Las Vegas Advisor

Posted on April 19, 2022September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — Leave a comment

Atlantic City continues to rebound; Chicago casinos lose momentum; Mega-Jottings

Atlantic City casinos leapt 17% from March 2021, grossing $216.5 million. Except for Tropicana Atlantic City, which was flat at $19 million, almost everyone posted relatively impressive gains. Borgata‘s $55 million (+18%) predictably topped the market, while Hard Rock Atlantic City (shown) surged 28% to $39 million. Ocean Casino Resort was up 26% to $25.5 million. Harrah’s Resort performed best of the Caesars Entertainment threesome, climbing 12.5% to $20 million, while Caesars Atlantic City dipped 4.5% down to $18.5 million. Bunched together at the bottom were Bally’s Atlantic City, Resorts Atlantic City and Golden Nugget, in that order. Bally’s seems to be showing momentum, moving up two notches in the hierarchy, gaining 36% on a gross of $13.5 million, while Resorts notched $13 million, an 8% hike and the Nugget brought up the rear with $12.5 million, a 16% climb nevertheless.

Posted on April 18, 2022September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — Leave a comment

Parx dethroned; Shreveport sleaze; Maine’s latest bet

Move over, Parx Casino, there’s a new leader in the Pennsylvania gaming market. That’d be Penn National‘s eponymous racino near Harrisburg. For the second month in a row it was tops in the Keystone State, banking $64 million, up 11.5% from last year. Parx had to settle for $60.5 million, a 2% dip from 2021. On the comeback trail was Rivers Philadelphia, up 13% to $54.5 million. Valley Forge Resort was an incredibly strong fourth-place contender, soaring 40% to $52 million (remember, it’s considerably smaller than its market rivals, constrained by law), while Philadelphia Live manifested only limited signs of life: $25 million, albeit a 20% gain. It did displace Harrah’s Philadelphia, whose $19 million represented only a 2% uptick.

Other market-dominating casinos were Wind Creek Bethlehem ($47 million, +33.5%) and Rivers Pittsburgh ($35.5 million, +20%). Much further back were Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs ($22 million, flat), Hollywood Meadows ($20.5 million, -2%), Mount Airy ($20 million, -14%) and Presque Isle Downs ($11.5 million, +11%). Then came the satellites: Pittsburgh Live ($10 million, +20%), new Hollywood York ($8 million) and Hollywood Morgantown ($5.5 million, +241%). As customary, Lady Luck Nemacolin brought up the rear with $2 million, up 3%.

Posted on April 15, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 4 Comments

How Much Does Complexity Cost

The following question was posed to me for inclusion in one of Richard’s and my mailbag shows on our Gambling with an Edge podcast. While I did give an answer to it on the air, I believe a fuller answer is appropriate and so I’m going to talk about it here as well.

“This version of Double Bonus Poker is called “Full Pay Double Bonus Poker” or “10/7/5 Double Bonus Poker.”

If Jacks or Better and Double Bonus Poker had similar strategies, it would be a no-brainer to select Double Bonus Poker as the preferred game.

Unfortunately, the strategy for Double Bonus Poker is more complex than the strategy for Jacks or Better making it more likely that mistakes will be made – mistakes which will cost you money.”

Posted on April 15, 2022September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 5 Comments

Back to the beach; Churchill Downs comes under scrutiny

Golden Nugget Atlantic City was packing them in with a ‘george’ promotion. Let our East Coast correspondent tell the tale: “It was extremely busy Sunday afternoon in their atrium for the BMW X-5 giveaway. They called six names and three were MIA, so they called three more, and two of those also not there. Each person got a sealed envelope and when they got six there, one lucky person got the car, the others free slot/table play.” The next Hard Rock Atlantic City promo? Logo umbrellas that have flashlights embedded in the handles. Not as george as a BMW but darned useful.

Posted on April 14, 2022September 18, 2023 by David Mckee — 2 Comments

Politics as unusual in Chicago; Caesars: Rock the casbah

It never seems to get easier for Chicago casino applicants, who are facing stony opposition from many of their would-be neighbors (and customers) and who also find themselves pawns in a convoluted political process. At stake is something called “aldermanic prerogative,” meaning that if you don’t want a casino in your ward, tradition dictates it goes somewhere else. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) would dearly like to upend that custom but faces a long, uphill slog to convince a largely recalcitrant body of alderman. As for the prerogatives, they favor Bally’s Corp. and bode ill for Rush Street Gaming, while Hard Rock International is somewhere in between. Going by its architectural, developmental and financial track record, one would think Hard Rock a shoo-in for a city the caliber of Chicago but CEO Jim Allen effectively screwed himself by setting up shop 29 miles away in Gary.

