Unite-Here quickly ran out of patience with the Golden Nugget and Resorts Atlantic City. 97% of affected membership voted to authorize strikes at both the bottom-feeding casinos if a labor deal can’t be reached before August 1. That still gives both Nugget and Resorts management some wiggle room but it also indicates that talks are not going well. Although the exact nature of the grievance wasn’t specified, we’ll hazard a well-educated guess. The casinos are probably taking a page from the Carl Icahn playbook and demanding a preferential, lower, wage scale. That negotiating tactic bombed at Trump Taj Mahal and probably won’t play much better at the two holdouts, if they go to the wall. The union has made it crystal-clear that it won’t accept second-tier status for any of its employees at any casino in town.

There’s so much news today we almost don’t know where to begin. But we’ll start with Atlantic City, which reported a 2% increase in casino revenue, to $229 million. Internet gambling and sports betting chipped in another $169 million. One of the biggest beneficiaries was Bally’s Atlantic City (above), which leapt 20% to $13.5 million. Other coffee achievers were Ocean Casino Resort, which catapulted 29.5% to $30 million, and Hard Rock Atlantic City, scarcely to be outdone with a 26.5% increase to $44.5 million. Borgata actually lost market share (or was unlucky at the tables), down 4% to $54 million. Of the Caesars Entertainment threesome, only Tropicana Atlantic City was revenue-positive, up 1.5% to $21.5 million. Harrah’s Resort was 5.5% down to $20 million and Caesars Atlantic City, formerly the most volatile house in town, ceded just 4% to $19 million. Resorts Atlantic City was flat at $14 million and Golden Nugget nudged up 3.5% to a last-place $12.5 million. Overall, slot revenue climbed 11% to $171 million on 12% more coin-in, while tables saw 4% less win but on 7% less wagering.

Prior to the current Covid-19 lockdown, casinos in Macao were already engaged in a $600 million/month cash burn, thanks to the China‘s zero-tolerance policy on the disease. That will only get worse now that access to customers has been shut off entirely, needless to say. Given the former and potential money-making puissance of Macao, the six operators have no chance but to hunker down and absorb the punishment, especially as they wait the six months before their licenses are renewed, as appears inevitable. (And why not?) “The sad part is that it’s going to be years until business comes back to where it used to be,” observed gaming pundit Alidad Tash. How many years remains to be seen but the smart money is on later rather than sooner.

Effective today, all casinos in Macao have closed, in governmental reaction to a spike in Covid-19 cases. “Only essential businesses like supermarkets, gas stations, and pharmacies will remain open.” In other words, just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse in Macao, they did. SJM‘s Grand Lisboa is the Covid hot spot, with 13 of the 71 newest cases being spotted in the pleasure palace. At the risk of sounding heartless, this latest turn of events exposes the danger of doing business at the sufferance of an authoritarian regime. Companies vulnerable to the effects of the shutdown include (in diminishing order) Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International. They may pass the pain on to their Macanese workers. When the Las Vegas Review-Journal asked if they would continue paying the idled—through no fault of their own—employees, all three firms clammed up.