Category: Casino News

One of the hottest casinos on the Las Vegas Strip is—believe it or not—Casino Royale. How the humble have risen! The oft-mocked, independent joint was favored by a surprising amount of Sin City customers surveyed by Truist Securities. Out of all the places to stay, 4% said the Margaret Elardi-owned gambling den was their favorite. That’s as many as were partial to Harrah’s Las Vegas, that Strip monument to Stalinist architecture. It also put Casino Royale up there with Bellagio (the choice of 6%) and Caesars Palace (7%), but well behind MGM Grand (11%). Considering that two of those properties are synonymous with price-gouging and bad customer service, you have to wonder if Vegas tourists are masochistic by nature.

Every weekday our routine begins with a scan of the top 150 gambling and sports betting stories on Google. It can be a depressing task, given the mounting tide of articles and opinion pieces damning Big Gaming for addicting Americans to the thrill of a legal bet. Taken in tandem with some recent legislative actions, it leads to the inescapable conclusion that a backlash against gambling isn’t coming. It’s here.

Casino revenues hopped 6% in April in the Free State. It was driven by a 19.5% surge in table winnings, as slots were flat. MGM National Harbor led the way with $74 million, up 8%. Horseshoe Baltimore slipped 3% to the mediocre $15 million per month that is this misbegotten casino’s destiny. Maryland Live was up 7.5% to $63 million. Ocean Downs gained 5.5% to $8 million but Hollywood Perryville ceded 4.5% to $7.5 million. Rocky Gap Resort continued to turn it around, up 7% to $4.5 million.

Coming in slighty ahead of Wall Street‘s expectations, Caesars Entertainment delivered cash flow of $887 million in the first quarter. (The Street anticipated $883 million.) J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Politzer attributed the beat to “modest upside,” both online and in vexed Las Vegas. Caesars’ bread and butter, its regional casinos, were merely in line with forecasts. And management was keeping mum on the possibility of a Tilman Ferttita takeover or an insider LBO.

In a coup that did not take Wall Street completely by surprise, Churchill Downs revealed last week that it had obtained the IP rights to the financially troubled Preakness Stakes. This gives CHDN control over two of the three legs of the Triple Crown. For $85 million, Churchill Downs gets the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, as well as 2% of handle therefrom. The state of Maryland remains in control of the track, in which it plans to invest $400 million. “In short, CHDN will generate fees from the Preakness and Pimlico under new state operation, with little formal operating influence, although, given the state’s intended investment of $400M to reposition the track, we expect CHDN to be involved,” summarized Jefferies Equity Research analyst David Katz, noting the obvious synergistic benefits to owning both the Kentucky Derby (which continues to prosper) and the Preakness.