Although it will forever be a mystery why Caesars Entertainment evacuated Ohio, now that gaming revenues in the Buckeye State are on the upswing, it’s understandable that 
CEO Mark Frissora would want to get back in. Last month, gross gaming revenues were $152 million, a 4% increase, powered by an 8% improvement at the racinos. (Casino business was static.) Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Toledo was flat at $16 million, while Hollywood Columbus slid 5% to $17.5 million. But Hollywood Dayton was up 2.5% to $8.5 million and Hollywood Mahoning Valley jumped 5.5% to $10 million.
Dan Gilbert‘s on-the-auction-block Jack Entertainment properties were led by Jack Thistledown, up 10% to $10 million. Jack Cincinnati had a good month, up 3% to $16 million, but Gilbert continues to struggle in Cleveland proper, down 1% to $16 million. (Maybe if the calendar hadn’t been unfavorable, with one fewer weekend day, Jack Cleveland might have at least come out even.) Hard Rock Rocksino put everyone to shame with $22 million, vaulting 12%. Belterra Park was up 5% to $7 million and Scioto Downs jumped 7% to $14.5 million. If the Ohio market proves anything, it’s that you don’t need table games to prosper in a regional market. Just ask MGM Resorts International, new owner of Hard Rock.
* That lost weekend day was definitely felt in Missouri, where gross gaming revenues were down 1%, at $144 million. All the outstate casinos were down, with Isle of Capri Cape Girardeau 
tumbling 14% to $5 million. In the Kansas City market, only Ameristar Kansas City gained, up 3.5% to $16.5 million. Argosy Riverside ($13.5 million) was flat, Harrah’s North Kansas City was down 2% to $15 million and Isle of Capri Kansas City slid 9% to $5.5 million.
In St. Louis, Eldorado Resorts cleaned up at Lumiere Place, up 12.5% and grossing $13 million. Everyone else lost market share. Hollywood St. Louis was down 3% to $19.5 million, Ameristar St. Charles was down 1.5% to $22 million, still good enough to dominate the market, and River City slipped 3% to $18 million.
* Kudos to Caesars for taking the lead in shattering the glass ceiling in gaming. “Caesars’ Atlantic City resorts — Bally’s, Caesars and Harrah’s Resort — are 
currently ahead of the national average in terms of gender equity, with 40 percent of our female employees in manager roles and above,” said Harrah’s Resort General Manager Katie Hall. The Press of Atlantic City reports that “the company has already introduced several steps — such as four weeks paid-family leave and equitable benefits for all employees — toward its ultimate goal.” Nor is Caesars is claiming that the job is done, but rather says that there is farther to go. Good on them.
* Las Vegas is, despite its self-proclaimed identity as a foodie magnet, only the 7th-best city in the United States for dining, according to WalletHub. Mind you, it is #1 for affordability and accessibility of highly rated restaurants. It is also fourth in restaurants per capita. But it is 74th for average beer and wine price (the $9 beer is evidently pervasive), and 35th for craft breweries and wineries. At least Vegas is seventh in gourmet food stores per capita, enabling to salvage its honor.
* The next time Donald Trump says people “don’t look like Indians” to him (one shudders to think what lurid images of ‘Indians’ inhabit Trump’s brain) someone should remind him that, before he moved to the White House, he lived on land stolen from its ancestral inhabitants. For instance, the acreage now occupied by Trump Tower was once roamed by the Mohegan band, and the Lenape tribe called what would become Atlantic City their home. You can look it up.
