Except for a 4% slippage in July, the motto around Pennsylvania might be, “Cannibalization? What cannibalization?” The Keystone State has shrugged off new competition from Ohio, from New York City, from Revel in Atlantic City, and even from within the state itself. Once new Valley Forge Casino Resort (right) and its $6 million gross are subtracted from August’s numbers, Pennsylvania is still up 4%. Despite Parx Casino having had a poor month (-12%) and Sands Bethlehem a very good one (+32%) at the tables, the casinos occupy an elite class of two, grossing $40 million (+1%) and $39 million (+20%), respectively. Considering that it has the Pittsburgh area almost to itself, Rivers Casino‘s $31 million makes for a surprisingly paltry third-place showing.
All Philadelphia-area casinos were up in August, including Harrah’s Philadelphia ($29 million, +3%) and durable SugarHouse — the better of Neil Bluhm‘s two Pennsylvania investments — grossing $23 million, up 12%. To the extent that Valley Forge is taking market share from anyone, Parx has been the biggest sufferer. There’s not a ton of discretionary income in that market upon which a central-Philly casino could sustain itself but if someone like R. Donahue Peebles were able to contain costs, then just maybe …
Elsewhere, Hollywood Casino ($23 million, flat) continues to lag Wall Street‘s expectations for Penn National Gaming and Presque Isle Casino took a hit from the Horseshoe Cleveland opening. Table revenues, modest to begin with, had a 28% dive and slots were off 9%. Mohegan Sun has been off the pace 1% for two months running now, so you have to wonder if it really wants to incentivize its players to visit Resorts Atlantic City and vice versa. But with Mt. Airy Casino up 9%, the Pocono market looks pretty safe for now — and quite a while to come.
Stanley Ho sighting. With no disrespect to the Loch Ness Monster, a more-newsworthy manifestation may have been the recent appearance of the long-invisible Stanley Ho at a 
business-related gala in Hong Kong. Since the ancient Ho is essentially under the control of whoever is closest in proximity to him at any given point, it is worth noting that he was on the arm of Angela Leong, latest wife and heir presumptive to the Sociedade de Jogos de Macau casino empire. SJM’s Leong, er, long reach into the Cotai Strip could be great indeed: At one fell swoop, Chairman Ambrose So wants to increase the company’s table game inventory by 35%. How this sits with government-imposed caps on game inventory remains to be seen. With so many footholds in the enclave, So could amass many of those tables simply by retiring five here, 10 there from the dozens of existing SJM casinos. Also, there’s a misty consortium proposing an $800 million casino-hotel for Cotai which says it’s got “a service provider agreement” with an undisclosed operator. How much do you want to bet that partner’s initials begin with “S” and end with “o”?
