Author: David Mckee

Casino bosses on the Boardwalk will probably find some tortured way to put a sky-is-falling spin on November’s excellent numbers but it will be difficult. The $224 million Atlantic City gross is as good as in 2019 and a 4% boost from last year. Although Although table winnings were 16% off the pre-pandemic pace, a surge at the slots (+7%) more than compensated. Borgata was the pace car, accelerating 11.5% to $57.5 million, hotly pursued by Hard Rock Atlantic City ($44 million, +7%) and Ocean Casino Resort ($34 million, +8%).

Deck chairs are being expediently rearranged on the S.S. Resorts World Las Vegas as she careens toward a date with reality. Actually, Genting Group was due for a reckoning today (Dec. 9) with the Nevada Gaming Control Board over a 31-page complaint that essentially accused Resorts World of being an outlaw property. Specifically, the indictment charges Resorts World with “a lack of control,” of knowingly allowing felons to gamble there and of flouting anti-money-laundering rules. It calls Resorts World “a culture where information of suspicious activity is, at a minimum, negligently disregarded or, at worst, willfully ignored for financial gain …” Strong stuff. Sounds like a place that should be run out of business. What are we thinking? This is Vegas, the original no-accountability zone.

A cool breeze is being felt throughout Big Gaming. It’s the sensation of consumers finally spending less at the casino, the stately winding down of a hot streak that continued longer than anyone would have expected—and which many didn’t. Don’t panic: With casinos at the hottest since forever, it was only natural that Americans’ fever for gambling would ease, at least a bit. Having burned through a remarkable amount of discretionary capital, Yanks are pulling back on our spending a wee bit … albeit not on the Las Vegas Strip. Of course, when the United States gets even a mild cold, Nevada contracts pneumonia … but we’re not there (yet).

Sorry, imperator. The votes have been counted in Missouri and the initiative Caesars Entertainment tried to block, Amendment 2, has eked out the narrowest of wins. With victory within its grasp, Caesars told its troops to stand down three weeks before the vote. Now it emerges that the Roman Empire’s real motive for throwing in the towel was opportunistic and hypocritical: It could get one online sports betting license for every casino it has in the Show-Me State plus one, not the feared single license. Considering that Caesars has more online brands than it can shake a fasces at, this is good news for CEO Tom Reeg and his digital minions. However, had they sought a legal opinion sooner they might have saved themselves $15 million in wasted campaign money.

Congratulations, Atlantic City. Your relevance is being questioned again. Not only did casino revenues drop 8.5% last month (though they were still 3% better than prior to Covid-19 disruption), brick-and-mortar gambling yielded less than Internet betting did. Cyber casinos made $213.5 million, compared to $209 million for terrestrial ones. The blame game is undoubtedly very complex and resistant to easy reduction. But dare we suggest that ONE factor making iGaming more appealing is that you don’t have to breathe goddamn secondhand smoke—unless you want to puff away in the privacy of your home? And fewer and fewer punters are inclined to light up. Just a thought.