Eldorado backpedals; Casinos for Nebraska in 2020?

While the consummation of the Eldorado Resorts/Caesars Entertainment marriage has yet to occur, already Eldorado CEO Tom Reeg is walking back some of his prenuptial promises. “I think that there’s more Strip exposure than we would need to accomplish our goals with our regional data base,” he told reporters. “So I would expect that we would be a seller of a Strip asset, but that decision has not been made.” So, not multiple Strip properties anymore but just one (Planet Hollywood seems the most coveted). Maybe. But maybe not. Also, at least one Wall Street analyst is questioning Reeg’s promised $500 million in cost savings, saying it’ll be closer to $250 million. The one employee whose job is safe, in some shape or form, is Caesars CEO Anthony Rodio, who has key shareholder Carl Icahn in his corner. Any move by Reeg to dump Rodio risks the wrath of Icahn.

Reeg also folded Caesars’ tent vis-a-vis expanding into Japan, saying, “The opportunity internationally is going to have to be, frankly, stupendous for us to be running in that direction. But no firm decisions have been made at this point.” Indeed, there seems to be a complete lack of firm decision-making from Reeg. One would have thought Japan “stupendous,” but apparently not. Does this preclude a run at Macao in 2022? Neglecting that opportunity this first time ’round was Gary Loveman‘s biggest mistake and probably should have got him fired. How much history does Reeg care to repeat?

* Hard Rock Atlantic City President Joe Lupo has been poring over spreadsheets and tweaking his casino floor to give gamblers what they want. Or, as he puts it, “We’ve been aggressive at gaining more slot product and adding more slots to the floor.” Over at fellow newbie Ocean Resort, much more fundamental changes to the product are being made. Out are Ivan Kane’s Royal Jelly Burlesque Club and Cereal Town, in is Wahlburgers, along with a buffet, not to mention an elevator that will attempt to remedy a tragic Ocean flaw: a complete structural disconnect between its casino floor and hotel. Current owners Luxor Capital are having to make up for a lot errors not of their own creation.

* As Hard Rock International ramps up towards a revised and dramatically larger Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood, it has installed Bo Guidry as the property’s new president. Former prexy Auggie Cipollini is shunted over to Seminole Hard Rock Support Services. Guidry is a ‘get’ for the Seminoles, having put in 10 years as general manager of Horseshoe Council Bluffs and Harrah’s Council Bluffs Hotel & Casino, where he presided over a turnaround in financial performance. Prior to that, he was stationed at Harrah’s Casino St. Louis, which the company foolishly sold to raise capital for a short-lived Ohio presence. (Another Loveman mistake.) We’re not sure who deserves congratulation more: Guidry or the Seminoles, who were wise to hire him.

* Trying yet again, the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is hoping that 2020 will be the year that the Cornhusker State finally approves casino gambling at the ballot box. Such a victory would theoretically keep at home dollars that are flowing to neighboring states like Iowa. “For a Nebraskan to do gaming, you have to go half a mile. It’s the height of paternalism to try to try to restrict it,” says Ho-Chunk Inc. CEO Lance Morgan. Nebraska already has a lottery, not to mention horse racing and keno. Its tribes are limited to low-margin, Class I casinos. However, casino opponents are already gearing up their rhetoric and can count on the backing of Gov. Pete Ricketts (R, left). An even more influential ally may be former University of Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne.

Morgan’s forces are 0-4 to date, having twice lost in the election and, in 2014, seen one ballot measure get stricken by the courts. A 2016 push couldn’t even get enough signatures to qualify. (The company that collected the petitions is being sued.) Whether to whip up their followers or simply taking the pulse of the electorate, some gambling adversaries are saying this fight will be tougher. “We’ve been doing this for 24 years, and, well, the atmosphere in the state has changed,” said Gambling with the Good Life Executive Director Pat Loontjer. Still, since the process of becoming a casino state involves a constitutional amendment, a bill regulating the industry and one taxing it, the tribes and the horsemen (who want racinos) still look like underdogs at this point.

* WalletHub claims that Las Vegas is America‘s second-best city for recreation, but that seems to be predicated on having the most music venues per capita (many of them priced out of the average Las Vegan’s budget). Some of the other metrics are pretty appalling: 49th in percentage of population with walkable park access, 32nd in spending on parks per capita and 42nd in swimming pools per capita. If that’s second-best, I’d hate to see worst.

* “They’re highly addictive.” That’s what Catherine Dockery, late of Walmart, says of e-sports. Dockery heads up Vice Ventures, an enlightened investment fund that backs gaming, cannabis, wine and so forth. While it’s a niche funding segment as yet, Big Gaming could do worse than cultivate Vice Ventures and any emulators.

* Macao casino revenues rose 6% last month, to just under $3 billion, far outperforming analyst forecasts. However, that’s unlikely to push civil unrest and instability in Hong Kong out of the headlines.