January was super-cold in Illinois … except at the casinos. They leapt 13.5% on a same-store basis (i.e., excluding Fairmont Park). An extra weekend day helped—but still! New Hollywood Joliet is fending off management’s fears of an early slowdown, growing 1% from December and 60% from the old place last year at this time. It grossed $11 million. If only it didn’t look from the outside like a strip mall …
Continue reading Hither, Thither & Yon
Despite bad weather, the fourth quarter for Boyd Gaming was steady as she goes. Wall Street expected $334 million in cash flow and Boyd delivered $337 million, along with $1 billion in revenue. That was achieved even with soft business in the Midwest and South, as well as in the drive-in business in Las Vegas. Locals play in Sin City remains solid, which was a saving grace. Destination customers just weren’t coming, which hurt business at The Orleans, for one. To console investors, $185 million in stock was bought back, and projects in Virginia, Illinois and suburban Vegas remain in train through 2028.
Continue reading Boyd: Weathering the Storm
Don’t you just hate it when reality refuses to conform to Big Gaming’s preferred narrative? MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle sure does. That would explain the hissy fit he threw last weekend. Faced with a Las Vegas that was 9% down in visitation in December and off 6% in gambling grosses, Hornbuckle stuck with the ‘Happy days are here again’ mantra.
Continue reading MGM: Shoot the Messenger
Let’s make one thing clear: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) isn’t a bad guy. During the Covid-19 pandemic, for instance, he stood firm for science at a time when quackery and superstition dominated the public discourse. However, when it comes to sports betting, he’s got some odd policy ideas. Right now, DeWine is taking his final bows before leaving office and the farewell tour has one recurring theme. Namely, that where OSB is concerned, DeWine is in serious danger of becoming DeWhine.
Continue reading Days of Whine and Grosses
Conventional wisdom in the casino industry (sometimes known as ‘wishful thinking’) held that the fourth quarter of 2025 would see a big turnaround on the Las Vegas Strip. The reality? Nothing of the sort. Strip casinos came off a soft November into a poor December, down 6% to close out 2025. Meanwhile, Lady Luck smiled on the locals casinos, up 6%.
Continue reading Vegas: Strip craters, locals surge
Despite having neither financing nor a coherent design, Bally’s Corp. insists that its eponymous Las Vegas resort is a “go.” Shuffling paperwork to create the illusion of progress, Bally’s submitted budgetary documents to Clark County. Evidently the papers projected a start date of December 2025, so we can go ahead and throw out the estimated December 2030 completion out the window. Already Bally’s has welshed on its promise to be open when the adjacent baseball stadium (theoretically to be home of the Sacramento Athletics) debuts in 2028. Nor is that all.
Continue reading Rearranging the Deck Chairs
Arrogance is usually the corollary of idiocy. And Santa Anita racetrack was surely arrogant in thinking it could put one over on the state of California … or on the ever-vigilant Native American tribes in the Golden State. Without getting approval or indeed, it seems, without telling anyone, Santa Anita installed 24 ‘historical horse racing machines’ (HRMs for short) at the track. Two days later, they were gone, somebody having put Attorney General Rob Bonta onto this cutesy ploy.
Continue reading Stupidity, California-style
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