First the good news about Ohio: Gambling revenue was up 47% last month. Now, the bad news. One a same-store basis it was down 2% year/year. Who knew the Buckeye State would get saturated so quickly? The statewide gross was $94 million. Hollywood Columbus, problem child of the state, fell 3% and racked up a subpar $149/slot/day but still surpassed Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli‘s expectations for the month. Hollywood Toledo only slipped one percentage point and posted a somewhat better $186/slot. Horseshoe Cleveland was just a bit off the Mendoza Line ($194/slot) but dropped 6%, undoubtedly losing business to Rock Gaming Caesars‘ own Thistledown Racetrack, which grossed $13 million. (I thought two Caesars casinos in one market was a mistake and seem to have been right.) Horseshoe Cincinnati was the second-highest grossing casino in the state, behind its Cleveland sibling, but was also the outperformer, averaging $212/slot. MTR Gaming took a hard spill at Scioto Downs — down 10%.
The news from Illinois was mixed. Admissions were down 8% but patrons were spending 3.5%. They seem to have been doing it mainly at Rivers Casino (up 10%, to $36.5 million), not everywhere else (-9.5%). Penn National Gaming had a fairly bad month all around. Revenues were negligible aboard Alton Belle (-16%), and fell aboard both Hollywood Aurora (-14%) and Empress Joliet (-6%). MGM Resort International‘s Grand Victoria was down 8%, to $14 million, and Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice missed estimates, dropping 5%. Harrah’s Joliet was the #2 performer in the state, but down 7%. Harrah’s Metropolis (-11%), Alton Belle and East St. Louis‘ Casino Queen continue to bleed business to Missouri.
No wonder that everybody wants to be in Macao — and that the Chinese enclave posted its best month ever: $4.56 billion. OK, so the Golden Week holiday helped but VIP play was up 28% and mass-market gambling win vaulted 46%. Sheldon Adelson normally becomes Mr. Grumpypants when Macanese market share is discussed but we think he’ll make an exception for this month, since he took a 5% chunk out of Stanley Ho‘s customer base. (“Impressive,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Joseph Greff.) Galaxy Entertainment led all gainers in market share, up 3%. Greff credited Sands’ gains with “being driven by stronger utilization of its ample hotel base, particularly” at Venetian Macao and Sands Cotai. He also lauded Melco Crown Entertainment for “good momentum,” presumably at City of Dreams, as holidays are described as favoring megaresorts.
Nevada may have Internet poker, but that doesn’t mean punters are flocking to sites like UltimatePoker.com and WSOP.com. Quite the contrary. Also, Delaware appears ready to nip New Jersey at the starting gate and be the first state into online-casino play.
Still waiting for the casino in the picture.