Author: David Mckee

Black-market operators of slot routes in Missouri could achieve legitimacy next year—with the help of two out-of-state providers. Illinois‘ leading slot-route purveyors, J&J Ventures and Accel Entertainment, bitter rivals in the Land of Lincoln have put aside their differences to join forces in a PAC. Its goal is “to funnel campaign contributions to lawmakers who have been unable to agree on a way to legalize Missouri’s current unregulated marketplace.” At least they’re not being coy about it. The entity is called Mo Coalition for Video Lottery PAC. J&J is an old hand at Missouri politics, being a frequent backer of Gov. Mike Parson (R). It’s also been financing the aspirations of other Show-Me State politicians.

In a billion-dollar coup, MGM Resorts International has sold the operations of The Mirage to Hard Rock International, a huge markup on Steve Wynn‘s 1989 creation—and Hard Rock isn’t even getting the underlying land! All this for 17X EBITDA, an exponential price boost for a Las Vegas Strip asset. VitalVegas was the first to report that the Seminole Tribe was getting a look-see at The Mirage a couple of weeks ago and negotiations must have quickly started in earnest. While Mohegan Gaming Entertainment is struggling over at Virgin Las Vegas, Hard Rock—pretty iconic in itself—gains one of the most iconic properties on the Strip, in a killer location and with 32 years of history-making cachet. MGM figures to net $815 million on the sale while Hard Rock inherits a master lease valued at $90 million per year. (The Mirage did $154 million in cash flow in 2019.) MGM CFO Jonathan Halkyard said MGM’s payday would go toward “opportunities that will enhance the customer experience at our other locations in Las Vegas.” (Maybe that proposed hotel tower in front of Excalibur … please.)

It’s been a rough winter for Peninsula Pacific. First it narrowly lost a plebiscite in Richmond, Virginia. Then, on Saturday, it got body-slammed by voters in Louisiana‘s St. Tammany Parish, who turned out in droves to vote down a proposed casino in a landslide, with 63% balloting “nay.” Peninsula Pacific, owner of the Diamond Jacks license from Shreveport, had made a very “george” offer, including a $352 million casino and lots of upfront money for the community. But they ill-judged the dynamics of the Slidell area, where the mayor and leading local officials wanted nothing to do with Peninsula Pacific.

One person who saw this coming a mile off was Full House Resorts CEO Dan Lee, he of the Silver Slipper in Biloxi: “Full House-commissioned polling, he said, showed Diamond Jacks losing ‘by a very wide margin.’ He said the Slidell area is very conservative and heavily Republican, filled with people who had fled New Orleans ‘to get away from things like casinos.'” The real winner in all this is not Full House, however, but Churchill Downs, whose Fair Grounds track is the nearest gaming facility to Slidell. They just dodged a bullet.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) has really put her foot in it this time. Not only are Windy City aldermen balking at five stadium-area sports books in addition to a billion-dollar casino, fearing cannibalization, but Lightfoot threw gasoline on the fire with the oh-so-casual remark that taxpayers would be footing the bill for the infrastructure needed for aforesaid sports books to operate. Spending public money to make already-rich people even richer would be a hard sell to voters, we’re sure. Also, Lightfoot’s much-touted 2% extra impost on sports books was derided as “paltry” after her office said it would bring in $400K-$500K a year, peanuts compared to the tax dollars a casino would pay. Back in the day (2009), Lightfoot said freestanding sports books had “the potential to undermine the viability of any Chicago-based casino.” Lightfoot 2.0 now deems them essential and is allied with the Lege in trying to strong-arm aldermen into going along.

Succumbing to the siren song of REITmania, Cordish Gaming has sold the real estate of three of its casinos to Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. for a grand total of $1.8 billion. The affected casinos are Philadelphia Live, Pittsburgh Live and Maryland Live. The latter is the real prize, Philadelphia Live (pictured) being somewhat of an underachiever. Reported JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff, “the deal also includes a binding partnership on future Cordish casino developments and potential financing partnerships between GLPI and Cordish in other parts of Cordish’s businesses … We also like that GPLI is adding a new and reputable real estate/gaming partner that potentially could lead to future accretive transactions.” The newfound wealth could also empower Cordish to take on new projects elsewhere. “They’re raising capital without having to get the loan or do some kind of stock offering, because Cordish is still a private company and is more limited,” gaming analyst Jason Karmel observed.