"Things are a little murky." That's how the Cincinnati Enquirer describes the Did-he-or-didn't-he issue of whether Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear met with million-dollar booster and Columbia Sussex CEO William Yung III, whose desire for a Cincinnati-area casino is the worst-kept secret in the Bluegrass State. (Beshear does, for the record, acknowledge hobnobbing with several players in the horseracing industry, but not with Yung.)
However, a game of keep-away involving records of visitors to the governor's office is clouding the issue. For some, the whole matter is starting to look rather seamy. And, considering the ethical sinkhole that swallowed the administration of Beshear's predecessor, can you blame them?
Having proclaimed for all to hear that the arrival of Pinnacle Entertainment would write finis to one of their riverboats, Penn National and Columbia Sussex have to decide whether to put up their dukes or cut and run. Not that they have to hurry: Pinnacle's Riviere project is still two-plus years away.
But if Hollywood and the Belle of Baton Rouge (soon to be displaced by Amelie Bell [above]) stay put, it's a tacit admission that their parents' anti-Pinnacle campaign tactics were a bunch of B.S. Or so implies the Baton Rouge Business Report. An analyst hired by Penn crunches the numbers and concludes that Belle has the better profit margins, ergo the better chance of eking it out in a post-Pinnacle market. Penn could counter-attack by bringing Argosy Lawrenceburg downriver from Indiana, greatly increasing its Baton Rouge capacity.
But New Orleans-based gaming analyst Nicholas Danna "says [Columbia Sussex] has shown a tendency to overpay for properties, making it harder to reinvest in what they have." He notes, though, that Baton Rouge is a market with considerable room for growth, compared to New Orleans (Belle's former home).
Back in Atlantic City, there are still only two bidders for the Atlantic City Tropicana, although the others may be waiting until next Monday, hoping to slap down a last-second bid that catches the competition unawares. However, since trustee Justice Gary Stein isn't held hostage to "maximizing shareholder value," he doesn't have to take the highest offer. (By contrast, Aztar Corp. had little choice but to sell its assets to Columbia Sussex, even if it knew full well what depredations would follow.)
According to Richard Perniciaro, director of the Center for Regional Business & Research at Atlantic Cape Community College, as paraphrased by NJ Biz, desiderata include "stability, cash to invest and experience in both gaming and working with labor unions. “ In other words, somebody 180 degrees from Columbia Sussex's CEO. Despite the paucity of bids on the table, analysts are starting to doubt that Stein can have the sale wrapped in June (his deadline has already been extended once)
Tropicana execs and overseers, meantime, are forecasting a rosier future, as part of their sales pitch, according to a 36-page memo intercepted by The Press of Atlantic City. Part of the turnaround is to be achieved by restaffing player-development and marketing staffs that Yung decimated. These aren't pie-in-the-sky estimates.
According to the document, it will take more than two years to restore revenue levels to pre-Columbia Sussex levels. And though 300 staffers will be added by year's end, employment levels at the A.C. Trop will still be only 85% of what they were before Yung's minions got in and started slashing away.
