Ohio casinos and racinos posted spectacular figures last month. By the calculations of Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli, revenues were up 37% (or 18% on a same-store
basis). Horseshoe Cleveland, up 16.5%, was also the top grosser — $21 million, while Belterra Park continues to be the poor relation of the Pinnacle Entertainment family, bringing in only $5 million ($121/slot win/day). The top five were rounded out by Hollywood Columbus, finally out of the doghouse ($17 million, up 5%) Horseshoe Cincinnati ($17 million, up 20%), Hard Rock Rocksino ($16 million) and Hollywood Toledo ($15 million, up 5%). The only real loser was Caesars Entertainment‘s ThistleDown Racetrack, walloped with a 15% decline and a $9 million gross.
Penn’s casinos continue to improve their slot-per-day numbers, with racinos Hollywood Dayton and Hollywood Austintown notching well-above-average $222/slot/day and $267/slot/day, respectively. Santarelli’s didn’t break out slot-average figures for either of the Horseshoes but they’re obviously not hurting.
* In contrast to Ohio, residents of Maine appear to have become sated with gambling. Hollywood Casino Bangor saw a 2% decline from 2013, en route to grossing $460 million — even with a last-minute switch to 24-hour operation. Oxford Casino is still weeks away from an exact year-end tally but expects to be only microscopically up from 2013. Player spending shifted from slots to table games, which could mean that Maine’s casinos are pulling in a younger generation of players, too. This redounds to Oxford’s benefit, as it has nearly twice as many tables as Hollywood. This stasis in revenue comes at a bad time for advocates of casino expansion, a topic expected to be on the docket of the new legislature.
* There may be men in the world more stupid than convicted poker cheat Christian Lusardi, but I’d be hard-pressed to think of one. This Darwin Award laureate is the guy who 
thought he could flush counterfeit poker chips down a toilet and get away with it. He’s finally out of the pokey and on probation while he awaits sentencing on a confidential plea agreement. New Jersey authorities are certainly keeping him on a long leash. Lusardi can’t leave the state except for “employment; education; religious services; medical, substance abuse, or mental health treatment; attorney visits; court appearances; court-ordered obligations; or other activities approved in advance by the pretrial services office or supervising officer.” Probably the strictest condition of his probation is that he has to stay off the booze, out of casinos and off online-gambling Web sites.
* Accused illegal bookies Paul and Darren Phua must be feeling pretty chill. They’re feeling relaxed enough to go to court to … get permission to play poker in Las Vegas. “They want to be able to dine, shop and see shows at the casinos, as well,” reports the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The feds reply that, given the gravity of the charges against them, it’s not asking too much to rein the Phuas in. (Besides, poker rooms have a notorious reputation as places for money laundering.) Federal authorities have their own problems: They have to explain their warrantless arrest of the Phuas and having been economical with the truth when justifying the Caesars Palace raid. It’s not clear how they intend to make their case against the Phuas, The five co-conspirators who pled guilty have already been banished from the U.S. for five years and thus will be unavailable to testify.
* Casinos on Okinawa? Not happening.
