Eldorado Resorts might want to put its own house in order before engorging Caesars Entertainment. Quarterly results are out and Eldorado came in low in every category except corporate costs. Revenue misses included the West 
($128 million) -$18 million, the Midwest ($97 million) -$3.5 million, the Central U.S. ($123 million) -$3 million, the South ($117 million) -$13.5 million and the Eastern U.S. ($170 million) -$6 million. We don’t know if this bodes ill economically but it should give Eldorado pause about taking on $9 billion or so in debt. Caesars, by contrast, is looking pretty good, banking $1 billion from Las Vegas and another billion from its regional operations. That was a gain of $10 million and $82 million respectively. One odd item was $25 million in litigation/settlement costs. Does anybody know what’s up with that? It seems pretty steep for a single quarter.
Also having a good quarter was International Game Technology, whose cash flow was up 5%, which was 12% above Wall Street expectations. “We like IGT’s 
defensive revenues, long-term contracts, Italian business, stabilizing US gaming business and leverage to US sports betting,” wrote Credit Suisse analyst Ben Combes. Domestic gaming revenues beat analyst consensus by 13%, international revenues came out 15% ahead and Italian lottery business was solid, generating a $133 million operating profit. The new Crystal Series of slot machines drove new shipments up 46%, while lottery contracts in Colorado and Ohio were extended. What’s not to like?
* Those much-touted biometric deployments in Macao may have hit a snag. Gaming regulators have asked casinos not to install any unapproved technology. This seems to be connected to a fear that casino bosses will use the tech to track betting habits of individual players. As junketeer SunCity‘s 
executive director, Andrew Lo, put it, “Those who can afford to lose, those who play even more when losing money, we can for sure offer them a free meal.” The tracking goes beyond cameras, to RFID-enabled chips and tables. For instance, side bets in baccarat can be tracked. According to Bloomberg, “Ultimately, casino operators can rate each player with a combination of metrics they can tailor, such as the total time a player has spent in casinos, their betting volume, risk appetite, win/loss ratio, remaining chips, past dishonest behavior and net worth.”
In addition to standard privacy concerns, casinos have wrestled with the question of whether their intelligence-gathering would be used by Chinese law enforcement, not one of the most benevolent forces in the world. (The DICJ 
has directed Macanese casino operators to keep their data to themselves.) “This new technology certainly has the potential to infringe the law as it expands the scope of players whose breadth and range of activities would now be tracked,” iGamX Managing Partner Ben Lee told Bloomberg. Lo was more cavalier: “Facial recognition is very mature in China: border customs has it, banks will soon have it, it’s a trend,” he yawned. “If you’re afraid of this, then you’re very likely a criminal and casinos won’t do business with you anyway.” Yeah, right.
* Crown Resorts has issued an extensive rebuttal to the 60 Minutes report that painted the company as acting outside the law, at best. Among many other disavowals, Crown is denying that it had any association with a triad known as 
“the Company” and the report failed to document that “junkets are an established and accepted part of the operation of international casinos.” However, that may be beside the point. Bloomberg reports that Crown’s VIP-based business model “is failing.” Crown is running a distant second to rival Star Entertainment Group in revenue and has been for some years (even if Star has been drifting earthward of late). Crown Sydney will cost more per room than MGM Cotai or Wynn Palace, for a fraction of the capacity. Australian VIP business is on the wane. Even if Crown gets out of the tall grass, its commercial woes may be far from over.
* Good news for thrill seekers: The hair-raising El Loco rollercoaster (the one that begins with a perpendicular drop) at Circus Circus Adventuredome is back in action. Go and get the heck scared out of you.
