Whether it’s that one less weekend day than last year or holiday shopping or whatever, Missouri was down again in November after tantalizing us with a revenue-positive October.
The statewide decrease was 4%, with table revenues holding steady but slot revenues pulling the total down. A 3% greater spend per visitor couldn’t offset 7% less visitation. In the St. Louis area, Pinnacle Entertainment‘s River City (left) had an unwontedly negative month, down 7%, while its Ameristar St. Charles was only off 1%, and Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Casino St. Louis was down just a point more, grossing $17 million to Ameristar’s $21 million. And whatever the magic formula is for Lumiere Place, it’s not yet been unlocked by Tropicana Entertainment, which suffered a 5.5% decline along with an 11% gross.
Kansas City continues to struggle with the loss of Sunflower State customers to Hollywood Casino at Kansas Speedway. On the Missouri side of the border, Isle of Capri Casinos had a good month, up 2%, while everyone else was down. Some of the declines were dramatic, as at Ameristar Kansas City (-11%, $15 million) and Harrah’s North Kansas City (-8%, $14 million), while Argosy Riverside — which arguably has the most to lose — slipped only 2%, to $11.5 million. Isle of Capri’s outstate riverboats had a good month, with Isle Cape Girardeau up 7% and Lady Luck in Caruthersville doing a fairly spectacular 13.5% leap. Hardest-hit was independent Mark Twain casino, falling 12% last month.
* More details are emerging on the plea-bargain arrangement in the World Cup betting ring at Caesars Palace. Five individuals have agreed to a combination of $2.5 million in fines and asset forfeitures. They will plead guilty to operating an illegal sports-gambling outfit but 
it doesn’t look as though they’ll be required to testify against alleged ringleaders Wei Seng “Paul” Phua and his son. Four of the defendants will be banished from the U.S. for five years and a fifth, Hui Tang, has asked for similar treatment. “Tang is a Chinese businessman with a wife and three children. Tang desires to plead guilty and leave the United States so that he can return to China and take care of his family,” said his attorney. This isn’t the first time authorities in Las Vegas have sent potentially key witnesses back to China rather than using them as a leverage to get a bigger conviction, so I wonder what the quid pro quo of this arrangement is.
* Las Vegas stands to benefit from a six-year reauthorization of the Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which is causing some to complain that it’s “cronyism” for Sin City. And why is Vegas less deserving of promotion than other cities? One myopic story focuses solely on the role of Sen. Harry Reid (D) in pushing extension of the bill, mentioning as fleetingly as possible that it is also backed by Sen. Dean Heller (R). Those two know how to bring home the bacon.
