Caesars Entertainment may have gotten the boot from its three managerial arrangements with Dan Gilbert in Ohio but it’s spending the waning weeks of its tenure putting up impressive 
numbers. Horseshoe Cleveland ($18 million) was up 4% and Horseshoe Cincinnati had a resounding, 14% million increase, taking $16 million to the bank. The only property where Caesars couldn’t work its magic was ThistleDown Racino ($9 million), down another 8%. Gilbert is reported to be sinking another $70 million into the racino to make it competitive with Hard Rock Rocksino — $17 million, up 12% — but that seems like a real stretch. Total Rewards is on the way out but members can redeem point accrued up to this point at other Caesars properties. Future point accruals will only redeemable at other Rock Gaming properties, like Greektown Hotel-Casino in Detroit.
Although Pinnacle Entertainment‘s Belterra Park continued to bring up the rear in Ohio ($6 million, $148/slot/day), the racino made a 44% improvement over last year. Eldorado Resorts‘ Scioto Downs (due for rebranding) banked $12 million, up 2%. Penn National Gaming had the smallest of declines at Hollywood Columbus (-1%), Lady Luck not smiling upon the casino despite a 3% increase in coin-in. Hollywood Toledo (+2%) did an industry-average $201/slot/day. As for Penn’s racinos, they continue to be little powerhouses with Hollywood Dayton averaging $234/slot/month and Hollywood Austintown continuing to boggle the mind with its $272/slot/day.
* The agonies of the Showboat continue. Philadelphia-based developer Bart Blatstein has postponed closing his planned purchase of the ex-casino until January. Plenty of time for Glenn Straub to make mischief …
* In another blow to Atlantic City, Gov. Chris Christie (R) has vetoed the carefully crafted PILOT Act. Otherwise known as the Casino Property Taxation Stabilization Act, it would replace property-tax assessments with fixed payments to the states. From Christie’s vantage point, this is simply a giveaway to the casinos, solving nothing. He wants tangible reform in Atlantic City’s governance, he says. Since Christie’s veto was conditional, the Legislature can amend the bill to his liking and send it back for his signature. So it’s not all bad news.
Christie was on a veto orgy, nixing two other bills that rechanneled money (some of it from the defunct Atlantic City Alliance) into Atlantic City’s coffers. Ditto the $60 million that the PILOT Act 
would have sent straight to the Boardwalk. Christie wants the city to apply to the state before it gets the goodies. And, instead of having PILOT money divvied up by a committee of casino executives, Christie would place that discretion with the Division of Gaming Enforcement. “It is undeniable that the city has experienced historic economic uncertainty as a result of contraction in the casino industry, but also due to unwillingness by some to make the difficult decisions seeded to restore the city’s fiscal health,” Christie wrote.
One lawmaker took a shot at Christie for allowing the bills “to sit on his desk for months” while campaigning for the presidency. County 
Executive Dennis Levinson, however, took events in stride, tempering his disappointment by saying, “The conditional veto [Christie] put on it is a pretty strong message this is a work in progress … The goal is the same for everyone — a vibrant, redeveloped Atlantic City.”
Christie kicked casino workers in the pants by unconditionally vetoing a bill that, as described by The Press of Atlantic City, “required full-time casino employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement to receive health-care and retirement benefits that are either fully employer funded, or that meet state or federal law.” Very petty, governor. Very petty indeed.
