Cumulative Internet gambling and sports betting revenues racked up $134 million last month, the vast majority going to i-gaming, some $110 million. Sports books essentially gave away the store, with 81% of revenues going right back out the door in promotions (and this was a decrease from September). BetMGM dominated i-gaming with $41.5 million, followed by DraftKings ($20 million), FanDuel ($17.5 million), BetRivers ($7 million), Golden Nugget Online ($5 million) and Barstool Sports ($4.5 million). There are quite a few other operators in the Wolverine State but their grosses rarely add up to beans. As for sports betting, handle was an impressive $463 million but erstwhile favorite son BetMGM was only third with 22% market share, lagging FanDuel (27%) and DraftKings (26%). Fighting for scraps were Barstool (9%) and Caesars Sportsbook (8%), leaving precious little for anybody else.
When the bets were paid off, it was a decisive win for FanDuel, which netted $10 million to BetMGM’s $7.5 million and DraftKings’ $3 million. Caesars was the only other operator to break the $1 million threshold. Among those making little or nothing (and perhaps overdue to reconsider their Michigan presence) were Golden Nugget, BetRivers, Parx, Four Winds and WynnBet.
It’s far too early to quantify sports betting in Louisiana but the Pelican State recovered from its Hurricane Ida swoon, its casinos grossing $195 million, 5% better than October 2019. (When adjusted to reflect the closures of Diamond Jacks and Isle Grand Palais it was better still—10.5% higher.) Harrah’s New Orleans singlehandedly retarded the New Orleans market 6% with a gross of $16.5 million (-27.5%). Boomtown New Orleans held onto second place with $12 million and seems to have picked up wayward Harrah’s customers, gaining 22.5%. Fairly close behind was Treasure Chest‘s $9 million, up 7.5%. Fair Grounds was flat at $4 million but Amelia Belle gained 24% to match it.
The real prize, of course, is Lake Charles and Golden Nugget took bragging rights last month with $29 million, a 22% surge. Despite coming on strong (+29.5%), L’Auberge du Lac mustered ‘only’ $27 million. Delta Downs cantered 5% faster to $13 million. In Baton Rouge, the sorry decline of Belle of Baton Rouge continued, plunging 33.5% to $1.5 million. L’Auberge Baton Rouge grossed $16 million, a 35.5% uplift and Hollywood Baton Rouge gained 27% to $5.5 million. L’Auberge is such a category killer that there’s no dishonor in being second.
Moving on to Shreveport/Bossier City, the new smoking ban took a toll on Sam’s Town, plummeting 37% to $3.5 million. Horseshoe Bossier City was the one other revenue-negative casino, down 15% to $12.5 million. For whatever reason, it has decisively lost its mojo to Margaritaville, which was surging 59% to $19 million. Bally’s Shreveport ($8.5 million) was the only other major player, up 8.5%. Louisiana Downs climbed 14% to $4 million and Boomtown Bossier rose 7% to just over $4 million. Outlying Evangeline Downs was up 5% to $6.5 million.
Are we becoming a nation of stiffs? That’s the question prompted by a recent post in VitalVegas which reports that tipping in Sin City “is on life support.” (Think of all those tipped employees who must make ends meet on sub-minimum wages.) “For a time, people thought bad tipping had to do with the type of visitor Las Vegas was getting during the pandemic, value-seekers taking advantage of low room rates due to a lack of demand. That’s not really the typical visitor now, yet tipping is terrible across the board,” prompting a mass departure of service workers, writes Scott Roeben. His theory as to the underlying cause is that there’s a screw-you mentality afoot in the land, caused by the climate of fear that Covid-19 has engendered. We certainly agree with the first half of that thesis.
Even record-breaking gaming revenues are attributed to a death-wish mentality: “People are gambling more because they have sort of given up hope. The fear has won, and people want to go out in style … Immediately after the lockdown, people came flooding back to Las Vegas due to pent-up demand. Now, it’s something else.” Ditto a host of public ills, like physical altercations, road rage, DUIs, domestic abuse, suicides, etc. As Roeben says, the pandemic may be over but its social effects are here to stay … unless we take the initiative to do something about it. It starts with each of us—like leaving a decent tip, for example, or even saying “thank you.”
Quote of the Day: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”—Thomas Edison
