Casinos continue to thrive; Crooks, liars and losers

There’s no “supply chain” issue when it comes to dollars flowing into American casinos. Take Missouri, for instance. Casino revenue sprang 15.5% over 2019 last month, for a statewide take of $145.5 million. Actual visitation was down 2o% but per-visitor spend rose 44% (!). The prime beneficiary was Bally’s Kansas City ($9 million), rocketing 90.5% above its 2019 numbers under its new moniker and management. Statewide leader was, as ever, Ameristar St. Charles, jumping 28% to $24 million, while neighboring Hollywood St. Louis ($19 million) climbed 15.5%. River City was up 17% to $19 million but downtown’s Lumiere Place (above) fell 14.5% to $11 million. This latter news comes just as Caesars Entertainment announces plans to rebrand it as Horseshoe St. Louis. Whether that will be sufficient remedy is unclear but some desperate measures are in order.

All Kansas City casinos prospered, if not to the extent of Bally’s. Argosy Riverside was up 2% to $13 million, while Harrah’s North Kansas City climbed 12% to $14 million and Ameristar Kansas City did $15 million, a 6% uptick. Century Casinos booked $5.5 million in Cape Girardeau (newly green-lit for a $26 million hotel augmentation), a 16.5% improvement, and $3.5 million in Caruthersville, a 24% jump.

Players were also in a mood to spend in Indiana, as revenues vaulted 19.5% over January 2019 (and 13.5% over last year). Hard Rock Gary continues to outpace Horseshoe Hammond for the top spot, $30 million to Horseshoe’s $28 million (-2%). Nearby Ameristar East Chicago was flat at $16 million, all of which goes to suggest that Hard Rock is generating business on its own rather than cannibalizing the market. Michigan-competing Blue Chip was off 7%, grossing $9.5 million. Three other casinos lost business last month. French Lick Resort got licked, -14% to $6 million, Belterra Resort was off 11% to $6.5 million and Rising Star sank 15.5% to $3 million. Gainers included Bally’s Evansville (pictured), surging 14% to $13 million, Caesars Southern Indiana, up 13% to $19 million, and the state’s two racinos: Indiana Grand leapt 21% to $25 million and Harrah’s Hoosier Downs vaulted 37.5% to $20 million.

Then there was sports betting. A half-billion in handle boiled down to $35.5 million in revenue. Excluding walk-up handle, DraftKings was out front with 35%, trailed by FanDuel (27.5%), Caesars Sportsbook (12%) and BetMGM (11.5%). Also-rans included BetRivers, PointsBet and Barstool Sports, all somewhere between 3.5% and 4.5%. A strong retail book, combined with a DraftKings/theScore alliance, had Ameristar out in front with $10 million in revenue, followed by FanDuel/Blue Chip ($8 million) and Belterra Resort (BetMGM/BetWay) with $5 million.

Caesars set a sports-betting record when it took a $5 million wager from John “Mattress Mack” McIngvale on the Cincinnati Bengals to win the Super Bowl (he bags $8.5 million if they do). Mattress Mack drove from his native Houston to just across the Louisiana state line and placed the wager by phone. This brings McIngvale’s cumulative wagers on Cincy to $10 million and has caused Caesars to declare itself “Rams fans.” Personally, we think bookies are sleeping on the Bengals and have been for some time, and hope McIngvale gives them a wakeup call. On the other hand, Mattress Mack has had a bad habit of chasing losses during playoff season and elsewhere. He just might have a gambling problem but it’s good for business in his stores. If the Bengals win, any purchase in excess of $3,000 is refunded, which has caused an influx of custom.

Does the name Gamal Abdelaziz ring a bell? Maybe not. But back when he was one of J. Terrence Lanni‘s masters of the universe at MGM Mirage, he went by Gamal Aziz. He’s also a former president of Wynn Resorts. And soon he’ll be being fitted for an orange jumpsuit. Aziz was sentenced to a year in the pen (less than the government wanted) for fraud and bribery conspiracy. Aziz’s crimes were unrelated to the gaming industry. (Whew!). He crossed the palm of a college-admissions consultant with $300K in order to get his daughter onto the University of Southern California‘s athletic scholarship program “even though she didn’t make her high-school varsity team.” Aziz got slapped harder than other college-admissions felons because he lied repeatedly to the feds (they hate it when you do that), in addition to trying to palm forged documents off onto investigators.

