Big Bellagio blunder

“It’s happened to all of us,” shrugged Westgate Las Vegas sportsbook supremo John Murray to ESPN. “I think every sportsbook probably since the beginning of time has dealt with this at some point.” However, that also means—due to the enormity of the error—a Nevada Gaming Control Board investigation. This may give punters cause for hope. “We had [regulators] come out several times,” said Robert Walker of USBookmaking. “We got ruled against most of the time.” As the rules says, there’s a “prohibition against rescission of wagers. A book may not unilaterally rescind any wager without the prior written approval of the Chair.” Amen to that. There’s no reason sharp players should be penalized for a casino’s obtuseness. And you can bet that the next time the Rakuten Monkeys face the Uni Lions, Bellagio employees will be keeping a much closer eye on the clock.

July Fourth weekend was a disappointment for Las Vegas, at least according to JP Morgan analyst Joseph Greff. He writes that “while visitation has been fairly steady in Clark County, Nevada and across various states, we would have expected an uptick this past week given it was a holiday and July 4^th fell on a weekend.” In Clark County, traffic was only at 61% of pre-Coronavirus levels. He added “little changed from the prior two weeks’ ~61 and 62%, and in spite of additional LV Strip properties opening over the prior few weeks.” (This raises substantive questions over whether MGM’s much-hyped flurry of reopenings is a genuine response to demand.)

In such regional markets as Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Iowa, business ticked up to 77% of prior-year levels, better than the previous week’s 74% but a decline from 80% observed between June 14-20. Players are staying 9% longer in Clark County, 11% shorter in Louisiana, with everybody else somewhere in between. Greff notes that credit-card spending is down and Covid-19 cases are up, so the gaming data hardly comes as a surprise. Gaming stocks, however, continue to outperform the S&P Index, +21% compared to 11%. Greff concludes that “Since U.S. casinos began reopening to well-publicized levels of strong pent-up demand, visitation levels have been generally been moving higher, though not in a linear manner. In the past two weeks, visitation levels have been mixed.” One might call it a hesitant recovery.

Jottings: Table games at Don Laughlin’s Riverside have been temporarily closed, due to the resurgence of Coronavirus … Will casinos ever open in Japan? Nagasaki won’t even begin considering potential partners until the end of this months. Las Vegas Sands looks sagacious for getting out … A leaked Caesars Entertainment memo from CEO Anthony Rodio says that it’s “grounds for termination” if an employee is found without their mask on. That’s the spirit.