Ida hits coastal casinos; Case Bets

Gulf Coast casinos are currently weathering Hurricane Ida and can be optimistic—at least in Mississippi—that it will not be a replay of Hurricane Katrina, now that all the coastal casinos are onshore. However, garages are flooding and casino doors are being sandbagged and reinforced, so this isn’t being taken lately. Most Biloxi-area casinos were proactive about shutting down on Saturday afternoon, although tardy responses from Golden Nugget and Island View Casino are to be noted. We’ll provide further news as it arrives but Ida’s bark appears to have been worse than her bite, thank God.

Two sports betting licenses remain up for grabs in Arizona. But the full tribal complement of 10 has been issued by Gov. Doug Ducey (R). Winners include WynnBET (San Carlos Apache Tribe), Westgate Las Vegas (Fort Mojave Indian Tribe), Golden Nugget (Hualapai Tribe), Tonto Apache (Churchill Downs), two tribes going with no-name outfits and four tribes—including the doughty Tohono O’odham nation, flying solo. Sports teams dealt in included the Arizona Cardinals (BetMGM), the Arizona Diamondbacks (William Hill), the Phoenix Suns (FanDuel), the Phoenix Mercury (Bally’s Corp.), TPC Scottsdale (DraftKings), Phoenix Speedway (Penn National Gaming), the Arizona Rattlers (Rush Street Interactive) and the presently unaffiliated Phoenix Coyotes. Left out in the cold is the Gila River Indian Nation, which partnered with BetMGM but to no avail.

Now that Yokohama is out of the picture, there’s serious talk that the Japanese government could issue fewer than the three envisioned casino licenses (plausible), perhaps as few as none (unlikely, in our view). Melco Resorts & Entertainment and Genting Group found themselves at loose ends when Yokohama elected a Communist mayor who is dead-set against casinos. (That still leaves Tokyo.) Contemplating this unraveling of Japan‘s grand casino scheme, consultant Brendan Bussmann sounded more than a little desperate: “It’s time to push forward with this effort to help serve as further catalyst for Japan’s post-pandemic rebound through the initial construction and then on the back half of 2020s when these facilities will open to drive tourism.” You wouldn’t happen to have a vested interest, would you, Mr. B?

Jottings: There’s been another leadership shakeup at shady Crown Resorts. Recent revelations about the troubled company include such astute business strategies as flying in whales who then didn’t gamble. Where James Packer goes, disaster is sure to follow … Unlike some companies that could stand to refresh their Atlantic City slot inventory (coughCaesarscough), Ocean Casino Resort isn’t being shy about touting its new slots. Ocean also continues to tinker with its casino floor layout to make it more customer-friendly. Small wonder that CEO Terry Glebocki is playing a winning hand … Dominoes continue to fall in Indian Country as four Ho Chunk-branded casinos in Wisconsin closed last weekend for “unforeseen circumstances” that initially seemed to spell C-O-V-I-D but later were identified as (equally sinister) “computer issues. The lone Ho Chunk casino to remain open was in Madison … Scoreboard is out, DraftKings is in as Oregon‘s new, sole provider of OSB, an understandable move. DKNG shares hopped 3% on the news … Finally, the Tropicana Las Vegas makes the Guiness Book of World Records and in a good way:

Quote of the Day: “It’s like turning the ship 180 degrees from where the NFL was, but they’ve embraced it, and it’s absolutely the right move. “At the end of the day, money is money, and the NFL is really good at making money.”—Caesars Entertainment Chief Trends Officer Trey Wingo on sports betting.