Midwest: Casinos, interrupted

For some arcane reason, Illinois has not reported casino revenue for March. But we have a couple of neighboring states’ data and can conclude with reasonable certainty that it tracks with the Land of Lincoln. After a March 17 closure order, Missouri casino revenues fell 54%. The statewide gross was $77 million. At present, casinos are scheduled to reopen April 24, so part of this month might yet be salvaged. Such revenue as there was was dominated by slots ($65 million). The one anomaly in the results is St. Jo Frontier, which was only off 6.5%, at $2 million-plus. Everybody else got the stick. Ameristar St. Charles grossed $12 million, -53%. That was the best in the state, albeit a Pyrrhic victory.

Hollywood St. Louis grossed $9.5 million (-58.5%), as did River City (-54%), while Lumiere Place eked out $7 million (-54%). In Kansas City, again the Ameristar brand was king, with $8.5 million (-54%), while Harrah’s North Kansas City‘s $7 million and change (-60%) just nipped Argosy Riverside‘s $7 million even (-54.5%) at the post. Isle of Capri Kansas City grossed a slim $3 million (-49%). Moving on to the highlights, such as they were, from Iowa, the state tumbled 55% to $65 million, casinos also having been closed March 17. Unlike Missouri, April will be a complete write-off. Individual casino revenues were mostly small potatoes—under $4 million apiece. Other than racinos, Ameristar Council Bluffs, with $7 million, down 54.5%, was the only exception. Horseshoe Casino grossed $7.5 million (-54%) and Prairie Meadows led the state, as usual, with $9 million (-55%). As for the Boyd Gaming and Eldorado Resorts casinos it was more of the same, writ small.

* BetAmerica is down for the count after a ransomware attack. It’s been two weeks now and the sports-betting provider, a subsidiary of SBTech, is still out of service—or “upgrading” as BetAmerica calls it. Meanwhile, if you had sports-betting funds parked with, say, Churchill Downs, they’re out of reach until power is restored to BetAmerica. (Ditto Golden Nugget and Resorts Digital.) At least the Oregon Lottery‘s sports-betting application, “Scoreboard,” a casualty of the attack, is back up and running. Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., which is merging with SBTech, demanded—and got—access to $70 million in cash and shares that have been placed in escrow for litigation settlements. Owner Shalom McKenzie has also agreed to be held liable.

The timing of the attack, a fortnight prior to a DraftKings takeover, is not considered coincidental. Opines Casino.org, “With the merger date looming, attackers may have believed SBTech would be more susceptible to paying ransom demands to help smooth the deal.” Judging by subsequent events, SBTech didn’t play ball.

* Sanford C. Bernstein analysts predict a “strong recovery” for Macao in 2021. Pardon us but No sh!t, Sherlock. Macao has fallen so far it has nowhere to go but up, although Bernstein thinks that 2020 won’t be so bad after all: down just 37% year/year. Such declines as will occur, particularly in mass-market play, are blamed on government travel restrictions. As for 2021, it is predicted to be 74% above this year. Wrote a trio of Bernstein boffins, “Initially, we see a disproportionate recovery of higher-end premium mass and VIP, with base mass/grind mass recovering more slowly.”  Galaxy Entertainment is expected to be the prime beneficiary, thanks to cash on hand and “minimal debt.” Unlike other analysts they expect Galaxy Macau Phase 3 to proceed on schedule.

* Another no-surprise item: Sheldon Adelson is Numero Uno among casino billionaires. He’s the world’s 28th-richest person, according to Forbes, at $27 billion. There were 2,095 billionaires worldwide, 58 fewer than before Coronavirus began making markets sickly. Adelson was way ahead of Galaxy founder Liu Che Woo, #106 with $12 billion. Then came Novomatic founder Johann Graf, #230 with $6.5 billion. Skipping over several other casino billionaires (including #565, Pansy Ho), we find Steve Wynn, out but not down at #648 and $3 billion. Even Elaine Wynn made the list, #1,513 with $1.5 billion. Success is the best revenge.

* Don’t watch The Farewell while operating heavy machinery. We wouldn’t call it “boring” but our eyelids got very heavy at the midway point and we still don’t know who it ends.