Gambling in Louisiana was a bit off the pace last month, down 4% ($187 million). Most of that was due to a terrible Baton Rouge market, tumbling 21%, while Lake Charles (+2%) 
remained immune. New Orleans (-2%) and Shreveport/Bossier City (-5%) were victimized to a much lesser degree. Pinnacle Entertainment took it hard, down 10%, led by an 18.5% plunge at L’Auberge Baton Rouge ($12 million). Boomtown New Orleans slipped 2% ($9 million) and Boomtown Bossier ($4 million) was off by 8%. Not even flagship L’Auberge du Lac was bulletproof, sliding 8% to $23 million. Golden Nugget snuck past L’Auberge with a 23.5% gain and $25 million gross. Elsewhere in the market, Isle Grand Palais declined 8.5% to $8.5 million (really) and Delta Downs was down 3% to $14 million.
In New Orleans, Harrah’s New Orleans still proves that fears of the effect of a smoking ban were unfounded as it continues to dominate the market with $20.5 million (-4.5%), while Churchill Downs‘ Fair Grounds racino lagged 4% to $4 million. Across the river, Treasure Chest was a buxom +2.5% to $8 million and Amelia 
Belle gained 4% to $3 million. The other Baton Rouge boats had a rough go of it, with Casino Rouge down 23% to $4.5 million and Belle of Baton Rouge plummeting 24.5% to $4 million. So L’Auberge Baton Rouge may have been hit hard but it still makes its competition look like chicken feed.
Outstate, Boyd Gaming sustained a 10% decline at Evangeline Downs, bagging $6 million, Horseshoe Bossier City led the Shreveport/Bossier market with $12 million, despite a 13% decline, rivaled only by Margaritaville, on a tear with a 13.5% increase and $11 million gross. Sam’s Town ($5 million) was 11% off and Eldorado Shreveport ($8.5%) had to fight off a 13% downturn.
* Despite numbers like these, and the ones that came out of Atlantic City and Pennsylvania yesterday, Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli says “Nothing to see here.” He characterizes the declines as “a blip” with “the overall trend firmly in place.” 
Boyd “has been an outlier within the group, and deservedly so, in our view, post its savvy 4Q17 acquisitions, which we believe have yet to reflect in valuation.” While Wall Street doesn’t put a lot of stock (pun unintended) in sequential comparisons, Santarelli argues that January underwhelms after a strong November and December, had one less Sunday and that New Year’s Day “had a negative impact on traffic, as January 2nd, 2018 was a work day, whereas January 2, 2017 (Monday) was a holiday for many.” Says Santarelli, “we remain bullish.”
* As if the Steve Wynn mishegas weren’t bad enough, Wynn Resorts is still under the overhang of a $5 billion lawsuit from Kazuo Okada. But with Steve Wynn currently unemployed and Okada out at Universal Entertainment, settlement talks are thought to be more likely.
* Legalized sports betting isn’t yet the law of the land but Major League Baseball is already advancing a bill toward the Missouri Lege that would help MLB to a 1% “integrity fee” (read: greedy money grab) on gross sports book wagers, impose a $10,000 levy on Internet/mobile betting providers and tax the whole shebang at 21%. As expected, MLB personnel would be barred from wagering. Otherwise they’ll have to enshrine Pete Rose in Cooperstown. Sports “governing bodies” can tell the state what events and can’t be wagered upon, and “Sports wagering operators shall use in all sports wagering only statistics, results, outcomes, and other data relating to a sporting event that have been obtained from the relevant sports governing body or an entity expressly authorized by the sports governing body to provide such information to sports wagering operators.” So if Bookmaker X is watching ESPN and hears that Adam Wainwright has a sore arm, they can’t use the information to move the line. That’s just not cricket.
* Speaking of sports, hey NBC-TV, how about telling viewers when Olympic Games events are going to be on the air? My wife had to sit through three hours of skiing and snowboarding just to see Adam Rippon‘s short program (the only skating featured before the witching hour). The Olympiad is a triumph for the peacock. It’s been able to show hours of commercials, interrupted by brief interludes of competition. Maybe by the time the Olympics get to Tokyo some network exec can devise a way to display nothing but ads, with no pesky athletics elbowing in on the precious air time.
Bravo to team Tilman!