Thank God. There is nothing new about Steve Wynn in this morning’s headlines, so we can talk about some good, old-fashioned gambling. Illinois last month saw a 5.5% drop-off for a somewhat anemic gross of $105 million. Foot traffic was 12% down but players spent 
7%, which I guess is a silver lining of sorts. The only casino in the state to gain business was perennial leader Rivers Casino, up 3.5% to $35 million. (Isn’t that nicely symmetrical.) Down south, Harrah’s Metropolis suffered an absolutely catastrophic month, plummeting 29.5% to $5 million. Returning to the northern casinos, Harrah’s Joliet was the closest thing Rivers had to competition, grossing $13.5 million (-9%). Penn National Gaming grossed $9 million at Hollywood Aurora (-11%) and $9 million at Empress Joliet (-9%). At Grand Victoria, co-owner MGM Resorts International grossed $12 million, a 5% slippage.
Mid-state, Par-A-Dice took in $5.5 million, down 6%, while Jumer’s Casino Rock Island was only 3% down, grossing $5 million. In East St. Louis, oft-dissed Casino Queen tumbled 8% to $7.5 million. Penn rounded out the month with a 13% falloff at Argosy Belle, which grossed $3 million.
* Adding table games really drove business, up 23.5%, at Ocean Downs ($4.5 million), in Maryland. Of course, MGM National Harbor, up 3% from last year, dominated the picture with $50 million. Of that amount, nearly $27 million went to high-tax slots and and $23.5 
million to low-tax tables. That’s a better balance than Maryland Live (down only 1.5%), where slots gross $29 million and tables only $15 million. Splits weren’t available for Hollywood Baltimore, which was flat with a $20 million gross. Hollywood Perryville was down 1%, to $6 million, and Rocky Gap Resort also slipped 1%, for a $4 million finish. Market share was 39% for MGM, 34% for Cordish Gaming and only 16% for Caesars Entertainment. In West Virginia, National Harbor continued to bleed the state of revenues, down 8%. Penn’s Charles Town Races had an exceptionally unlucky month at the tables (a 23% bellyflop), contributing heavily to a 6% decline.
* In Washington, D.C., MGM isn’t just flexing its casino biceps, it’s also demonstrating its political muscle by successfully lobbying Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke to stall approval of Mohegan Sun‘s and Foxwoods Resort Casino‘s satellite facility in East 
Windsor. MGM CEO Jim Murren‘s opposition to Donald Trump clearly hasn’t cost him any juice inside the Beltway. “The Interior Department’s refusal to sign off on the tribes’ plans for a third Connecticut casino came after Zinke and other senior department officials held numerous meetings and phone calls with MGM lobbyists and the company’s Republican supporters in Congress,” reports Politico. While Zinke stiff-armed pro-tribal Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D), he was all ears to Sen. Dean Heller (R, right), Rep, Mark Amodei (R) and a lobbying team headed by former Interior secretary Gale Norton.
Zinke (below) has been dragging his feet for so long on East Windsor that the two tribes filed a lawsuit last November. The appearance of favoritism certainly is damning. Interior called approving the casino ‘premature,’ leading tribal 
spokesman Andrew Doba to say, “It’s 100% about delaying us for as long as they possibly can.” Last May, Associate Deputy Interior Secretary James Cason told the tribes the compact amendments could only be held up on technical grounds, Heller turned up the heat, as did Amodei, who wrote that the tribes were trying to make an end run around the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Interior reversed field in mid-September, with Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Michael Black writing the tribes that he needed additional (unspecified) information at that department approval was “premature and likely unnecessary.” All the while, Interior was in close communication with Heller and Amodei. Zinke and Heller even literally chewed the fat last July 30 at a Las Vegas steakhouse (also unspecified), as Zinke was touring national monuments, deciding which ones he was going to pillage.
Heller has carried water for MGM in the past and is a recipient of “george” campaign contributions from the company. Amodei hasn’t received one thin dime from MGM. The latter is going to use the stalled process in Washington, D.C., to try and leverage a commercial casino of its own, preferably in Bridgeport, Murren’s home town. We wouldn’t say Murren’s fighting dirty but we definitely underestimated him as a bare-knuckles brawler.
* Mohegan Sun CEO Mario Kontomerkos has definitely turned things around. First-quarter revenues have swung from a $51.5 million loss last year to a $29 million profit this year. This was done on only a minuscule increase in revenue, from $285 million to $287 million. (Don’t forget that Mohegan Sun Pocono and Resorts Atlantic City contribute to the kitty.) Promos were rechanneled toward increasing revenue at non-gaming attractions, which drove a 4% increase in those departments. Well done.
