Atlantic City surges, New York stumbles

Long-awaited casinos in New York City aren’t coming out of the starting blocks well. Resorts World New York may have been overhasty in installing table games. Steve Cohen is having a hard time getting his ducks in a row at Metropolitan Park and Bally’s Corp. has no financing yet for Bally’s Bronx beyond the $500 million license fee, plus a $115 million gratuity paid to Donald Trump. Bally’s may be the lucky one, as it will have time to study its competitors’ mistakes.

At Resorts World, Genting Group opted for the dreaded soft opening and, as pundit Brendan Bussman said, “If you piecemeal that along … people will see it and say, ‘Eh, I’m not going to go back’ … If they had waited six months, they could have made a big splash.” How little of a splash was it? Table game revenues are reported to have underperformed by a whopping 37%. That’s $3,400 per table per day when stock pundits expected over double the amount. By contrast, newly installed slots outperformed, winning $23.5 million instead of the $19.5 million that VLTs used to do. The megasort-wannabe also hardly put a dent in sister property Resorts World Castkills, which was down just 11% instead of the anticipated cataclysm. (Catskillsclysm?) So far, Resorts World NYC is ducking the media and understandably so.

Meanwhile, Cohen has already fallen almost six months behind schedule on his $8 billion megaresort. That means Hard Rock International could get out of the blocks half a year behind Bally’s Bronx, previously thought to be the Tail End Charlie of the three. Bally’s is also the only one currently thought capable of meeting its revenue forecasts, due in part to ease of access and propitious location. Whoda thunk it?

Atlantic City, in the meantime, is laughing most of the way to the bank, as revenues surged 12% in April. Slots were up just 4% but Lady Luck sure wasn’t with table players, whose losses leapt 36%. No casino was revenue-negative except for Golden Nugget, down 3% to $10.5 million and currently changing out general managers, following the resignation of Tom Pohlman. The biggest outperformance by far was that of Caesars Atlantic City, which erupted 32% to $19 million. None-too-shabby were Ocean Casino Resort, vaulting 19.5% to $36.5 million (helped no doubt by a very strong entertainment lineup, with more to come), and Borgata, jumping 14.5% to a market-leading $67 million. Bally’s Atlantic City escaped last place with $11 million and a 6% bump … even though it hadn’t turned on the high-limit slots in its Legends Lounge (below). Elsewhere, Hard Rock Atlantic City was up 9% to $45 million, while Harrah’s Resort rose a point to $16.5 million. Tropicana Atlantic City was up 1.5% to $16 million and Resorts Atlantic City hopped 8.5% to $13 million.

On the New Jersey iGaming front, Fanatics exploded 114% to $16 million, while Hollywood Casino sank 15% to $2 million. The three market leaders were all bunched together: FanDuel with $59 million, BetMGM with $55 million and DraftKings with $54 million. Caesars Palace Online did $21 million and BetRivers $11 million, a 49% vault for the latter. In sports betting, $935 million in handle translated into revenue of $102 million. FanDuel was way out in front with $41.5 million while BetRivers didn’t even reach our reporting threshold. DraftKings was a scrappy second with $25.5 million and BetMGM third with $10 million, closely followed by Fanatics and its $9 million. Participation trophies went to Caesars Sportsbook ($3.5 million) and theScore Bet ($2 million).

Across the river, in Pennsylvania, there was a new gambling den on the block. Happy Valley Casino debuted at the very end of the month and yet grossed $800,000. At the opposite end of the revenue spectrum, Parx Casino was up 5.5% to a cool $50 million. Elsewhere in the Philadelphia market, Philadelphia Live was down 4.5% to $21 million but still besting Rivers Philadelphia (below, $18.5 million, -5%). Valley Forge Resort was flat at $12 million but still kicking the butt of Harrah’s Philadelphia (actually in outlying Chester) and its $10.5 million or -4%. Pittsburgh saw karmically challenged Rivers Pittsburgh dive 7.5% to $25 million—still tops in the market compared to Hollywood Meadows ($17, 14%) and Pittsburgh Live ($10 million, 6%), although both rivals handily outperformed it.

Luck has not been smiling on Lady Luck Nemacolin, down 3% to $2 million. And the inception of Class III gambling in New York City may be to blame for Wind Creek Bethlehem‘s -5% showing, albeit at a hefty $44 million. No such problems for Mohegan Pocono, up 3.5% to $17.5 million, or for Mount Airy Resort, jumping 8% to $15.5 million. Presque Isle Downs was flat at $9 million but Hollywood Penn National gained 5% to $13.5 million. Hollywood York ceded 8.5% to $8 million but Hollywood Morgantown was up 6% to $6.5 million. Parx Shippensburg was a coffee achiever, jumping 17.5% to $3.5 million.

Keystone State iGaming was good for $246 million, led by FanDuel‘s $69.5 million. Also in there swinging were BetRivers ($40.5 million) and BetMGM ($40 million), whilst DraftKings nabbed another $38 million. Caesars Palace Online settled for $15 million and Hollywood Casino took in $6 million. Sports betting generated $642 million in handle and $77 million in revenue (a tight 12% hold). FanDuel bested DraftKings, $32 million to $22 million, while Fanatics was a distant third with $6 million. (But third nonetheless.) Others pursuing the leaders were BetMGM ($4 million), BetRivers ($3 million), theScore Bet ($2 million) and Caesars Sportsbook ($1 million).

Up in the Bay State, casino winnings took a bit of a dip, off 2% for the month. Encore Boston Harbor was down 6.5% to $60 million, MGM Springfield gained 4% to $24.5 million, and Plainridge Park was also up 4%, nabbing $15.5 million with nothing but slots. Massachusetts sports betting saw $82.5 million in win, led by Boston-based DraftKings with $44 million. FanDuel scored $22.5 million whilst theScore Bet was only good for $2 million. BetMGM did $5.5 million and Caesars Sportsbook $1.5 million.

Returing to Atlantic City, that actually just got quite a bit more difficult, given the demise of Spirit Airlines. Trying to fill the gap is Avelo Airlines … but it gets no closer to the Boardwalk than Wilmington, Delaware. Could this be too small a vacuum for the airline industry to abhor? Speaking of aviation, the Soar & Shore show has learned from last year’s debacle and is now slated for a weekend.

Meanwhile, A.C.’s Garden Pier was half-done in by winter storms and now owner Bart Blatstein is stepping in to finish the job. He promises an “entertainment district” in its place. We wish Blatstein well, as he’s one of the very, very few moguls who still believes in Atlantic City. But our correspondent there reports, “In addition, the Boardwalk is being widened in front of the Showboat Hotel. Between Blatstein’s water park and the Boardwalk is a vacant lot. Bart is keeping his plans a ‘secret.’ Whatever he does, I hope he pays his contractors on time,” something Blatstein has been loath to do in the recent past.

To add insult to various and sundry injuries, New Jersey is raising taxes on Atlantic City by 2%. Among those who will benefit is the recently acquitted LaQuetta Small. Her five-year contract as school superintendent starts at $282K/year, escalating to $320K in Year Five. Who says being in trouble with the law doesn’t pay? (Hubby Marty Small is A.C.’s mayor. Who says nepotism doesn’t pay?) That’s a pretty hefty salary for someone in a city of 39,000 souls.