Pent-up demand, huh? Not in Hawaii, according to KHON-TV in Honolulu. It reveals that Hawaiian Vacations had been planning to resume charter flights to Sin City (Boyd Gaming‘s bread and butter) in December but called it off due to a lack of traction with customers. “We just didn’t have enough people comfortable and ready to book to send 767 aircrafts, 218-passenger planes to Vegas,” said Sales & Promotions Director Kevin Kaneshiro. The company has retrenched and is now planning a June 1 relaunch. Reports KHON, “The plan is to have three flights a week with departures on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. With considerably more people getting vaccinated and some restrictions likely to be lifted, Kaneshiro says people will be ready for a true vacation.” That includes air, hotel and meals all in one value-oriented package. “[I]t’s pretty much everything except the baggage handling,” Kaneshiro explains. Customers will be put up at the California Hotel or Fremont Hotel.
As for Main Street Station, no reopening has been announced and we don’t expect one before summer. Boyd is using its in the meantime as a Covid-19 testing facility, so that travelers returning to the 50th state don’t have to go through 10-day quarantines upon arrival home. According to Hawaiian Vacations, whatever uptick in demand exists is coming from the younger clientele, with senior citizens understandably fighting shy until they’ve had their shots. We expect Las Vegas to be back in a big way at some point but if Las Vegas Sands CEO Rob Goldstein says it won’t be until next year we’re prepared to take him at his word.
More than 23 million Americans are expected to bet legally or otherwise on the Super Bowl, according to the American Gaming Association, which predicts $4.3 billion in handle. 7.5 million punters will be doing their wagering online, 63% more than last year. The action leans heavily (56%) toward the Kansas City Chiefs—sorry, GOAT—with 12 million citizens betting against friends, as opposed to 1.5 million using retail sports bookies, down 61% from last year, before Covid-19 struck. Action with Lefty in the back alley will be patronized by nearly two million Americans, down 21%, a sign of progress. Speaking of progress, the AGA says, “34 percent of Americans remember seeing responsible gaming messaging in the past year, up five points from 2020. Super Bowl bettors were even more likely to see responsibility content, with 53 percent seeing responsible gaming messaging in the past year.” As AGA prexy Bill Miller puts it, “Responsible gaming is core to legal sports betting’s long-term success, and this is borne out by continued demand for consumer protections only available in the legal market.”
Greff elaborated that “vaccination hopes (which we share theoretically) allow for a more pronounced and sustainable consumer spend recovery starting in the 3Q21; we also know what marketing and staffing changes have been made—some of which are permanent—and have conviction that forward-year margins should be decently higher than pre-COVID-19 levels.” He added that gaming had been bolstered through a soft brick-and-mortar period by gains in sports betting and Internet play. He stuck with his price target for Station ($31/share) and added two bucks to his Boyd goal (to $54). The reasons have been well-rehearsed in this space, so we’ll skip them for now. He really likes Caesars, upping his target $6 to $89/share, noting that its William Hill purchase and i-gaming strategy are firming up nicely. “Additionally, CZR is attractively positioned for the return of the 55+ customer base to its casinos (we think this gains momentum along with vaccine distribution). During this period of COVID-19 related lockdowns/limited discretionary spend, many 55+ Caesars Rewards members have benefitted from increased savings and record-high home values and stock prices.”
