My expectation that Caesars Entertainment, leveraging its World Series of Poker brand, would outstrip Station Casinos‘ online-gaming offerings is looking unduly optimistic. Caesars Interactive hasn’t been able to get out of the driveway while Ultimate Gaming has gone virtually coast-to-coast. In addition to its Nevada presence it is now the Internet-gambling provider to Trump Taj Mahal (but not to on-the-block Trump Plaza). There’s also been no sign of Borgata and its online partner Bwin.party getting into the race anytime soon. Although Ultimate Gaming has dealt six million-plus hands of poker already, Trump Entertainment Resorts CEO Robert Griffith went pretty far overboard when he gushed, “We are delighted to be working with a trusted partner that has a proven track record.” Bob, Ultimate Gaming is just a bit more thantwo months old. Let’s hold off on that “proven track record” accolade a while longer, OK?
On the subject of Station, 35-year company man Bobby Dean, who goes back to the Bingo Palace era, is the subject of a mini-profile in this month’s Desert Companion.
Happy birthday, Borgata, 10 years old and still the market leader in Atlantic City by a country mile. While calling it a ‘trend-setter’ would be an overstatement, it’s still the standard by which all A.C. casinos are measured. And the titular Borgata Babes are still tightly sewn into their corsets, too.
It should have been an omen when the MGM Grand building wraps for KA were taken down in favor of ones for Hakkasan. KA itself has been temporarily put under wraps following the tragic death of acrobat Sarah Guillot-Gayard. It happened in full view of an audience whose members must be as traumatized as the late Mlle. Guillot-Gayard’s cast- and crewmates undoubtedly are. (The Cirque du Soleil braintrust was boogying down at the Mandalay Bay wave pool, following the premiere of kitschy Michael Jackson ONE, when tragedy struck.) It’s the fear of witnessing just such an accident that always tempers my enjoyment of any Cirque show, especially since the company likes to push the envelope in terms of risky stunts.
Uh-oh. Riverboat casinos in Illinois have good reason to fear the state’s slot routes and their 7,536 slots. The latter grossed $23 million in May — far more than several of the riverboats did. There’s no way of saying definitively but this could explain why riverboat revenues have bottomed out from their precipitous fall but have shown little sign of climbing again. Proponents of casino expansion, however, have no doubt taken careful note of Rockford‘s status as the top slot-route market.
I was there for some Borgata 10 anniversary festivities. Happy Birthday to them. Still, by far, the best game in town!