One doesn’t really think of going to shore in March, so it’s no surprise that Atlantic City casino revenues were — excluding Revel — down 14% last month. The latter grossed $10 million, pulling it almost dead even with the Golden Nugget and a bit further behind the Atlantic Club. The surprise bulletin of the month is that Colony Capital‘s low-budget, l0w-roller joint (right) posted a totally anomalous 33% increase, the only casino do post better numbers last month. Is Colony sure it wants to sell the place? It looks like Tom Barrack‘s people have finally figured out how to run a casino. Sharp declines marred Trump Taj Mahal (-19%) and all of the Caesars Entertainment foursome (ditto). Holding their own pretty well — defined as a 4% slippage — were Borgata ($52 million in gambling revenue) and Tilman Fertitta‘s Nugget. Coin-in and slot win at Borgata improved even with looser hold. Despite heavier play at the tables, Borgata was as unlucky at the Boardwalk’s other casinos were at the tables, matching the average 13% declivity.
This just in: A junket bus carrying gamblers to Choctaw Casino Resort flipped and crashed just outside Irving, Texas this morning, resulting in two fatalities and 31 to 36 injuries. As one passenger described the scene inside the weaving, toppling bus, “People were screaming and hollering, a very traumatic situation to say the least.” The injury toll might have been much lower but passengers were reportedly not wearing their seat belts. The Oklahoma-bound bus belonged to Cardinal Coach, an outfit with no serious accidents on its records in recent years. Let’s all hope that the death-and-injury gets no worse than it already is.
Cast away. While our attention was elsewhere, Station Casinos has quietly taken the former Castaways site off the market. The latter is due for a renewal of its non-restricted-gaming status this year, 
so expect the United Coin “Trailer Station” to pay an eight-hour visit before summer has ended. However, the empty acreage is so far out on Fremont Street that not even the eastward march of Tony Hsieh offers near-term hope of rescue. To their credit, Station execs are simply being realists: They’re just going to have to hunker down and wait for such as Downtown reinvestment trickles down to Fremont’s nexus with the Boulder Strip and they can finally cash out of this bubble-era impulse purchase. Trying to sell it now is like tugging on a dry udder, so Station is none the worse off for keeping it on the shelf. And if that part of Downtown does turn around, Station’s still got a floating license for a hotel-free casino in its back pocket. It could still execute the casino-restaurant concept that Ed Vance designed back when money was flowing freely.
