Hollywood, we have a problem; The Marrandino mystery

Ohio casinos had a below-average December, although the blow was softened by table hold of — YEOW! — 23%. That’s borderline-astronomical compared to Las Vegas averages for 2004-2011 period. It’ll help make up for slot revenues that suggest, with six racinos and one full-service casino still to come, the Buckeye State market isn’t what it was cracked up to be. If, per Dr. David G. Schwartz, $200 per day is the average win you’d like to see from your slot machines, the two Penn National Gaming casinos (even in a limited marketplace) are looking a tad pale. Last month, Hollywood Columbus — which competes with nearby Scioto Downs — won a sickly $115/day, down from a not-exactly-impressive $140/day monthly average. Hollywood Toledo has been hovering above the Mendoza Line, at $217/day, but dipped to $175/day in December.

Conversely, Scioto Downs — where the VLT hold is incrementally tighter than Hollywood’s — was steady. “We’re happy with our numbers,” said General Manager Troy Buswell — and with good reason. VLTs have also been, very surprisingly, a boon to harness-race wagering at the racino. Kudos to MTR Gaming for a hand exceptionally well played. Holiday season or no, Horseshoe Cleveland actually improved its monthly slot-win numbers, producing an above-average $265 per slot (up from $254). This led to some irrational exuberance on the part of local TV station WEWS, which erroneously crowed that the Caesars Entertainment property had — at $24.5 million — outgrossed all Atlantic City casinos except Borgata. Not so, my good friends. There’s a little hole in the wall called Harrah’s Resort that led Caesars’ New Jersey pack with $29 million. It must be a bittersweet feeling for Gary Loveman to see his newest casino doing so well — but knowing he’s only going to get a fifth of the proceeds. To Caesars the glory, to Dan Gilbert the spoils. Enjoy them while they last, because Loveman and Gilbert are a few months away from cannibalizing their own market when they open their Thistledown Park racino.

Ohio, however, looks robust compared to Maryland, where the state’s three gambling facilities grossed but $45 million last month (i.e., considerably less than Borgata solamente). Four-fifths of that was generated by Cordish Gaming‘s Maryland Live casino. Even in December, the Arundel Mills-located slot parlor took in $244/slot/day. Hollywood Perryville (left) had to be content with a lean $128/slot/day. Ocean Downs did slightly better ($134) but with far fewer machines: 800 to 1,500. In tragi-comic note, we learn that Penn National tried to give 500 slots back to the state last summer but Annapolis wouldn’t take them. So now it looks like 340 of them will just go into storage to make room for table games. At least the fact the Hollywood Perryville is adding tables means Penn execs have come to terms with the reality of casino expansion in Maryland, a $44 million dose of psychotherapy. Wall Street may be deeply in love with Penn but you’d expect better performance from its marquee Hollywood brand, in light of all the recent self-aggrandizement coming from Penn HQ.

Life after Atlantic City. A week into the post-Don Marrandino era on the Boardwalk, we’ve had more heat than light on the subject of his twilight expulsion from the Caesars empire. Judging by the elegiac tone of local columnists and former colleagues, it doesn’t sound like anybody’s buying the official storyline. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Chuck Darrow comes right out and says it, chalking up Marrandino’s exit to a salary dump. He also contends that imperial headquarters back in Vegas was keeping its East Coast tribune on a short financial leash. Then again, after recent Caesars run-ins with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission and a mass December exodus of slot players, Loveman may have felt he had good cause to administer Marrandino some hemlock. Whatever the case, the palace coup left a sudden vacancy upon the throne of the Atlantic City Alliance. The city’s most prominent casino executives are ineligible to fill Marrandino’s vacated seat, so Harrah’s General Manager John Smith finds himself thrust into the spotlight, whether he likes it or not. Since divisional vice presidents are expensive and Loveman can’t abide living in Las Vegas, maybe he should stay close to the eastern properties, just in case he’s needed. He could issue edicts from his dining-room table in Massachusetts and the company would save a bundle on corporate jet usage.