Posted on April 12, 2022September 18, 2023 by David Mckee — 2 Comments

Siegel’s Strip scheme; Tilman’s Rocky Mountain high

Siegel Group got a steal of a deal on the north Las Vegas Strip: 10 acres for $75 million. The vacant land used to be occupied, in part, by the La Concha Motel (pictured). It was also once destined for the Triple Five failsino, a project that went bust long ago. How did Siegel get such strategic acreage—across the street from Resorts World Las Vegas—for such an absurdly low price? Because Siegel could pay cash on the barrelhead, unlike rival bidders who reportedly offered even more but couldn’t write a check for the whole enchilada. “We’ve been waiting years to acquire a large piece of land in the Strip, and have been watching this site for a long time,” Stephen Siegel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Posted on April 11, 2022September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — 1 Comment

Casinos in clover nationwide; Mega-Jottings for a Monday

Masters Week has come and gone, and Augusta now sinks back into an 11-month torpor. Which also helps us return to standard-edition S&G. (Seen on the marquee of the church closest to Augusta National: “This is Amen Corner.”) Where to begin?

For all the talk of inflation, shortages and hardships these days, one thing is incontrovertibly plentiful: discretionary income as manifested in gambling revenue. Every state in the upper Midwest save one is reporting casino winnings higher than 2019. The lone loser is … Illinois. No surprise there. It’s 5.5% down on the surface and when temporary Hard Rock Rockford is subtracted, the declivity is 9.5%, for a total of $119 million (inclusive). For the glass-half-full perspective, revenue is 8% higher than March 2021, when casinos were still on the comeback trail. Nor was March 2022 helped by two fewer weekend days.

Posted on April 7, 2022September 18, 2023 by David Mckee — Leave a comment

Programming note

It’s Masters Week here in Augusta and the azaleas are in full bloom. Unfortunately, an encounter with a rescue cat has left my hands covered in bandages, hampering my ability to type. So I’m going to have to punt coverage of Siegel Group‘s Las Vegas Strip real estate play, an upgrade for MGM Resorts International and other issues into tomorrow. Meanwhile, stop and smell the flowers, friends.

“If you don’t know how to handle failure, then you’re going to have a tough time in your regular life.”—Georgia High School Association Assistant Executive Director Ernie Yarbrough on a riot at a youth basketball game that caused a referee to need 30 stitches.

Posted on April 5, 2022August 24, 2023 by Bob Dancer — 17 Comments

Not Everybody Will Understand

Bonnie and I sometimes shop at Sprouts Farmers Market, which is a cross between a regular grocery store and a health food store. In my weekly email, I saw an announcement that between March 18 and March 31, any Sprouts purchase earns you a coupon (on the bottom of your register receipt), entitling you to $10 off of a $75 purchase between April 1 and April 30.

Since we spend a couple of hundred dollars there every month, these coupons are valuable. I might take some jockeying in a single trip to get at least $75, but not too much over, so the next week we can do it again — but I’m up to that task. And I’ll make sure to get three or four of these coupons before the end of March.

Posted on April 5, 2022September 14, 2023 by David Mckee — Leave a comment

Optimism in Las Vegas; Bluhm bombs in Chicago

On his way home from Black Hawk, Colorado, gaming analyst Barry Jonas of Truist Securities popped into Las Vegas. He met with various and sundry publicly traded companies, even MGM Resorts International, for which he feels little love. He also sat down with executives from Caesars Entertainment, Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming, International Game Technology, Light & Wonder and Everi. His conclusion? “Start your engines.” What did Jonas mean by that? As he explained, “We left incrementally positive on Vegas’s outlook post-Omicron. The Strip and Locals markets appear healthy with each month since January seeing [sequential] improvement, and a full return of group/convention business pending but increasingly visible.” He also noted that slot manufacturers were seeing “increasing demand” due to “strong content,” ratifying other reports that game-buying is going to pick up well in advance of Global Gaming Expo, the normal starting gun for product purchases.

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