Encore vanquishing competition; Newcomers dominate Atlantic City

Encore Boston Harbor, the best-smelling casino on the East Coast, had a crushing month, its first full one of operation. Its $48.5 million in revenue accounted for 60% of all Massachusetts gaming revenues. That breaks down as almost $1.6 million/day in win, an amount that ought to salve the $35.5 million in fines Wynn Resorts had to pay to play in the Bay State. Representing 25% of market share, MGM Springfield grossed $20.5 million, flat with July 2018, while Plainridge Park won $12.5 million (-20%). Those Plainridge Park numbers are better than they appear, as the racino did an above-average $337/slot/day. Encore’s tally was $216/win/slot/day and MGM Springfield took in $196/win/slot/day.

Table game win is hauling the freight at Encore, $27.5 million last month ($3,829/win/table/day compared to MGM’s $1,314), numbers that are analogous to Hard Rock Atlantic City ($3,375/win/table/day),  if short of Borgata ($5,300) or MGM National Harbor ($5,743). According to the Boston Globe, the hefty table win at Encore suggests that the company’s whale-oriented marketing strategy is yielding rewards. “Encore has done something I didn’t think any casino could do: They’re getting more money from people playing table games than slots. The management of Wynn must be ecstatic,” said Rev. Richard McGowan of Boston College. On its present course, Encore will come up short of Wynn’s Year One revenue projection but ahead of the state’s more-conservative numbers.

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox told analysts he was “working on various offers and promotions to really understand the highly competitive slot market in the Northeast,” which Lasell University political scientist Paul DeBole translated as “there are going to be a lot more of those senior citizen bus trips coming in.”

The downside for Encore (yes, there was one) was that slot revenues were soft, according to Spectrum Gaming‘s Joe Weinert. He pointed to Twin River, Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun as superior performers in that respect. Thanks to reader Bobby See, we know that slot revenue is down 11% at Foxwoods and 24% at Twin River, where there’s already talk of layoffs of part-time employees. (Twin River opened a satellite casino in Tiverton just in time for it to get steamrolled by Encore.) While they were fixating on MGM Springfield—a minor threat—Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun let Encore take them by surprise. Well, not entirely. We can now quantify why Mohegan Sun is so irate at not being selected for the Boston-area license and why it was so strategically important for Massachusetts to keep that money in-state.

Meanwhile, MGM Springfield President Michael Mathis took a sort of victory lap, saying, “We continue to be pleased with our performance as we grew revenues and visitation in the month, notwithstanding the entry of a new competitor to the market.” Still, $253 million in 49 weeks is a far cry from the $400 million MGM predicted for Year One. That’s not going to be allowed to dampen the first-anniversary celebration, which will feature the New England Patriots cheerleaders and Aerosmith. But maybe MGM should be fixating more on Springfield and why it’s underachieved and less on a Bridgeport megaresort.

* Atlantic City casino revenues were only 2% down on a same-store basis in July, which we’ll interpret as a victory. Gamblers lost $277 million, with slot revenue down 3.5% but tables up 1%. Borgata had a bonanza ($81 million), winning 37% more at the tables, driving revenues up 13.5% on flat wagering. Borgata slots won 3.5% more on 1.5% less coin-in. Other than Borgata, the only revenue-positive casinos were the newbies, Hard Rock Atlantic City ($39 million, +18.5%) and Ocean Casino Resort ($19 million, +21.5%). Excepting Tropicana Atlantic City ($29 million, -14%), the Caesars Entertainment menage a trois had the worst of it, with Caesars Atlantic City falling 15% to $25 million, Bally’s tumbling 13.5% to $18 million and Harrah’s Resort off 5.5% to $30 million, still good for third place in the market. Golden Nugget‘s $19.5 million gross represented a 3% dip, Resorts Atlantic City brought up the rear with $17.5 million but was only 1% off, giving one cause to hope that the Mohegan are finally turning things around.

On the brink of the one-year anniversary of mobile sports wagering, New Jersey books generated handle of $251 million, bigger than any July in Nevada history, according to PlayNJ.com analysts. That translated to just under $18 million in revenue, once the punters had been paid. “If there is any trouble on the horizon for New Jersey, it’s the launch and expansion of online sportsbooks in Pennsylvania,” said PlayNJ’s Dustin Gouker. “Pennsylvania could have as many as six online sportsbooks operating by the beginning of the football season, and some apps have worked out their Apple issues and are now in the App Store. Add in the natural boost that comes from football season, and Pennsylvania’s sportsbooks are about to take a giant leap forward,” added colleague Jessica Welman. Both the online and walk-up betting markets continue to be dominated by FanDuel. As for regular forms of Internet gambling, they generated $39 million last month.

* Speaking of Pennsylvania, it began reporting Internet gambling and SugarHouse Casino dominated with $18 million. Rivers Casino fell short of the $1 million mark and Parx Casino was way back with $307,011 (not everyone incepted at once). Slot-revenue data was also out and Parx was flat but still dominated with $35 million. It terms of percentage, Valley Forge Resort Casino was the coffee achiever, up 11% to $8.5 million. Rivers Casino gained 4% to $25.5 million, closely followed by Wind Creek Bethlehem, down 5% to $24.5 million. It was a long way to fourth place: The Meadows with $17.5 million (-8%). Hollywood Casino at Penn National grossed $17 million (-1%) and Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs won $16.5 million (-3.5%). Harrah’s Philadelphia slipped 8.5% to $15 million, SugarHouse grossed $14.5 million, a 2.5% slippage and Presque Isle Downs was down 4% to $10 million. Mount Airy was flat at $13 million and Lady Luck Nemacolin gained 5% to $3 million, one of its better months.

* Penn National Gaming seems to be doing that voodoo it does so well with Greektown Casino in Detroit. It was up 2.5% ($29.5 million gross) in May, while MotorCity was flat at $41 million, as was MGM Grand Detroit at $54.5 million.