One less weekend day doesn’t wholly explain the tepid results from Illinois in August. Harrah’s Joliet was down a dramatic 14%, while 
Hollywood Aurora was off 10% and Empress Joliet slipped 3%. Even seemingly invulnerable Rivers Casino in Des Plaines sagged 8%. However, long-suffering MGM Resorts International riverboat Grand Victoria was up 3%, so somebody’s marketing department was doing something right. Overall, Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli reckons that customer spending was flat with last year but foot traffic was 8% down.
The effect of that deadly combination could be seen throughout the state, where declines ranged from 11% (Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice) to 5% (Harrah’s Metropolis). It was another bad month — down 9%) at Gaming & Leisure Properties‘ Casino Queen, but since GLPI’s planned takeover of Pinnacle Entertainment would give it a near-total monopoly on the St. Louis market — except for Tropicana Entertainment‘s Lumiere Place — GLPI could easily do itself a favor a divest itself of the riverboat.
* Steve Wynn recently upgraded from a mansion in Bel-Air to one in Beverly Hills, for a cool $48 million, buying the former home of 
Maurice Marciano, who brought the world Guess jeans. We
don’t know how Wynn will get by with only eight bedrooms and 13 bathrooms but he’s an ingenious fellow, we’re sure he’ll make it work. (He must have found the five bedrooms and eight baths of his Bel-Air Country Country Club mansion too confining.) The old — as in “eight months of ownership” — Wynn place is on the market for $17.5 million, if you happen to have that in your sock drawer.
* Fans of Wahlburgers fast-food chain appeared to be set for a disappointment when a projected outlet at Caesars Entertainment‘s Grand Bazaar disappeared from the plans and 
the prospect for any Las Vegas establishment looked iffy. But Grand Bazaar has rebounded and announced a “late 2015” Wahlburgers opening, “at the tip of the center’s Grand Allée, which highlights a myriad of boutique shops and open-air walkways and will be within steps from the main pedestrian entrance to Bally’s Las Vegas.” Reading the menu makes me want to schedule an angioplasty but if this is your thing, you’re in luck.
