MGM Springfield plays rope-a-dope; Big break for Cordish

With MGM Springfield well short of revenue projections (and cutting jobs), President Michael Mathis was sent out to do PR damage control. “I feel good about the trajectory,” he claimed. He blamed Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun for the shortfall: We may have underestimated that level of loyalty and what it would take for those customers to give us a shot.” Stressing the positive, he said the casino has brought 6 million people to downtown Springfield. He also bragged on the casino’s restaurants and entertainment lineup. More to the point, revenue was not negatively impacted by Encore Boston Harbor in either June or July. That makes sense, given the vast geographical distance between the two casinos. One would not expect Bostonians to drive out Springfield for a bit of a flutter. As for high rollers, Rev. Richard McGowan of Boston College said, “Face it: where would you rather go [if you were a high roller]? Are you going all the way down to Twin River?”

The one area in which MGM is vulnerable is table games, their revenue a fraction of Encore’s and showing further softness. Nor is MGM the only company laying off employees. Ninety-five unfortunate souls at Twin River have been given the sack. “You’re probably going to be seeing those Twin River [revenue] numbers bounce back,” said Lasell University Professor Paul DeBole, who characterized Twin Rivers’ purge as “premature,” even though table revenues are down 34% and slot winnings have slipped 17%. (Twin River is offering to send any laid-off dealer to Dover Downs with full seniority.) As for MGM, it may be overly focused on its tribal rivals in Connecticut. Tribal and private-sector casinos in upstate New York provide an alternative closer to home.

* Bloomberg says we may be looking in the wrong place for recession indicators: “A better recession gauge may be plunging sales of RVs, Business Insider and the WSJ reported. Shipments have dropped every month this year and are down 20% from last year, an industry association said. Trade tariffs may be partly to blame because they’ve made imports more expensive, hurting the ride for the leisure tribe.” At least if you’re abstaining from buying a ‘Mormon assault vehicle,’ you have more money with which to gamble. The White House has mulled a temporary payroll-tax cut, which would certainly help, but regrettably decided against it.

* Plans for a $225 million casino in Arkansas‘ Pope County have been disclosed by the Cherokee Nation. The 50,000-square-foot casino floor would have 1,200 slots and 32 table games. There will be a sports book, a 200-room hotel and—speaking of RVs—a 200-hookup RV park. The design, by HKS Architects, is meant to evoke the Arkansas River Valley. Now the approval of a judge and mayor are needed. The Cherokee’s path has been smoothed by the withdrawals of the Choctaw Nation and Tri-Peaks/Hard Rock Café. Another contender, Gulfside Casino Group, had its skeletal proposal drop-kicked for disputed signatures and is appealing. Still out there is an extensive proposal from Iowa‘s Kehl family, which three Hawkeye State casinos already in its portfolio.

The Cherokee pitch has the support of the Quorum Court, an important first step. The court leapfrogged a requirement that any casino project be the subject of a Pope County referendum.  That sounds a bit risky and could be something upon which opponents could seize.

* Rejoice, Pittsburgh Steelers fans. You’ll soon (well, 2021) have a new place to rest your heads right near Heinz Field. A $60 million, 219-room hotel is rising as part of Rivers Casino. “It’s time for this hotel,” said Rush Street Gaming CEO Greg Carlin. “This is going to be the nicest hotel on the North Shore. It’s going to be a great addition to the skyline here.” Those familiar with chef Steve Martorano from The Rio can also look forward to a Martorano steak house at Rivers. The latter is hastening a $5.5 million doubling of its sports book to be in time for the Steelers’ Sept. 30 tilt against the hapless Cincinnati Bengals. After that, it’s time for a redo of the Drum Bar, which Carlin described as “a little tired.” We’re all in favor of such candor from gaming execs.

* Another New Mexico tribal casino is taking sports bets. Isleta Resort & Casino will be accepting wagers on intrastate collegiate sports. “There is a huge Lobo and Aggie following in this market … There was never a hesitation … due to the fact that there are extreme measures in place in the world of betting to prevent any kind of wrongdoing that might happen,” said CEO Harold Baugus. The University of New Mexico replied that it would have to ramp up its compliance department, to bring it more in line with UNLV‘s. By contrast with Isleta, Santa Ana Star Casino refrains from taking bets on UNM or New Mexico State University. A third tribal casino, Buffalo Thunder, takes action on New Mexico basketball teams but only in conference tournaments. Explaining his more liberal stance, Baugus said, “There was some discussion [of abstention] when we first started, but once we started going through all the training and doing all the research – those things are mitigated in this day and age, especially with all the technology out there.”

* Cordish Gaming got most, but not all, of what it wanted regarding the disputed I-76 on-ramp near Stadium Casino. Cordish lost in principle, as it will still have to pay, but its subsidy has been cut from $19 million to $3 million. Cordish’s traffic-mitigation cost has also been reduced from $3 million to $1 million. All of which leaves taxpayers (the real losers in this scenario) on the hook for the shortfall. Cordish and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board played footsie behind closed doors in arriving at the final sum. “They got away with not putting in the ramp,” lamented Sports Complex Special Services District director Ivan Cohen. The PGCB also approved Cordish’s Hempfield satellite casino, which will be branded Live Pittsburgh. So it was, all in all, a good day for Cordish.