2% more. As for the Strip results, already some (premature?) celebration has begun.
In fairness to Strip casinos, even a bad February would be a good month for Pennsylvania, where casinos won $265 million, up 3%. Despite a -3.5% dent, Parx Casino was tops with $44 million. Next best in the Philadelphia market was Live Philadelphia, up 5% to $21 million, while Rivers Philadelphia was up 3.5% to $17 million. Valley Forge Resort ($11.5 million, 3.5%) continued to outdistance Harrah’s Philadelphia ($10 million, -1%). Across the Keystone State, cloacal Rivers Pittsburgh slipped 1.5% to $26 million, while Live Pittsburgh slumped 4.5% to $9 million and Hollywood Meadows leapt 9.5% to $15 million.
Outstate, Wind Creek Bethlehem was dominant with $41 million, jumping 7%. Cult casino Lady Luck Nemacolin leapt 12% to $2 million and Parx Shippensburg vaulted 20.5% to $3.5 million. It was also a good month for Mohegan Pocono ($16 million, 1.5%), Presque Isle Downs ($7.5 million, 4.5%), Hollywood Penn National ($13 million, 5.5%), Hollywood York ($8 million, 5.5%) and Hollywood Morgantown ($6 million, 1%)—and especially good for Mount Airy Resort, jumping 10.5% to $14 million.
FanDuel outdistanced its iGaming rivals with $64 million, to DraftKings‘ $45 million and BetMGM‘s $40 million. Other impressive finishers were BetRivers ($38.5 million) and Caesars Palace Online ($15 million). Sports betting spoils saw handle plunge 22% to $592 million, of which $54 million stayed with bookies, for 9% hold. FanDuel was again out front, making $24 million to DraftKings’ $14 million. Fanatics was a surprise third-place finisher, albeit with $4 million. Still, the upstart bested BetMGM ($3 million), theScore Bet ($2 million), BetRivers ($2 million) and Caesars Sportsbook ($1 million).
Casino revenue dipped a bit in Massachusetts last month. Encore Boston Harbor slumped 5% to a still-whopping $56 million. MGM Springfield leapt 7%, however, to $22.5 million, and Plainridge Park gained a point (slots-only, remember) to $13 million. Sports betting didn’t overtly benefit from the New England Patriots‘ improbable Super Bowl surge: Handle was down 1% to $620 million. However, New England was wagering heavily on the Pats, as the bookies kept 15.5% more (or $77.5 million) for a tight hold of 12.5%. DraftKings clobbered everyone else with $43 million. FanDuel brought home $19.5 million and BetMGM secured $5 million. Caesars Sportsbook edged theScore Bet, $2 million to $1.5 million.
Quote of the Day: “Not only can prediction markets distort incentives and encourage particular outcomes, they also have a knack for bringing out the worst in those who use them. Betting on bombings, wars and coups treats human misery as a roulette wheel.”—from an editorial in the Dallas Morning News that has since gone viral.