Category: Casino News

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Nasal amputation in Atlantic City; Goodbye, Hawaiian Marketplace

We’re back from vacation at last and pick up where we left: Atlantic City. The drop-dead date for contract talks (basically July 1, a full month past the expiry of the collective bargaining agreement) is drawing nigh and no progress is evident. Our East Coast correspondent reports that the rank-and-file are seeking $16/hour in base pay, which is still less than the livable wage of $17.75/hour, so that’s kinda george of them. Casinos continue to whinge about how poverty-stricken they are and say pay no attention to the money being raked in from i-gaming. At this rate, a strike appears more likely than not—and just when the casinos can least afford it. Are they really willing to flush the July Fourth weekend just to make an increasingly indefensible point? Apparently so.

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Atlantic City booms on eve of strike; Louisiana not so lucky

Staring down a seemingly inevitable strike on July 1 by Unite-Here, casinos in Atlantic City could at least take solace in a May that saw gaming revenues leapfrog 9% over last year. The total gross was $233 million, as slot revenues ($174 million) jumped 10.5% on 13% higher coin-in. Table revenue climbed 6.5% on 5.5% larger wagering. Zooming 30% ahead, Borgata banked $63.5 million to Hard Rock Atlantic City‘s $41.5 million (+19%). Hard Rock, incidentally, has been given a two-day reprieve from labor unrest. Ocean Casino Resort—pictured—was third with $25.5 million, gaining only 3% traction. Over at the Caesars Entertainment triumvirate, only Tropicana Atlantic City ($22 million) was revenue-positive, up 8.5%. Harrah’s Resort ceded 1.5% to $21 million and Caesars Atlantic City was down 9.5% to $20 million.

Ongoing improvements at Bally’s Atlantic City helped eke out a 2.5% increase to $13 million, while Resorts Atlantic City slipped 8% to $14 million. Golden Nugget was microscopically ahead of Bally’s at $13 million, a gain of 3%. I-gaming was a boon, good for $136 million, led by Borgata’s 31% market share and Golden Nugget’s 25.5%. Then came Resorts Digital‘s 22%, then way down to Caesars’ 7%, Tropicana’s 6%, Hard Rock’s 4%, Bally’s 2.5% and Ocean’s 1.5%. Internet gambling is great if you’re MGM Resorts International, lagniappe if you’re Bally’s Corp. As for sports betting, it engendered $61.5 million in revenue on $766.5 million in handle.

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Special Edition

So we leave on vacation (I checked into the Westin O’Hare and didn’t leave the building for three and half days) and all hell breaks loose in Big Gaming. The breaking story was MGM Resorts International‘s decision to shuck Gold Strike Tunica. It’s unloading a non-core property to the fast-expanding Cherokee Nation Entertainment. The fact that the Cherokee got 1,100 hotel rooms and a casino for a below-average 6X cash flow speaks for itself. Vici Properties remains the landlord and will collect $40 million a year from Cherokee Entertainment. MGM collects $350 million in cash, net, money it will hopefully not sink into the Osaka pit. The transaction is expected to take a year to close.

Although 2022 is still shaping up as a better year than 2019 for the industry, the post-pandemic recovery is definitely cooling. Indiana came out of May down 4% from last year, booking $212 million in revenue. With $36 million, Hard Rock Northern Indiana was the clear winner, besting nearby Horseshoe Hammond, falling a precipitous 24% to $29 million, and Ameristar East Chicago, plunging 34% to $17.5 million. Over to the east, Blue Chip was relatively unruffled, off 3.5% to $12 million. Elsewhere in the state, Hollywood Lawrenceburg was flat at $14.5 million and everyone else was down except Bally’s Evansville, up 7% to $14.5 million. Horseshoe Indianapolis banked $29 million, off 4.5%, and Harrah’s Hoosier Downs was down 1% to $21 million, both of them making up for the leakage up in Hammond.

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Maryland weaker, Illinois stronger; Mickelson in denial

Even as playing levels normalize from last year, gambling revenues continue their upward tread. Maryland, for instance, was 4% higher in May than a year ago (and 17.5% above 2019). Had there not been one fewer weekend day than in 2021, that tally should have been more impressive still. However, the growth was generated almost entirely by MGM National Harbor, which banked $76 million, an 11% surge. Maryland Live was 2% higher, grossing $63 million. Everyone else found consumers curbing their spending habits. Horseshoe Baltimore brought home a weak $18 million, down 9.5%. Out west, Rocky Gap Resort grossed $6 million (-5.5%) while Hollywood Perryville, in the east, netted $8 million but slipped 3%. That left Ocean Downs, which dipped 1% to $8.5 million. Established brands have little to worry about, it would appear, but smaller fry have cause for concern going forward.

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Smoke signals in Atlantic City; Discontent in Las Vegas

Atlantic City gambling halls like Ocean Casino Resort (pictured) may get a summer’s reprieve from a smoking ban, as the New Jersey legislative session winds down without resolution on the contentious issue. Even if both chambers were to vote by June 30, there’s a good chance that the legislation would contain a grace period to soften the blow. A pre-Labor Day ban seems out of the question. The bill in question is creeping toward majority support with 16 state senators and 35 assemblymen having co-sponsored it. “Passing this legislation is the least we can do for frontline casino employees who worked throughout the pandemic, keeping our already struggling gaming industry open for business during some of the bleakest moments over the last couple of years,” said Assemblyman William Spearman (D), one of the newest signatories.

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Resorts World sheds a problem; Big Gaming fleeced in N.Y.

With the discreet closure of Tacos El Cabron, splashy Resorts World Las Vegas finds itself down one restaurant—and happy to be so. Evidently in their haste to get everything on line, Resorts World management didn’t fully perform their due diligence on Tacos El Cabron, which turned out to be partly owned by convicted felon David Stroj. This came to light as part of a rupture between Resorts World President Scott Sibella and gambler Brandon Sattler. The latter’s scattershot accusations included the assertion that he and Sibella “probably had sex with multiple women at the same time.” Probably? Well, did they or didn’t they? If we’d participated in an orgy with a casino president that’s something we’d remember, for better or worse. Such roundhouse swings by Sattler only further reduce his credibility and increase the (good) chances that Sibella will be cleared by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

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Atlantic City casinos blow smoke

With a mealy-mouthedness that is becoming all too familiar, Atlantic City casino operators took advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic to plead poverty, warning of “grave danger” to their businesses unless they got tax cuts yesterday. One of their arguments was they were losing business to Internet gambling (largely operated by themselves). But hey, it worked. Gov. Phil Murphy (D) told the Lege to give the casinos what they wanted—and it did. According to a new Pro Publica report, “under the changes, companies will collectively pay … $55 million less than they otherwise would have this year—cuts that will disproportionately impact Atlantic City, the distressed capital of the state’s gaming industry.”

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Bally’s bans smoking (sorta); Purge at Cosmo; Aussie renegades

Two and a half cheers for Bally’s Corp., which has banned smoking at table games at its two Rhode Island casinos. We’ll throw in the other half-cheer when Bally’s nixes smoking in all gambling areas. (Ironically, the company is part of a consortium fighting a rear-guard action against a smoking ban in Atlantic City.) The company bowed to pressure from its table-game dealers, who had been protesting outside the Twin Rivers-branded casinos in Tiverton and Lincoln. Bally’s isn’t completely out of the woods, as state Rep. Teresa Tanzi (D) has filed legislation to revoke Bally’s special exemption from the state’s smoking ban. But this does take some of the pressure off.

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