I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell. Most of his books deal with research into the social sciences, particularly sociology and psychology and have been best sellers. His latest book, The Bomber Mafia, deals primarily with the philosophies of bombing during World War II, and has not become a best seller — at least not yet.
The words “Bomber Mafia” refer to a group of American pilots in the 1930s stationed at what was then called Maxwell Field in Montgomery, Alabama. These pilots dreamed of more humane ways to conduct wars. They believed that bombing strategic targets made sense, and bombing population centers didn’t.
This is how it’s done. Or supposed to be done. DraftKings and FanDuel are teaming to back a petition drive to legalize sports betting in Florida. Aimed at the November 2022 election ballot, the resolution would dedicate tax revenues from sports betting to funding for education. As opposed to Gov. Ron De Santis‘ Hard Rock International-controlled setup of sports betting, the proposed constitutional amendment would create an open market. The federal Interior Department is currently scrutinizing the DeSantis compact, which uses a rather absurd construal of ‘tribal lands’ whereby you could place a mobile wager from your back porch and—because it must pass through a Seminole Tribe computer server—it is deemed ‘tribal’ gaming. Also, the Florida Lege is constitutionally enjoined from authorizing any expansion of gambling in the Sunshine State. Even if Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signs off on this misshapen afterbirth of the congress between DeSantis and the Seminoles, litigation at the state level is already in train. We hate to agree with Rob Sowinski of No Casinos but the compact really needs to be struck down.
We don’t know the full details of the DraftKings/FanDuel proposal yet but it appears on the surface to be a more-palatable alternative. One thing Florida Education Champions don’t address is tribal sports betting. Their amendment would simply deal parimutuels and professional sports parks into the action. Seminole Gaming spokesman Gary Bitner fumed that the petition drive “is a political Hail Mary from out-of-state corporations trying to interfere with the business of the people of Florida.” Ah, but it was those same people of Florida who decreed that the Lege had no say in the spread of gaming. Harrumphed Bitner, “They couldn’t stop Florida’s new gaming compact, which passed by an overwhelming 88 percent ‘yes’ vote from Florida’s elected legislators and enjoys 3-to-1 support from Floridians and guarantees $2.5 billion in revenue sharing. The guarantee is the largest commitment by any gaming company in U.S. history.” Constitution be damned! The next hurdles for the PAC are to get 891,589 valid signatures and to have the Florida Supreme Court OK the ballot language. What could hobble them out of the gate is that the window is rapidly closing to collect campaign contributions, capped at $3K apiece as of this Thursday. Petition drives are seven- and eight-figure enterprises, so DraftKings and FanDuel may run out of money sooner than signatories.
No executives? No financing? No problem, right? Big problem! Just ask the nonentities behind a proposed Terre Haute casino. They just got turned down for a license. This almost never happens in “gold standard” Nevada, not because casino projects have their houses in order but because licensing is delayed until the last possible minute, when the casino is a fait accompli. In Indiana’s case, the $125 million Lucy Luck casino hadn’t even broken ground yet. The project is a hand-me-down from discredited Spectacle Entertainment, who dibbed Terre Haute several years ago. “We’re now a year and a half into this process and still talking about things that are prospective in nature,” said an obviously exasperated Indiana Gaming Commission Executive Director Sarah Tait.
Where to go? Back to Square One of the licensing process, provided that the deficiencies noted above are cured. Also, more transparency will be required as to Lucy Luck’s proposed financiers. Hard Rock International, meanwhile, lurks in the wings as a potential savior, having offered to manage the casino. Even so, the covenants for financing Lucy Luck expire June 30 and a June or July groundbreaking is now a fanciful notion. Pouted lead businessman Greg Gibson, “we may reapply, but I’m not sure if we will. Terre Haute deserves this casino, and I wish it could be alongside Lucy Luck Gaming.” Maybe not. Terre Haute deserves casino developers who aren’t all hat, no cattle.
