Author: David Mckee

All too predictably, lawmakers in New Jersey slunk away from their previous commitment to close the smoking loophole that solely benefits Atlantic City casinos. State Sen. Joseph Vitale (D) claimed to be one vote short of advancing the bill out of committee. Colleague Fred Madden (D) took the coward’s way out, saying he was open to a bullshit “compromise” advanced by the Casino Association of New Jersey, no friend of the working stiff. The CANJ alternative would amend the bill currently before solons to allow an 18-month continuation of wide-open smoking. During that period of sanctioned secondhand smoke, operators would have the option of enhancing their HVAC systems (an ineffecutal remedy) and creating enclosed smoking areas—with games and sponsored by tobacco companies. Hack casino executive and CANJ boss Mark Giannantonio‘s group claims—not very credibly—that no employee would be compelled to work in a smoking area. And if everyone refuses? What then? Those questions went begging.

Our man on the Boardwalk stayed at Borgata last weekend and reports that the property is fully decorated for Christmas, juxtaposing Santa and slots. Golden Nugget is still getting started (way to go, guys) while Bally’s Atlantic City had “some small stuff” on view. That’s the holiday spirit. Not. Speaking of the last-place Nugget, it is requiring players to accumulate 200 tier credits before obtaining a December $25 gift card, which is a big outlay for players. Bally’s, by contrast, “will be offering $125 gift cards eight times, $150 one time, and $175 one time.” That’s mighty George of them.

Business is still strong on the Boardwalk. Casino revenues of $228 million for October in Atlantic City were 3% higher than last year and a healthy 13% more than in 2019 (and still Big Gaming claims that it can’t make money at the shore). Sports betting leapt 18% to revenue of $92 million on $1.3 billion in handle. And i-gaming generated $167 million, a 13% jump. A poor performance at the slots (-14%) translated into a 9% drop for Borgata, closing out the month with $57 million. But that’s nothing compared to the performance of Ocean Casino Resort, which shot ahead of Hard Rock Atlantic City. Ocean grossed $43.5 million, a +53% moonshot. Hard Rock did a not-inconsiderable $41 million, up 6%.

That novelty factor wore off quickly for Bally’s Casino in Chicago. The good news for Bally’s Corp. is that the Medinah Temple temporary won $7.5 million last month, good for (distant) fourth place in the state, far behind Rivers Des Plaines. The bad news is for the City of Chicago itself, as the Sun Times reports that the number is “well behind city tax revenue projections for Chicago’s desperately underfunded police and firefighter pensions,” and that the data showed a dropoff from September. There’s also been a 20% decline in visitors. We warned Chicagoans that then-mayor Lori Lightfoot had absurd numbers dancing in her head. If the rescue of those pension funds relies on one casino, they’re screwed, sad to say.

Two down, one to go. This morning, the Culinary Union tersely announced the reaching of a tentative deal with leading employer MGM Resorts International. That’s 24 hours after the local declared it had achieved a pact with Caesars Entertainment by dint of a marathon, 20-hour bargaining session. Bleary-eyed CZR and Culinary negotiators reached an agreement at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday. Wynn Resorts remains the lone holdout of the Big Three, with less than 24 hours to the strike deadline and a week before Formula One comes to town. The Culinary was loaded for bear and gaming execs ultimately realized that.