Resorts World Catskills still hasn’t weighed in and yet it’s already looking like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s bet on upstate casinos has 
crapped out. After an initial flurry of lookie-lous, the first three casinos are struggling to regain their initial pace. For instance, Rivers Casino was making more than $3 million a week during February and March but it fell in April and hasn’t been able to get back up. Ditto Del Lago. The casinos’ applications to the state were predicated on revenue projections that are looking harder and harder to meet. Del Lago grossly overshot the market, predicting $5.5 million a week.
Del Lago GM Jeff Babinski tried to blow smoke up the business community’s ass, saying, “We think it will pick up and remain steady when people see what we have to offer. We’d like people to come here, especially with the hotel, maybe go out for the day to visit the wineries, then come back for dinner and hopefully do a little gaming.” Face it, Jeff, it’s going to take more than “a little gaming” to make those numbers pencil out.
* Iowa casino regulators are struggling with the question of whether to add new facilities and they received a very mixed message from the fiscal 2017 numbers. Revenue was up 1% but that was primarily driven by upgrades at casinos in the Quad Cities metroplex. Twelve casinos reported downturns from 2016 and overall gaming revenues remained short of 2012 numbers. “There’s a lot of competition for the entertainment dollar,” said Iowa Gaming Association spokesman Wes Ehrecke with masterly understatement.
Rhythm City in Davenport and Isle of Capri in Bettendorf reinvested $170 million in their facilities, which the Iowa Gaming Commission‘s Brian Ohorilko believed brought in significant out-of-state dollars. He waxed cautiously optimistic on 2017, attributing the 12 revenue declines to “a natural bounce back” from a strong 2016. Clinton, Burlington and Sioux City were hit the hardest. The commission will be embarking on a listening tour to audit prospective new casino sites, with a decision slated for Nov. 16. The operative question will be has the status quo changed sufficiently since 2014 when a Cedar Rapids project was nixed for fears of cannibalism.
* Both supine and guilty of wishful thinking, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has allowed an underfunded state budget to become law without his signature. He hopes the Lege will come up with the money 
somewhere — perhaps by raiding funds that are supposed to help prevent tobacco disease and curb smoking — but he’s cooled on gaming expansion. He doesn’t want a budget that “takes from one bucket called gambling to another,” he said unhelpfully. Plans for slot routes (and possibly also for mini-casinos) had a cart and horses run through them when the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported that slot revenue was down statewide in fiscal 2017. Internet gambling is not out of the question but the resolve of the Pennsylvania Legislature looks decidedly lacking.
* Now that the citizenry can gamble, Vietnam is emerging as the consolation prize for those casino companies who miss out on Japan (where the number of resorts is still up for grabs.)