When I read gambling books, I usually dog-ear pages of
interest. With Colin Jones’s book, The 21st-Century Card Counter,
I had to change my approach. It made no sense to dog-ear every page, so I just
started circling passages and writing notes in the margins. In lieu of a
traditional book review evaluating the book, I decided to treat the book like a
textbook, and go through its talking points in an N-part series. Here we go!
[p. 5] “This ‘card counting’ thing haunted me. Was it real?”
That’s the question I’ve faced and debated publicly for two decades. CJ’s
perspective at the time was a bit different from mine. He was wondering if you
could really make money, or a living, doing it. I ask the logical follow-up:
Even if you could, why would you want to? By the end of the book, the hero CJ
answers his own question (yes, card-counting is “real”), but evolves to answer
my follow-up (answer: “I wouldn’t”).
This happened to somebody else in the late 1990s. I think it was at Caesars Palace about four or five owners ago. I don’t think I have written about it previously and it’s worth discussing. I might have some of the details wrong, but overall, it pretty much happened the way presented.
“Al” was playing at Caesars at an event for invited guests. It was the kind of event where you earn one drawing ticket for every $1,000 coin-in. Then at the banquet on the last night, a drawing is held and lots of cash is given away.
For the amount of vitriol directed at Colin Jones online,
you’d think the man eats babies. In reality, he’s guilty of a far greater
sin—he wrote a card-counting book, The 21st-Century Card Counter.
That book is one pillar of a viral card-counting enterprise also supported by
the documentary movie Holy Rollers, the website
blackjackapprenticeship.com (BJA), and the in-person boot camps offered from
time to time. Before I continue with the multi-part book review I began in my
last post, let me address the mild controversy surrounding the book’s author,
Mr. Jones (“Jones”? Really?).
As a disclaimer, let me say that other than reading CJ’s book, I have no connection whatsoever to the BJA empire. I’ve never attended a boot camp, and I know CJ only from meeting him a few times at Max Rubin’s annual Blackjack Ball. I won’t bother to start with the perfunctory, empty statement, “He’s a really nice guy,” because that definition of “nice” carries no weight with me. I’ve known friendly talkers who would buy you coffee or pick you up from the airport, but still abuse you and steal six or seven figures from you, so what does “nice” really mean, anyway? But since you asked about CJ, yeah, he’s a really nice guy.
We were stumped for a lead item until we got this snap from our Atlantic City bureau. One has to puzzle at Borgata‘s cretinous idea of a welcome, particularly its implicit slap at women. Did property President Melonie Johnson sign off on this affront?
Next door in Pennsylvania, terrestrial casinos are still having a difficult time catching up to the palmy days of 2019, being 2.5% behind last month for a gross of $278.5 million. Surely what we’re seeing is a saturated market, exacerbated by a string of new-casino openings that has not yet played out. Parx Casino continued to be untroubled, up 5% to $56 million. As for the other Philadelphia-area casinos, Philadelphia Live‘s tight-fisted marketing habits may be catching up with it. It slipped incrementally behind Rivers Philadelphia (still -33%), which came in $300K ahead of Live’s $19 million. Valley Forge Resort suffered a bit, down 10% to $11 million and Harrah’s Philadelphia suffered a lot, sliding 21.5% to $16.5 million. Cordish Gaming won $8.5 million at Live Pittsburgh, while competitors Rivers Pittsburgh ($28 million, -14%) and The Meadows ($16.5 million, -23%) felt the pinch. Rivers Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is upping its game with a $60 million hotel.
Aside from Parx, the only revenue-positive casino in the state was Mount Airy, up 8.5% to $17.5 million. Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs was down 12% to $18 million and Wind Creek Bethlehem won $36.5 million, a -16.5% slippage. Presque Isle Downs dropped 16% to $10 million, Hollywood Penn National made $20 million, off 8% and Lady Luck Nemacolin tumbled 29% to $2 million.
