Nothing says ‘November in Las Vegas‘ quite like a beach club. Yes, after unending delays, Nov. 16 is the date certain for the opening of Bagatelle Beach & Supper Club. If Bagatelle does, as promised, deliver “afternoons that transport guests to the South of France” it will decidedly be the Cote d’Azur of the off-season. Weather here of late has been chilly and windy, which may put something of a damper on the Las Vegas Tropicana‘s latest attempt to cash in, belatedly, on the “daylife” scene.
The weeks leading up to Christmas are traditionally some of the bleakest for business in Vegas. D owner Derek Stevens 
is pushing back — and trying to reintroduce youthful crowds to Downtown — with a bargain play that many will find hard to resist. College students can book room nights at The D for $39/evening and will receive a $39 booze credit in return. Given the collegiate crowd’s ability to consume mass quantities of alcohol, I’m sure they’ll spend well past their $39 credit and Stevens will recoup the price of those comped rooms. There’s just one catch …
The legal drinking age in Nevada is 21. Ditto gambling. I only turned 21 just in time for my senior year. So Stevens is marketing to a subset of college students, ones whose gambling budgets are likely to be small. So this could be a low-yield gambit. But give Stevens credit for taking a creative approach to a fallow period of the year. If The D is packed with frat boys and sorority sisters on Christmas Eve, he’ll have a raft of imitators in no time.
That didn’t take long. VLT win at Scioto Downs racino took a 23% dive when Hollywood Casino Columbus (right) opened last month. Despite not opening until Oct. 8, Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Columbus recorded the highest revenue-per-day average in Ohio: $762,000, for an $18 million gross. While Horseshoe Cleveland was averaging “only” $672,000/day, it was leading the Buckeye State in all important metrics. The Rock Gaming/Caesars Entertainment property was tops in gross revenue ($21 million), slot win/day ($207) and table win/day ($2,627). Hollywood Casino Toledo grossed $15 million, churning out $1,243 at the tables but so-so $186/slot/day. Table play was strong ($2,107/day) in Columbus but slot win ($177/day) was subpar by industry standards — but not as much as Scioto Downs’ post-Columbus $157/VLT/day.
However, Ohioans’ passion for gambling may be experiencing a seasonal wane. Minus Hollywood Columbus, Ohio casinos would have registered their fourth consecutive month of declining revenue. One casino (Horseshoe Cincinnati) and six racinos are still in the pipeline, so plenty of time remains to discover whether the Ohio market is as big as was expected.
