“Avenir” means “the future” in French. For The Avenir casino project in New York City, the future ended two days ago. It’s done, finito, cooked, canned, vetoed. The sleek and stylish proposal, allied with Greenwood Racing (parent of mega-successful Parx Casino) got skunked 4-2 by its Community Advisory Committee. That means the Gotham casino derby is down to six contenders, who may shortly be four.
Continue reading No Future for Avenir
Then there were seven … again. In a stunning reversal of fortune, Caesars Entertainment‘s plans for a Times Square casino have been ashcanned by the relevant Community Advisory Committee. The casino proposal had bitterly divided the Broadway community and was recently panned for its hostility toward pedestrians and bus passengers. Since the latter (plus subway commuters) were supposed to constitute 75% of the customer base, the behavior of Caesars and SL Green was perverse, to say the least, not least for a casino that projected a preposterous $2.3 billion a year in gambling revenue but was polling at anemic levels. “Despite extensive outreach by the applicants, that [necessary] level of support has not materialized,” said Councilman Erik Bottcher, who cast one of the ‘no’ votes.
Continue reading Shocker in New York City
Casinos, with connivance of government, are getting away with murder in Atlantic City (and possibly elsewhere). A study by NJ Advance Media found “hazardous” (per Environmental Protection Agency benchmarks) levels of second-hand smoke in two Atlantic City casinos, which it did not name. Seven others had “unhealthy” concentrations of smoke … this included nonsmoking areas! The technical methodology has been shared.
Continue reading Killing Them Softly
Time to blow raspberries to the House Rules Committee. While permitting literally a thousand other amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, it struck down Rep. Dina Titus‘ FAIR Bet Act, which would have redressed Congress’ imposition of new taxes on gambling losses. It was supposedly not germane to national defense, despite the fact that the Pentagon purveys a large fleet of slot machines, for the purpose of clawing back what little money it pays our servicemen and -women, to the tune of $100 million a year. Hypocrisy much?
Continue reading Congress to You: Drop Dead
Whilst vigorously pretending that Everything Is Better Than Ever in Sin City, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill has been busy behind the scenes. He gone back to the LVCVA’s favorite well, R&R Partners, to spool up a new TV onslaught to rebrand Las Vegas. But wait, it’s not a campaign, fellow yokels, it’s “a recommitment to the extraordinary spirit of Las Vegas.” Somebody ought to be committed, all right …
Continue reading Jumping the Shark
What doth it profit a tribe to gain a casino but forfeit its birthright? The Dry Creek Rancheria of Pomo Indians just made a Faustian pact with Wall Street, for the sake of underwriting a Caesars Republic-branded casino near Healdsburg, California. In return for $225 million in construction financing, the tribe agreed to lease the casino until 2070 to “an affiliate” of financier Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc., which will magnanimously sublease it back to the band. Any guesses to who the friend of GLPI might be? Corporate PR simpering aside, it’s obviously going to be Caesars Entertainment at the helm for 45 years.
Continue reading Indian Givers
There’s been a serious outbreak of complacency in C-suites along the Las Vegas Strip and July’s numbers will undoubtedly reinforce it. With $749 million, the Strip hopped 5.5%, helping to spur a 4% uptick in Nevada gambling revenue last month. North Las Vegas, a market that Station Casinos rightly concluded was maxed out, jumped 8%, raking in $24.5 million. Downtown was up 3.5% to $74.5 million and the Boulder Strip ceded a point, reaching $85 million. Miscellaneous Clark County was down 3% ($166 million), strongly suggesting that the Durango Resort boom has run its course and the market is stabilizing. However, customers avoided Laughin, which tumbled 7% to $41 million.
Continue reading Strip Up, Tourism Way Down
See that guy? He’s the single most overpaid CEO in Big Gaming. We’re talking about Jay Snowden, helmsman of Penn Entertainment. As revealed by the Nevada Current, the Institute for Policy Studies and Inequality.org, Snowden makes 734X the median wage of a Penn employee, who must eke out a living on $36,322 a year. Snowden’s obscene pay packet? $26.6 million. Nor is he alone in robbing shareholders blind. Read on.
Continue reading Grinning Bandits
As Las Vegas struggles, customers have been flocking to Atlantic City. It’s not a binary equation, obviously, but it does underscore the appeal of drive-in casinos in times of economic uncertainty. Day-tripping is on the ascent, long-haul travel not so much. Casino revenue hopped 4% on the Boardwalk in July, reaching $284 million. Those seeking to beat the heat stayed home and made iGaming a winner, shooting up 26.5% to $247 million. Sports betting was in a summer lull, with handle down 2% and revenue dipping 6.5%.
Continue reading Boardwalk Bliss; Dr. Doom
DeNile is the only river that runs through the Las Vegas Strip and casino bosses having been boating on it big-time of late. But when it comes to blowing sunshine up one’s own ass, there’s nobody better at it than Pollyanna-in-Chief Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority. He dumped an extra-large serving of bullshit on the plate of CDC Gaming‘s Buck Wargo last week and demanded that the public swallow it whole.
Continue reading Hill the Shill Returns