Las Vegas Strip gaming execs can breathe a sigh of relief that April’s 3% decline in revenue, while worse than expected, was as small as it was. 
After all, they were up against flat baccarat wagering and a revenue plunge of 27%. All other table games were up 2% on 7% less wagering. Slot handle was flat but the house took home 4% more. Lady Luck was with the locals casinos, up 9% on flat slot coin-in and 3% less table wagering. Despite its turndown, the Strip still grossed $475.5 million. Downtown shot up 22%, to $52 million. The Boulder Strip rose 19% ($64 million), closely followed by North Las Vegas (+18%, $23.5 million). Laughlin, at $43 million, eked out a 4% increase, while miscellaneous Clark County scratched out a mere 1% increase but booked $94 million in revenue.
Reno had a bad month, off 5% to $48 million, while Lake Tahoe had a near-symmetrical, 4.5% increase to $13 million. Elko was up 4.5%, to $25 million, and the Carson Valley was up 6% to $8.5 million. Expect some April slot revenue to fatten May’s coffers, since the change of months fell on a weekend.
* Wait ’til 2022. That’s the new party line from Meadowlands Racetrack owner Jeff Gural. Fresh off a crushing electoral defeat, Gural has probably finally realized that 2018 is too soon to go rattling his tin cup at the New Jersey electorate again. What’s incredible is that Gural said he “can wait until New York state opens three more casinos, which he said should happen in about six years.” That must be some racino he’s dreaming up. Here we were, thinking that New York City-area casinos would mean Game Over for Gural and his partners at Hard Rock International. “I can last as long as it’s going to take,” Gural said. “I’d rather wait six years until New York is either open or ready to open, and then voters will say, ‘Wait a minute,'” Gural rationalized.
He explained his decision to bypass ’18 thusly, “It would be very difficult to lose twice and have it pass on a third try. The best way to 
ensure I win is to have New York open three casinos just over the bridge.” But if there are three casinos ‘just over the bridge,’ where’s the incentive to invest in, let alone patronize Meadowlands? Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D, right) vowed that the issue wouldn’t go away while Borgata President Tom Ballance struck an ominous note, observing that 70% of Borgata customers live within 15 minutes of alternative gambling and that number would rise to 85% if Gural gets his will.
* As though there weren’t enough confusion in Connecticut over whether a satellite casino can be voted into being and survive near-inevitable litigation, the mayor of East Hartford has thrown legislators a curveball. Maria Leclerc says solons should take look again at a rejected East Hartford site, citing its proximity to the convention center. Leclerc’s looking to cover a $7.5 million shortfall that East Hartford will suffer in Gov. Dannel Malloy‘s latest budget: “At first, I accepted that we hadn’t won the site. But then, the governor’s proposed budget came out, and it negatively affects my community …We cannot continue to take economic hits.”
Leclerc can take some consolation in the fact that the state Senate may be on board with an East Windsor site but that open bidding holds more appeal for the House of Representatives. The Senate bill throws a $750,000 bone to East Hartford as a “distressed community.” But tribal joint-venture MMTC is set on East Windsor, saying, “the truth is that the best site in terms of retaining the most revenue and jobs in Connecticut is East Windsor.” Leclerc’s got her work cut out for her.
* Some of the biggest names in popular culture — many, in fact — have flat-out bombed as slot themes. Remember Elizabeth Taylor Diamonds? Don’t worry: Few do. While this story doesn’t completely explain why brand-name games are often non-starters, a lack of compelling bonus content often makes the difference. My favorite example is the Star Trek slot, which made capital use of only three seasons’ worth of intellectual property, while Stargate SG-1 had 10 seasons to draw upon and wasn’t even compelling to fans of the series (not to this one, anyway).
