Case Bets

The glass at Penn National Gaming‘s Plainridge Park is both half-full and half-empty these days. The win/slot/day ($291) is 50% above the industry’s desired norm. However, Plainridge continues to bleed customers,
going from $12 million in revenue in November to $11 million last month. A racino with first dibs on Boston gamblers shouldn’t be suffering that kind of revenue drain. Writes Penn CEO Tim Wilmott, in a blast at the Boston Globe, “our slot machines in Plainville outperform every casino on the Las Vegas Strip.” That’s a bold claim but Wilmott’s got the numbers that presumably back him up … sounds like he’s really been hitting the books. “Even so, Wilmott adds, “Even so, we’re continuing to make adjustments to our gaming floor, based on customer preferences, and to ramp up our promotions and advertising.” The better is always the enemy of the good.

* Sliding stock prices across 4Q15 may have accelerated CEO Virginia McDowell‘s retirement from Isle of Capri Casinos. At least that’s the clear implication of Wall Street Journal coverage.

* Given that Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) and the Seminole Tribe have reached agreement on a new, $3 billion compact, you’d think courtroom hostilities would cease. Not so. The Seminoles are pressing forward with a lawsuit that accuses Scott of negotiating in bad faith. The state’s contention is that, under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, it is not obliged to renegotiate in good faith or at all. In the course of ashcanning state Attorney General Pam Bondi‘s motion to dismiss the Seminole litigation, Judge Robert L. Hinkle wrote that Bondi’s interpretation of IGRA was “plainly wrong … “Any reading of the act that would suggest a state has no duty to negotiate at that time would make no sense — it would mean that when a state’s first compact with a tribe ended, the state would be relieved of any obligation to negotiate a new or extended compact.” A July trial date  has been set.

* Surprise, surprise, New Jersey state Senate President Stephen Sweeney‘s gaming-expansion bill passed out of the budget committee yesterday. The lopsided margin of victory, 9-2, bodes will for the bill’s chances in the full senate, where it needs a supermajority. State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D, left), from the southern tip of the Garden State, cast a ray of gloom on the proceedings, saying, “Atlantic City is going to be an economic dust bowl if this happens.” Current casino owners in Atlantic City were dealt another setback when the bill’s 180-day exclusivity period to bid on two new, northern casinos was shortened to 60 days. “It shortens the window for those who are concerned that existing Atlantic City operators would not show interest or sit back,” rationalized state Sen. Paul Sarlo (D), one of the prime movers of the bill.