Massachusetts casinos raked in $80 million last month, 60% of that—or $48.5 million—at Encore Boston Harbor. Holding onto a 26% share was MGM Springfield, grossing $20.5 million, while Plainridge Park won $11 
million. That was a 10.5% decline for the racino, where the slots won $298 per slot per day, a notable dip from $333/day last year at this time, as coin-in declined 7%. Luck was in MGM’s favor (as were hold percentages), as slot win jumped 14% on 2% less handle. Unfortunately, table game revenue ($6 million) represented a 14% stumble. Even as it continues to feel its way into the Boston market, Encore continued to win at a $1.6 million/day clip. Slot wagering was $328 million, of which Wynn Resorts kept $24 million, averaging $247/win/slot/day. Table win was $24.5 million, or $5,505/win/table/day. We think all those numbers speak for themselves.
While we’re on the subject of Plainridge Park, we note that Penn National Gaming CEO Jay Snowden (pictured) sat down with JP Morgan analysts for what were “a series of upbeat investor meetings.” The banking house raised its 
price target for PENN $5/share, to $44. Wrote analyst Joseph Greff, “the core regional gaming business feels pretty good. January [gross gaming revenue] growth isn’t just calendar/number of weekend days related nor is it entirely easy comparisons given last year’s weather-impacted results.” As for Penn’s buy-in of a plurality of Barstool Sports, it’s “a potential cost/investment effective way of gaining revenue share with margins exceeding that of peers (i.e., doesn’t have to pay access fees, unlike others, so acquisition costs should be lower).” Asset sales remain “potential,” so there’s no discernible movement on the Tropicana Las Vegas front, but in the meantime revenues should be helped by an easy comparison with a weather-impacted 2019. Snowden was praised as “dynamic” and the company’s commitment to deleveraging was lauded.
Other takeaways were that sports betting is outstripping Internet gaming in acceptance (another reason to like the Barstool buy) and “cross-selling between sports betting and iGaming customers appears to be an enormous opportunity.” Also baseball season coincides with the leanest sports-betting periods for the industry, which derives 20% each from the second and third quarters. What a comedown for the national pastime.
* Scientific Games‘ 4Q19 numbers were “lower than expected,” per Greff. He had predicted $893 million in revenue and SGMS delivered $862 million, a significant miss. Although lottery revenue was off, the miss was 
largely driven by lower machine sales. Gaming operations and systems were in line with forecasts. The company also ratcheted its leverage target back from 5.5X to 6X, citing “slower than anticipated growth in its gaming ops installed base and a more uncertain/conservative outlook for industry replacements (in part reflecting potential coronavirus impact on operator capex/cash flow).” (And you thought slot makers were immune to coronavirus!) It wasn’t just the Pacific Rim where Scientific had problems: North American replacement cycles were slow, down 8%, partly because casinos didn’t have leftover capex money to spend. Also, several anticipated product approvals didn’t come through until last month, when they had been expected during 4Q19.
Scientific was generally upbeat about the near future, pointing to historical-racing machine sales and casino expansion in Illinois. Even so, Greff lowered his price target on the stock by a dollar.
* After a tantalizingly long delay, Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise is ready to open the doors of Desert Diamond Casino, 
which will finally have table games. The $400 million property replaces a ‘big box’ that captured gambling revenue for five years (slots only) while the Tohono O’odham (or TO’s, as they’re known in the Phoenix area) readied the permanent casino. Right now the focus is on gambling (1K slots and 48 blackjack tables), with an event center and concert hall both punted into the future, although the old, temporary casino could be repurposed for conventions and suchlike.
Jottings: Despite having announced a preference for MGM Resorts International, the government of Osaka won’t make it official until June. The concession award also has to be approved at the federal level … 
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R, left) is trimming the casino contribution to his budget from $294 million to less than $283 million. Meanwhile, Encore Boston Harbor is a hot zone for police activity, with over 160 arrests and summons being handed out over a six-month period. Disorderly conduct seems to be a popular offense … Washington State‘s lower house of the Lege has overwhelmingly approved sports betting for 29 tribal casinos. The bill now goes to the state Senate. The House vote is a big defeat for Maverick Gaming, a major card-club operator in the state … Whoops. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) may have unknowingly auto-renewed tribal compacts in the Sooner State when he extended the compacts of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Kialegee Tribal Town. Stitt’s attorneys, understandably, say “Did not!” Don’t you just love legal hair-splitting?
