“Massive beat” and “exceptional” results were some of the terms being bandied about after yesterday’s Boyd Gaming 2Q21 earnings call. Wall Street expected $803 million in revenue and Boyd delivered $896.5 million, while profit margins at its Las Vegas locals casinos rose all but exponentially over 2019. “We believe this acceleration is likely to surprise investors,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, adding that Boyd executives thought their performance targets had been too conservative. They also gave a hint about 3Q21, saying that June’s strength was (no surprise) carrying over into July. “While investors are sure to question the sustainability of margins going forward, as any right minded individual would, especially after this quarters [sic] performance, we continue to believe there is support in the thesis for the likes of” Station Casinos, Golden Entertainment and Boyd. Leadership, JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff wrote, “notes that the 2Q21 undoubtedly benefitted from government stimulus and unemployment insurance padding consumer spend, but also strong demand from its core customer.

“While labor shortage is an issue, we don’t think elevated labor costs going forward will pierce margin gains in a significant way which poses risks to our new forecasts,” Greff continued. He liked a business plan “predominantly focused on a drive-to, leisure gaming customer. We think our estimates are reasonably based, with a steady return of its older demographic.”

Setting foot inside Aztec Inn Casino is not for the faint of heart. But its owners think they’re sitting on a gold mine. It and a gaggle of properties that includes Golden Skull Tattoo and Diversity Tattoo is on the market in plots of $30 million each or $60 million for the whole Aztec enchilada. Because the area is somewhat, uh, challenged, it qualifies for tax incentives and there’s no height restriction on development—you’d be next door to the friggin’ Stratosphere, after all! Now, those prices seem a mite aggressive, given the off-Strip location and general dilapidation of the area. But with two acres of CityCenter fetching $80 million, why be timid about one’s asking price? It’s a seller’s market. As for buyers, so far they’re overseas interests who, seeing the chances of gaining a foothold on the Strip proper as being somewhere betwixt slim and none, are creating their own opportunities.

The fix was in at City Hall in Oakland, where the Athletics—despite extracting desired concessions from the city—used the negotiations as a pretext to pull up stakes and move to Las Vegas. Considering that A’s brass was kicking the tires on Clark County ballpark sites the day before the vote was taken is an index of how sincere the team was about staying in California. So it looks like Clark County will be strong-armed into helping subsidize a billion-dollar ballpark, even as it has already made three emergency-fund draws to keep Allegiant Stadium up to date on its bond obligations.

With the exception of brave outliers Las Vegas Sands and Westgate Las Vegas, most casinos in Sin City are reacting to the resurgence of Covid-19 by doing … nothing. There’s a ‘been there, done that‘ attitude toward crisis-period measures like requiring guests to wear masks or stepping up hotel sanitization (one recent guest to Harrah’s Las Vegas says his room was cleaned once in four days). “Where we sit right now with the information we know, that’s the best approach, for each operator to evaluate their own situations,” said industry apologist Josh Swissman. “It really comes down to what makes the customers feel comfortable.” And if that means sickness and death, isn’t that the cost of doing business in Las Vegas? About the only hammer that could be deployed to motivate a robust response would be new safety mandates from the Nevada Gaming Control Board and we don’t seem to be at that desperate juncture yet. (Operative word “yet.”)