Next stop, Antrim?!?; Murren drops out of casino arms race
Ever heard of Antrim Township in Pennsylvania? Probably not. But state Rep. Paul Schemel thinks it’s a new gaming hot spot. One of his reasons for advocating Antrim is its proximity to Charles Town, West Virginia. Now this is precisely the kind of 
thing that is chapping Penn National Gaming‘s ass. Penn is heavily invested in Charles Town but can’t do anything to prevent a satellite from being sited in Antrim. It could bid for the satellite concession but that’s about the only way of protecting its Charles Town moneymaker. How much gaming are we talking about? Think 750 slots, 50 table games and an OTB parlor. (The new rules allow for a minimum of 300 slots but we think everyone is going to opt for the max.) “If they are right on the border, they would draw in Hagerstown, Charles Town, Frederick County, Winchester, in theory,” says Schemel.
Antrim officials would have until New Year’s Eve to nix the idea. As Schemel explains,
pursuit of Bridgeport as a casino site. Perhaps naively, Clinton hopes that Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino will set aside their duopoly to pave the way for a $675 million MGM casino — one that would interdict gamblers’ traffic from the New York City area. Skeptics believe the casino palaver is a fake-out, designed to draw the Bureau of Indian Affairs into denying the tribes’ joint-venture satellite casino in East Windsor. But Clinton says MGM is on the up-and-up.
create a more-educated player. They’re focusing on “losses disguised as wins” or LDWs. That’s when you wager $2 and “win” $1.50 back, never mind that you’re 50 cents in the hole. The educational device is a series of videos. The rate of LDWs boils down to 180 per hour (as opposed to 140 actual wins), a stat the Total Rewards boys probably don’t want you to know.
RevPAR and ADR numbers. Ditto a 2.5% uptick in convention attendance. Convention attendance for the year is tracking 6% ahead of 2016. Lower visitor traffic notwithstanding, Nevada gaming revenue was up 15% and the Strip’s rose 21%. That’s impressive, even knowing that August of last year showed a decline. Baccarat players wagered heavily and played most unluckily, with the house winning 38% more. So it was at other table games, with 7% more bet and 18% more lost to The Man.
out, there’s a dark-horse developer 
have a visible paddle wheel, even if aforesaid barge is “not going anywhere.” Fertitta also ripped the state’s per-casino limit on slot machines and $100,000/year barge inspection, which he reckons have cost him $10 million. Taxation of free play offered by private-sector casinos (but not tribal ones) was another burr under Fertitta’s saddle.
“[Americans] frequently misunderstand the nature of gambling addiction, seeing it as a symptom of moral weakness rather than a medical condition. [It’s why] people with problems are reluctant to get help.” — National Council on Problem Gambling Executive Director Keith Whyte on 
right now. The central government could monitor the casino visits of citizens and resident aliens by having their ID numbers monitored. The upside is that it means that a ban on gambling by locals is probably off the table. As for downsides, you could have a deterred citizenry, attempted transference of ID numbers and a burdensome verification regime for the casinos themselves. Although every citizen has an ID number in theory, only 10% have the plastic verification card, 
has announced that construction cranes will be up by August at the latest and 
celebrate the company’s emergence from bankruptcy by monetizing 90 acres of Las Vegas Strip frontage. To be fair to Frissora, the Caesars Palace revamp, as well as a pedestrian bridge at Paris-Las Vegas, were in Gary Loveman‘s cards before he took a hard left turn into an LBO, the catastrophic effects of which included putting several projects into the deep freeze. The work could re-start as soon as this autumn. “We have plans to basically develop all of that very valuable center-strip property as soon as we emerge [from bankruptcy],” Frissora told Bloomberg TV. “Those assets will have a very high-return, low-risk profile.”
the Boardwalk was up 4%. Market leader, by an astonishing margin, was Borgata, garnering $58.5 million, almost one-third of the total market. In fact, it carried the market, as you will see below. Its tables parlayed a 3.5% increase in wagering into a 15% gain, while its slots eked out a 1% increase on flat revenue. Market-wide, table-games were down 12% on 4% less wagering and slots saw 2% less coin-in, resulting in flat revenue.
for $1.2 billion. Reuters describes the move as “ending a fraught offshore expansion and freeing up cash for new projects at home.” In other words, Crown Resorts will be turning its back on Macao (and Las Vegas) to concentrate on Sydney and Perth. One analyst described the arrest and uncertain fate of The Crown 18 as “a major factor in terms of considering what’s best for the future. I think they just wanted to step completely clear of anything to do with that market.”
center may begin before the year is out, perhaps as early as October. In addition to the lagoon and meeting space, a boardwalk and dining facilities will be part of the $400 million-$500 million version of Paradise Park. Additional phases may follow. Said Steve Wynn, “We have no better use for our money. We keep $1.5 billion or $2 billion in the parent company and this would allow us to take the most conservative, but the most dynamic approach to creating this.” Wynn Palace, in Macao, helped the company post an increase in cash flow of 42%. However, Wynn may be eating its own lunch, as a slump in business at Wynn Macau was reported.
corpse of Trump Taj Mahal from the body count, the year over year comparison is an increase of 15%. Holy roulette wheel, Batman! Borgata was responsible for $60 million of the $200 million gross, with 3% more slot handle driving 6% higher win. That’s nothing in comparison to the 27% moonshot in table revenue, the more remarkable for having been achieved in a month that saw 30% less wagering.
different bills. The state Senate one would give the Seminole Tribe the right to operate seven Class III casinos, add non-tribal slot parlors in Miami-Dade and Broward counties (one apiece), and enable slots at eight parimutuels statewide. The House bill is almost exclusively concerned with ratifying the Seminole compact at a higher-revenue rate.