What follows was shared with us via Facebook. It shows the (ugly) face of customer interactions in present-day Las Vegas …

“I need you to know what people in positions of service are experiencing right now.

“Tonight I am working at the Piano bar with … two of the most patient and composed people I know. A party of 18 came in. Sundays have been pretty slow lately, so we were grateful for the business. This party, like many, started out upset at the mask requirements and like many, expressed their displeasure by haranguing the bartender taking their orders. After receiving their drinks, they became even more upset by our current ‘no open mic’ policy, a safety precaution mandated by the state. By the time I was called to sing my set, their ire and inebriation had snowballed into aggressive shouting, again, not uncommon for the current bar scene. I sang my party songs, hoping to turn it around. By my third song, the were singing/shouting along with the music and replacing the lyrics with sexually explicit verbiage about me. As I began to pass the tip jar, a member their party became unreasonably upset about the minimum on his tab, which is posted on our door and explained when patrons are seated. The whole party rallied behind him and they all decided to close their tabs and leave. They closed their many tabs, upon only one of which was left a tip, of two dollars. This is not a story about the money though …

Continue reading No joy in Sin City

Seesawing between the effects of closures and capacity restrictions, Detroit casinos were down 28% last month. They grossed $87 million, led by MGM Grand Detroit with $34 million (-32%). Breathing down MGM’s neck is MotorCity‘s $33 million haul (-21%), while Greektown lagged with $19.5 million (-20.5%). Walk-up sports betting was a smash, with $4 million in revenue realized in just nine days on $36 million in handle. The numbers for online wagering and i-gaming aren’t in yet but they should be impressive. So, all things being equal, it could have been much worse.

Elsewhere in the MGM Resorts International empire, 4Q20 numbers were reported by Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli and they send one reeling. Las Vegas was a black hole of nothingness, plunging 66.5% ($480 million), while regional operations were better—if one defines “better” by being 34% off 2019’s pace. At least they brought in more money: $595.5 million. MGM China was nothing to write home about, being down 58% and winning $305 million. The disparity between Las Vegas and the rest of the U.S. was more pronounced in terms of net revenue, $53 million vs. $158.5 million, leading one to wonder if MGM reopened its Las Vegas Strip fleet too much and too soon. (More on that theme later.) Bad as these results were, JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff had actually expected them to be worse, calling the numbers “unsurprising.”

Why so sanguine? OSB and Internet gambling were “objectively impressive” with BetMGM forecast to capture 15% of American OSB share and 20% of i-gaming action. (He wasn’t so chill about the Strip, lowering his cash-flow projections.) The good online news inspired Greff to boost his MGM price target from $32/share to $37. MGM leadership thinks business will not return to 2019 levels for a couple of years, projecting that it will be 90% of prior-year levels by late 2022. Greff is a bit more optimistic than that. Strip occupancy fell from 89% to 38%, thanks of course to nonexistent convention business, table-game wagering was 41% less (though the house won more often) and “properties are still being negatively impacted by capacity constraints, lack of demand/airlift, etc.”

Continue reading BetMGM saves company’s bacon; Whither the Palms?

Maybe the ‘skinny stimulus’ helped Ohio. Gross gaming revenues of $153.5 million were only 8.5% off last year’s pace. The gambling houses are still operating at 50% capacity and under a curfew but the number remains impressive. Hollywood Toledo continues to benefit from the closures in Detroit (recently lifted), up 14.5% to $18 million. Hollywood Columbus declined 12%, also to $18 million. As for Penn National Gaming‘s two racinos, Hollywood Mahoning Valley grossed $12 million, minus 3% and Hollywood Dayton, up 6.5%, also pocketed $11 million. Belterra Park showed signs of stabilization, down 9% to $6.5 million. Scioto Downs had a good month, down only 1% for $15.5 million. MGM Northfield Park was in a three-way tie for first place, grossing $18 million (a 21.5% tumble). Jack Cleveland, now with 100% less Dan Gilbert, was down 10% to $16.5 million whilst Jack Thistledown gained 13% to $13 million. Hard Rock Cincinnati continues to struggle, plunging 34% to $12.5 million. That only leaves Miami Valley Gaming, down 12% to $14 million.

An extra weekend day may have helped Ohio but it didn’t do squat for Illinois, where gambling revenues fell a catastrophic 74%. How come? Casinos were closed half the month, had to shut down nightly at 11 p.m. and were restricted to 25% of capacity. Whatever pent-up demand existed wasn’t sufficient to even partly compensate. Gross gaming revenues were a pitiful $26 million. Heck, Rivers Casino Des Plaines does that and more in a good month. In this case, Rivers towered over the market with $9 million (-77%) with nobody else coming close. In terms of retaining pre-Covid market share, Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice did best, off 46% to $2.5 million. Jumer’s Casino Rock Island continues to look like a terrible investment for Bally Corp., eking out $1 million (-72%). It did incrementally worse than DraftKings at Casino Queen, just over $1 million and -82%.

Continue reading Normality in Ohio, disaster in Illinois; Planet Ho sale mooted

Caesars Entertainment, aka Eldorado Resorts, has become possessed by the evil spirit of spare-every-expense Columbia Sussex. In one of the most odious of recent cutpurse moves, bartenders have been ordered to short-pour liquor: The ‘new normal’ is .75 ounces per drink, meaning you’ll have to buy more drinks in order to get that buzz going. Caesars has been the prime offender in recent moves such as jacked-up table limits but this story, broken by Vital Vegas, has clearly struck a nerve, going viral in no time flat. (Viral Vegas?) CEO Tom Reeg had already established a reputation for cheeseparing but this move couldn’t have been better designed to alienate customers if he tried. Much more of this and Sin City will lose its cachet as a bargain destination, if it hasn’t already.

To get to the nub of the issue, Linq has essentially halved the amount of liquor that will be poured into your Vodka Cranberry but will of course charge you just as much for it as though it were actually a stiff drink. (It’s 1.25 oz. per pour at MGM Resorts International, in case you wondering.) Vital Vegas paid a visit to Linq and found it in a significantly down-market state: “there were virtually no customers. Entire swaths of table games have been removed and replaced with slot machines. Such moves make some sense given low demand (table games involve much higher labor costs), but even if these changes are temporary, you’d think casinos would want to draw customers, not repel them with weak drinks.” Indeed.

Continue reading Welcome to Less Vegas