Casinos in Louisiana weren’t quite as phat last month as in April but still nudged up 5% overall. In New Orleans, the leader was Harrrah’s New Orleans with $27 million (+1%), followed by Boomtown New Orleans, leaping 21% to $12.5 million. Treasure Chest, which may be moving ashore soon, grossed $9 million (-7%) and Fair Grounds racino checked in with $4 million (+11%). Up in Baton Rouge, category-killer L’Auberge Baton Rouge won $18 million, up a whopping 37.5%, while Hollywood Baton Rouge rose 22% to $6 million and forlorn Belle of Baton Rouge plunged 39% to $1.5 million, which should at least cover the electric bill. Boyd Gaming‘s outlying Amelia Belle slipped 10% to $4 million and Evangeline Downs trotted +1% to $8 million.
Lake Charles led the state and it was led by Golden Nugget, up 5% to $29.5 million while chief adversary L’Auberge du Lac rose 7% but closed at $27 million. Delta Downs won $16.5 million, up 4%. As for Shreveport/Bossier City, tops is Margaritaville, vaulting 37.5% to $19 million, leading Horseshoe Bossier City‘s $17.5 million (+13%). We’ll see if the shoe is on the other foot come August, when Shreveport’s smoking ban goes into effect. Eldorado Shreveport leapt 35% to $13 million but all other casinos were also-rans: Boomtown Bossier ($5 million, -2%), Sam’s Town Shreveport ($6 million, -1.5%) and Louisiana Downs—now with 100% less Harrah’s—grossing $5 million, up 16%. Basically, the rich got richer and … well, you know the rest.
Casinos in Atlantic City are finally catching up with the rest of gaming’s recovery. Last month they were only 3% off the 2019 pace. They grossed $213 million, a substantial improvement over April. Slot win was $158 million on 8% less handle, while tables won $53.5 million on 2% higher wagering volume. Borgata was a trifle unlucky, with table win down 6% and slots off 15% for a 7% overall decline. The Caesars Entertainment threesome slipped 13% but did fairly well at the tables, down only 2%, while slot win dropped 17%. Broken out by individual casino, Caesars Atlantic City held steady at -2% for $22.5 million, Harrah’s Resort slid 15% to $21.5 million and Tropicana Atlantic City stumbled 21% to $20 million. Borgata’s $49 million gross put it comfortably in first place but the only revenue-positive casinos were Hard Rock Atlantic City, vaulting 22% to $35 million and Ocean Resort, rocketing 51% to $24.5 million (a higher gross than any Caesars property, it should be noted). Resorts Atlantic City hung in there pretty well, down 5% to $15.5 million, while Bally’s Atlantic City skidded 21% to $12 million (to its credit, new management acknowledges that the place needs a refit) and Golden Nugget shed 23% but stayed out of last place with $13 million.
Sports betting was feeling the same May slump-let as everyone else, although handle was a healthy $814 million, up April’s $748 million. NBA action can be thanked, what with the Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks all in the playoffs, engendering $217 million in handle. Major-league baseball was responsible for another $186 million in handle. FanDuel/PointsBet was the revenue leader with $30 million, followed at some great distance by Resorts Digital/DraftKings/Fox Bet‘s $9.5 million. BetMGM held $5 million, Monmouth/William Hill/SugarHouse/TheScore scored $2 million and William Hill’s Ocean Casino outpost snagged another $1 million. Nobody else came close to the million-dollar threshold. Internet casinos held steady, grossing $108 million. BetMGM came in first with $33 million, then Caesars/WynnBet with $15.5 million, DraftKings with $14 million and Golden Nugget Online with $10 million. Concluded PlayUSA analyst Eric Ramsey, “Online revenue has clearly been resilient, but hopefully the retail market can sustain this return to pre-pandemic levels.” Amen.
In the comments on gamblingwithanedge.com relating to a recent blog post of mine, a man named Tim wrote:
Perhaps this has been discussed multiple times, but why don’t the Strip casinos offer full pay video poker? For example, I would sit and play 10 play 9/6 Jacks or better quarters for hours (like I do at South Point). If there is only 6/5 bonus, I may sit at a bar and just play $20.