In keeping with the era of The Big Lie, Aziz claims to have been “set up” and “framed.” Yup, they’re all out to get you, Gamal. He straight-facedly argued that the 300 grand was just a “donation” to USC and had nothing to trying to get his little girl into the school. Uh-huh. “But prosecutors produced recordings of telephone conversations showing that Abdelaziz helped create a phony athletics profile for his daughter. He even sent [his co-conspirator] a photograph of a basketball player who was not his daughter for use in the application.” That takes some sauce. We hope Aziz enjoys his time in the Big House, learns something from the experience—and doesn’t have a C-Suite gaming job waiting for him when he gets out.

While we’re on the subject of corrupt figures from Big Gaming, Richard Schuetz has a must-read piece on the recent Nevada Gaming Control Board whitewash of Apollo Management. It’s a thorough and scathing takedown of the see-no-evil charade by which Apollo was approved to take control of Venelazzo from Las Vegas Sands (a story on which potential beneficiary Miriam Adelson‘s Las Vegas Review-Journal has been suspiciously quiet). Schuetz lays particular emphasis on the involvement of both NGCB Chairman Brin Gibson and Apollo lawyer Frank Schreck in “Entity Y,” which was the mechanism whereby Wynn Resorts paid $7.5 million in hush money on behalf of baby daddy Steve Wynn. He also shreds the board’s naiveté regarding the investigative reporting of the Wall Street Journal, the Nevada Current, and Caesars Palace Coup authors Max Frumes and Sujeet Indap, all of whom seriously undermined Apollo’s credibility as a casino owner/operator. Nor does Gov. Steve Sisolak (D), who put the fix in for Apollo, get off unscathed—and deservedly.

Sisolak, incidentally, yesterday joined the ranks of those cheese-eating surrender monkeys who are hauling up the white flag in the face of still-rampant Covid. The score is Covid 1, America 0, as the disease’s stamina and mutability have worn out our resolve to defeat it. Now it’s every man for himself and devil take the hindmost (or the unvaccinated, in this case). Our disgust with Sisolak—whose Nevada political rivals are even worse than he, a collection of crazies and lickspittles—and his fellow cowards is such that words are painfully inadequate.

Lastly, Maryland lawmakers—having approved an insane number of sports book licenses (at least 60)—are headed further down the slippery slope of gaming revenue dilution by proposing slot routes at Baltimore International Airport. And not just a few slots sprinkled here and there. If Delegate Ric Metzgar (R) gets his wish, the airport will be inundated with 3,000 one-armed bandits. Gloated Metzgar, “this is a captive audience and it’s an opportunity for us to get outside money.” To put Metzgar’s greed in context, Reid International Airport and Reno‘s air terminal have 1,650 slots combined. Of course, if this passes, lawmakers’ thirst for revenue won’t stop there. Next up will be slots at gas stations, restaurants, etc., etc., etc., just as happened to Illinois (where it’s slowly killing the state’s casinos). There’s no degenerate gambler quite like a politician thirsty for taxes.

Jottings: Perhaps Maryland can pick up some spare slots from Wind Creek Bethlehem. The Pennsylvania casino is slashing 655 machines, as well as adding more poker tables. Increased social distancing, however, is the primary motivator … Guess what? Churchill Downs is relocating its $240 million Queen of Terre Haute casino after all. The company is citing improved access to I-70 as a determining factor but the original site’s close proximity to a prison may also have dimmed its curb appeal … Scientific Games and Bally Technologies lost a major anti-trust ruling to Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort, which accused the two of colluding to manipulate prices. (The usually garrulous Scientific PR operation for once failed to issue a press release.) Both companies have a 30-day window in which to appeal the arbitrator’s findings in court.