Category: Casino News

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.

Casinos in the great state of Massachusetts grossed $97 million in October, a flat trajectory from last year but a whopping 23.5% higher than 2019. Encore Boston Harbor led with $62.5 million (flat). MGM Springfield slipped 6% to $21.5 million, led by an 11% slide at the tables. Plainridge Park continued its upward trend, gaining 3% to $13 million. High hold enable sports books to bring in $59.5 million on handle of $556 million. Homeboy DraftKings took home 58% of the revenue, with FanDuel settling for 27%. BetMGM was way back at 7%, followed by Caesars Sportsbook (2%) and two other operators apparently too negligible to mention.

It went right until the last minute but there’s a deal in place between Wynn Resorts and the Culinary Union. When negotiations were gaveled finished this morning, Wynn was three hours shy of the Culinary’s 5 a.m. strike deadline. The new pact resembles those achieved with MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment, especially in two crucial (and reasonable): substantial pay increases and reduced workloads for some staff. Big Gaming beat up on labor during and after the Great Pandemic, so it was time to give something back—and it did. Kudos to them and to the Culinary for a masterfully run campaign that said ‘nay’ to the union’s naysayers, including some corporatist lickspittles at the Las Vegas Sun.

No really meant no. Voters in Richmond rejected an Urban One casino two years ago by a whisker. Yesterday they buried it in a landslide. As of midnight, what was expected to be a tight race was a rout, with pro-casino forces only mustering 38% of the vote. Late polling had shown the casino ballot initiative trailing by two points. Why the dramatic, 10-point shift in the race? Was it the NASDAQ delisting of Urban One? Was it annoyance at being asked to go through a do-over campaign?

News outlets covering the stretch drive of Richmond‘s controversial Urban One/Churchill Downs casino proposal report a “razor-thin” margin for whoever wins, aye nor nay. In an atmosphere like this, missteps could be killers. And boy, did Urban One step in it big-time. A radio show on Urban One, hosted by Urban One founder Cathy Hughes, became a megaphone for racism in the cause of casinos. Appearing on The Box 99.5, guest host Preston “Famous” Brown smeared casino adversary Paul Goldman as “a white Jew with the background of Judas.” The Box quickly backpedaled. “These statements were horrible and offensive. Once we heard the comments and because he was alone in the studio with his producer, I personally drove to the station and immediately removed him from the show. He will not be appearing again,” said Radio One Regional Vice President Marsha Landess. However, apologies from Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins and Landess may not be enough to undo the PR damage at this late date.