Category: Casino News

Today we conclude our review of Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli‘s recent field trip to Las Vegas. We resume with Station Casinos, which seems to be accelerating its development timetable. Once it gets Durango Station up and running, it will proceed with both Inspirada and Skye Canyon, both of which are currently in the design phase. They enjoy favorable demographics, with Skye Canyon having been named one of the top 10 master-planned residential communities in the country. No word on what Station plans for the 100-acre Wild Wild West site, although Santarelli said the land gives the company “valuable optionality as the Strip continues to expand.” (Is that code for ‘flip’? It would be out of character for Station.)

Durango seems to be moving toward an early 2024 opening, although the timeline is kind of hazy, but it’s on budget and will be in an area that has 50 adults per gaming position, double the number surrounding Red Rock Resort—a Strip-caliber property stranded out in the ‘burbs. Household income in the Durango Station area is also only 8% below that in Summerlin, yet another positive harbinger. Santarelli doesn’t expect staffing of the new casino to be “problematic,” for several reasons, including Station’s status as a preferred employer in town. The company told him it is fully staffed at present and “Management noted that it has adapted a more disciplined approach to cost control via hourly wage management, given wage inflation.”

Continue reading Voyage to Vegas, Part Two

Internet gambling produced more than Detroit‘s casinos did for Michigan last month, $131 million to $104.5 million. Unsurprisingly, BetMGM was dominant with $49 million. Thence came DraftKings ($26.5 million) and FanDuel ($19 million). Smaller fry included BetRivers ($9 million), Caesars Entertainment ($6 million), and WynnBet and Barstool Sports at $4 million apiece. Sports betting was not nearly so lucrative, with $24 million realized on $218 million in handle. A third of that went right back out in the form of promotions, with Barstool engaging in significantly less promo activity than its rivals, per Penn Entertainment CEO Jay Snowden‘s rationale for buying Barstool in the first place. As for revenue, FanDuel (32% of market share) outdueled DraftKings (21%), while BetMGM was close behind at 21%. Caesars and Barstool each accreted 7%.

Continue reading Weekend edition

While we have no definitive idea whether Ocean Casino Resort CEO Bill Callahan is a male chauvinist pig, he certainly presents a convincing set of credentials in a Global Gaming Business puff piece. Never mind the efforts of predecessor Terry Glebocki (above, hounded out by the Illitch family), when it comes to Ocean’s reinvention from joke to overachiever, Callahan says he did it all himself, derogating previous administrations several times over in an ode to his own perspicacity. We’re sure that, by this point, Callahan has made some changes—like the new sports book—that are redounding to the good. But to take credit for everything … that requires a fair amount of gall.

Continue reading Atlantic City sexism and other capers; Falling Star

Gambling continues to prosper in Missouri, where August receipts ($161 million) were 5.5% above last year’s. Visitation was actually down 5% but per-player spending rose 11%, inflation be damned. Ameristar St. Charles was out front with $26.5 million, leaping 9%. River City was next at $21 million, up 8%, while Penn Entertainment‘s nearby sister property Hollywood St. Louis jumped 10% to $19 million. Freshly rebranded Horseshoe St. Louis showed signs of a turnaround, up 6% to $14 million. Over in Kansas City, there’s a continued tailwind behind reinvented Bally’s Kansas City, up 9% to $10 million, even if it was in fourth place. Market leaders were Ameristar Kansas City ($16.5 million, +1%), Harrah’s North Kansas City ($15 million, +14%) and Argosy Riverside ($15 million, flat). Outstate, Century Casinos had adverse months in Caruthersville ($3.5 million, -9%) and Cape Girardeau ($5.5 million, -7%), while Isle of Capri Boonville climbed 5% to $7.5 million.

Continue reading Horseshoe boosts St. Louis; U.K. gaming reform slowed

Clark County Administrator Robert Telles (D) is in custody for the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German in what has all the appearance of a revenge killing. Good work by Las Vegas Metro, despite a set of conflicting statements that the German assassination was “an isolated incident” and the act of someone casing the neighborhood for crimes of opportunity. (Like killing crusading reporters, we guess.) The alleged perp was stupid enough to drive to and from the crime scene in a GMC Yukon Denali tricked out with chrome handles and a sunroof, not your average perp. Ditto the strange disguise affected, which had Metro briefly baffled as to whether the suspect was a he or a she. Perhaps the sight of Telles washing town the Denali hours after the crime was what did him in. (Or maybe it was wearing a white hazmat suit to clean his garage. Nothing strange about that, eh?)

Just prior to being apprehended by Metro, Telles sustained what is described as a self-inflicted wound (mens rea?) and was carried from his SWAT-breached home on a stretcher. A Denali matching crime-scene footage was towed from his driveway. The timing of the crime was opportune and incriminating: According to the Los Angeles Times, “German was working on a new story about Telles the week he was stabbed to death.” Previously, German had covered Telles for “allegations of bullying, favoritism and an inappropriate relationship between Telles and a subordinate. Telles had publicly accused German of being a ‘bully’ and running a ‘smear’ campaign against him,” in the great tradition of Nevada elected officials. (Telles remains in office until December 31.)

Continue reading Justice for German; MGM gets some Wall Street love