Author: David Mckee

Bullish on its international prospects, Wynn Resorts revealed yesterday that, for $200 million, it has bought another 155 acres on Al-Marjan Island in the United Arab Emirates, site of an in-progress casino megaresort. Wynn CEO Craig Billings called it “a sizable land bank for potential future development opportunities for Wynn Resorts or for selected third parties complementary to Wynn Al Marjan.” Billings is keeping his powder dry as to what the company will do with the additional acreage but needn’t be in any hurry either. He added, “the UAE is the most exciting new market for our industry in decades and are confident in the demand and EBITDA potential of Wynn Al Marjan as it continues to grow.” Since casinos in Macao are so 2003, Billings isn’t slighting that mega-market with his “in decades” comment. Besides, you’ll never get that much land, nor nowhere near so cheaply, in Sin City.

We’re not referring to the weather (although that too). Las Vegas Strip casinos were up 4% in June and 23% hotter than they were in the early summer of 2019. They grossed $758.5 million, fueled in part by tight baccarat hold (wagering was 4% down, though). Casinos played luckily at table games, winning 19% more than last year (for $335 million) on 10% higher betting. Their luck ran out at the slots, down 3% to $382 million despite 42% greater coin-in. A 2% uptick in visitation helped drive the numbers as well.

It was a great sign for investors in Station Casinos when the company accelerated its 2Q24 earnings report to yesterday. Station execs were clearly bursting with good news. As Truist Securities analyst Barry Jonas summarized, Durango Resort continues to be boffo, with same-store results at most other Station properties stable and cannibalization of former flagship Red Rock Resort no worse than expected. A hastened Phase II enlargement of Durango was formally announced this afternoon but it was the worst-kept secret in Las Vegas for quite some time.

Contrary to this morning’s gloom-and-doom headlines, casinos in Atlantic City did just fine last month. Big Gaming is probably spinning the numbers as bad ones in order to evade A) smoking bans and B) higher taxes. Gambling revenue was $244 million, 1% above last year and 3.5% higher than pre-pandemic 2019. The downside is that the upside was driven by but four casinos out of nine. Bally’s Atlantic City charged out of last place with a 9% surge to $13.5 million. Borgata hopped 6% to $64 million (no surprise there) and Hard Rock Atlantic City rose 12% to $48.5 million. Tail-end Charlie Golden Nugget even managed a 6% jump to $12.5 million.

A Faustian pact has been struck by Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim. In order to gain the cash necessary to build his $1.8 billion obsession, Bally’s Chicago, Kim has had to sell practically everything of value that Bally’s has. On paper, he gains a flagship megaresort. However, he loses assets against which he could leverage projects in Las Vegas and New York City. Maybe there’s a disguised blessing. Perhaps Kim, whose Standard General hedge fund is the largest BALY shareholder, will finally be forced to focus on one big thing at a time.