It was a signal December for Atlantic City casinos, in that Garden State residents preferred to stay home and play on the Web, rather than in the cozy (and smoke-ridden) confines of the Boardwalk. Gambling-hall revenues plunged 6.5% as the casinos suffered dreadful luck at the tables. Wagering was up 10% but Big Gaming won 11% less. Slots slumped 5%.
Continue reading Atlantic City, Watch Out
Reality has set in at Bally’s Chicago. The $1.7 billion megaresort has long looked as though it would miss its projected September 2026 opening date. Construction hiccups have ensured as much, plus this is terra incognita for Bally’s Corp., which has never built a megaresort nor operated one. Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc. execs were under no illusions that the project would stretch into 2027 and have budgeted accordingly. Anyway, Bally’s made it official by appealing to the Lege for a year-long extension of its Medinah Temple temporary casino.
Continue reading Bally’s Gets Real, Vegas Gets Shafted
Casino revenues in Maryland slumped last month, down 2.5% to $160 million. At least Horseshoe Baltimore had something to crow about, leaping 12% to $15 million. Rocky Gap Resort was also up, plus 1.5% to $4 million and validating Century Casinos‘ turnaround talk. MGM National Harbor (above) dove 7% to $68.5 million and chief rival Maryland Live was flat at $59 million. Ocean Downs dipped 3% to $7 million and Hollywood Perryville was 2% off to $7 million.
Continue reading Closing the Book on 2025
For the second time in a month, we have a major civic leader diving under the table instead of making a firm decision. After dithering for seven months, Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) opted to let LD 1164 become law without her signature. Not exactly Profiles in Courage stuff. Why is this bill important? Because it opens up the Pine Tree State to iGaming, via the four tribes of the Wabanaki Nation. Three of them are aligned with Caesars Entertainment and one with DraftKings. Pouting on the sidelines are a variety of interested parties, including FanDuel, BetMGM and Fanatics, all of whom find themselves on the outside looking in.
Continue reading Sorta Doing the Right Thing
As we reported elsewhere, the state of Florida has a serious problem with illegal casinos. Lawmakers have been generally unwilling to take this bull by the horns. One laudable exception is state Sen. Clay Yarbrough (R). Following the lead of state Attorney General James Uthmeier, Yarbrough is looking to seriously upscale the penalties on those who operate rogue slot parlors.
Continue reading The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Florida
Tourism to Las Vegas fell 5% in November and flattened Las Vegas Strip gambling revenues along with with it. Casinos should be grateful that the fewer players they’re getting are spending more. Strip gambling houses grossed $784 million the month before last. (The Nevada Gaming Control Board snuck the numbers out on New Year’s Eve.) Although miscellaneous Clark County casinos were flat, most everybody else prospered. Downtown dens were up 10% to $87 million, the Boulder Strip saw a 20% leap to $79.5 million and North Las Vegas was up 4.5% to $25.5 million. Along the borders, Laughlin jumped 11.5% to $38 million, Mesquite climbed 10.5% to $18 million, while Wendover was 4.5% to $24 million.
Continue reading F1 Lays an Egg
As luck would have it, we were in Chicago last week. That’s when, in a stunning display of spinelessness, Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) opted to neither sign nor veto the city budget. He dove under the desk. In that act of moral cowardice, Johnson tacitly assented to one move that screws over Bally’s Chicago and another that sticks it to legal OSB operators.
Continue reading Bally’s Gets Screwed
Over the weekend, a rather bizarre story appeared in Sin City’s whipped cur of a newspaper, the servile Las Vegas Review-Journal, play toy of Dr. Miriam Adelson. Since Jonathan Halkyard has been functioning as CFO of MGM Resorts International since 2020, one might assume he’d been licensed for that position in Nevada. Well, you know what happens when we assume. Seems that only now is the sleepy Nevada Gaming Commission getting around to vetting the man who’s been #2 at MGM for five effing years now. Halkyard is squeaky clean but this is a prime example of how rotten apples like Scott Sibella can have time to taint the barrel whilst Silver State regulators catch up on their naps.
Continue reading No Time Like the Present
Atlantic City, you must be so proud. Mayor Marty Small (D), recently re-elected, beat the rap on felony charges this week. The indictment against Mrs. Small is expected to be dropped. Too bad. Small had a big chance of joining the not-so-illustrious list of A.C. mayors who have gone to the slammer. Meanwhile, Boardwalk power brokers are spin-doctoring like mad that November’s casino grosses weren’t so bad (for most of the gambling houses) and that Atlantic City is still relevant in light of three oncoming New York City megaresorts. The argument is that NYC can’t duplicate what the Boardwalk has to offer. What would that be? Cigarette smoke?
Continue reading Boardwalk Follies
It was the best of times … for Borgata, Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort. It was the worst of times for everyone else. Borgata takings rocketed 25% to $72 million, outpacing everyone else. Hard Rock Atlantic City was up 2% to $45 million and Ocean Casino leapt 14.5% to $39 million. The only other casino to hold its own was Harrah’s Resort, flat at $18.5 million. Caesars Atlantic City plunged 24% to $12.5 million and Tropicana Atlantic City fell 4.5% to $16 million. In other words, it took Caesars Entertainment three casinos to make slightly more than Hard Rock did.
Continue reading A Tale of Two Atlantic Citys